Learn Malagasy Through Topics You Actually Care About

LingoBear creates short Malagasy passages on topics you choose. Tap any word for an instant English translation and build your vocabulary as you read. Austronesian language of Madagascar — closest relative is Maanyan of Borneo — Latin script, VOS word order (rare worldwide), ~25M speakers.

Tap any word for instant translation

Every word in your Malagasy reading passage is clickable. Get English translations and grammar help — useful for parsing VOS word order and the Austronesian focus system.

Read about topics you choose

Type any topic and LingoBear generates a fresh Malagasy reading passage — from Andasibe wildlife to Antananarivo street food.

Why is Malagasy considered an Austronesian language?

Although Madagascar lies off the coast of southeast Africa, Malagasy belongs to the Austronesian family. Its closest documented relative is Ma'anyan, spoken in southern Borneo, with strong borrowings from Bantu, Arabic and Sanskrit. Around 25 million people speak its many varieties; the official standard is based on the Merina dialect spoken in the central highlands.

What grammar features does Malagasy have?

Malagasy famously uses verb–object–subject (VOS) word order, where the subject typically comes last in the sentence. It marks 'focus' on the verb (actor focus vs object focus vs circumstantial focus) similar to Tagalog. It has no grammatical gender, no plural marking on nouns, and inclusive vs exclusive 'we' (isika vs izahay). LingoBear lets you see these patterns in real text.