Kazakh grammar for beginners · Saying "I am a worker" with no verb at all
Kazakh has no present-tense verb "to be". To say "I am a worker" it puts an ending meaning "I" on the last word of the sentence: jūmysşy (жұмысшы) "worker" becomes jūmysşymyn (жұмысшымын). There is one such ending per person — and the third person gets none at all.
The last three lessons have all been about shaping a single noun. This one uses that noun to make a statement: "I am a worker", "my father is a doctor", "you are alone".
Kazakh does that without a verb. There is no present-tense "to be" to reach for, so instead an ending goes on the last word of the sentence, and that ending says which person the sentence is about. Men jūmysşymyn (Мен жұмысшымын) "I am a worker" is two words: men (мен) "I", and jūmysşy (жұмысшы) "worker" carrying an ending that itself means "I".
Grammars call these the predicate personal endings — the predicate being the part of a sentence that says something about the subject, here the word "worker". There is one for each of the eight pronouns, and they are the whole of this lesson. The books note that they are close to the endings a verb takes, which is where they turn up next.
To say "I am a worker" Kazakh puts an ending on the last word of the sentence rather than reaching for a verb "to be" — and that ending is the pronoun itself in suffix form. Men jūmysşymyn (Мен жұмысшымын) is jūmysşy (жұмысшы) "worker" plus an ending that means "I".
There is one ending per pronoun, and every one of the eight is below. The third person is the odd one out: it adds nothing at all, in the singular and in the plural alike, so Ol jūmysşy (Ол жұмысшы) is already a complete sentence.
The second person fills four rows because it has four pronouns — the plain and polite pair, each for one person or several, that you met in the Personal Pronouns lesson. Each of the four has an ending of its own.
Men jūmysşymyn Мен жұмысшымын
I am a worker · Turkish: Ben işçiyim
Sen jūmysşysyñ Сен жұмысшысың
you are a worker · Turkish: Sen işçisin
The plain form.
Sız jūmysşysyz Сіз жұмысшысыз
you are a worker · Turkish: Siz işçisiniz
The polite form — a different ending as well as a different pronoun.
Ol jūmysşy Ол жұмысшы
he is a worker, she is a worker · Turkish: O işçi
No ending in the third person.
Bız jūmysşylarmyz Біз жұмысшылармыз
we are workers · Turkish: Biz işçiyiz
Several workers, so the noun goes plural as well: jūmysşy (жұмысшы) + -lar (-лар) + the ending.
Sender jūmysşylarsyñdar Сендер жұмысшыларсыңдар
you are workers · Turkish: Siz işçisiniz
Plain, several people.
Sızder jūmysşylarsyzdar Сіздер жұмысшыларсыздар
you are workers · Turkish: Siz işçisiniz
Polite, several people. Turkish covers this row, the one above it and Sız jūmysşysyz (Сіз жұмысшысыз) higher up with the single sentence Siz işçisiniz.
Olar jūmysşylar Олар жұмысшылар
they are workers · Turkish: Onlar işçi
Still no ending; the plural on the noun is doing all the work.
| The sentence is about | The ending |
|---|---|
| me | -myn (-мын) / -mın (-мін) |
| you — one person, plain | -syñ (-сың) / -sıñ (-сің) |
| you — one person, polite | -syz (-сыз) / -sız (-сіз) |
| him, her, it | nothing |
| us | -myz (-мыз) / -mız (-міз) |
| you — several people, plain | -syñdar (-сыңдар) / -sıñder (-сіңдер) |
| you — several people, polite | -syzdar (-сыздар) / -sızder (-сіздер) |
| them | nothing |
Two written shapes per ending and never four: the choice is frontness alone, as it was in the plural and the possessive. The two rows with nothing in them are not gaps in the table — the third person genuinely adds no ending, whether one person or several. The m (м) at the head of the first-person endings is the one part that is not fixed, and the block below is about what it turns into.
The vowel of an ending follows harmony, as everything does. Its first consonant follows the sound the word ends in, on the principle you already used for the plural: voiceless after a voiceless consonant, voiced everywhere else.
m (м) is the ordinary form, p (п) is the voiceless one, and there is one extra split — after z (з) or j (ж) the m (м) stiffens into b (б). That gives three shapes for "I am" and three for "we are", each of them in a front and a back version.
Only the first person does this. The second-person endings begin with s (с) after every sound, and the third person has nothing to alternate.
Men oquşymyn Мен оқушымын
I am a pupil · Turkish: Ben öğrenciyim
After a vowel — the plain -myn (-мын).
Men därıgermın Мен дәрігермін
I am a doctor · Turkish: Ben doktorum
After r (р), and a front-vowel word, so -mın (-мін). The two words for "doctor" are unrelated — Turkish took the international doktor and Kazakh did not.
