І і — i (dotted)
«i (dotted)» is a vowel of Kazakh, the “Kazakh Cyrillic” script, read as “short i as in "sit"”. A short, crisp i as in "sit". For example, in the word “Сіз” — you (polite). The Kazakh alphabet has 42 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. Written like a Latin i, but it is Cyrillic. The front partner of y. It appears, for example, in the word “Сәлеметсіз бе” — hello (formal).
In short
| Character | І і |
| Name | i (dotted) |
| Sound | short i as in "sit" |
| What it is | a vowel |
In our course the character comes 38th of 42, its neighbours in the course are ы and ь, appears in roughly every fifth word on this site.
How it sounds
A short, crisp i as in "sit"
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- Сізyou (polite)
The character in the “the nine letters of their own” group
Everything the familiar alphabet lacks. Six of them are vowels, and vowel harmony rests on them: a word is spoken all-back or all-front, and the ending adjusts to it.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «i (dotted)» it is “short i as in "sit"”, as in the word “Сіз”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 42 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Kazakh character і read?
As “short i as in "sit"” — it is a vowel of the “Kazakh Cyrillic” script. A short, crisp i as in "sit". For example, in the word “Сіз” — you (polite).
What is the letter і called?
I (dotted). A character's name and its sound are different things in the Kazakh script: it is called “i (dotted)” and reads as “short i as in "sit"”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can і be confused with?
Written like a Latin i, but it is Cyrillic. The front partner of y. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.