Uzbek/Lesson Two

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An old Madrassa in Bukhara.

This lesson is divided up into several sections. After your done you'll be ready to have your very first conversation in Uzbek. Sure, it'll be real simple—but you'll know how to greet somebody, introduce yourself, ask some polite questions, and say goodbye. If you want to do it intensive (which I'd recommend) you can do this all as one lesson. If you don't have much time the dialogues are broken up into four sections—just do one. (Eventually I think we'll merge all four tiny dialogues)

Cultural Notes

For many years Soviet histories portrayed Central Asia as a backward area with no tradition of scholarship and learning. In fact, education in the region was widespread and well developed long before the nineteenth century Russian conquest. There existed a large network of "old style" primary (maktab) and higher (madrasa) schools, which taught religious subjects. In those days many children studied at maktabs in their own neighborhoods. Some continued their studies for another ten years at a madrasa.

After the Russian conquest, the tsarist administration established schools with instruction in Russian for the indigenous nationalities. These trained a small number of Central Asians to serve the tsarist administration. Around the turn of the century, reform minded local intelligentsia called iadids opened "new style" schools (usul-i jadid). Unlike the "old style" schools, the jadid schools taught secular subjects.

Both the "old style" and the "new style" schools disappeared in the 1920s. Today Uzbekistan has educational institutions developed after the Soviet model, including primary and secondary schools, specialized technical schools, and institutes and universities. . . --The rest of the information from the peace corps manual is dated. Any important cultural fact about education can go here--

Dialogues

Uzbek Dialogue • Lesson Two • audio: upload • upload (131 + 142 kb • help) Greetings
	First Dialogue
Aziz	Eshiting va gapni yozing.
Mike	Iltimos, sekin oʻqing.
Aziz	Xoʻp Siz meni tushunyapsizmi?
	Second Dialogue
Mike	Men bu gapni tushunmayman.
Aziz	Qaysi gapni?
Mike	"Sogʻ boʻling!" nima degani?
Aziz	Bu - yaxshi tilak. Siz uni doʻstlaringizga aytishingiz mumkin
	Third Dialogue
Aziz	Mayk, yakshanbada siz qayerda boʻldingiz?
Mike	Yakshanbada men oʻyda boʻldim.
Aziz	Siz uyda nima qildingiz?
Mike	Men kitob oʻqidim, televizor koʻrdim va doʻstimga xat yozdim.

Vocabulary

Uzbek Dialogue • Lesson Two • audio (upload) Vocabulary
eshiting	listen (imperative, singular or plural polite)
va	and
gap	sentence
gapni	the sentence (accusative case)
yozing	write (imperative)
iltimos	please
sekin	slowly
oʻqing	read (imperative)
oʻqiyman	I will read (present-future tense)
siz	you
meni	me (accusative)
tushunyapsizmi?	do you understand?
bu	this
tushunmayman	I do not understand (negative present-future)
qaysi?	what?, which?
sogʻ	healthy
boʻling	be (imperative singular and plural polite)
sogʻ boʻling	be healthy
nima degani?	what does it mean?
tilak	wish
uni	it, him, her (pronoun, accusative case)
doʻstlaringizga	to your friends (possessive, dative case)
aytishingiz	your saying (possessive)
mumkin	may, can, possible (verbal predicate)
yakshanbada	on Sunday (locative case)
qayerda?	where?
boʻldingiz	you were (definite past)
uyda	at home (locative case)
boʻldim	I was (definite past)
nima?	what?
qildingiz	you did (definite past)
kitob	book
oʻqidim	I read (definite past)
televisor	television
koʻrdim	I watched (definite past)
doʻstimga	to my friend (possessive, dative)
xat	letter
yozdim	I wrote

Grammar and Vocabulary Explanations

For Dialogue 1

In Uzbek the infinitive is formed by adding the suffix -moq to the verbal stem:

Without the infinitive or any other suffix, the Uzbek verbal stem is identical to the second person singular or imperative which is used in familiar or sometimes impolite situations:

To express the imperative for singular and plural in a polite manner, the suffix -ing is added to a verbal stem ending in a consonant. The suffix -ng is added to a stem ending in a vowel:

In the sentence gapni yozing the suffix -ni indicates the accusative case and expresses the idea of a definite quality. It is equivalent to English 'the':

Pronunciation Notes

Pronounce the letters ng as one sound as in the American English ng in the word song, and not as two sounds n and g as in English 'in good standing'.

Imperative sentences are pronounced in Uzbek with a falling intonation on the last syllable:

For Dialogue 2

The negative of a verb is formed by adding the suffix -ma to the stem of the verb before adding any of the tense or person suffixes:

The word tushunmayman is a negative verb in the present-future tense and can mean 'I do not understand' or 'I will not understand.' It is formed by adding the suffix -i to the negative form of the verb:

Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • audio (upload) The negative of a verb (-ma suffix) and present-future tense (-i suffix)
tushun+ma+i+man	understand+not+do/will+I	I (will) do not understand

As in English, an adjective always stands before the noun it qualifies:

Aytishingiz mumkin (you can say) consists of a verbal noun aytishingiz (your saying) and a verbal predicate mumkin (it is possible).

The expression Sogʻ boʻling! (Be healthy) is used by Uzbeks to wish each other well when saying goodbye.

For Dialogue 3

The locative case suffix -da is attached to nouns and has the meaning of 'at,' 'in,' 'on':

The verbal forms of oʻqidim (I read), qildingiz (you did) etc. . . contain the definite past tense suffix -di. This suffix is added to the verb stem and indicates in a factual manner that an action was completed in the recent past:

Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • audio (upload)
xat yozdim	I wrote a letter (and finished writing it)

Sentence Patterns

When a word needs to be emphasized, it is usually placed immediately before the predicate:

Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • audio (upload)
Yakshanbada men uyda boʻldim	Men uyda yakshanbada boʻldim
Sunday+on I home+at was+I	I home+at Sunday+on was+I
I was at home on Sunday	I was at home on Sunday

Uzbek Proverb

Uzbek Proverb • Lesson Two • audio (upload)
Sogʻ tanda -- sogʻlom aql
Translation: In the healthy body is a healthy mind.
Meaning:Sound body = Sound mind

Recap

Congratulations! You can now have your first ever conversation in Uzbek--and that wasn't that hard either? Was it?

In future editions of this book we might have exercises and such, so that you can practice what you learned, and really get it to soak in--and also so you can double check and make sure you know it. But they aren't available just yet :)

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