Luxembourgish grammar, 32 rules that actually come up

Moien! — the universal greeting

Moien works any time of day. More specific: Gudde Moien (good morning), Gudden Owend (good evening), Gutt Nuecht (good night). Goodbye is Äddi, or Awar (more casual).

• Moien, wéi geet et?Hello, how are you?
• Äddi, bis muer!Bye, see you tomorrow!

Polite magic words

wann ech gelift (w.e.g.) = please. Merci (villmols) = thank you (very much). 'Et deet mir leed' = I'm sorry. 'Watgelift?' = pardon/what did you say?

• Eng Taass Kaffi, wann ech gelift.A cup of coffee, please.

Question words

wien (who), wat (what), wou (where), wéini (when), firwat (why), wéi (how), wéivill (how much/many).

• Wou wunns du?Where do you live?
• Wéivill kascht dat?How much does that cost?

Loan words are your friends

Luxembourgish borrows heavily from French: Merci, Pardon, d'Gare, de Camion, de Congé, den Timber (stamp), fëmmen (fumer). If you know French, you get free vocabulary.

• Ech si muer a Congé.I'm on leave tomorrow.

The letters ë, é, ä

ë = neutral schwa sound (Lëtzebuerg). é = sharp closed e. ä = open è sound (wäert). Getting these right instantly improves your accent.

• LëtzebuergeschLuxembourgish
• schéinbeautiful

sinn — to be

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

• Ech si midd.I am tired.
• Mir sinn zu Lëtzebuerg.We are in Luxembourg.

hunn — to have

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

• Ech hunn eng Fro.I have a question.
• Hues du Zäit?Do you have time?

ginn — the multi-tool verb

ginn means 'to give', 'to become', and builds the passive. ech ginn, du gëss, hien gëtt, mir ginn, dir gitt, si ginn.

• Et gëtt kal.It's getting cold.
• D'Dier gëtt opgemaach.The door is being opened.

Modal verbs

kënnen (can): ech kann. mussen (must): ech muss. wëllen (want): ech wëll. däerfen (may): ech däerf. sollen (should): ech soll. Second verb goes to the end as infinitive.

Модальный глагол стоит вторым, смысловой — в конце предложения в инфинитиве.

• Ech kann e bësse Lëtzebuergesch schwätzen.I can speak a little Luxembourgish.
• Ech muss elo goen.I have to go now.

Perfect tense — how you talk about the past

Spoken Luxembourgish uses the perfect: hunn or sinn + participle (usually ge-...). Movement/change verbs take sinn.

Прошедшее время строится через hunn или sinn + причастие. Движение и изменение состояния — с sinn.

• Ech hu giess.I ate / have eaten.
• Ech si gaangen.I went.

Separable verbs

Prefixes like un-, mat-, op-, aus- split off and go to the end, like German.

• Ech ruffen dech muer un.I'll call you tomorrow. (uruffen)
• Bréngs du eppes mat?Are you bringing something along? (matbréngen)

ze + infinitive

Like English 'to' or German 'zu'. With separable verbs, ze goes inside: unzefänken.

• Ech probéieren all Dag Lëtzebuergesch ze léieren.I try to learn Luxembourgish every day.

Future — usually just present tense

Use the present + a time word (muer, geschwënn, d'nächst Woch). wäerten exists but mostly expresses probability.

Будущее обычно выражается настоящим временем плюс слово времени. Отдельная форма нужна редко.

• Muer fuere mir op Esch.Tomorrow we drive to Esch.

wëssen vs. kennen

wëssen = to know facts (ech weess). kennen = to know people/places (ech kennen). Same split as German wissen/kennen.

• Ech weess et net.I don't know (it).
• Kenns du de Marc?Do you know Marc?

gär hunn & hätt gär — liking and ordering

gär hunn = to like/love. Ech hätt gär... = I would like... (THE phrase for shops and restaurants).

• Ech hunn dech gär.I love you.
• Ech hätt gär e Croissant.I'd like a croissant.

Et gëtt — 'there is / there are'

Like German 'es gibt'. Very common in descriptions.

• Et gëtt vill Restauranten an der Stad.There are many restaurants in the city.

Verb-second (V2) word order

The conjugated verb is always the second element. If you start with a time or place word, the subject moves after the verb.

Глагол всегда второй. Если предложение начинается с обстоятельства, подлежащее уходит за глагол.

