By GBarto
This is the first of five lessons to introduce some basic Uzbek structures and a limited vocabulary to use in them. In the last lesson , all you have learned will be put together so that you can take part in a short dialog about finding a hotel room. The lessons should be done in sequence.
If you’ve got a question about your response to a question, click the English. The checker doesn’t always correctly recognize words with internal apostrophes.
Let’s start!
The word for this is bu.
The word for coffee is kofe.
Uzbek doesn’t use a word for is in the present tense. To say This is coffee, you simply say This-coffee. Let’s try it.
You should have said Bu-kofe.
The word for good is yaxshi.
To say This coffee is good you say This coffee good.
The word for tea is choy. How would you say This is tea?
And how would you say This tea is good?
Uzbek adds prefixes, suffixes and infixes to words to change the meaning of a word or a sentence. Once such infix, mi, is used to form questions.
Is this tea good? = Bu choy yaxshimi?
How do you say Is this coffee?
How do you say Is this coffee good?
To answer, you might say, Yes, this coffee is good. The word for yes is ha.
The word for no is yo’q. And the word for not is emas. The sentence goes No, this coffee good not.
No, this coffee is not good. = Yo’q, bu kofe yaxhshi emas.
How do you say, Is this tea good?
Now answer, No, this tea is not good.
So far, you have seen how to form sentences of the type X=Y and make corresponding questions and negations. Let’s finish up by putting it all together with a short dialog:
You enter an office and are presented with a mug. You ask, is this tea?
He answer that no, it is not tea, it is coffee.
You take a sip, and he asks Is the coffee good?
You answer, Yes, the coffee is good.
In the next lesson, you will continue to use X=Y sentences. You will also learn about postpositions - Uzbek’s version of prepositions - and compound words.