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M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin STANDARD KURDISH ORTHOGRAPHY TABLE h 1990 Michael L. Chyet, updated 1998, 1999 Roman (Hawar) A a B b C c Ç ç Ç’ ç’ D d [²] [±] E e ‘E ‘e (E') (e') Ê ê F f G g H h H h (H’) (h’) I i Î î J j K k K’ k’ L l — – M m N n O o P p P’ p’ Q q R r R rr S s Ş ş [Ş/S] [ş/s] T t T’ t’ [®/T] [-/t] U u Û û V v W X Ù w x x Cyrillic А a Á Щ щ × ÷ ×’ ч’ Д д ’ ’ E ’ e h h’ K K’ O ’ Q ’ k k’ o ’ q ’ ’ ’ W X ’ w x ’ Arabic á • 1 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Y Z ‘ y z ‘ • 2 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Pronunciation Guide Vowels a as in father Dara ga kiras mal nav Zana e as a in cat, but shorter ders dest ez Ferhad Leyla ser ê as ay in day erê i as first i in min î as i in kitêb nêr divine, but shorter machine Bengîn enî jî wê xwendekar Xecê kiras kî kitêb pêçî Şîrîn mezin tilî wî o pronunciation varies from region to region: may be /o/ o in bone; /û/ oo in boot Cano mamosta Memo Zeyno u wi as in twig, but shorter guh gund tu tune û pronunciation varies from region to region: may be /û/ oo in boot; /î/ i in machine; /y/ ~ /ü/ German ü in kühl hûn namûs piçûk pirtûk Consonants c as j in jack ç as ch in chat Cano Xecê birçî H ‘e as Arabic [’ayn] + e ‘eşîret ‘erebe h as Arabic j as s in `[hÐ’] measure q as Arabic quloz ¶ çav çi Miço pêçî piçûk ‘enî [variant of enî] ‘Eyşan hişk Mihê jî [qÐf] r trilled as in Spanish dirêj deqe qedandin birçî qelew ders kiras • 3 • qîçik ser xwendekar M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin rr, rr double trill as in Spanish perro s always unvoiced, as s in soon sivik ş as ş in Şîrîn show x as German ch in ğ(x) as Arabic hişk şil machen ®[ghayn] rreş terr ders pisîk Xecê xwendekar ağa Meğrebzemîn y only used as a consonant: tilîya-- enîya-or as the second part of a diphthong (ay, ey, oy): Zeyno ç, k, p, and t occur both aspirated and non-aspirated. In written Kurdish, only Kurdish materials from the former Soviet Armenia maintain this distinction, by adding an apostrophe after the aspirated variant of each pair, yielding: ç [non-aspirated] - ç’ [aspirated]; k [non-aspirated] - k’ [aspirated]; p [non-aspirated] - p’ [aspirated]; t [non-aspirated] - t’ [aspirated]. This distinction will be indicated in the vocabularies only. All other consonants as in Engliş • 4 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Pêşîn [1] {Pikkert 1.12; 2.1, 2.2, 2.3} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan [proverb]: Navê gund namûsa gund e. DIALOGUE: I. Zeyno: Lezgîn: Z: L: Z: L: Z: L: Z: L: Z: L: Z: L: Z: II. Dara: Şîrîn: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: Tu kî yî? Ez Lezgîn im. Tu kî yî? Ez Zeyno me. Ew kî ye? Navê wî çi ye? Ew -- mamostayê min e. Navê wî Zana ye. Ev kî ye? Ev hevala wî ye. Navê wê Dîlan e. Ev çi ye? Ev kitêba min e. Tu xwendekar î? Erê, ez xwendekar im. Dersdarê te kî ye? Dersdara a min Leyla ye. Tu jî xwendekar î? Nexêr, ez dersdar im. Ez mamosta me. Bengîn kî ye? Bengîn hevalê min e. Tu dersdara min î? Nexêr. Ez dersdara Bengîn im -- ez mamostaya wî me. Ev çi ye? Ev destê te ye! Lê ev çi ye? Ev jî tilîya destê te ye. Ew kî ye? Ew hevala min e. Navê wê ‘Eyşan e. ‘Eyşan kî ye? ‘Eyşan mamostaya min e. Ew çi ye? Ew kitêba hevalê min e. Navê wî Bengîn e. Lê ev çi ye? Ew? Ew gayê wî ye! Ev çi ye? Ev kiras e. Kirasê te ye? Erê, kirasê min e. Ev enîya min