Romanian Verb Blitz now available on iOS!

Hot on the heels of its Android cousin, Romanian Verb Blitz for iOS is now available on the App Store! iPhone and iPad users can now learn, drill and consolidate over a hundred Romanian verbs on their devices.

The language is a typical member of the Romance family – full of tricky conjugations and oodles of endings. Verb Blitz takes some of the pressure off by providing a handy reference, as well as a suite of drill tools.

The verbs selected are amongst the most common words in Romanian. That makes the app a fantastic vocabulary expander for beginners, as well as the perfect grammar self-tester.

Gameify your Romanian

All the familiar Verb Blitz games are included:

  • Infinitive quiz (drill those meanings)
  • Conjugation quiz (get those endings under your belt)
  • Snap (hone your translation skills)
  • Gapfill (master those spellings)

What’s more, the app keeps track of your performance on each verb, so you can check your progress at any time. You might be surprised at the verbs you’re finding easiest / trickiest!

As little – or as much – as you like!

You can choose which tenses to drill in the app settings. Just beginning in the language? Try just the present tense for now. A dab hand? Test your mastery by selecting all tenses to test in the drill games.

Whatever your level, we hope there are plenty of linguistic goodies in the app for you. Check out our full range of iOS apps here for more language tools for your Apple device!

Romanian Verb Blitz for iOS is available for free in the App Store now!

Romanian verbs? No problem with our new Android app!

Romanian learners can now hop on the Geoglot verb drill train, with our brand new release of Romanian Verb Blitz for Android!

It’s always an exciting moment when we release a new language at Geoglot. Romanian has been a particularly interesting one, especially for those of us who speak other romance languages. To those familiar with Italian, Portuguese, French or Spanish, Romanian will seem strangely familiar. It developed from the Latin spoken by Roman settlers in Dacia – roughly modern-day Romania and Moldova – and has been influenced by its surrounding non-romance languages too.

For learner of this fascinating language, Romanian Verb Blitz is both a handy reference and grammatical drill tool. With over 100 conjugations, there’s lots of opportunity to practise those tricky endings (typical for a romance language!).

Romanian vocabulary boosting

Not only that, but it’s also a great way to expand your everyday vocabulary. The verbs included represent some of the most commonly used words in Romanian, so you’ll boost your word power as well as your grammar.

All the familiar Verb Blitz drill games are there:

  • Infinitive quiz – drill those meanings
  • Conjugation quiz – test yourself on verb endings
  • Snap – translation practice
  • Gapfill – great for spelling / literacy skills

As little – or as much – as you like

You can select which tenses to play the games with – ideal for focusing on what you are currently learning. Only covered the present so far? Then just select that one in the settings. Want a fiendishly tricky test to test your language skills? Then select all of them!

What’s more, the app will track all the verbs that you have found trickiest across the games. You can review these at any time in the ‘Performance‘ section, and target them for more practice.

As always, Verb Blitz for Android remains a free download, supported by discreet in-app ads – but never in the activities themselves.

Download Romanian Verb Blitz for Android from the Google Play Store at this link!

Also, check out our other Android apps here. We love languages and we’re always adding new ones to the catalogue!

Happy learning!

 

 

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

Latvian verbs? No problem!

A brand new language joins the Verb Blitz range! Geoglot is pleased to announce the release of Latvian Verb Blitz for Android.

With over 100 core verbs in Latvian across the present, past and future tenses, it’s a great way to practise those tricky endings through interactive games. Not only that, but the verb bank is filled with some of the most common everyday words in Latvian, so it’s a great way to expand and consolidate your key vocabulary.

Latvian Verb Blitz for Android is free (supported by ads) from the Google Play Store at this link.

Happy learning!

Latvian Verb Blitz
Latvian Verb Blitz

 

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

Master German and Icelandic numbers!

German and Icelandic have joined our growing range of Number Whizz apps!

Whether you’re a beginner or a little further along in your language learning journey, mastering numbers is one of those chores that it’s tempting to keep putting aside ad infinitum (pun intended).

Number Whizz focuses purely on numbers, encapsulating them into a multifunctional app featuring presentations, games for learning and even useful utilities. Test yourself at addition and subtraction in your language of choice, or tap in a huge number and see the app write it out in words for you!

The apps can be downloaded from Google Play at the following links:

As always, Geoglot uses in-app ads to ensure that the Number Whizz can both be free for all Android users, keeping language learning software accessible.

Happy learning!

Icelandic Number Whizz
Icelandic Number Whizz
German Number Whizz
German Number Whizz

RusMate 1.4 released!

The latest version of RusMate Russian Vocabulary Booster has been released, including brand new topics, new words for existing topics, and a whole new tracking system so you can keep tabs on what you’ve been learning and how well you’ve done in the exercises. As always, full native speaker support is provided for the words.

The update is free for existing users of the app, and otherwise available for the same great price of £2.39 from the iTunes App Store at this link.

https://riflescopereviewsguide.com/