Subject
The Albanian Language
An independent branch of the Indo-European family with no close living relative, written in a 36-letter Latin…
In plain language
Albanian nouns have a form with 'the' built into them. That is why you see Vlorë and Vlora, Berat and Berati, Shkodër and Shkodra. Both are correct; one just means 'the' town.
Simple explanation
Albanian nouns have a form with 'the' built into them. That is why you see Vlorë and Vlora, Berat and Berati, Shkodër and Shkodra. Both are correct; one just means 'the' town.
Definite and indefinite
Albanian marks definiteness with a suffix rather than a separate word. Vlorë is 'Vlorë'; Vlora is 'the Vlorë'. Both appear constantly, including on road signs, and neither is wrong.
This Atlas uses the indefinite form as the page title (Vlorë, Shkodër, Berat) and gives the Albanian definite form alongside it, because that is the form you will most often see locally.
Letters that are not what they look like
- ë — a soft, often barely voiced vowel; frequently silent at the end of a word.
- ç — 'ch' as in church.
- xh — 'j' as in jam.
- gj — a soft 'dy' sound, roughly as in 'due' in British English.
- q — a soft 'ty' sound; not a 'k'.
- dh — 'th' as in this. th — 'th' as in thin.
- rr — a strongly rolled r, distinct from single r.
- y — as in French 'tu' or German 'ü'.
Common elements in place names
- Mal / Malësi — mountain / highlands (Malësi e Madhe).
- Ujë / Uji — water (Uji i Ftohtë, 'the cold water').
- Syri — eye (Syri i Kaltër, 'the blue eye').
- Kepi — cape (Kepi i Rodonit).
- Liqeni — lake (Liqeni i Ohrit).
- Qafa — pass or col (Qafa e Thorës).
- Fushë — plain or field (Fushë-Krujë).
- Bregdeti — the coast.
Names you will see in two languages
Some places have long-established Greek names in the south (Himarë/Himara, Dhërmi/Drimades) and Italian forms inherited from the interwar period (Durrës/Durazzo, Vlorë/Valona). Older maps and books often use these.
Connected subjects
These are real relationships in the Atlas — places that are near this one, and subjects it genuinely belongs with. Nothing here is a generic recommendation.
Related subjects
Subject
The Albanian Alphabet
Thirty-six letters agreed at the Congress of Monastir in 1908, replacing competing Arabic, Greek and Latin scripts.
Subject
Gheg and Tosk
The two dialect groups, divided by the Shkumbin river: Gheg to the north, Tosk to the south.
Sources
This page draws on the curated inventory only; no external source has been attached to it yet.
Something wrong on this page? Corrections are welcome and are checked against the source record. Tell us what is wrong and, if you can, where the right figure comes from.