LingoflyDep aıtty and ekenin: how to retell words and thoughts
News is always somebody else's words: they reported that, he stated that. For example: “Журналист (Zhurnalist) рейс (Reis) тоқтатылды деп (dep) хабарлады” (khabarlady) — The journalist reported that the flight was cancelled. A rule from the Kazakh course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
News is always somebody else's words: they reported that, he stated that.
Kazakh has no that-clause. In its place stands dep. The order is the reverse of English: first the words, then dep, then the verb of speech. Kelemin dep aıtty is he said he would come.
Dep carries more than speech. Dep oilaimyn is I think that; dep estidim is I heard that; dep ümittenemin is I hope that.
The trap: inside the quote the person stays put. Kazakh quotes word for word, so kelemin remains I will come, although English turns it into he would come. Change it to keledi and it sounds as if he spoke about somebody else.
Table
| What we retell | How it is built | Example | In English |
|---|---|---|---|
| someone else's words | the quote + dep + a verb of speech | kelemin dep aıtty | said he would come |
| one's own thought | the thought + dep oilaimyn | duryş dep oilaimyn | I think it is correct |
| a fact-action | -ğan + possessive + case | kelgenin bilemın | I know he came |
| a fact-state | eken + possessive + case | bos ekenin aıtty | said it was free |
| someone else's source | eken as its own word | ol auyryp qalypty eken | he, it turns out, fell ill |
| a question in a retelling | -atyn + possessive + case | qashan keletinin surady | asked when he would come |
| a name | degen | Abai degen aqyn | the poet named Abai |
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
Dep aıtty and ekenin: how does it work in Kazakh?
News is always somebody else's words: they reported that, he stated that.
What does it look like in a Kazakh example sentence?
“Журналист (Zhurnalist) рейс (Reis) тоқтатылды деп (dep) хабарлады” (khabarlady) (Zhurnalist reis toqtatyldy dep khabarlady) — The journalist reported that the flight was cancelled. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.