e? Nexêr, ew tilîya te ye --- Ev enîya te ye! • 5 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin DIALOGUE (translation): I. Zeyno: Who are you? Lezgîn: I am Lezgîn. Who are you? Z: I am Zeyno. L: Who is he? What is his name? Z: He is my teacher. His name is Zana. L: Who is this? Z: This is his friend (f.). Her name is Dîlan. What is this? L: This is my book. Z: Are you a student? L: Yes, I am a student. Z: Who is your teacher? L: My teacher (f.) is Leyla. Are you a student too? Z: No, I am a teacher. I am an instructor. Who is Bengîn? L: Bengîn is my friend. Are you my teacher? Z: No. I am Bengîn's teacher -- I am his instructor. II. Dara: Şîrîn: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: D: Ş: VOCABULARY: çi? ders, f. dersdar, m.&f. dest, m. e enî, f. erê ev What is this? This is your hand! But what is this? This is the finger of (on) your hand. Who is şe? Şe is my friend. Her name is Eyşan. Who is Eyşan? Eyşan is my teacher. What is that? That is the book of my friend. His name is Bengîn. But what is this? That? That is his ox! What is this? This is a şirt. Is it your şirt? Yes, it is my şirt. Is this my forehead? No, that is your finger --- This is your forehead! what lesson teacher hand is forehead yes this k’î? mal, f. mamosta, m.&f. me min mê namûs, f. nav, m. • 6 • who house teacher [I] am my, of me feminine honor name M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin ew ez ga, m. gotina pêşîyan, f. gund, m. heval, m.&f. hûn im in î jî kiras, m. k’itêb1, f. that; he, şe, it I ox, bull proverb village friend you (pl.) [I] am [they] are [you] are also, too şirt book nexêr no nêr masculine pêçî, f. [also: bêçî] finger ser, m. head te your, of you t’ilî, f. finger tu you (sing.) wê her, of her wî his, of him xwendek’ar, m.&f. student ye is yî [you] are GRAMMAR: a. Ez … im = I am … Ez Lezgîn im. I am Lezgîn. Ez Bengîn im. I am Bengîn. Ez Dîlan im. Ez ‘Eyşan im. I am Dîlan. I am Eyşan. If the name ends in a vowel, instead of im we say me: Ez Simko me. Ez Zana me. Ez kî me? I am Simko. Ez Xecê me. I am Zana. Ez Leyla me. Who am I? [literally: I who am?] I am Khej. I am Leyla. Remember: Ez Lezgîn im ; Ez Simko me b. Tu … î = You (singular [sing.]) are … Tu Bengîn î? Are you Bengîn? Tu Dîlan î? Are you Dîlan? If the name ends in a vowel, instead of î we say yî: Tu kî yî? = Who are you? Tu Simko yî? Are you Simko? Tu Xecê yî? Are you Khej? c. Ew … e = He/Şe/It is … Ew Ferhad e = HE is Ferhad (or, It is Ferhad) Ew Şîrîn e = SHE is Şirin (or, It is Şirin) If the name ends in a vowel, instead of e we say ye: Ew kî ye? Who is he/she/it? 1Note that the k- in k’itêb and in k’î is aspirated, while the k- in kiras in nonaspirated. • 7 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ew Cano ye He/it is Jano d. Ev çi ye? What is this? Ew çi ye? What is that? Ew Zeyno ye Remember: ev = this ; ew = he/şe/it and e. Tu kî yî? Ez : Min Tu : Te Şe/it is Zeyno that Navê te çi ye? •My •Your Navê Navê Navê Navê Ew : Wî •His Navê (masculine [m.]) Navê Wê •Her Navê (feminine [f.]) Navê min Dara ye. te çi ye? te Bengîn e. te Memo ye. wî çi ye? wî Memo ye. wê çi ye? wê Zîn e. My name is Dara. What is your name? Your name is Bengîn. Your name is Memo. What is his name? His name is Memo. What is her name? Her name is Zîn. f. Kurmanji nouns have gender. A noun is either masculine or feminine. One way of telling a noun's gender is the ending it takes before pronouns