Moien

Luxembourgish A1

Conjugating a verb Verben konjugéieren

Six persons, three endings, and two verbs that do their own thing. Once you can conjugate wunnen, you can conjugate most verbs in the language.

By the end of this lesson you can

13 words and phrases

ech
I
du
you (one person you know)
hien
he
si
she; also they The verb tells you which: si wunnt is she, si wunnen is they.
hatt
it The neuter pronoun. Also used for a girl or a young woman: d’Meedchen … hatt.
mir
we
dir
you (several people) Written Dir, with a capital, it is the polite "you" for one person and takes the same verb form.
sinn
to be
hunn
to have
heeschen
to be called
kommen
to come
wunnen
to live (somewhere)
schwätzen
to speak

Grammar

Six persons, three endings

A Luxembourgish verb changes with the person, but far less than a French or Portuguese one. Take the infinitive — wunnen — and remove -en: the stem is wunn-.

ech wunnen · du wunns · hien / si / hatt wunnt · mir wunnen · dir wunnt · si wunnen.

So there are only three forms to learn: the infinitive itself for ech, mir and si; -s for du; -t for hien / si / hatt and for dir.

  • Du wunns zu Lëtzebuerg. — You live in Luxembourg.
  • Dir wunnt zu Esch. — You live in Esch. (several people, or politely)

Some verbs change their vowel

In the du and hien / si / hatt forms, some verbs change their vowel: kommen gives du kënns, hien kënnt — but mir kommen, dir kommt. The endings stay the same; only the vowel moves.

When the stem already ends in -z, the du form adds nothing: du schwätz, hatt schwätzt. heeschen keeps its vowel: du heeschs, hien heescht.

Every verb’s page shows its full table, straight from the LOD — look there when a verb surprises you.

  • Du kënns aus Portugal. — You come from Portugal.
  • Si schwätzt Lëtzebuergesch. — She speaks Luxembourgish.

sinn and hunn do their own thing

ech sinn, du bass, hien / si / hatt ass, mir sinn, dir sidd, si sinn.

ech hunn, du hues, hien / si / hatt huet, mir hunn, dir hutt, si hunn.

Learn these two by heart: besides being the most used verbs, they build the past of every other one — ech hu geschafft, ech si komm.

  • Ech si midd. — I am tired.
  • Hues du Kanner? — Do you have children?

The n that comes and goes

A final -n is often dropped before the next word. It stays before a vowel and before d, t, z, n and h; it disappears before every other consonant. So ech wunnen zu Esch keeps its n (z), but ech si midd and mir hu keng Zäit lose it (m, k).

That is why the tables read ech si gewiescht and ech hu geschafft — and it is the same rule as Gudde Moien / Gudden Owend from the first lesson. Written Luxembourgish follows it too.

  • Mir hu keng Zäit. — We have no time.
  • Mir hunn zwee Kanner. — We have two children.

Saying no: net, kee, keng

To say that a verb does not happen, put net straight after the verb: Ech schwätzen net Englesch.

Before a noun, use kee or keng instead of net: kee for masculine and neuter nouns, keng for feminine and plural ones. Kee follows the Eifel rule too: it becomes keen before a vowel and before h, d, t, z and n.

  • Ech schwätzen net Englesch. — I do not speak English.
  • Hien ass net aus Portugal. — He is not from Portugal.
  • Mir hu keng Zäit. — We have no time.
  • Si wunnt net zu Lëtzebuerg. — She does not live in Luxembourg.

Asking questions

For a question that can be answered yes or no, put the verb first: Kënns du aus Portugal?

For a question with a question word (Wéi, Wou, Wat), the question word comes first and the verb second: Wou wunns du?

  • Kënns du aus Portugal? — Do you come from Portugal?
  • Schwätz du Englesch? — Do you speak English?
  • Wou wunns du? — Where do you live?
  • Wéi heeschs du? — What is your name?

Practice

14 exercises: multiple choice, typing, matching pairs and word order.