By GBarto
In this second lesson, you will learn about postpositions - Uzbek’s version of prepositions - and about compound words.
Let’s begin with a little review.
This is bu and tea is choy.
To say This is tea, you say This-tea.
Use -mi to ask a question.
The answers are:
Ha, bu-choy (Yes, this-tea)
Yo’q, bu choy emas (No, this tea not)
The word for room is xona. How would you ask if a room is good?
And how would you say that it is?
The word for guest is mehmon. How would you say This is a guest?
If you put together guest and house you get mehmonxona - hotel. Say The hotel is not good.
In English, you use prepositions to indicate place or direction (at the hotel, to the hotel). In Uzbek, you use postpositions - infixes attached to the word they go with.
at=-da so at this hotel=bu mehmonxonada. Imagine a friend asks you where you are staying. You answer:
You might take him inside and point out your room, adding in this room:
One word for place is yer. If you run together this-place-at you get buyerda, or here. Say This hotel is here:
That is u and that-place-at or there is uyerda.
How would you say That hotel is there?
Let’s put together one last word: what-place-at or where is qayerda.
Imagine you’re talking about a hotel with a friend. You want to ask where the hotel is. Since Uzbek has no word for the, use bu (this).
Let’s finish with a short conversation. You’re meeting a friend at his office. You enter and he hands you a cup.You ask if it’s coffee (kofe).
He says, No, it’s tea.
You take a drink and say it’s good.
Your friend asks where you’re staying. You say at the hotel.
He doesn’t know the hotel, so he asks where it is:
You answer, The hotel is there as you point out the window:
He asks if you have a good room:
You tell him, Yes, it is:
Some of the language in this lesson has been a little imprecise, but you now have a few tools for talking about where things are, as well as seeing how Uzbek words are put together.
In the next lesson, you will learn to talk about how you are, ask others how they are and talk about where you are.