Language/Northern-uzbek/Grammar/Questions

Northern Uzbek Grammar - Questions

Hi Northern Uzbek learners! 😊

In this lesson, we will focus on questions in Northern Uzbek language. Asking questions is an essential part of communication, so it's important to know how to form them correctly. We will cover the basic question words, as well as some grammar rules you should keep in mind.

Basic question words

To form a question in Northern Uzbek, you usually start with a question word. Here are the most common ones:

Northern Uzbek	Pronunciation	English
kim?	/kim/	who?
nima?	/nimɑ/	what?
qayerda?	/qɑjer.dɑ/	where?
qalaysiz?	/qɑlɑj.siz/	how?
qancha?	/qɑn.tʃɑ/	how much/many?
qaysi?	/qɑj.si/	which?

These words can be used in various contexts to ask different types of questions. For example:

• Kim bu? (Who is this?)
• Nima gap? (What's up?)
• Qayerda yashaysiz? (Where do you live?)
• Qalaysiz? (How are you?)
• Qancha pulingiz bor? (How much money do you have?)
• Qaysi kitobni o'qiyaptilar? (Which book are they reading?)

Note that there are different ways to ask questions in Northern Uzbek. Sometimes you can simply change the intonation of a sentence to turn it into a question, without using a question word. For example, "Siz oqishingiz mumkin" (You can read) can become "Siz oqishingiz mumkinmi?" (Can you read?) by raising your voice at the end.

Grammar rules

In some cases, when you ask a question in Northern Uzbek, you need to change the structure of the sentence. Here are a few grammar rules to keep in mind:

Making questions with "bormi"

One way to form a question in Northern Uzbek is to add "bormi" at the end of a statement. "Bormi" means "is there" or "are there". For example:

• Uyda kitob bor. (There is a book at home.)
• Uyda kitob bormi? (Is there a book at home?)

Notice that in the second sentence, the word order has changed, with "kitob" coming before "bormi". This is a common way to form questions in Northern Uzbek.

Making questions with "mi" and "ma"

Another way to form a question in Northern Uzbek is to add "mi" or "ma" at the end of a sentence, depending on the vowel harmony. "Mi" is added to words with front vowels (i, e, ö, ü) and "ma" is added to words with back vowels (a, o, u). For example:

• Siz o'qiyapsizmi? (Do you study?)
• Men yashamanmi? (Do I live?)

Notice that the word order is the same as in the corresponding statements, and only the final particle changes.

Negative questions

In Northern Uzbek, you can also ask negative questions, which are questions that stress the negative form of a verb or adjective. To form a negative question, you can use the particle "emasmi" at the end of a sentence. For example:

• Bugun darsga kelmasangizmi? (Won't you come to class today?)
• U ko'rmaganmi? (Didn't he see it?)

Indirect questions

Finally, you may sometimes need to ask indirect questions, which are questions that are embedded in a larger sentence. In Northern Uzbek, you can use the "mi" and "ma" particles for this purpose as well. For example:

• Men uning nechta bola borligini bilmoqchiman. (I want to know how many children he has.)
• Ijtimoiy tarmoqlarda kimlarning ko'pligi adolatsizlik bilan bog'liqmi? (Is the high number of people on social media connected to injustice?)

Dialogue

To help you practice Northern Uzbek questions, here's a short dialogue between two friends:

• Odil: Senga qaysi kitob yoqadi?
• Dilnoza: Men aksiyoniyalar guruhi kitoblarini ko'proq yaxshi ko'raman. Sizga qaysi yaxshi?
• Odil: Men murakkab romanlarni joriy etaman.
• Dilnoza: Nima uchun? Siz uchrashuvchilardan kelganda o'qiyapsizmi?
• Odil: Ha, men biroz oqimaga qiziqaman.

Odil: Which book do you like? Dilnoza: I like action books more. Which one do you like? Odil: I'm into complex novels. Dilnoza: Why? Do you read them when you meet with friends? Odil: Yes, I'm a bit interested in reading.

Sources

• Uzbek language
• Uzbekistan
• Uzbek culture

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