like min, te, wî, wê. This ending is called ezafe: -[y]ê (nêr = masc. [m.]) navê ê min [my name] destê ê te [your hand] kirasê ê wî [his şirt] gay yê wê [her ox] -[y]a (mê = fem. [f.]) mala a min [my house] kitêba a te [your book] tilîy ya wî/pêçîy ya wî [his finger] enîy ya wê [her forehead] g. Some nouns can be of either gender, depending on the sex of the person. For example, heval = friend. If the friend is a man or boy (Memo, Bengîn), heval will be masculine. If the friend is a woman or girl (Xecê, Zeyno), heval will be feminine. heval [friend] hevalê ê min my friend (m.) hevala a min xwendekar [student] xwendekarê ê te your student (m.) xwendekara a te dersdar [teacher/instructor] mamosta [teacher/instructor] • 8 • my friend (f.) your student (f.) M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin dersdarê ê min mamostay yê te my instructor (m.) your teacher (m.) dersdara a min mamostay ya te my instructor (f.) your teacher (f.) Ez kî me? Who am I? Ez dersdar im = Ez mamosta me I am a teacher. Ez dersdarê ê te me = Ez mamostay yê te me I am your teacher (m.). Tu kî yî? Who are you? Xwendekar Memo, tu xwendekarê ê min î. Zeyno, tu xwendekara a min î. Hûn kî ne? Hûn … in Hûn xwendekarê ên min in Memo, you are my student (m.). Zeyno, you are my student (f.). Who are you (plural [pl.])? You [pl.] are … You [pl.] are my students. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) What is this? It is my book. 2) What is that? It is her head (ser [m.]). 3) Who is this? He is my friend. His name is Dara. 4) Who is that? Şe is my student. Her name is Zeyno. 5) Who are you? I am your friend [f.]. 6) What is the name of your [sing.] village? The name of my village is Axirmat. 7) What is that? It is the ox of my teacher [m.]. 8) What is her name? Her name is Leyla. Şe is my friend. 9) What is the honor of the village? The name [=reputation] of the village is the honor of the village. 10) What is that? That is your şirt. II. Make up ten sentences using the vocabulary and structures from this lesson. For example: What is this? This is …; What is that? That is…; What is my/your/his/her name? My, etc. name is…; Who is he/şe? He, etc. is my, etc. … III. Fill in the blanks with the correct forms: <im/me ; î/yî ; e/ye> 1) Ez hevalê te ____. 2) Navê wê Zeyno ____. 3) Navê gundê min Gozelderê ____. 4) Navê gundê wî Soybilax ____. 5) Leyla kî ____? Ew hevala min ____. 6) Tu dersdarê wê ____. 7) Cano hevalê mamostayê te ____? 8) Ez Şîrîn ____. Navê hevala min Xecê ____. 9) Ez Zeyno ____. Ez Dîlan ____. 10) Ew Memo ____. Ew ‘Eyşan ____. 11) Ev kitêba min ____. Ew kitêba te ____. 12) Tu Zîn ____? Tu Memo ____? 13) Ez Bengîn ____. Navê min Bengîn ____. 14) Ez Xecê ____. Navê min Xec ____. Navê min Xecê ____. 15) Ew çi ____? Ew gayê min ____. • 9 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin KURDIŞ PERSONAL NAMES Male: Bengîn Cano Dara Ferhad Lezgîn Memo Zana Female: Dîlan ‘Eyşan Leyla Şîrîn Xecê Zeyno Zîn • 10 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Didua [2] {Pikkert 1.3; 2.4} FOLKLORE: Mamik, f. [riddle]: Qîz pîr e, dê cahil e. Ev çi ye? Sê bira ne: hersê bira jî zikrreş in. DIALOGUE: I. Dara: Miho: D: M: D: M: D: M: D: M: D: M: D: M: D: [pembû] [dûstan] Çawan î2? Baş î? Ez baş im. Tu çawan î? Ez jî baş im. Hûn kî ne? Em xwendekar in. Tu kî yî? Navê min Miho ye. Ez mamosta me. Ez mamostayê we me. Ez Dara me. Ev jî hevalê min Rêbaz e. Em xwendekarên te