Kazakh All Seven Together

Kazakh grammar for beginners · What each ending marks, and every shape it takes

The seven cases

Case	What it marks	Back vowels (a, o, ū, y (а, о, ұ, ы))	Front vowels (ä, e, ı, ö, ü (ә, е, і, ө, ү))	Example
Nominative	The bare form: the subject of a sentence, or an indefinite general object.	—	—	esık (есік) "a door"
Genitive	"Whose?" The owner or modifier in a possessive compound.	-nyñ (-ның), -dyñ (-дың), -tyñ (-тың)	-nıñ (-нің), -dıñ (-дің), -tıñ (-тің)	esıktıñ (есіктің) "of the door"
Dative	"To where? / To whom?" The target, recipient, or destination of an action.	-ğa (-ға), -qa (-қа), -a (-а), -na (-на)	-ge (-ге), -ke (-ке), -e (-е), -ne (-не)	esıkke (есікке) "to the door"
Accusative	"What? / Whom?" The definite direct object of an action.	-ny (-ны), -dy (-ды), -ty (-ты), -n (-н)	-nı (-ні), -dı (-ді), -tı (-ті), -n (-н)	süttı (сүтті) "the milk"
Locative	"Where? / When?" The location in space or time where something is or happens.	-da (-да), -ta (-та), -nda (-нда)	-de (-де), -te (-те), -nde (-нде)	esıkte (есікте) "at the door"
Ablative	"Where from?" The point of origin, cause, or standard of comparison.	-dan (-дан), -nan (-нан), -tan (-тан)	-den (-ден), -nen (-нен), -ten (-тен)	mektepten (мектептен) "from school"
Instrumental	"With what? / With whom?" The tool, vehicle, companion, or route of movement.	-men (-мен), -ben (-бен), -pen (-пен)	-men (-мен), -ben (-бен), -pen (-пен)	sütpen (сүтпен) "with milk"

Consonant assimilation follows the same logic across all cases: stems ending in voiceless consonants take the voiceless shape across all six case endings (esık (есік) → esıkke (есікке), esıkte (есікте), esıktıñ (есіктің)). Nasal consonants (m, n, ñ (м, н, ң)) take vowel/sonorant shapes in the genitive (-nyñ (-ның)) and instrumental (-men (-мен)), nasal shapes in the ablative (-nan (-нан)), and voiced shapes in the accusative (-dy (-ды)) and locative (-da (-да)).

Two words through all seven

Case	Back vowels (a, o, ū, y (а, о, ұ, ы))	Front vowels (ä, e, ı, ö, ü (ә, е, і, ө, ү))
Nominative	bala (бала) "a child"	üi (үй) "a house"
Genitive	balanyñ (баланың)	üidıñ (үйдің)
Dative	balağa (балаға)	üige (үйге)
Accusative	balany (баланы)	üidı (үйді)
Locative	balada (балада)	üide (үйде)
Ablative	baladan (баладан)	üiden (үйден)
Instrumental	balamen (баламен)	üimen (үймен)

When a possessive ending is already there

Case	Kazakh	English	Turkish
Nominative	atasy (атасы)	his grandfather	dedesi
Genitive	atasynyñ (атасының)	his grandfather's	dedesinin
Dative	atasyna (атасына)	to his grandfather	dedesine
Accusative	atasyn (атасын)	his grandfather (definite object)	dedesini
Locative	atasynda (атасында)	at his grandfather's	dedesinde
Ablative	atasynan (атасынан)	from his grandfather	dedesinden
Instrumental	atasymen (атасымен)	with his grandfather	dedesiyle

Third-person possessive endings (-sy / -sı (-сы / -сі) and -y / -ı (-ы / -і)) insert a buffer -n- (-н-) before the dative (-na / -ne (-на / -не)), locative (-nda / -nde (-нда / -нде)), and ablative (-nan / -nen (-нан / -нен)), while the accusative takes a single -n (-н). The genitive and instrumental attach standard endings without a buffer. First- and second-person possessives (-m (-м), -ñ (-ң)) drop the initial consonant only in the dative: atama (атама) ("to my grandfather"), ataña (атаңа) ("to your grandfather").

