Where it is: "in", "on" and "at" in one tail
To say where you are and where a thing lies, you need no preposition. You need a tail, and it comes in four shapes: -da, -de, -ta and -te. For example: “Дәріханада дәрумендер бар” — The pharmacy has vitamins. A rule from the Kazakh course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
To say where you are and where a thing lies, you need no preposition. You need a tail, and it comes in four shapes: -da, -de, -ta and -te.
The choice follows the neighbouring consonant. After a vowel or a voiced sound you get -da or -de: qalada, üyde. After a voiceless one, -ta or -te: mektepte, kitapta. Harmony then picks the hard or the soft vowel.
One trap catches everybody. If a tail of ownership comes first, an n grows between the two: üyinde, in his house; bölmesinde, in his room. Say üyide and people will understand, but they will hear a foreigner.
At the pharmacy and at the doctor this tail never stops: därihanada, auruhanada, qolymda, basymda.
Table
| The word ends in | The ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel, l, r, u, y, m, n, ñ, zh, z | -da / -de | qala → qalada; üy → üyde |
| a voiceless consonant, plus b, v, g, d | -ta / -te | mektep → mektepte; kitap → kitapta |
| a possessive ending | -nda / -nde | üy-i → üyinde; bölme-si → bölmesinde |
By example
- Дәріханада дәрумендер барThe pharmacy has vitamins
- Мен ауруханада болдымI was at the hospital
- Кілт менің қалтамдаThe key is in my pocket
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Where it is: how does it work in Kazakh?
To say where you are and where a thing lies, you need no preposition. You need a tail, and it comes in four shapes: -da, -de, -ta and -te.
What does it look like in an example sentence Kazakh?
“Дәріханада дәрумендер бар” — The pharmacy has vitamins. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.