At Duolingo, we believe that learning a language should be fun! That's why we combine gamification with learning science—to keep you motivated while helping you reach your goals. We offer over 100 courses teaching 40+ languages, and each one brings you a new way to connect with the people and cultures you care about, all for free!

Here's a tour of all the learning and gamification features you'll find in your Duolingo course.

Getting started on Duolingo
Lessons and learning features
Gamification for motivation
Two subscription options: Super Duolingo and Duolingo Max
Settings and personalization
Tips for using Duolingo

Getting started on Duolingo

First things first: Download the Duolingo app on your smartphone from the App Store or Google Play Store and pick a language to start your learning journey. (You can add more languages or check out our math and music courses later!)

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You'll be asked some questions about your motivations and goals, and you'll be able to turn on notifications so you can establish a study schedule. (Later, you can set the notification time in the settings menu.)

You'll also decide whether you want to start from the very beginning of the course or if you already know some of the language and would like to take a placement test to skip some units to match what you already know. 

Screenshot of the course selection screen. Duo the owl is at the top and says 'What would you like to learn?' and there are 7 languages listed below (and more available if you scroll). Screenshot of Duo the owl saying 'I'll remind you to practice so it becomes a habit!' and below is the phone pop-up message asking whether it should allow Duolingo to send notifications. Screenshot of Duo the owl asking “Where would you like to start?” and two options: Start from scratch (Take the easiest lesson of the Spanish course) and Find my level (Let Duo recommend where you should start learning).

If you start from the beginning of a course, there are still some ways to skip ahead, one unit at a time. If you go for the placement test option, you'll still be able to review any lessons that Duolingo marked as complete, but you won't be able to “undo” your placement and start from scratch. 

Don't forget to create a profile to save your progress! This will also allow you to access your account on other devices.

Lessons and learning features

At Duolingo, we make learning fun, but we're also serious about effective teaching! Duolingo learners improve their language skills after just three months, and learners who complete five sections score as well as students who took five semesters of university language classes. 🧠

Each Duolingo course is made up of units that focus on communication goals, and each unit covers the vocabulary and grammar needed to achieve that goal. Right from the start, you'll interact with the language by completing lessons on speaking, writing, reading, and listening to build up your proficiency.

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In each unit, you'll study just a few vocabulary and grammar topics in bite-sized lessons that make learning fun and accessible.

Units begin with easier exercise types, and they get a bit more challenging as you progress—for example, in earlier exercises, you might learn to recognize a new word, and eventually you'll be typing it out yourself. Each unit also includes personalized practice lessons that are unique to each learner: The exercises in your practice lessons focus on content that it's time to review and specific mistakes you've made.

Exercise that presents an illustration of a fish with the phrase 'the fish' followed by buttons for the Spanish words 'el' and 'la' and a blank space to type. The caption reads 'Translate the word.' Exercise of Lin next to a clickable speaker button followed by several blank lines and a word bank of 7 tiles with French words. The caption reads 'Tap what you hear.' Exercise of a dialogue bubble on the left with a question in French and a clickable speaker button followed by three possible answer choices on the right, all in French and accompanied by speaker buttons. The caption reads 'Speak the correct response.'
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With Duolingo, you don’t need to decide what to study next or the best way to review—our expert-designed courses integrate speaking, writing, reading, listening, and personalized practice into every unit.

For learners in our largest courses, like Spanish and French, there are also short dialogues called Stories for reading and listening practice (represented by the book icon) and DuoRadio episodes for entertaining listening practice with our quirky characters (headphones icon). 

Screenshot of the learning path in the Spanish course. The nodes include icons of a star, an open book, a microphone, a barbell, a video camera, and headphones. Screenshot of a Duolingo Story that shows a Spanish sentence followed by lines of dialogue next to avatars of bea and a man with glasses. Each line begins with a speaker icon. Screenshot of a DuoRadio episode, with Lucy sitting at a desk with a microphone and a recording device. An avatar of a woman appears in a speech bubble above the recorder, and below the image is an exercise that reads ‘Select the related image’ followed by two image options.

Intermediate learners can also use our award-winning Duolingo Podcast (available for Spanish and French learners) for listening practice on the go. In each episode, you'll learn something new about the regions and people who use the language, and brief explanations from a narrator will help you understand the language. You can also read along with transcripts online.

Learners studying languages with a different writing system, like Japanese, Korean, or Greek, will also find special lessons dedicated to reading practice. You'll learn to associate the characters or letters used in the language with the sounds they represent.

Exercise that presents a Japanese character in a clickable button that plays a sound and three answer choices below it. The caption reads 'What sound does this make?' Exercise that presents a small clickable speaker button and then a larger work space where the learner can drag different tiles of partial Hanguel characters to form a Korean character. The caption reads 'Build the character in Exercise that presents a small Japanese character next to a clickable speaker button and a larger work space with a light gray grid and a blue line and arrow showing how to trace the character. The caption reads 'Draw the missing stroke.'

