1) spending enough time with my host family, and
2) sufficiently practicing and reviewing language concepts?
How about I practice language as a blog entry? That will free me up to hang out with my host family. And it gives you, dear reader, a free Albanian language lesson. Lucky you!
Today we learned prepositions (words like "in," "before," and "with" in English). Today looked liked this:
Note: Today was NOT a class on how to make ransom notes.
I recognize that a lot of things in English must be difficult for non-English speakers to learn. But I'm going to take a stand here and say that prepositions are more difficult in the Albanian language than they are in English. If someone can make a compelling case to convince me otherwise, I will reverse my position. But not until then.
Albanian prepositions fall into 1 of 3 categories. These categories determine the case of the object of the prepositional phrase.
(For reference, in the prepositional phrase "in the school," "in" is the preposition, and "school" is the object of the preposition.)
The preposition used determines the case of the object of the preposition. The case of the object can be nominative, accusative, or ablative. Again: the case of the prepositional object (a noun) changes, based on the preposition.
I've lost some people by now. But I will press on.
Nominative prepositions describe an origin or a movement. Examples include "nga" ("from") and "tek" ("to"). Nominative prepositions always take an object in the definite form. Here are some examples:
Ajo vjen nga shkolla në orën 12.00.
(She comes from school at 12 o'clock.)
Ai shkon tek dentisti një herë në muaj.
(He goes to the dentist once a month.)
Shqip Tip: Make sure that your the prepositional object is in the definite form when using a nominative preposition! You wouldn't say "He goes to a dentist once a month" when you really mean "He goes to the dentist once a month."
Accusative prepositions generally describe a position or place. They take an indefinite object or a definite object when followed by another modifier. Examples include "mbi" ("on" or "above") and "me" ("with"), as in the following sentences:
Ai vendos librin mbi tavolinë.
(He puts the book on the table.)
Çdo mbrëmje dal me shokët.
(Every evening I go out with my friends.)
Ablative prepositions can take definite or indefinite objects. They generally describe the position of things or people in relation to other objects. Examples include "afër" ("near") and "anës" ("along"), as in
Fshati ndodhet afër lumit.
(The village is near the river.)
Ka shumë pemë anës rrugës.
(There are a lot of trees along the street.)
Here are some prepositions for you to use. Be careful, though. These are not for the timid.
Ok, so, with the above in mind, take a look at what happens to the objects of the prepositions in the 3 different cases:
Nominative
Burri është nga qyteti.
(The man is from the city.)
Accusative
Burri është në mal mbi një qytet.
(The man is on the mountain above a city.)
Ablative
Burri është afër qytetit.
(The man is near the city.)
In English, you would always use the word "city" in the above sentences. In Albanian, however, the word for "city" (when it's the object of a prepositon) can take 1 of 3 cases--and the cases can be spelled differently.
Make sense? I'm not sure it does to me. But I've written all of this while hanging out with my host family. As I write this sentence, my awesome host father (a retired Albanian language teacher, mind you) has his glasses on and is reviewing my grammar book and occasionally asking me questions.
To recap: Simultaneously, I am able to practice my Albanian, spend time with my host family, and blog.
Thus... I AM AWESOME.
One last thing on intentional relationship building...
Petro Kafe has become another frequent site for coffee and lunch. I went there 3 times today (it's under $1 for each visit, so please don't think I'm making poor decisions). Petro Kafe looks like this:
We have become chummy with Blerta, the nice lady who works there (and I presume is the owner but I don't know that).
Based on my group's frequent patronage, today at lunch Blerta treated us to 2 plates of mixed fruits with honey. O sa mirë! (Oh so nice!)
(Blerta is on the far left.)
*This is NOT how you make the Albanian word for "bird" plural. I may discuss plurals in a future episode. You'll just have to wait and see. Lucky you!
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