Beletria

Learn German or French by reading the books you always meant to read.

Beletria turns public-domain classics into a reading lesson: one sentence at a time, every word explained, native audio on tap. Free, with no ads.

Start readingSee how it works

Works in the browser, on any phone. Sign in with Google to keep your words.

The Beletria reader on a phone: a German sentence with one word tapped, and a card explaining it

How it works

  1. 1

    Pick a book

    Fairy tales at one end, Dumas at the other. Every title is a real book from the public domain, marked with a difficulty so you can start where you are.

  2. 2

    Read one sentence at a time

    The page shows the sentence you are on. Tap any word for its meaning in context, flip the translation, or open a short explanation of the grammar you just met.

  3. 3

    Keep the words

    Save a word with one tap. Later, train your saved words with flip cards, mark the ones you know, and watch how much of each book you can already read.

The full guide, with screenshots

On the shelf

15 books today, every one prepared end to end before it is published. Difficulty runs from 1, a fairy tale, to 5, a novel that makes native readers reach for a dictionary.

German

  • 2/5AschenputtelJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5Das tapfere SchneiderleinJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne HeinrichJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5Der Wolf und die sieben jungen GeissleinJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5Die Bremer StadtmusikantenJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5DornröschenJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5Hänsel und GretelJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5RotkäppchenJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5RumpelstilzchenJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 2/5SneewittchenJacob Grimm, Wilhelm Grimm
  • 3/5Durch die WüsteKarl May
  • 4/5Der SandmannE. T. A. Hoffmann

French

  • 4/5Le Comte de Monte-Cristo — Tome IAlexandre Dumas, Auguste Maquet
  • 4/5Le Mystère de la chambre jauneGaston Leroux
  • 4/5Vingt mille lieues sous les mersJules Verne

Browse the library in the app

Why read, rather than drill

Sentences written for a lesson teach you the lesson. Sentences written by Dumas or the Grimms teach you the language, because every one of them was written to be read, and because you want to know what happens next.

The trouble with a real book has always been the dictionary. Beletria puts the dictionary, the translation and a patient grammar note one tap away, so a page that would have taken an evening takes a coffee.

From the blog

  • 14 September 2026

    Hello, Beletria

    The app is live at app.beletria.com. Here is what it is, why it exists, and what this blog is for.

All posts

Questions

Is it free?
Yes. Every book, every word, every clip of audio. There are no ads and nothing to unlock.
Which languages?
German and French to begin with. More come when the shelf for those two is good.
Do I need an account?
You can browse the shelf without one. Reading, saving words and picking up where you left off need a sign-in with Google, so your words follow you between devices.
Where do the books come from?
From the public domain: authors who died long enough ago that their work belongs to everyone. The text is the original, not a simplified retelling.
How are the explanations made?
Every sentence is prepared ahead of time with a language model, checked against the text, and cached. Nothing is generated while you read, and none of your reading is sent to a model.
Does it work on a phone?
It is built for one. Open the app in your phone’s browser and add it to your home screen.

Open a book tonight

The first sentence of a fairy tale is a good place to start. The first sentence of Monte-Cristo is a better story.

Start reading