ne. Ev du keç kî ne? Ew -- xûşkên min in. Navên wan Zîn û Xecê ne. Herdu xûşkên te jî xwendekar in? Nexêr, Zîn xwendekar e, lê Xecê xwendekar nîne3. Xecê xwendekar nîne?! Nexêr, ew hêj piçûk e! Mamosta, çend xwendekarên te hene? Gelek xwendekarên min hene! Gelek hevalên me jî hene! Northern version: II. Leyla: Ferhad, çend birayên te hene? Ferhad: Sê birayên min hene. L: Navên wan çi ne? F: Navên wan Bêkes, Rêdûr û Bûrhan in. L: Çend xûşkên te hene? F: Çar xûşkên min hene. L: Navên wan çi ne? F: Navên wan jî ev in: ‘Eyşan, Şîrîn, Dilxwaz û Dilvîn. Em çar kurr in û çar keç in: Em çar bira ne û çar xûşk in. L: Xûşk û birayên te hemî xwendekar in? F: Hemî xûşkên min xwendekar in, û birayên min Rêdûr û Bûrhan jî xwendekar in. Lê Bêkes hêj piçûk e! L: Hemî xûşkên te mezin in? F: Nexêr, ‘Eyşan û Şîrîn mezin in, lê Dilxwaz û Dilvîn 2Çawa 3or: yî? is also possible. lê Xecê ne xwendekar e. • 11 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin L: F: III. Abûzer: Meryem: A: M: A: M: A: M: A: M: A: M: A: piçûk in. Du xûşkên te mezin in, û didu jî piçûk in! Erê! Du birayên min jî mezin in, û didu jî piçûk in! Ev çi ye? Ev -- kitêba min e. Ew çi ne? Ew -- kitêbên birayê min in. Çend kitêbên wî hene? Pênc kitêbên wî hene -- û hemî piçûk in. Çend çavên te hene? Du çavên min hene. Çend guhên bavê te hene? Du guhên wî hene. Herdu destên dîya min piçûk in. Herdu pîyên bavê min mezin in. Tilîyên destê min çend in? Tilîyên destê te pênc in. Southern version: II. Leyla: Ferhad, te çend bira hene? Ferhad: Min sê bira hene. L: Navêt wan çi ne? F: Navêt wan Bêkes, Rêdûr û Bûrhan in. L: Te çend xûşk hene? F: Min çar xûşk hene. L: Navêt wan çi ne? F: Navêt wan jî eve4 ne: ‘Eyşan, Şîrîn, Dilxwaz û Dilvîn. Em çar kurr în û çar kiç în: Em çar bira yne û çar xûşk în. L: Xûşk û birayêt te hemî xwendekar in? F: Hemî xûşkêt min xwendekar in, û birayêt min Rêdûr û Bûrhan jî xwendekar in. Bes Bêkes hêj piçûk e! L: Hemî xûşkêt te mezin in? F: Nexêr, ‘Eyşan û Şîrîn mezin in, bes Dilxwaz û Dilvîn piçûk in. L: Du xûşkêt te mezin in, û du jî piçûk in! F: Erê! Du birayêt min jî mezin in, û du jî piçûk in! III. Abûzer: Meryem: A: M: Eve çi ye? Eve -- kitêba min e. Ew çi ne? Ew -- kitêbêt birayê min in. 4In southern dialects, eve is used as a pronoun (without a noun), and ev…-e with a noun: Eve çi ye? = What is this; Ev kitêbe e kitêba min e = This book is my book. • 12 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin A: M: A: M: A: M: A: M: A: Wî çend kitêb hene? Wî pênc kitêb hene -- û hemî piçûk in. Te çend çav hene? Min du çav hene. Babê te çend guh hene? Wî du guh hene. Herdu destêt dayka min piçûk in. Herdu pîyêt babê min mezin in. Tilîyêt destê min çend in? Tilîyêt destê te pênc in. Please note that dialogues II and III are provided in separate Northern and Southern dialect versions. We recommend that all students familiarize themselves with both varieties, and for the purposes of actively speaking Kurdiş choose the one that is best suited to their needs. VOCABULARY: [*Southern dialect forms will be designated as S: ] baş good in (we, you, they) are bav, m. [S: bab] father în (we) are bes [S] but keç’, f. [S: kiç] girl, daughter bira, m. brother kurr, m. boy, son cahil [also: cihêl] young; ignorant law, m. boy, son ç’av, m. eye lê but çawa[n]? how? ling, m. leg çend? how many? mamik, f. riddle dest, m. hand me our dê, f. (dîya-) [also: dayk]mother mezin big, large dûstan, f. tripod (one