• Haut ginn ech an d'Stad.Today I go to the city.
• Muer schaffen ech net.Tomorrow I don't work.

Word order with weil-type clauses

After well (because), datt (that), wann (if/when), the verb goes to the END of the clause.

В придаточном с datt (что) или well (потому что) сказуемое уходит в самый конец.

• Ech léiere Lëtzebuergesch, well ech hei wunnen.I learn Luxembourgish because I live here.

Negation: net and keen/keng

net negates verbs and adjectives; keen (m/n) and keng (f/pl) negate nouns, like 'no/none'.

net отрицает глагол/прилагательное; keen отрицает существительное.

• Ech verstinn net.I don't understand.
• Ech hu keng Zäit.I have no time.

Definite articles: den / d'

Masculine: den (de before most consonants). Feminine and neuter and plural: d'. There is no case ending chaos like German nominative/accusative for d'.

• de Mann, d'Fra, d'Kand, d'Kannerthe man, the woman, the child, the children

Indefinite articles: en / eng

Masculine + neuter: en (an 'en Apel'). Feminine: eng. E/en follows the n-rule: 'e Buch' but 'en Auto'.

• Ech kafen e Buch an eng Zeitung.I buy a book and a newspaper.

The Eifeler Reegel (n-rule)

A final -n(n) is dropped before most consonants, but kept before vowels and before n, d, t, z, h. This is why you see both 'den' and 'de'.

• de Mann, but den Owendthe man / the evening
• Ech hu vill Aarbecht. / Ech hunn Honger.I have a lot of work. / I am hungry.

Personal pronouns

ech, du, hien (he), si (she), hatt (it — also used for girls/young women), mir (we), dir (you pl./polite), si (they).

• Hatt ass meng Schwëster.She is my sister.
• Si schaffen zu Lëtzebuerg.They work in Luxembourg.

Possessives

mäin/meng (my), däin/deng (your), säin/seng (his/its), hiren/hir (her/their), eisen/eis (our), ären/är (your, polite/plural). First form m/n, second form f/pl.

• Mäi Brudder a meng Schwëster.My brother and my sister.

du vs. Dir — informal and polite 'you'

Use du with friends and family, Dir (verb form like plural) with strangers, officials, at the Gemeng. When unsure, use Dir.

К незнакомым и на экзамене — вежливое Dir (вы) с формой глагола на -t.

• Kënns du muer?Are you coming tomorrow? (informal)
• Kënnt Dir mir hëllefen?Can you help me? (polite)

Diminutive -chen / -ercher

Makes things small/cute; the noun becomes neuter. Plural often -ercher. d'Meedchen (girl) is grammatically neuter — that's why it takes hatt.

• e Stéckelchena little piece
• Kichelchercookies

Common dative prepositions

mat (with), bei (at/near), vun (from/of), zu (in, for towns: zu Lëtzebuerg), no (after/towards), aus (from/out of) — all take the dative.

• Ech wunnen zu Diddeleng.I live in Dudelange.
• Ech fuere mam Bus.I go by bus. (mat + dem = mam)

Numbers 1–12

eent, zwee, dräi, véier, fënnef, sechs, siwen, aacht, néng, zéng, eelef, zwielef.

• Ech hunn zwee Kanner.I have two children.

Numbers: units before tens

Like German: 24 = véierazwanzeg ('four-and-twenty'). Tens: zwanzeg, drësseg, véierzeg, fofzeg, sechzeg, siwwenzeg, achtzeg, nonzeg, honnert.

• Ech si véierazwanzeg Joer al.I am 24 years old.

Telling the time

Wéi spéit ass et? — Et ass zwou Auer. Half hours point FORWARD: hallwer dräi = 2:30 (half of the third hour).

• Et ass hallwer aacht.It is 7:30.
• Um véier Auer.At four o'clock.

Days of the week

Méindeg, Dënschdeg, Mëttwoch, Donneschdeg, Freideg, Samschdeg, Sonndeg. 'On Monday' = e Méindeg / méindes (every Monday).

• E Freideg ginn ech an de Kino.On Friday I go to the cinema.

Comparison with méi

Unlike German, Luxembourgish compares with méi + adjective (like French 'plus'). Superlative: am + adjective + -sten.

Сравнение: méi … wéi = более … чем; esou … wéi = такой же … как.

• Lëtzebuerg ass méi kleng wéi Frankräich.Luxembourg is smaller than France.
• Dat ass am beschten.That is the best.