Easiest languages – from a Verb Blitz point of view!

As language nuts, we often get asked by tentative, wannabe linguaphiles: which is the easiest language to learn?

Well, we’re well-equipped to answer that.  That is, at least from the perspective of experts on one part of speech: the verb. We’ve worked tirelessly on verb drill apps for some time now. We love verbs. And it’s given us the kind of overview that language geeks like us crave.

Scandinavia has it! 🇩🇰🇳🇴🇸🇪

The verdict: the Scandinavian trio – Danish, Norwegian and Swedish – are by far the easiest languages to learn from a verbs point of view.

Why is this, you ask? Well, unusually for most European languages, verbs don’t change for person. That’s right – they’re the same all the way through I, you, he/she it, to we, you (plural) and they.

Times change…

It hasn’t always been that way. Their common parent language is Old Norse, which was chock-full of endings. It had a complex system of verb groups and endings for person, as well as tense and mood. In fact, modern Icelandic still has all those characteristic endings of Old Norse, while mainland Scandinavia has simplified them all away. And they really have simplified them to the max – even the verb ‘to be’, notoriously tricky across many languages, has just a single form per tense. Compare them in this table:

🇩🇰 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇬🇧🇺🇸🇦🇺🇳🇿
jeg er jeg er jag är I am
du er du er du är you are
han/hun/det er han/hun/det er han/hon/det är he/she/it is
vi er vi er vi är we are
I er dere er ni är you (plural) are
de er de er de är they are

English – usually the ‘easy grammar’ candidate – is left in the dust by the Scandies here!

Some caveats…

It’s not all plain sailing (is anything?). Like its Germanic cousins English, Dutch and German, the Scandinavian languages have a clutch of ‘strong’ verbs. These display patterns of ablaut (stem vowel change), often to indicate tense. Think of the English:

  • break – broke – broken

The past and past participle aren’t formed with the usual, regular -ed ending. Instead, the change of vowel tells us that they’re past tense forms. Likewise, in Norwegian, the same occurs:

  • brekke – brakk – brukket

However, if your native language is English, Dutch or German, you’ll be used to this system instinctually. Another reason the Scandinavian languages are easiest for verbs!

Complex can be good!

Also, let’s not discount the wonderful challenge – and logical beauty – of complex, highly inflected verb systems. There’s something deeply satisfying about getting all those Spanish / French / Polish / Hungarian endings right. Sometimes, easiest doesn’t mean more fulfilling!

Still, simplified verb systems are something that continue to make Danish, Norwegian and Swedish very attractive propositions for language learners. And of course, they have their own quirks and foibles in other parts of speech, just to ensure there’s still some level of challenge! 😁

Have a look for yourself! Try Geoglot’s free Verb Blitz apps for the Scandi languages:

Danish Verb Blitz for Android

Norwegian Verb Blitz for Android
Norwegian Verb Blitz for iOS

Swedish Verb Blitz for Android

Hungarian Verb Blitz released!

It’s always an exciting moment when we add a new language to the Verb Blitz range. This time, magyar [ˈmɒɟɒr] gets some attention with our release of Hungarian Verb Blitz for Android!

Every language has its interesting and different features, and Hungarian is no exception. What is particularly special about Hungarian is that transitive verbs have two forms: indefinite and definite. This means that the verb codes for whether its object has indefinite (like ‘a’) or definite (like ‘the’) status. You can read more about Hungarian indefinite and definite status in this very helpful Wikipedia article.

Note that when playing the games, you can use the settings to exclude definite forms, and just focus on the indefinite ones if you prefer. Likewise, you can turn on and off several of the tenses in the games if you prefer to focus on just the basic ones.

Otherwise, Hungarian verbs display a regularity that is rare in some of the more mainstream languages taught in schools and colleges. There are just a handful of very irregular verb paradigms, and once you have learnt the quirks of the language (such as vowel harmony), verb conjugation is not as hard as it first seems.

Click here to download Hungarian Verb Blitz for Android from the Google Play Store!

Hungarian Verb Blitz
Hungarian Verb Blitz

German holiday verbs : Free worksheet

Our free holiday verbs worksheet is now available in German!

The worksheet helps you to drill ten common verbs for talking about holidays in the present, past (perfect) and future tenses. The perfect tense is particularly useful in German as a conversational past tense, so these phrases will really help you to add some mileage to your holiday chat.

Click here to download German: Holiday Verbs [PDF]

Icelandic holiday verbs : free worksheet

Learning Icelandic? Want to talk about your holidays past, present and future?

