KawiParents guide · the vocabulary
First Luxembourgish words, with the official pronunciation.
Tap a card and it says its word. That is the gesture of the Kawi app, and it is how a child who cannot read yet learns a language: by ear, never by writing.
The 24 words below cover what a little one meets first at nursery, at the précoce or at the Spillschoul: animals, family, the first numbers, colours, school. The pronunciations are those of the official LOD.lu dictionary, the same ones you hear in the app.
Quiz: would you understand your child after school?
Eight school words in Luxembourgish, with the voice of the LOD dictionary. Listen, then tap the right picture. Free, two minutes, no sign-up.
Word 1 of 8
Hear the word againSchoul [ʃəʊl] · school
Word 2 of 8
Hear the word againApel [ˈaːpəl] · apple
Word 3 of 8
Hear the word againSchoulsak [ʃˈəʊlzaːk] · school bag
Word 4 of 8
Hear the word againJoffer [jˈofɐ] · teacher
Word 5 of 8
Hear the word againHeft [hæft] · notebook
Word 6 of 8
Hear the word againSpillplaz [ʃpˈilplaːts] · playground
Word 7 of 8
Hear the word againKaz [kaːts] · cat
Word 8 of 8
Hear the word againSchong [ʃoŋ] · shoe
Déieren · Animals
The most famous Luxembourgish animal does not fit on this list: the Kaweechelchen, the squirrel, one of the words nobody gets right on the first try. That is where Kawi took its name from.
These animals come back in the first Luxembourgish books, from De Grüffelo to the ZLS picture dictionary: see books for 3 to 6 year olds and where to borrow them.
D'Famill · Family
Zuelen · Numbers
To go all the way to ten, the ten cards are gathered on one page: counting to 10 in Luxembourgish, with audio.
Faarwen · Colours
De Kierper · The body
Iessen · Food
D'Schoul · School
Dobaussen · Outside
And for you, the polite words
Three words are enough to walk your child through the first day and greet the team: Moien (hello, at any hour), Äddi (goodbye) and Merci (thank you, the same as in French). And if you want the word that matters most: "I love you" is Ech hunn dech gär. These words also come back during the festivals children live through at school, where they hear them before understanding them. To vary them, here is how to say hello in Luxembourgish, and greetings by time of day.
Saying thank you, sorry and goodbye in Luxembourgish
Moien, the Luxembourgish word for hello, gets your child through the door. These ten words cover everything that comes after: thanking the teacher, apologising when you are late, saying yes, no and goodbye at the end of the day. Here is what each one means, spelled the way the official dictionary spells it, because several of them circulate online in a form that is not the right one.
| Luxembourgish | What it means | When you use it |
|---|---|---|
| merci | thank you, thanks | The same word as in French, so it costs a French speaker nothing. Example: "merci fir Är Hëllef!", thank you for your help. |
| villmools merci | thank you very much | Two words, never joined together. Example: "ech soe villmools merci fir dee schéine Kaddo!", thank you very much for the lovely present. |
| gär geschitt | you're welcome, my pleasure | The reply to a thank you. LOD gives the long form "(et ass) gär geschitt!". |
| keng Ursaach | you're welcome, don't mention it | The other reply to a thank you, exactly as LOD gives it: "keng Ursaach!". |
| wannechgelift | please | The dictionary writes it as one single word. The spelling "wann ech glift" is everywhere online, but it is not the official form. Example: "wéi vill Auer ass et, wannechgelift?" |
| entschëllegt | excuse me, sorry | The polite form, the one for the teacher. To a child or someone close, you say entschëlleg. Example: "entschëllegt, ass dee Stull nach fräi?" |
| Pardon | sorry, pardon | Two uses: you say it to apologise, and you ask it when you have not understood. It is a noun, so it keeps its capital letter. |
| jo | yes | Example: "jo, du hues Recht!", yes, you are right. |
| nee | no | Example: "hien huet kloer an däitlech nee gesot", he said no clearly. |
| äddi | goodbye, bye | The evening word outside the nursery. Example: "äddi a merci, mir gesinn eis d'nächst Woch erëm!", goodbye and thank you, see you next week. |
| gudden Owend | good evening | Owend takes a capital letter, gudden does not. The short form 'n Owend is very common. Example: "gudden Owend, wéi geet et Iech?" |
| (gudden) Mëtteg | good afternoon | The dictionary prints it with the brackets: gudden is optional, and you often hear just Mëtteg. The spelling "gudde Mëtteg" is not the dictionary form. |
Reading them is one thing, hearing them is another: Luxembourgish rarely sounds like it looks. Every word above has its audio on LOD.lu, the official Luxembourgish dictionary. Listen once, repeat it in front of your child, and you have said your first sentence.
These words are a start, not a method: the most effective thing is to turn them into a regular game, alongside nursery rhymes and immersion. We explain how it all fits together in the guide how to teach Luxembourgish to a child who cannot read yet. And if the school year is coming up, the guide the three-month plan before the new year turns these words into a three-month plan.
In the app, every word can be tapped and heard.
Listen, look, count, speak: your child learns these words by playing and tries saying them, a few minutes a day.