The New Dominion

Survival Uyghur

From The New Dominion

Lesson Seven: Where are you going?

Introduction

Salam! and welcome to “Survival Uyghur”, The New Dominion’s series on speaking practical Uyghur. Quite some time ago, we formed questions and asked for various items found at restaurants.

This week, we enter the realm of movement. Our simple dialogue asks, “Where are you going?” This is a good casual way to converse with a friend on the street.

But first, here’s your useful phrase of the week: Xosh! This is a quick way to say “Goodbye!”

Dialogue One

It is a warm autumn day in Ürümchi. You run into your friend Adil on the sidewalk outside the grocery store. He’s walking down the road, but you want to say hello and ask what he’s up to.

You: Ässalam äläykum!

Adil: Wä äläykum ässalum.

You: Nägä mangdingiz? Where are you going?

Adil: Mäktäpkä mangdim. I’m going to school.

You: “Mäktäp” nemä? What’s a “mäktäp?”

Adil: “School.” A “school.”

Vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar

1. mang- –
This is a verb meaning “to walk” or, colloquially, “to go.” In the present tense, it forms: män mangimän, siz mangisiz, biz mangimiz, etc. In the present interrogative, we have: siz mangamsiz?, etc.

Pronunciation note: The letters ng are the sound of ng in the middle of the words “singing” and “singer.” As in the English words “singing” and “singer,” there is no hard g between ng and the following vowel in mangamsiz. (Note: Some varieties of English do have a hard g in that position… No comment.)

The same goes for the verb as we see it in the dialogue: mangdingiz. Technically, this is the past tense: mang-di-ngiz, where -di- denotes past action, and -ngiz denotes the siz form.

The män form also shows up: mangdim. This breaks down as mang-di-m, where -m indicates the män form. We will work more with this grammar later on. For now, siz mangdingiz means “you are going” and män mangdim means “I am going.”

2. nä – This means “where.”

When we add the suffix -gä “to,” we get nägä “to where, whither.” -gä is one of the forms of what we call the “dative” suffix, -GA. It indicates the direction of an action, often of motion.

When -GA follows mäktäp “school,” it appears as mäktäp-kä “to a school.” Nägä? Mäktäpkä. “To where?” “To the school.”

Let’s combine -GA with a few other places you might want to go:

I will discuss the dative suffix -GA further in a special supplementary lesson.

3. nemä – As we have learned, this means “what.” Following a noun, it asks, “What is…?” For example, Mäktäp nemä? “What is a mäktäp?”

Dialogue Two

Mahirä: Salam, Sarah!

Sarah: Salam, Mahirä! Tinchliqmu?

Mahirä: Tinchliq. Siz-chu?

Sarah: Tinchliq. Nägä mangdingiz?

Mahirä: Bazargha mangdim.

Sarah: Bazar nemä?

Mahirä: “Market.” Siz-chu? Nägä mangdingiz?

Sarah: Universitetqa mangdim. Xosh!

Mahirä: Xosh!

For language nerds

Adil or Mahirä could have responded to “Mäktäp” nemä? and “Bazar” nemä? with another phrase: “Mäktäp” degän “school.” or “Bazar” degän “market.”

This is more colloquial and natural. Literally, it means “A mäktäp is called a ‘school.’” and “A bazar is called a ‘market.’”