Uzbek Language Guide

Where it's spoken

Uzbek is the state language of Uzbekistan under Article 4 of its constitution. An Uzbek textbook hosted by Duke University's Slavic and Eurasian centers states that it is also spoken in the neighboring countries Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, and that 85% of Uzbekistan's population speaks it.

Uzbek belongs to the Turkic group of languages and has many loanwords from Arabic, Persian and Russian. The common greeting Assalomu alaykum ("Hello / Peace be upon you") is one of them: this app's card notes that it is borrowed from Arabic. The same textbook notes that vowels and some consonants may sound different in different Uzbek dialects.

Sources

• Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan (unofficial English translation) — Art. 4 (state language)
• Ahmedjanova, Zumrad. "Uzbek Language." Duke University Slavic and Eurasian centers — p.4, §1.2 (spoken in neighboring countries; 85% of population; Turkic group; loanwords); p.11, §2.5.2 (dialect pronunciation)

Script & pronunciation

Latin was re-introduced as Uzbek's official script as part of the independence movement, but the same textbook notes that Uzbeks continue to use Cyrillic almost everywhere. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty likewise reported that Cyrillic is still widely used.

The modern Latin alphabet includes the letters sh, ch, ng, o' and g'. The textbook describes o' as a sound between o and u, and g' as a "voiced version of h". This app's cards write the mark in o' and g' with a plain apostrophe, as in Yo'q ("No").

The main stress falls on the last syllable of nouns, verbs and adjectives, and each vowel in a word is pronounced separately; Uzbek has no diphthongs. Where this app's cards have a romanization, it repeats the Uzbek spelling divided into syllables with hyphens, as in Qa-lay-siz? for Qalaysiz? ("How are you? (formal)").

Sources

• Ahmedjanova, Zumrad. "Uzbek Language." Duke University Slavic and Eurasian centers — p.8, §2.5 (Latin re-introduction; Cyrillic still used); pp.8-9 (alphabet table: o', g', sh, ch, ng); p.11, §2.5.2 (stress; vowels pronounced separately; no diphthongs)
• Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (12 February 2021). "Uzbekistan Aims For Full Transition To Latin-Based Alphabet By 2023" — Cyrillic still widely used

Grammar essentials

The typical Uzbek word order is subject–object–verb, so the verb comes last. In Men o'zbek tilini bilmayman (Men o'z-bek ti-li-ni bil-may-man, "I can't speak Uzbek"), Men is "I", o'zbek tilini is "Uzbek language" as the object, and the verb bilmayman comes at the end.

Grammatical functions such as case and tense are expressed by adding suffixes to words. In Hojatxona qayerda? (Ho-jat-xo-na qa-yer-da?, "Where is the toilet/bathroom?"), qayerda combines qayer ("where") with the suffix -da, which the card calls locative. Question words are placed in the sentence where the answer would go.

A verb is made negative by adding -ma to the verb stem, followed by -y and the personal ending. That gives bilmayman (bil-may-man), which the card glosses as "don't know / can't". Emas can be added to nouns and adjectives to negate them, as in xavfli emasmi? (xavf-li e-mas-mi?) on the card "Is it safe to go in the water?", whose note explains that xavfli emas means "not dangerous".

A yes/no question is formed with the particle -mi. In Bo'sh xona bormi? ("Do you have a vacant room?"), bor means "there is/are" and -mi makes it a question.

Sources

• Ahmedjanova, Zumrad. "Uzbek Language." Duke University Slavic and Eurasian centers — p.5, §1.3 (word order; question words); pp.4-5 (suffixes for grammatical functions); p.96, p.65 (negative -ma); p.48, §5.1 (emas); p.32, §4.3.1 (-mi)

Politeness & etiquette

Uzbek has two words for "you": the informal sen and the formal siz. The predicate carries a matching ending, -san with sen and -siz with siz. This app's card Siz inglizcha gapirasizmi? ("Do you speak English?") notes that siz is the polite form and that sen should never be used with someone you do not know.

The textbook lists Salom (Sa-lom; this app's card: "Hi / Hello") as "Hello" and Assalomu alaykum (As-sa-lo-mu a-lay-kum) as the formal "Hello".

The textbook advises referring to strangers respectfully, listing aka for a man who is older or to show respect. This app's Aka card ("Brother (to an older man)") describes it as the respectful way to address an older man such as shop staff or drivers, and its Opa card ("Sister (to an older woman)") as the respectful way to address an older woman at markets and eateries.

Sources

• Ahmedjanova, Zumrad. "Uzbek Language." Duke University Slavic and Eurasian centers — pp.20-21 (sen/siz; Salom; Assalomu alaykum); p.26, §3 (-san/-siz endings); p.87, §4.1 (aka)