Language/Kirghiz/Grammar/Possessive-Pronouns
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Hello, dear students! Welcome back to our "Complete 0 to A1 Kirghiz Course". Today, we will dive into an essential part of any language: possessive pronouns. In this lesson, you'll learn how to use Kirghiz possessive pronouns to indicate possession or ownership. As always, I'll be sharing some cultural information and interesting facts about our beautiful language and country along the way. So let's get started!
Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: How to Use Be & Future Tense.
Introduction to Kirghiz Possessive Pronouns
In Kirghiz, possessive pronouns are used to show ownership or possession, just like in English (my, your, his, her, our, their). Kirghiz possessive pronouns agree with the noun in case and generally follow the noun they modify, unlike English, where they precede the noun (e.g., my book vs. китебим translates as "book my").
Before we proceed to the main topic, let's first briefly recap the Kirghiz noun cases:
- Nominative: the basic form of a noun (e.g., мен "I", сен "you")
- Genitive: showing possession, roughly equivalent to "of" or " 's" in English (e.g., менин "my", сенин "your")
- Dative: indicating the recipient of an action or the indirect object (e.g., мага "to me", сага "to you")
- Accusative: showing the direct object of a verb or the object being affected by an action (e.g., менди "me", сенди "you")
Now, let's have an overview of the Kirghiz possessive pronouns and their forms.
Kirghiz Possessive Pronouns
Here's a table of the basic Kirghiz possessive pronouns and their corresponding translations in English:
Examples:
| Kirghiz | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| менин | menin | my |
| сенин | senin | your (singular) |
| анын | anın | his, her, its |
| биздин | bizdin | our |
| сиздин | sizdin | your (plural, formal) |
| алардын | alardın | their |
As you can see, possessive pronouns in Kirghiz are actually formed by adding specific endings to personal pronouns, such as -менин for "my" and -сенин for "your". And, unlike English, where you might say "my house" but "his dog", Kirghiz possessive pronouns don't change gender or number. Instead, they change according to the cases.
Before we explore the different cases, let's take a look at some examples of how to use these possessive pronouns in Kirghiz:
- менин китебим (menin kitebim) - my book
- сенин калымың (senin kalymyň) - your carpet
- анын аптөпкө (anın aptöpkö) - his/her/its castle
- биздин журт (bizdin žurt) - our country
- сиздин достор (sizdin dostor) - your friends (plural)
- алардын жүргүзүүчү (alardın jürgüzüüčü) - their driver
Now that you have an idea of the basic Kirghiz possessive pronouns, let's discuss how they change according to the different noun cases.
Possessive Pronouns in Different Cases
Remember that Kirghiz possessive pronouns agree with the noun in case. This means that they change their form to match the noun's case. Let's take a look at some examples:
Nominative Case
In the nominative case, possessive pronouns follow their basic forms as shown in the table above. Here are a few examples:
- менин уйум (menin uyum) - my house
- биздин машына (bizdin mašyna) - our car
- анын жолук (anın žoluk) - his/her scarf
Genitive Case
In the genitive case, possessive pronouns add the ending -ни to their base forms:
- менин артаным (menin artanym) - mine behind (literally "behind of mine")
- сенин кызынын (senin kyzynyn) - your daughter's
- анын достунын (anın dostunyn) - his/her friend's
Dative Case
In the dative case, possessive pronouns add the ending -га to their base forms:
- менен бирикк!!ке перизатка !! (menin birikke perizatka!) - give my princess to me (literally "to my princess")
- сенин балаңга !! (senin balaŋga!) - to your child
- сиздин эжегезге !! (sizdin ejegezge!) - to your wife (plural, formal)
Accusative Case
In the accusative case, possessive pronouns add the ending -ни to their base forms:
- менин айымды !! (menin ayymdı !) - kill my sheep
- анын балаңды !! (anın balaŋdı !) - his/her child
- биздин башкомдун жарашы !! (bizdin başkomdyn jarašy !) - our manager's call
I hope this lesson has helped you understand the Kirghiz possessive pronouns and their usage! Keep practicing, and soon you'll be expressing possession like a native!
If you have any questions or need further clarification, don't hesitate to ask in the comments below. Stay tuned for our upcoming lessons as we continue our journey through the beautiful Kirghiz language and culture!
Other Lessons
- 0 to A1 Course
- Questions
- Personal pronouns
- Present Tense
- Past Tense
- Future Tense
- Subject Object Verb Order
- Personal Pronouns
- Noun Cases
- Adjectives
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