Grammar lessons
Grammar lessons are the curriculum side of LinguaMorpha: a fixed sequence of lessons that introduces grammar and vocabulary step by step, with no decisions to make about scope. Use them when you would rather follow a path than build one.
Tap Grammar lessons on the main screen, or choose it under Study in the Mac sidebar. It appears for courses that have lessons; the header says how many there are. The screen offers a catalogue per kind of lesson the course has:
- Verbs — a structured path through conjugation, one tense at a time.
- Nouns — gender, plural formation and the patterns nouns follow.
- Adjectives — agreement in gender and number, and where adjectives go.
A course whose curriculum is one continuous path shows its lesson list straight away instead. The course guide says what its lessons cover and how far they go.
The catalogues are independent, so you can work through them side by side.
The lesson list
The lessons are grouped into modules. Each module heading shows its name, how many of its lessons you have completed (for example 3 / 10) and a chevron. Tap the heading to open or close the module; the app remembers which modules you left open. All modules start closed. A module that lies wholly above your level (see Your level) says Above this level under its name.
Inside an open module, each lesson shows its number — a green circle once it is done — ringed by how well you master it (see How well you master a lesson), with its title and description, the opening lines of its explanation, and two summary lines: New: what it adds (for example 20 verbs · New tense: Presente) and Practise: its exercises. Every lesson is open to you at any time; the numbers show the intended order, and a lesson above your level is dimmed.
Where a module has an introduction, it is the first row of the module, marked with a book. It explains what the module is about, usually with a reference table, and stays available to reread at any time.
At the foot of the catalogue, Reset all progress clears every completion mark so you can start the curriculum again.
Inside a lesson
The top card shows the lesson's CEFR level, sometimes a tag for the pattern it teaches, its number, title and description, and — when the lesson brings in a tense no earlier lesson covered — a New tense badge. About this lesson explains the grammar.
Study aids. Where the module has a reference card — an endings table, for example — it appears at the top of each lesson it applies to, so the reference is always where you need it.
The rest of the lesson has two phases.
1 Words in this lesson. The material, on the page:
- the verbs as a list, each with its meaning. Tap a verb to lay its card over the list, beside the names: its conjugation, a speaker button and — for verbs that have them — a button to show translations. The card shows one tense at a time; with more than one, tabs above the table choose it. It shows the lesson's tenses; a lesson that teaches no tense of its own, such as a theme lesson, shows every tense the path has taught so far — the present at first, more later on. The card sits level with its verb and moves when you tap another; the open verb's row is tinted. On the Mac, ↑ and ↓ move through the list. Close the card with ✕ (on the Mac also Esc), or tap the name again;
- an ⓘ beside a tense opens the Tenses page at that tense, with its card open and the other tenses a tap away; Back returns to the lesson. On the Mac the page opens in a window of its own, which can stay open beside the lesson; another ⓘ moves it to that tense;
- nouns and phrases in a Vocabulary card, and adjectives in an Adjectives card, where the lesson has them;
- a speaker in the heading of each list reads the whole list, with a pause after each item to repeat it.
Examples. After the words come the lesson's example sentences: each in the language you study with its translation below and a speaker of its own, and a speaker in the heading that reads them all. Every word the lesson teaches appears in at least one of them. A sentence that needs a word — why this tense, where a form comes from — carries a lamp: tap the sentence or the lamp for that line, and again to close it.
Words above this level. Some lessons offer words one level up that belong with their subject — in a lesson at CEFR A1 about food, desayuno and cena. Switch on Also words above A1 (the lesson's CEFR level) at the top of the words: they join the lists with their level beside them, get a card of examples of their own, and are practised in the exercises too. They never count towards the lesson's mastery. The switch is remembered from lesson to lesson.
Previous and next lesson. At the end of every lesson there is a card for the lesson before it and one for the lesson after it on the path; tap one to go there without returning to the list — Back still takes you to it. On a Mac, Previous lesson (⌘[) and Next lesson (⌘]) in the Study menu do the same; on an iPad with a keyboard, so do ⌘[ and ⌘].
2 Practice. Under Once you feel ready, test yourself, the lesson's exercises — for example verb meaning, conjugation, noun and phrase flashcards. A lesson that drills the meaning of more than one kind of word, such as a theme lesson with nouns and verbs, has one Meaning deck for all of them. Tap one to start. On the Mac an exercise opens in a sheet over the lesson.
This lesson / All. The meaning exercises and the verb exercises — conjugation and recognition — carry a This lesson / All switch. This lesson practises the words the lesson lists; All adds every word from the earlier lessons, which keeps older material warm. Each exercise has its own switch, and the choice carries over to other lessons. Where a lesson lists no words of a kind, the switch stands on All. The other exercises — pairs, the missing form, agreement — always use the lesson's own words.
How well you master a lesson
The top card shows a ring with a percentage: how well you know the lesson's new words. Each word counts both ways — recognising it, and coming up with it from its meaning — and in a lesson about a tense, each verb in that tense counts too. All your answers on these words count, wherever you practise them, but a typed answer weighs most, a flashcard you mark yourself a little less, and an answer picked from a list least. The lesson becomes Mastered when your answers show that you reliably know every part of it, not after a few right. The ▲ beside the percentage is what you added since you opened the lesson. Tap the ring for the full explanation. The same ring surrounds the lesson's number in the list.
The lesson report. The list button beside the ring opens the lesson's report. Under What the ring counts, each word of the lesson with where it stands, part by part — recognise: known · produce: learning, or per tense for a verb — and how many of all its parts are known; tap a word for its page. Under Past sessions, the sessions you opened from this lesson, with their scores.
Marking a lesson done
Tap Mark done in the top card when you have finished. If you master less than half of the lesson, the app says so and offers Keep practicing or Mark complete anyway. On a completed lesson the button reads Mark not done, to take the mark off again.
When to switch to Self Study
Grammar lessons are a good starting point and a good checkpoint. But when you want to:
- spend longer on one tense or verb group,
- drill a topic (food, travel, the body…) until it is automatic,
- work on the noun gender of your elementary vocabulary,
Self Study gives you the controls. Many learners switch between the two from week to week.