Tazalap, turap, quyrıñyz: a chain of actions on -yp/-ip

A recipe is the most honest test of Kazakh syntax. An English recipe marches in imperatives: "peel, chop, fry". Kazakh does not speak that way: the personal ending is placed once, on the last verb, and everything before it stands in the -yp/-ip/-p form. For example: “Жұмыртқаны шайқап, ұнға қосыңыз” — Beat the eggs and add them to the flour. A rule from the Kazakh course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a…

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

How it works

A recipe is the most honest test of Kazakh syntax. An English recipe marches in imperatives: "peel, chop, fry". Kazakh does not speak that way: the personal ending is placed once, on the last verb, and everything before it stands in the -yp/-ip/-p form.

Kökönisti tazalap, usaqtap turap, maiğa quyrıñyz — peel the vegetables, chop them small and fry in oil. One -yñyz for the whole sentence. English repeats the imperative three times; Kazakh chains the verbs the way English chains "peeling, chopping and frying" inside one clause. The -yp form is called a converb, but it works wider than that: it is both "having done" and a plain "and": turyp, zhai ishtim — I stood up and had tea.

The variant is chosen by the end of the stem: after a consonant — "-yp/-ip" (tazalap with a vowel before the tail, kesip with a consonant), after a vowel — simply "-p". The vowel inside is dictated by harmony: quyrıp with the back row, kesip with the front row.

Second, what the kitchen teaches: the polite order. -yñyz/-iñiz is the "you" form, and it is exactly what recipes and instructions print: qosyñyz, aralastyryñyz, suyytyñyz. For "thou" — the bare stem: qos, aralastyr. There is also the soft request with "-shy/-şi": beriñizşi — give me, please; it sounds warmer and is more needed in conversation than a strict order.

And third: the order in the chain is the order in time. Kazakh does not reshuffle the steps for beauty the way English does ("fry, having peeled first"). What was done earlier stands earlier. That is why a recipe in Kazakh reads as a list of steps, not as a period.

Table

Tazalap, turap, quyrıñyz: a chain of actions on -yp/-ip
The formHow it is builtExampleThe meaning
-yp / -ipafter a consonantkesiphaving cut, and cut
-pafter a voweltazalaphaving peeled
-yñyz / -iñizthe polite orderqosyñyzadd
the bare stemthe informal orderqosadd (informal)
-ñyzshy / -ñizşia soft requestberiñizşigive me, please
-mañyz / -meñiza polite prohibitionqospañyzdo not add

By example

  • Жұмыртқаны шайқап, ұнға қосыңыз
    Beat the eggs and add them to the flour
  • Сорпаны тұздап, қақпағын жабыңыз
    Salt the broth and close the lid
  • Етті пісіріп, суытып қойыңыз
    Cook the meat and let it cool

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

Tazalap, turap, quyrıñyz: how does it work in Kazakh?

A recipe is the most honest test of Kazakh syntax. An English recipe marches in imperatives: "peel, chop, fry". Kazakh does not speak that way: the personal ending is placed once, on the last verb, and everything before it stands in the -yp/-ip/-p form.

What does it look like in an example sentence Kazakh?

“Жұмыртқаны шайқап, ұнға қосыңыз” — Beat the eggs and add them to the flour. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.

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