Survival Uyghur: Lesson Five – Strength in Numbers
Survival Uyghur
From The New Dominion
Lesson Five: Strength in Numbers
Introduction
Salam! and welcome to “Survival Uyghur”, The New Dominion’s series on speaking practical Uyghur. Last week, we asked if something was (bar) or was not (yoq) available. Today, we’re going to build learn to respond to simple questions. This is going to take place in the context of a dinner out on a warm evening.
First, though, I’m going to teach you two more very important, very simple words. Last week, you learned rähmät – “Thank you”. Now, you will learn “yes” and “no”.
“Yes” will surprise you, because it sounds a bit like “Uh-huh.” You say it like this: hä’ä! Remember that ä is like the a in “cat”. The ‘ you see in the middle of the word means that, right there, there should be a “gap”. Say hä… then stop for a split-second before jumping on ä! This word has several variations, so, if you say something like hää, you will be understood.
“No” is like “there isn’t” (yoq). You say it like this: yaq! Remember that q is like a k way in the back of your mouth, where the uvula (dangly bit) dangles down. It’s a happy, poppy sound: yaq!
Dialogues
These are some common and simple dialogues that will appear regularly when you are out to eat. I’ve highlighted the new words.
A. Server:Nimä yäysiz? What will you eat?
You: Bäsh kawap yäymän! I’ll eat five kebabs!
B. Server: Nimä ichisilär? What will you (plural) drink?
You: Chay ichimiz. We’ll drink tea.
C. Server: Nimä yäysilär? What will you (plural) eat?
You: Polodin birni wä ikki chöchürä yäymiz. We’ll eat one polo and two chöchürä.
Grammar
I. We, You, and Y’all We’re worked with verbs before. You remember yäymän “I eat”. Well, now it’s time for yäymiz – “We eat”! As in, “Somyän yäymiz,” “Laghman yäymiz,” “Suyuq ash yäymiz,” etc.
We know -siz, as well. It showed up when we asked our friends, Siz-chu? “And what about you?” It works just like -män “I” on the end of verbs. yäysiz “you eat”, alisiz “you take”: “Bir nan alisiz,” “Yerim kilo tort alisiz,” “Bäsh kawap yäysiz.”
And so we turn to its plural form, as well: you (plural), you.plural, all of you, y’all, you’uns. We express this with a similar suffix: -silär. This is pronounced “slä”. Polo yäysilär “You (plural) eat polo.” More example: “Bir kilo tort alisilär,” “Ikki laghman yäysilär.”
Let’s make a chart to keep these straight.
| Verb Suffixes | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | -män | -miz |
| 2nd Person | -siz | -silär |
II. to drink: ich-
You may have figured out from the dialogues that the stem of “to drink” is ich-. Nothing to worry about here! It works just like “to eat” yä-.
Let’s look at an example. ichisiz means “you drink”. It’s made up of three parts: the verb stem ich-, the “present-future” suffix -i-, and the person -siz. ich-i-siz “drink-present-you”.
Here’s how yäymiz works: the verb stem yä-, the “present-future suffix” -i- (or -y-), and the person -miz. yä-y-miz “eat-present-we”.
So, we can begin to see that Uyghur words are really very straightforward. Let’s look at charts of both verbs.
| yä- “to eat” | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | yäymän | yäymiz |
| 2nd Person | yäysiz | yäysilär |
| ich- “to drink” | Singular | Plural |
| 1st Person | ichimän | ichimiz |
| 2nd Person | ichisiz | ichisilär |
III. and: wä
It’s time for “and”. “And” is wä. That’s all, really.
Example: polo wä laghman “polo and laghman”
IV. what: nimä
nimä “what” is also pretty straightforward.
Instead of saying, for example, laghman yäymän “I eat laghman”, you switch out laghman for nimä: Nimä yäymän? “What am I eating?” or “What will I eat?”
The same goes for drinking. Nimä ichisilär? “What’ll y’all have to drink?”
(As one astute reader pointed out, this word is often spelled or pronounced nemä. I’ve honestly never gotten a straight answer on which it is, but I suspect that nemä, which is the dictionary form, is used more by more educated people.)
Dialogue Combination
Work with these dialogues, preferably with a partner, to get some more practice using these words. Then, as soon as you can, go out and try them yourself!
A. Gülnar (the server): Tinchliqmu?
You: Tinchliq! Rähmät. Siz-chu?
Gülnar: Tinchliq. Nimä yäysilär?
You: Suyuq ash barmu?
Gülnar: Hä’ä, suyuq ash bar.
You: Bir polo wä üch suyuq ash yäymiz.
Gülnar: Polodin bir wä suyuq ashtin üch.
You: Hä’ä.
Gülnar: Nimä ichisilär?
You: Chay ichimiz.
B. You: Ässalam äläykum.
Ärkin (the server): Wä äläykum ässalam. Nimä yäysilär?
You: Somyän barmu?
Ärkin: Yaq. Somyän yoq.
You: Nimä bar?
Ärkin: Laghman wä polo bar.
You: Ikki laghman wä bir polo yäymiz.
Ärkin: Ikki polomu?
You: Yaq, bir polo.
Ärkin: Nimä ichisilär?
You: Chay ichimiz.
“Gülnar: Polodin bir we suyuq ashtin üch.” Did you mean to write “wä?”
Again, the formatting has improved. I like the tables and colored boxes.
I think it might be helpful to write an introductory (Lesson 0?) entry describing a bit about Uyghur. For example, introduce the Turkic languages, word order, vowel harmony, maybe a phonological chart, etc. You wouldn’t have to go into detail, but I think it might be useful for people with no background.
You spelt “nimä” wrong. It’s “nemä”.
Booya,
Mmm. It’s cited as نېمە in dictionaries and in about half of the written work I read, but spelled نىمە elsewhere. I’ve had several Uyghurs correct me and tell me to write it with an “i”, and that’s how I’ve gotten used to spelling it. Since Survival Uyghur is meant as a short-term rough-and-ready introduction to the spoken language, as well as a work in progress, I thought I would go with what I hear phonetically, at least in Urumchi: “nimä”, as in “Nim’ boldi?”
You’re quite right, though, about the variation in spelling and pronunciation. I’ll put a note in the lesson. Thanks!
[...] to “Survival Uyghur”, The New Dominion’s series on speaking practical Uyghur. Last week, we learned to talk about “we” and “y’all”, as well as “I” and “you”. [...]