Our Nordic learning team has just put together this free worksheet to help you do just that! The worksheet features ten verb phrases to cover fun stuff you do on holiday. It’s completely in Icelandic, with spaces for you to write translations. And all ten verbs are presented in present, past and future examples, to really stretch your tense usage.

For talking about future plans, the team made use of the supremely useful Icelandic word ætla. While not strictly the grammatical future tense in Icelandic (this is formed with munu instead), it is a hugely useful little word for speaking about future intentions, covering the sense of ‘to intend to …‘ or ‘to be planning to …’ in English.

Click here to download “On Holiday” in Icelandic [PDF]

Happy learning, and please leave any feedback or suggestions for future worksheets in the comments!

Norwegian holiday verbs: free worksheet

Keen to share what they’ve been learning with the rest of the language learning community, the Geoglot team has been busy creating resources full of useful content for hacking your speaking skills.

In the first of a planned series of free downloadable materials, you can get some conversation Norwegian under your belt with this worksheet, focussing on ten useful verbs for talking about holidays in the present, past and future tenses.

Click here to download “Norwegian: Holiday Verbs” in Bokmål [PDF]

Enjoy, and leave any feedback and future resource requests in the comments!

Be a Greek Number Whizz!

Hot on the heels of our first Greek app (Greek Verb Blitz), Greek Number Whizz is now available for Android!

Including Greek native speaker sounds, Greek Number Whizz is a drill tool to make learning Modern Greek numbers easy and fun. Features include:

  • Number Writer: type in a number and see it written out in Greek
  • Interactive games: make drilling those numerals less of a chore!
  • Transliteration: read all of the Greek words in Latin characters if you’re not comfortable reading Greek yet

Greek Number Whizz is available for free (supported by in-app ads) on Google Play now from this link. Happy learning!

 

Screenshot of Greek Number Whizz - Arithmetic Quiz

Modern Greek verbs? No problem!

It’s a special moment when we get to add a brand new language to the Geoglot range. And today, we’re pleased as punch to announce the debut of Modern Greek!

Greek Verb Blitz is a free reference and drill tool for learning conjugations, in the same successful mould as our other popular Verb Blitz apps. With over 160 commonly used Greek verbs, it’s a great way to practise grammar, as well as expand your vocabulary.

Active and passive declensions are dealt with as separate entries to keep things simple and digestible for learners, with verbs presented neatly conjugated across tenses and aspects. Game settings allow for different tenses to be tested, so you don’t have to feel overwhelmed if you’re just starting to learn.

Greek Verb Blitz is available for free from Google Play at this link. As always, Geoglot Android apps are supported by in-app ads in order to make language learning as widely accessible as possible.

Happy learning and καλό ταξίδι (that’s bon voyage) on your journey into the Greek language!

Greek Verb Blitz

Swedish verbs? No problem!

Stop press: Swedish now joins the growing list of languages served by Geoglot’s free Verb Blitz range for Android devices!

Doubling as a handy reference tool as well as a powerful drill system, the app contains over 130 regular and irregular verbs in Swedish. Browse, practise and perfect your grammatical knowledge, at the same time as expanding your core vocabulary in the language.

As always, Verb Blitz for Android apps are free, supported by in-app ads (but never in activities or games).

Download Swedish Verb Blitz from the Google Play store at this link!

Swedish Verb Blitz

Learning Scottish Gaelic Numbers on iPhone and iPad

Scottish Gaelic joins the growing number of iOS Number Whizz apps with our latest iTunes release for iPhone and iPad!

Including native speaker sounds for many numbers, and a challenging set of games for drilling those cardinals, Scottish Gaelic Number Whizz is a great way to finally master that chore of language learning.

Scottish Gaelic Number Whizz is available on the iTunes App Store for 79p / $0.99 (with educational discount available for institutions) at the following link:

Scottish Gaelic Number Whizz on iTunes

Android users can get the app from Google Play at:

Scottish Gaelic Number Whizz on Google Play

Happy learning!

Scottish Gaelic

Learn Irish numbers on your Android phone or tablet!

GeoGlot is proud to add another Celtic language to its range of Number Whizz apps for Android, with learners of Irish now supported with a new app release.

We hope you’ll save a traditional céad míle fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) for our app if you’re a student of Irish hoping to master Gaelic numbers. Irish Number Whizz is available for free from the Google Play Store at this link.

Happy learning!

Irish flag

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