Is there an easy way when creating a lingq from a word in a text that is plural to change it to singular for review? For example in Italian, many plural words end in “-i”, but it is more useful to learn the singular form to know whether the word ends in “-o” or “-e”.
Sorry but it’s not possible to change that automatically. The only way would be to import singular form manually on the Vocabulary page and then remove the other form.
1 Like
A solution could be to put the singular in the translation/hint box: e.g. for “uomini” you put “uomo - man”.
3 Likes
That’s exactly what I do. I’m studying Greek, so there are lots of forms of each word. Below is an example of how I record my translations. In my example, I LingQed a neuter, plural word (ends with “α”). At the start of my translation, I note that this is a neuter noun (“nn”), and at the end of the translation I note the dictionary form (in this case, the singular form) in […] (in my example, the dictionary form of the word ends with “ο”)
word: ακόντια
translation: (nn) spear, javelin, pike [ ακόντιο ]
Ι do the same for verbs and other parts of speech. At the beginning of the translation, I note the part of speech (noun, verb, preposition, etc) and at the end I put the form one would find in the dictionary. For words that are declined or conjugated irregularly, I might even add that information in the brackets along with the dictionary form. Essentially, I’m building my own dictionary at LingQ.
My method is very time consuming, especially since I gather translation information from more than one source, but I find it very helpful to keep me actively thinking about the language and seeing connections. And as my “dictionary” gets bigger, my hope is that I can spend more time reading and less time looking up words.
Have fun!
6 Likes
I forgot to mention: Once I’ve made one translation with all the info I described above, if I encounter another form of the same word, I just go to my Vocabulary here at LingQ, search for the dictionary form using the “Translation contains” search function, and then copy and paste the translation to my new LingQ.
Hope that helps!
2 Likes