of three stones on which a pot is placed over the fire); em we ev [pl.] ew [pl.] gelek guh, m. hemî these ne [2] they; those pembû, m. much, many; very p’ê, m. (p’îyê-) ear piçûk [also: biçûk] all pîr hene herdu hersê heye hêj [also: hê] hûn [also: hûng] there are both all three there is still, yet you [pl.] 5Colloquially, ne [1] (we, you, they) are not cotton foot little, small old (of people) qîz, f. girl, daughter wan their we [also: hewe, hingo] your [pl.] xûşk5, f. sister -yne (we) are zikrreş black-bellied; hostile, jealous such forms as xweh, xuh, xayîng, xweyîng, xang may also be encountered. • 13 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin NUMBERS: yek [S: êk] didu - du sisê - sê one, 1 two, 2 three, 3 çar pênc four, 4 five, 5 In southern dialects, du (2) and sê (3) are used throughout. In northern dialects, du (2) and sê (3) are used before a noun, but when counting, or without a noun, didu and sisê are used. E.g.: Sê k’itêb = three books; but Çend k’itêb? Sisê = How many books? Three. GRAMMAR: a. Em … in = We are … Em xwendekar in. Em heval in. Em dersdar in. If the name ends in a vowel, instead of in we say ne: Em mamosta ne. Em bira ne. Em kî ne? = Who are we? [literally: We who are?] Remember: Em dersdar in ; Em mamosta ne In southern dialects (Behdinan in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Hekkari across the border in Turkey), there is a special form for the first person plural (=WE form) of the verb: Em … în before a consonant, e.g.: Em xwendekar în ; Em heval în ; Em dersdar în and Em … yne before a vowel, e.g.: Em mamosta yne ; Em bira yne; Em kî yne? Remember: Southern dialects: Em dersdar în ; Em mamosta yne b. Hûn … in6 = You (plural [pl.]) are … Hûn xwendekar in? Hûn heval in? If the name ends in a vowel, instead of in we say ne: Hûn kî ne? = Who are you? Hûn mamosta ne? Hûn bira ne? c. Ew … in = They/Those are … 6Hûn has a variant hon. In Behdinan, one often encounters the form hûng. • 14 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ew Ew Ew dest in = They/Those are hands çav in = They/Those are eyes xwendekar in = They/Those are students If the name ends in a vowel, instead of in we say ne: Ew kî ne? = Who are they/those? Ew bira ne Ew mamosta ne d. To sum up: in northern dialects, plural verbs have the same ending in all three persons (we, you, they): in after a consonant, and ne after a vowel. However, in southern dialects, the first person plural (=WE) has a special form: în after a consonant, and yne after a vowel.7 Em kî ne? Em heval in. [Southern: Em kî yne? Ew çi ne? Ew xwendekar in. e. Plural possessives: Em : Me •Our Hûn : We8 •Your [pl.] Ew : Wan sister?] •Their Em heval în.] Bavê me Dara ye. [=Our father is Dara] Mamostayê we kî ye?[=Who is your teacher?] Xûşka wan kî ye? [=Who is their f. Plural ezafeh: Whereas in the singular, the gender of a noun can be told by the ezafeh ending (-ê is masculine; -a is feminine), there is no such distinction in the plural. The plural ezafeh is -ên in all northern dialects and in Hekkari, and -êt (or -êd) in Behdinan: Hûn kî ne? Hûn xwendekarê ên min in. [S: Hûn xwendekarê êt min in.] Ev çi ne? Ev dest in -- Ev destê ên min in [S: Eve destê êt min in.] Ev Ev Ev Ev çav in -- Ev çavê ên te ne [S: guh in -- Ev guhê ên wî ne [S: pê ne -- Ev pêyê ên (pîyê ên) wê ne [S: ling in -- Ev lingê ên me ne [S: Eve Eve Eve Eve çavê êt te ne.] guhê êt wî ne.] pîyê êt wê ne.] lingê