Men ğalymmyn Мен ғалыммын
I am a scientist · Turkish: Ben bilginim
After m (м), which keeps the m (м). ğalym (ғалым) is the same Arabic word as Turkish âlim "learned man", and it is what Turkish bilgin answers to.
Men jalğyzbyn Мен жалғызбын
I am alone · Turkish: Ben yalnızım
After z (з) → -byn (-бын). And an adjective rather than a noun: the ending does not care which. jalğyz (жалғыз) is Turkish yalnız.
Bız egızbız Біз егізбіз
we are twins · Turkish: Biz ikiziz
After z (з) again, front-vowel word → -bız (-біз). egız (егіз) is Turkish ikiz.
Men qazaqpyn Мен қазақпын
I am Kazakh · Turkish: Ben Kazak'ım
After voiceless q (қ) → -pyn (-пын).
Men ekologpın Мен экологпін
I am an ecologist · Turkish: Ben ekologum
The oddity you met in the plural, where pedagog (педагог) gave pedagogtar (педагогтар): g (г) is a voiced letter, but Kazakh devoices it at the end of a word, so it pulls the voiceless -pın (-пін).
| The word ends in | "I am" | "we are" |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel — or r (р), l (л), i (й), u (у), m (м), n (н), ñ (ң) | -myn (-мын) / -mın (-мін) | -myz (-мыз) / -mız (-міз) |
| z (з) or j (ж) | -byn (-бын) / -bın (-бін) | -byz (-быз) / -bız (-біз) |
| a voiceless consonant: k, q, p, s, t, f, h, ş (к, қ, п, с, т, ф, х, ш) — and also b, v, g, d (б, в, г, д) | -pyn (-пын) / -pın (-пін) | -pyz (-пыз) / -pız (-піз) |
Two independent choices, exactly as in the plural: the consonant comes from the sound in front of it, the vowel from harmony. The bottom row carries the same wrinkle as the plural table — b (б), v (в), g (г) and d (д) are voiced letters, but Kazakh devoices them at the end of a word, so they select the voiceless shape.
Sen änşısıñ Сен әншісің
you are a singer · Turkish: Sen şarkıcısın
One person, plain.
Sız änşısız Сіз әншісіз
you are a singer · Turkish: Siz şarkıcısınız
One person, polite.
Sender änşısıñder Сендер әншісіңдер
you are singers · Turkish: Siz şarkıcısınız
Several people, plain. The word itself stays singular here; only the ending shows that there are several of you.
Sızder änşısızder Сіздер әншісіздер
you are singers · Turkish: Siz şarkıcısınız
Several people, polite. än (ән) "song" is not the Turkish word: Turkish şarkı answers to Kazakh öleñ (өлең) instead.
Ol änşı Ол әнші
he is a singer, she is a singer · Turkish: O şarkıcı
And nothing in the third person, on this word as on every other.
Sız kımsız? Сіз кімсіз?
who are you? · Turkish: Siz kimsiniz?
The last word of the sentence takes the ending whatever kind of word it is — here the question word kım (кім) "who", the same word as Turkish kim.
A sentence about someone else is a subject and a noun with no ending anywhere and no verb: "my father — a doctor" is how it looks, and it is a complete, ordinary sentence.
This is the shape you are most likely to distrust, because nothing marks it as a sentence. Nothing needs to.
Äkem därıger Әкем дәрігер
my father is a doctor · Turkish: Babam doktor
The possessive from the last lesson, and then nothing at all.
Şeşem mūğalım Шешем мұғалім
my mother is a teacher · Turkish: Annem öğretmen
mūğalım (мұғалім) is the same Arabic word as Turkish muallim, which today has given way to öğretmen.
Ol zeinetker Ол зейнеткер
he is a pensioner, she is a pensioner · Turkish: O emekli
A third-person sentence with a pronoun subject, and still nothing on the end. Turkish has no word related to zeinetker (зейнеткер) here — emekli is the one to use.
Of everything in this course, this is the closest match. Turkish also has no present-tense verb "to be" and also puts a personal ending on the last word: Ben işçiyim, Sen işçisin, Biz işçiyiz. The third person adds nothing in Turkish either — O işçi is a whole sentence — so the fact that surprises most learners is one you have never had to think about.
Two differences are worth marking. The Kazakh first-person ending still carries the m (м) of men (мен) "I", where Turkish -im has no m in it and inserts a buffer y after a vowel instead (işçiyim). And that Kazakh m (м) changes shape with the sound in front of it, to b (б) or p (п), where Turkish -im is the same consonant-less ending after every word.
The other difference is the second person, and it runs the way it did with the pronouns: Turkish has -sin and -siniz, and the single sentence Siz işçisiniz does the work of three separate Kazakh ones. Kazakh spells out whether you are being polite and whether you are addressing one person or several; Turkish leaves both to the situation.