The pronoun men (мен) through all seven

Case	Kazakh	English	Turkish
Nominative	men (мен)	I	ben
Genitive	menıñ (менің)	my	benim
Dative	mağan (маған)	to me	bana
Accusative	menı (мені)	me (definite object)	beni
Locative	mende (менде)	at my place; with me	bende
Ablative	menen (менен)	from me	benden
Instrumental	menımen (менімен)	with me	benimle

Dative mağan (маған) is an irregular stem (along with sağan (саған) and oğan (оған)). Instrumental menımen (менімен) attaches to the accusative base menı (мені) (unlike Turkish, which attaches to the genitive benimle). Ablative menen (менен) assimilates two nasals into a single n (н).

Turkish changes two of these consonants, Kazakh all six

Turkish alternates its initial consonant only in two cases: locative (-de / -te) and ablative (-den / -ten) after voiceless sounds. The endings for dative (-e / -a), genitive (-in / -ın), and accusative (-i / -ı) begin with vowels, and instrumental (-le / -la) keeps its l.

In contrast, Kazakh case endings always begin with a consonant, and all six alternate their initial consonant according to the preceding sound: üige (үйге) vs esıkke (есікке), üidıñ (үйдің) vs esıktıñ (есіктің), üidı (үйді) vs süttı (сүтті), üimen (үймен) vs sütpen (сүтпен).

Keep going

← With: the Instrumental · Spatial Postpositions and Relational Nouns →

All Kazakh lessons

• The Alphabet — Read Kazakh without learning Cyrillic
• How the Letters Behave — The things spelling does not tell you
• Turkish ↔ Kazakh Sound Laws — Six rules that unlock hundreds of words for free
• Vowel Harmony — The same system as Turkish — with one simplification
• Numbers — One to a thousand, and what a number does to the word after it
• Days of the Week — Saturday, and the days counted off it
• Months — Twelve names to learn outright
• Seasons — The four, and the weather that comes with them
• The Plural — One suffix, six written shapes
• Body Parts — From the top of the head to the sole of the foot, and the organs in between
• Personal Pronouns — Four ways to say "you", one word for "he" and "she"
• Possessive — The ending goes on the thing owned
• Family and Kinship — Lineages, generational ties, and reciprocal kinship
• The Copula — Saying "I am a teacher" with no verb at all
• Saying What Something Is Not — One extra word, and the personal ending moves onto it
• Asking a Question — One small word at the end, and nothing else moves
• Having and Not Having — No verb "to have" — only "there is" and "there is not"
• Where: the Locative — Location and time: one ending
• Where to: the Dative — Direction, destination, recipient, and purpose
• Where from: the Ablative — Starting points, origins, and standards of comparison
• Whose: the Genitive — Possession, definite noun phrases, and relationships
• What: the Accusative — The thing an action is done to — marked only when it is a particular one
• With: the Instrumental — Who you did it with, and what you did it with
• Spatial Postpositions and Relational Nouns — Expressing position, direction and time with postpositions and relational nouns
• Verbs, Infinitives and Commands — From dictionary forms in {{-у}} to bare stems, commands and polite requests
• Simple Present Tense — Habitual actions, general facts and future intentions in {{-а / -е / -й}}
• Simple Past Tense — Witnessed and completed past actions in {{-ды / -ді / -ты / -ті}}
• Distant Past and Past Participle — Experienced past actions in {{-ған / -ген}} and conversational negation with {{жоқ}}
• Habitual Past and the "Used-To" Aspect — Expressing past routines in {{-атын / -етін / -йтын / -йтін}} and habitual participles
• Reported and Narrative Past — Hearsay, indirect evidence and surprise discoveries in {{-ыпты / -іпті / -пты / -пті}}
• The Present Continuous Tense — Ongoing actions and the four auxiliary verbs of physical stance
• Future Tenses — Definite intentions in {{-мақ / -мек}} and probable futures in {{-ар / -ер / -р}}
• Desires, Intentions and Optatives — Expressing wishes in {{-ғым келеді}} and making proposals in {{-айын / -айық}}
• Ability and Inability — Expressing "can" and "cannot" using converbs in {{-а / -е / -й}} and {{алу}}
• Conditionals and "If" Clauses — Real and hypothetical conditions in {{-са / -се}} and counterfactuals with {{еді}}
• Sequential Converbs and Action Chains — Linking consecutive actions in {{-ып / -іп / -п}} without repeating conjunctions
• Causative, Passive and Reflexive Verb Voices — Grammatical voice derivations in {{-дыр / -қыз / -т}}, {{-ыл / -іл}} and {{-ыс / -іс}}
• Necessity, Obligation and Possibility — Expressing "must", "need to" and "might" with {{керек}}, {{қажет}} and {{мүмкін}}
• Verb Differences & False Friends — How common Kazakh and Turkish verbs parted ways over time

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