êt me ne.] g. Negatives: There are two ways to make the verb to be (he is, they are) negative: either the negative particle ne is placed before the predicate, or 7This distinction is standard in Sorani (Central) Kurdish dialects. some southern dialects, the form is hewe; in Behdinani dialects which have hûng instead of hûn, the corresponding oblique form is hingo: Mamostayê hewe/hingo kî ye? Remember: Southern dialects: hûn : [he]we & hûng : hingo 8In • 15 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin the verb form (e.g., e) is replaced with nîne9. Both are correct, but some regions seem to prefer one over the other. E.g.: Ew hevalê min e = He is my friend ; Ew ne hevalê min e = Ew hevalê min nîne = He is not my friend. Plural: Ew hevalên me ne = They are our friends ; Ew ne hevalên me ne = Ew hevalên me nînin = They are not our friends. Remember: nîne / ne … e [= is not] Ev destê min e? Ne, ev ne destê te ye, ev guhê te ye! Ne, ev destê te nîne, ev çavê te ye! h. There is/are The way to say there is in Kurdish is heye; the plural there are is hene. The negative of this (particularly in northern dialects) is tune (=there isn't), with plural tunin (=there aren't). E.g.: Çi heye, çi tune? [=What's new, lit. 'What is there, what isn't there'] In southern dialects, the forms nîne and nînin are more common. There is no separate verb to have in Kurdish. The idea of having is expressed with heye (infinitive: hebûn). In Kurdiş, instead of saying "I have two hands" one says "To me there are two hands" [southern] or "There are my two hands" [northern]. Although the southern and northern variants are similar, they are different enough that we will explain each one separately, beginning with the northern construction. •In the north, the ezafeh-plus-pronoun construction is used, e.g.: du çavê ên min = my two eyes [+ hene = there are] Du çavên min hene = I have two eyes. yek serê ê min = my one head [+ heye = there is] Yek serê ê min heye = I have one head. Çend destê ên te hene? Du destê ên min hene. Çend xûşkê ên te hene? Çend birayê ên te hene? In the south, a construction consisting of possessive pronoun10 plus the simple form of the noun is used, e.g.: 9Some 10or, prefer to put a space between nîn and the verb to be: nîn e and nîn in. oblique pronoun • 16 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin min = my (or, to me) + du çav = two eyes Min du çav hene = I have two eyes Te çend dest hene? Min du dest hene11. Te çend xûşk hene? Te çend bira hene? [+ hene = there are] EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) These are my hands. 2) Those are not your [sing.] ears, they are my ears. 3) What are these? These are his şirts. 4) Who are they? They are our friends. 5) They are not your students. 6) We are his teachers. 7) How many eyes do I have? You have two eyes. 8) Their village is large. It has many houses [Say this in two ways!]. 9) Are your sisters little? Are their ears big? No, they are not big, they are small. 10) How many names do you have? How many names does your father have? He has many names. II. Make up ten sentences on the following pattern: Is this your ear? No, it is not my ear, it is my eye. III. Turn your sentences from exercise II. into the plural (or into the singular), e.g.: Is this your ear? --> Are these your ears? IV. Fill in blanks with correct forms: <in/ne ; în/-yne> 1) Herdu xûşkên min mezin __. 2) Ev sê kurr birayên wê __. 