Өзін ұстау
“Өзін ұстау” — to behave in Kazakh. Verb, level B1. rounded lips, back tense short u: o-ZIN us-TAU. In a live sentence: “Қонақта өзіңді дұрыс ұста” — When visiting, behave yourself properly. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Kazakh course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Kazakh | Өзін ұстау |
| Translation | to behave |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | B1 |
- Өзін ұстауto behave
How to pronounce it
rounded lips, back tense short u: o-ZIN us-TAU
Why it looks that way
literally to hold yourself: there is no single verb for it; the pronoun changes by person: I held myself, hold yourself
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Қонақта өзіңді дұрыс ұстаWhen visiting, behave yourself properly
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “to behave” in Kazakh?
«Өзін ұстау». rounded lips, back tense short u: o-ZIN us-TAU. In a live sentence: “Қонақта өзіңді дұрыс ұста” — When visiting, behave yourself properly. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level B1.
Why does this word look the way it does?
literally to hold yourself: there is no single verb for it; the pronoun changes by person: I held myself, hold yourself. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.