No: Duolingo has no Kurdish course, Kurmanji or Sorani, from any language. Which Kurdish you need, where to learn Kurmanji instead, and your first words.
Author: QlangoPublished: 4 min read
No, Duolingo doesn't have Kurdish. There is no Kurdish course on Duolingo, neither Kurmanji nor Sorani, for English speakers or from any other language: we read Duolingo's full course catalogue on 11 November 2026, and Kurdish isn't in it.
A disclosure: we make Qlango, a language app that teaches Kurdish (Kurmanji), so we have an interest here. The Duolingo fact above is plain fact, and you can check it yourself on Duolingo's course list.
Kurdish is a group of closely related varieties, and the two largest use different scripts. Kurmanji, or Northern Kurdish, is spoken in Turkey, Syria, the Duhok region of Iraq and northwest Iran, and is usually written in the Latin Hawar alphabet. Sorani, or Central Kurdish, is spoken around Erbil and Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan and in western Iran, and is written in an Arabic-based script. A beginner who learns one will struggle with the other. Qlango teaches Kurmanji.
No. Kurdish is an Iranian language, from the Indo-European family, and its best-known relative, Persian, isn't on Duolingo either (see does Duolingo have Persian). Duolingo does teach Turkish and Arabic, which many Kurds also speak, and Kurdish has borrowed words from both. But Turkish is Turkic and Arabic is Semitic, both unrelated to Kurdish, so neither course will teach you Kurdish. Babbel and Busuu don't offer Kurdish either (checked November 2026).
Qlango teaches Kurdish (Kurmanji) at A1 and A2, the first two levels of the CEFR scale. At A1 you introduce yourself and handle simple, familiar phrases. By the end of A2 you can talk about your family, work and daily life in simple sentences and get through routine exchanges.
A lesson works like this. You get a set of short example sentences in Kurmanji with the translation in the language you learn from, and you answer them in different ways, such as flashcards, picking one of two answers, matching pairs, putting scrambled words in order and writing the translation yourself. Writing is where you have to remember which words take ê, î and û. When you finish a lesson, it comes back after one, two, four and eight days and then once more, and any example you needed a hint for returns in harder questions later.
You choose the language you learn from, too: English or your own native language.
Kurmanji's Latin alphabet has 31 letters, and spelling is close to phonetic. It shares ç ("ch") and ş ("sh") with Turkish but adds letters Turkish doesn't use, such as ê, q, w and x:
| Letter | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ê | close to "ay" in "day" | sê, three |
| î | "ee" in "see" | şîr, milk |
| û | "oo" in "food" | nû, new |
| x | "ch" in Scottish "loch" | xwarin, food |
| q | a k made further back in the throat | qehwe, coffee |
| w | "w" in "wet" | welat, country |
Two more catch English speakers out: c is the "j" in "jam", and j is the "s" in "measure", as in jin, "woman".
Kurmanji nouns also have gender, and it shows in the ending that links a noun to the word describing it: navê min is "my name", but mala min is "my house", as nav is masculine and mal feminine.
| Kurmanji | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Silav | hello |
| Rojbaş | good morning |
| Tu çawa yî? | how are you? |
| Ez baş im | I'm fine |
| Spas | thank you |
| Erê, na | yes, no |
| Xatirê te | goodbye, said by the person leaving |
Rojbaş is built from roj, "day", and baş, "good", the same baş you use in Ez baş im. Our full guide to learning Kurdish compares Kurmanji and Sorani and covers the past tense and a plan for your first month.
No. As of November 2026, Duolingo has no Kurdish course, Kurmanji or Sorani, from English or from any other language.
It depends on which Kurdish you need. If it's Kurmanji and you want a course organised by CEFR level, with a fixed review schedule, Qlango teaches Kurdish (Kurmanji) at A1 and A2. Duolingo, Babbel and Busuu don't offer Kurdish (checked November 2026).
Qlango is free to download on iPhone and Android, and you can start your first Kurmanji lesson without creating an account. It also works in your browser.
First decide between Kurmanji and Sorani, by where the people you want to talk to come from. For Kurmanji, spend week one on the alphabet and a few phrases, then practise the gender endings.
We can't say. Duolingo adds and removes courses over time, so check its catalogue if you're reading this much later.
Kurdish isn't the only gap. See every language Duolingo doesn't teach, or compare Qlango and Duolingo side by side. Your first Kurmanji lesson takes about five minutes.
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