LingoflyMy book and the door of the house: two ways to say whose
To say my suitcase you need no extra word. The tail hangs on the suitcase. English changes my; Kazakh changes the noun. Kitabym is my book, and meniñ in front may be dropped, because the tail has said it. For example: “Менің (meniñ) чемоданым (Chemodanym) жоғалды” (zhoğaldy) — My suitcase got lost. A rule from the Kazakh course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
To say my suitcase you need no extra word. The tail hangs on the suitcase. English changes my; Kazakh changes the noun. Kitabym is my book, and meniñ in front may be dropped, because the tail has said it.
There are six tails, one per person, each with a hard and a soft face. Mine is -ym or -im, yours is -yñ or -iñ, his is -y or -i, ours is -ymyz or -imiz.
After a vowel the first vowel of the tail falls away: bölme gives bölmem, not bölmeym.
And the trap: a voiceless consonant at the end of the word turns voiced. Kitap gives kitabym; zhük gives zhügim.
Table
| Whose | After a consonant | After a vowel | kitap / bölme |
|---|---|---|---|
| meniñ | -ym / -im | -m | kitabym · bölmem |
| seniñ | -yñ / -iñ | -ñ | kitabyñ · bölmeñ |
| sizdiñ | -yñyz / -iñiz | -ñyz / -ñiz | kitabyñyz · bölmeñiz |
| onyñ | -y / -i | -sy / -si | kitaby · bölmesi |
| bizdiñ | -ymyz / -imiz | -myz / -miz | kitabymyz · bölmemiz |
| olardyñ | -y / -i | -sy / -si | kitaby · bölmesi |
By example
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
How to say my book in Kazakh?
To say my suitcase you need no extra word. The tail hangs on the suitcase. English changes my; Kazakh changes the noun. Kitabym is my book, and meniñ in front may be dropped, because the tail has said it.
Why kitap becomes kitabym?
And the trap: a voiceless consonant at the end of the word turns voiced. Kitap gives kitabym; zhük gives zhügim.
Kazakh possessive endings -ym, -yñ and -y?
There are six tails, one per person, each with a hard and a soft face. Mine is -ym or -im, yours is -yñ or -iñ, his is -y or -i, ours is -ymyz or -imiz.
How to say the door of the house in Kazakh?
To say my suitcase you need no extra word. The tail hangs on the suitcase. English changes my; Kazakh changes the noun. Kitabym is my book, and meniñ in front may be dropped, because the tail has said it.
What does it look like in a Kazakh example sentence?
“Менің (meniñ) чемоданым (Chemodanym) жоғалды” (zhoğaldy) (Meniñ chemodanym zhoğaldy) — My suitcase got lost. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.