Gamification for motivation

Staying motivated is one of the biggest challenges for language learners. That's why Duolingo uses gamification: to help you enjoy coming back to your lessons. Here are some of the features designed to help you stick with your learning plan.

Rack up XP to compete with friends and on Leaderboards.
You earn "experience points," or XP, whenever you complete lessons, read a Story, do some practice, or push yourself with timed challenges! You might also earn XP bonuses at different times of day or as rewards for hitting milestones. Each week, you'll compete against learners worldwide in our Leaderboards, where your XP add up to some friendly competition— and the top XP earners advance to the next league. (Not interested in competing? You can opt out in your settings.)

Stay on track with your Duolingo streak.
Your streak is the number of days in a row you've studied, and you can see it next to the flame at the top of your screen. Each day you complete a lesson, your streak gets one day longer! Be sure to buy a Streak Freeze with your gems by clicking on your gems at the top of the screen—that will protect your streak in case you miss a day!

Use your Duolingo Score to measure your progress.
Your Score tracks your progress in the course and gives you a clear way to set goals and compare your progress with friends and across the languages you're studying. Look for your Score next to the flag icon after you complete Unit 1.

Earn gems to spend on fun extras.
Gems are Duolingo's in-app currency, and you can use them in our Shop—get there by clicking on the gems icon. You can buy timer boosts, Streak Freezes, and other fun items!

Get a little help from your friends.
Why not make language learning even more fun by including your friends and family? You can combine your powers in a Friends Quest, join forces for a Friend Streak, follow their progress, send notes of encouragement, and more!

Scroll your Feed.
If you click the bell icon at the bottom of your screen, you'll find the Feed! Here, you'll see updates from your friends, special announcements from Duolingo, and more.

Mistakes cost you hearts—but you can earn them back.
Hearts keep you from moving too quickly through the course and help you focus on the material in your lessons. You'll lose a heart if you get an exercise wrong, and after five mistakes, you'll need to complete a practice lesson to earn one back. You can also get more hearts by buying them with your hard-earned Gems, and subscribers enjoy unlimited hearts.

Unlock even more learning with a subscription

One of the ways we keep Duolingo free for everyone is by offering two subscription options that get learners extra perks while supporting our mission to develop the best education in the world and making it universally available.

Super Duolingo
With Super Duolingo, learners skip the ads at the end of lessons, get unlimited hearts, have access to extra streak freezes, and can test out of units to skip ahead. Super subscribers also have more practice options in their personalized Practice Hub, where they can review mistakes, focus on listening or speaking lessons, and review vocabulary in matching exercises. There's also a Family Plan option to include up to six accounts in one plan.

Duolingo Max
Our top-tier subscription, Duolingo Max, gets you all the perks of Super Duolingo, plus GPT-4-powered features like Video Call with Lily, chat roleplays with your favorite Duolingo characters, and personalized grammar explanations.

Settings and personalization

Head to your profile (the person icon) and then the settings page (the wheel at the top right) to get the learning experience that's right for you: Turn on reminders to help make studying a habit, include listening practice in your lessons, and opt into social features for fun and motivation!

Screenshot of a learner’s profile, including their name, date joined, languages studied, their avatar, their followers, and a settings wheel in the top right corner. Screenshot of the Preferences menu, including options for Sound effects, Haptic feedback, Motivational messages, Listening exercises, Friends Quests, Friends Streaks, and either Romanized or Japanese pronunciation in the Japanese course. Screenshot of the Reminders menu, including options for Practice reminders, Smart scheduling, Reminder time, Streak Freeze used, Streak Saver, Early Bird Reward, Night Owl Reward, and Weekly progress.

Tips for using Duolingo

With Duolingo, you have all the learning tools you need, right at your fingertips! Here are some tips for making the most of your language course:

  • Move steadily down the course. Since personalized practice is built right into the course, you can rely on Duolingo for telling you what to review and when! It can be tempting to review material until you feel 100% confident with it, but it's actually best for your learning to push down into new material—even if it feels uncomfortable.
  • Take advantage of all the features. Duolingo makes it easy to personalize your experience—like skipping listening exercises if you're in a loud environment—but to make the most progress, speak every chance you get, keep the audio on, and challenge yourself to type out answers instead of using the word bank.
  • Find what works for you. Duolingo's bite-sized lessons fit into all kinds of moments throughout the day, so take advantage of this flexibility to start your day with a Duolingo lesson while you have your morning coffee, keep your language muscle strong while on your commute, or pass the time while waiting for your kids’ soccer practice to wrap up—or all of the above!

Free, fun, and effective language learning!

At Duolingo, we believe that the best language learning happens when you are enjoying the learning process, so we use learning science, gamification, and AI all together to build learning experiences that you *want* to keep coming back to!

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