Education & Reference articles (page 27)
1000 guides in this category.
Yoruba Pronouns and the Absence of Gender
The Yoruba personal pronouns, their short and long forms, and the fact that Yoruba does not distinguish he from she.
Read article →The Arabic Alphabet: A Practical Guide to All 28 Letters
An introduction to the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, how they're grouped by shape, and which sounds English speakers find hardest.
Read article →Definite and Indefinite in Arabic: How 'The' and 'A' Work
Arabic has a definite article but no indefinite one. Here's how definiteness works with nouns and adjectives, and the common beginner traps.
Read article →Arabic Short Vowels and Diacritics (Harakat) Explained
What the small marks above and below Arabic letters mean, when they are written, and how to read a word without them.
Read article →Why Arabic Letters Change Shape: Initial, Medial, Final and Isolated Forms
How Arabic letters take up to four forms depending on their position in a word, with a worked example showing how a word is built.
Read article →Sun Letters and Moon Letters: Why 'Al-' Sometimes Changes Sound
How the Arabic definite article behaves differently before 14 'sun' letters and 14 'moon' letters, with examples and a simple rule.
Read article →Bengali Conjuncts (Juktakkhor): Reading Letter Clusters with Confidence
How Bengali joins consonants into conjunct letters, with the most common clusters and example words to help you decode them.
Read article →Bengali Consonants: The Five Rows and How to Remember Them
How Bengali consonants are organised by where in the mouth they are produced, and which distinctions (aspirated, retroflex, dental) trip up English speakers.
Read article →Bengali Pronunciation Tips for English Speakers
The sounds English speakers most often get wrong in Bengali, from the inherent 'o' vowel to aspirated consonants, with exercises to fix them.
Read article →Bengali Vowels and Vowel Signs: How the Script Writes Vowels
How the 11 independent Bengali vowels and their attached vowel signs (kar) work, with examples of how one consonant changes with each vowel.
Read article →Typing Bengali on Your Phone and Computer: Phonetic and Fixed Layouts
How to set up Bengali typing on Android, iPhone and desktop, and the difference between phonetic keyboards like Avro and fixed layouts like Bijoy.
Read article →Chinese Stroke Order: The Basic Strokes and Rules for Writing Characters
The eight basic Chinese strokes and the standard stroke-order rules, so you can write characters correctly and read handwriting.
Read article →Twelve Common Chinese Radicals and What They Tell You
A practical guide to the most common Chinese radicals, with example characters that show how radicals hint at meaning.
Read article →Pinyin Initials and Finals: How Every Mandarin Syllable Is Built
How pinyin splits Mandarin syllables into initials, finals and tones, with the full lists and examples to help you sound out any word.
Read article →Tone Change Rules in Mandarin: Third Tone, 一 (yī) and 不 (bù)
The systematic tone changes in Mandarin — third-tone sandhi, and how 一 and 不 change before other tones — with examples of how words are really spoken.
Read article →Tricky Mandarin Sounds: x, q, zh, ch, sh, r and ü
The Mandarin consonants and vowels English speakers most often get wrong, with simple mouth-position tips and practice pairs.
Read article →Common English Prefixes and What They Mean: Decode Thousands of Words
A practical guide to the most useful English prefixes, with meanings and examples, so you can work out unfamiliar words without a dictionary.
Read article →English Suffixes: How Word Endings Change a Word's Job
How suffixes turn verbs into nouns, nouns into adjectives and more, with the most common endings and a guide to spelling changes.
Read article →Homophones and Homographs: Words That Sound or Look Alike
The difference between homophones, homographs and homonyms, with common examples and tips for choosing the right word in writing.
Read article →Latin and Greek Roots That Unlock English Vocabulary
Twenty common Latin and Greek word roots with examples, showing how one root can explain a whole family of English words.
Read article →More Confusing Word Pairs: Accept/Except, Advice/Advise, Principal/Principle and More
Ten more pairs of English words that trip up writers, with clear definitions, example sentences and memory tricks.
Read article →French Numbers: Why 70, 80 and 90 Look So Strange
How French numbers work from 1 to 100 and beyond, the logic of soixante-dix and quatre-vingts, and the simpler forms used in Belgium and Switzerland.
Read article →French Vowels and Nasal Sounds: A Pronunciation Guide for English Speakers
How French vowel letters and combinations are pronounced, including the nasal vowels in bon, vin and blanc, with example words and practice tips.
Read article →Silent Letters, Liaison and Elision: How French Words Connect
Why French seems to flow without gaps, with clear rules for silent final consonants, liaison, enchaînement and elision, and the h muet versus h aspiré.
Read article →