Language/Kazakh/Grammar/Questions

Kazakh Grammar - Questions

Hi Kazakh learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will learn about asking questions in Kazakh. Questions are a crucial part of communication, and this lesson will be essential for intermediate learners. Understanding the structure of questions in Kazakh is essential, and we will illustrate with cultural information and interesting facts! Finally, we will show you a dialogue so that you can learn new words and see them in context.

The Intonation of Questions

In Kazakh, there are two primary ways to ask a question. One way is through the sentence's intonation. When the speaker raises the pitch of their tone towards the end of a sentence, it turns the statement into a question. Let's see an example:

• Ол жұмаға бара ма? (Ol jumagha bara ma?) - Does he go to the mosque on Friday?

Notice how there is no change in the word order or any auxiliary verbs? The only difference is the intonation. That's how Kazakh sentences can turn into questions.

Questions with the Particle "бе"

The other way to ask a question in Kazakh is to use the question particle "бе," which comes at the end of a sentence. The particle "бе" is equivalent to the English question words "is" or "are." When you use "бе" to ask a question, you don't change the word order either. For example:

• Күніңіз қалай? (Kuniniz qalay?) - How is your day?
• Сіз Достоевски-ді оқыдыңыз ба? (Siz Dostoyevski-di okydyngyz ba?) - Did you read Dostoevsky?

Note that the question particle "бе" is not used in the first example. That's because the question is open-ended, and the answer can be anything. The second example is closed-ended, and the answer can only be a yes or no.

Another thing to note is that when "бе" is added to a word that ends in "у" or "ұ," those vowels change to "ы" or "і." For example:

• Балаңыз ойыншы ма? (Balanyz oynyshy ma?) - Is your child a gamer?
• Қазақ тілін әзірлеу бойынша курстар бар ма? (Qazaq tiliin azerleu boiynsha kurstar bar ma?) - Are there courses on organizing the Kazakh language?

Using "бе" is an easy way to ask a question, and it's a good place for intermediate learners to start.

Forming Questions with Auxiliary Verbs

Another way to ask questions in Kazakh is to use auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs help to shape the sentence structure, and proper usage will create complex grammatical citations. The most common auxiliary verbs in Kazakh are "әмма" (but), "маған" (to me), "саған" (to you), "оған" (to him/her), and "бізге" (to us). Here is an example of how to use auxiliary verbs to form questions:

Kazakh	Pronunciation	English
Оған телефон шығады ма?	Oghan telephon shyghady ma?	Does he have a telephone?
Менің дүкенім жақсы бола ма?	Menin dykenim zhasy bola ma?	Is my store good?
Сіздің әмияныңыз үшін қандай сайынған материалдар бар ма?	Sizdyn aymianyngyz ushin qanday saiynghan materialdar bar ma?	Are there any recommended materials for your industry?

Notice that for each question, auxiliary verbs are used at the beginning of the sentence. It's critical to remember that you can't use "бе" and an auxiliary verb together in the same sentence.

Using Question Words

Question words are words that we use to begin a question in English. In Kazakh, question words are used to form grammatically correct interrogative sentences. Here are some of the most common question words:

• Кім? (Kim?) - Who?
• Қандай? (Qanday?) - How?
• Неліктен? (Nelikten?) - Why?
• Қайда? (Qaida?) - Where?
• Қашан? (Qashan?) - When?

Here's an example dialogue to show question words in context:

• Person 1: Мұнда қандай қыздар бар? (Munda qanday qyzdar bar?) - What kinds of girls are here?
• Person 2: Оқшаулы, бастан шығарылған! (Oqshaulı, bastan shygharylgan!) - Beautiful, they are from the countryside!
• Person 1: Қандайда танысыңыз ба? (Qandayda tanysyngyz ba?) - Where did you meet them?
• Person 2: Олармен сарай көшесінде кездестім. (Olarmen saray koseshinde kezdestim.) - I met them on Sarai Street.

Conclusion

Asking questions in Kazakh is not difficult, but it's important to understand the specific structure that Kazakh language requires. You can enrich your knowledge by using the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! In this lesson, we learned how to ask questions through the intonation of a sentence, by using the particle "бе," by forming questions with auxiliary verbs, and by using question words. Remember to practice the examples we provided, and use cultural information to keep building your knowledge of the Kazakh language. Don't forget to check out our [Language/Kazakh/Grammar|Grammar] page for more lessons!

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Sources

• Kazakhstan
• Kazakh language
• Interrogative
• Question word