3) Destên te piçûk __. 4) Herdu birayên te hevalên min __. 5) Birayên we xwendekarên me __. 6) Navên wan çi __? 7) Ev kirasên min __ yan kirasên te __? 8) Ev ling û pê __; Ev pê û ling __. 9) Sê bira __: hersê bira jî zikrreş __; 10) Guhên herdu mamostayên me piçûk __. V. Make the sentences in exercise IV. negative, giving two ways of saying each one. [Skip sentences 6 and 7] VI. Şow the gender of the following nouns, by using them in an ezafeh phrase. E.g.: guh (= ear) is masculine, as in guhê ê min; ders (=lesson) is feminine, as in dersa a wî. 1) kurr; 2) xûşk; 3) bira; 4) çav; 5) dest; 6) ling; 7) mal; 8) tilî; 9) kiras; 10) dê; 11) bav [bab]; 12) kitêb; 13) heval; 14) mamosta; 15) xwendekar; 16) mamik; 17) zik; 18) pembû; 19) dûstan; 20) gund. 11or, Min du dest yêt heyn. This construction is too complex for beginners. For fuller treatment of it, see: "Demonstrative Izafe" in: D.N. MacKenzie. Kurdish Dialect Studies - I (Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1961 [reprinted 1981 by London School of Oriental and African Studies]), ¶266, p. 162-163 . • 17 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Abûzer Bêkes Bûrhan Miho Rêbaz Rêdûr Female: Bêrîvan Dilvîn Dilxwaz Meryem Nalîn Nesrîn • 18 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Sisîya [3] {Pikkert 2.8, 2.9} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Dizî dizî ye, çi hêkek, çi gamêşek. DIALOGUE: I. Miho: Rêbaz: Dara: Bêrîvan: Gelawêj: Miho: Dara: Miho: Gelawêj: Miho: Gelawêj: Bêrîvan: Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: II. Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Roj baş! Ez mamostayê we me. Navê min Miho ye. Navên we çi ne? Navê min Rêbaz e. Ez jî Dara me. Rêbaz hevalê min e. Navê min Bêrîvan e. Û ez Gelawêj im. Bêrîvan hevala min e. Dara, çend xûşk û birayên te hene? Birayekî min heye. Navê wî Bahrî ye. Du xûşkên min jî hene. Navên wan Xecê û Zîn in. Û tu, Gelawêj? Xûşkeke min heye. Navê wê Mehabad e. Birayên te tunin? Belê, birayekî min heye: navê wî Sebrî ye. Mamosta, xûşkeke te jî heye, ku navê wê Gulistan e, ne wisa? Belê! Gulistan xûşka min e. Hevaleke wê jî heye, ku navê wê Bêrîvan e. Ez im, mamosta! Xûşka te Gulistan hevala min e! Bi rastî?! Dinya çend piçûk e! Bêrîvan! Pisîka te heye? Erê! Pisîkeke min heye, û kûçikekî min jî! Bi rastî? Pisîka te çawa ye? Mezin e yan piçûk e? Pisîka min mezin û qelew e. Ew bi xwe spî ye û gelekî pîr e jî. Çavekî wê heşîn e, û yek kesk e. Ew tim birçî ye! Navê wê çi ye? Navê wê Dîcle ye. Navê kûçikê min jî Devrreş e. Devê wî bi rastî rreş e? Erê! Ew hemî rreş e! Lê çavên wî zer in. Baş e, Devrreş -- kûçikekî qelew e? Nexêr! Pisîka min Dîcle qelew û pîr e, lê kûçikê min Devrreş ze‘îf û piçûk e. • 19 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Southern version: I. Miho: Rêbaz: Dara: Bêrîvan: Gelawêj: Miho: Dara: Miho: Gelawêj: Miho: Gelawêj: Bêrîvan: Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: II. Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Roj baş, xwendekarêt min! Ez mamostayê we me. Navê min Miho ye. Navêt we çi ne? Navê min Rêbaz e. Ez jî Dara me. Rêbaz hevalê min e. Navê min Bêrîvan e. Û ez Gelawêj im. Bêrîvan hevala min e. Dara, te çend xûşk û bira hene? Min birayek heye12. Navê wî Bahrî ye. Min du xûşk jî hene13. Navêt wan Xecê û Zîn in. Û tu, Gelawêj? Min xûşkek heye. Navê wê Mehabad e. Te bira nînin? Belê, min birayek heye: navê wî Sebrî ye. Mamosta, te xûşkek jî heye, ku navê wê Gulistan e, ne wisa? Belê! Gulistan xûşka min e. Wê hevalek jî heye, ku navê wê Bêrîvan e. Ez im, mamosta! Xûşka te Gulistan hevala min e! Bi rastî?! Dinya çend piçûk e! Bêrîvan! Te kitik heye14? Erê! Min kitikek heye, û seyek jî! Bi rastî? Kitka te ya çawan e? Ya mezin e? Ya piçûk e15? Kitka min ya mezin û qelew e. Ew bi xwe ya spî ye û gelek ya pîr e jî. Çavekê wê yê şîn e, û yek yê kesk e. Ew her û her ya birsî ye! Navê wê çi ye? Navê wê Dîcle ye. Navê seyê min jî Devrreş e. Devê wî bi rastî yê rreş e? Erê! Ew hemî yê rreş e! Lê çavêt wî t zer in. Baş e, Devrreş -- seyekê qelew e? Nexêr! Kitka min Dîcle ya qelew û pîr e, lê seyê min Devrreş yê zirav û cihêl e. 12or, Min birayek yê hey. This construction is too complex for beginners. Min du xû¤k jî yêt heyn. 14or, Te kitikek ya hey. 15In Behdinani, all predicate adjectives are preceded by what D.N. MacKenzie calls demonstrative ezafeh. In other words, all adjectives are marked for gender and number by an ezafeh marker preceding the adjective: yê for masculine singular; ya for feminine singular; t (for yêt) for plural of both genders. The prevalence of this gender marking is one of the distinctive characteristics of Behdinani speech. Whereas in the north, 'Are you well?' is simply Tu ba¤ î?, in Behdinan it is Tu yê ba¤ î? to a male, and Tu ya ba¤ î? to a female. 13or, • 20 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin VOCABULARY: baş belê bi rastî birçî [S: birsî] bi xwe bor dev, m. dinya, f. dirêj diz, m.&f. dizî, f. gamêş, m.&f. gelekî her û her [S] heşîn [S: şîn] hêk, f. hişk* ji k’esk kevn k’itik, f. [S] ku NUMBERS: şeş heft heşt good yes really hungry oneself grey mouth world long, tall thief theft buffalo very always blue egg dry from, of green old (of things) cat that, which (relative pronoun) kurt şort kûç’ik, m. dog ne wisa? isn't that so? nû new p’isîk, f. cat qelew fat rreş black rroj, f. day Roj baş! Hello se, m. [S] dog sor red spî white şil* wet terr* wet t’êr full, sated t’im always t’î [S: t’êhnî] thirsty xirab bad yan [also: an] or ze‘îf thin, lean zer yellow ziwa* dry six, 6 seven, 7 eight, 8 neh deh nine, 9 ten, 10 GRAMMAR: a. In Kurmanji, all nouns are definite unless they are specifically made indefinite. A noun is made indefinite by adding -ek to it. For example, dest = 'the hand' or 'hand', while deste ek = 'a hand' or 'one hand'. Nouns that end in a vowel add -yek, e.g. tilîy yek = 'a finger' or 'one hand'. Note that the indefinite suffix never receives the stress (e.g., dé éstek, never *desté ék). Here are some examples of nouns with the indefinite article: Note: Ziwa is dry of animate things and parts of living beings, e.g., earth, hair, lips, whereas ©i¤k is dry of inanimate things, e.g., trees and * plants. Likewise, ¤il is wet of living things, and te¢ is wet of inanimate things. Remember: ziwa / ¤il for living things; ©i¤k / te¢ for inanimate things. • 21 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin -ek [indefinite article = a/an (or one)] (nêr = masc. [m.]) (mê = fem. [f.]) dest-ek [=a/one hand] mal-ek [=a/one house] nav-ek [=a/one name] enî-yek [=a/one forehead] kiras-ek [=a/one şirt] tilî-yek [=a/one finger] ser-ek [=a/one head] pêçî-yek [=a/one finger] çav-ek [=an/one eye] kitêb-ek [=a/one book] guh-ek [=an/one ear] pirtûk-ek [=a/one book] heval-ek [=a/one friend] xwendekar-ek [=a/one student] dersdar-ek [=a/one teacher] mamosta-yek [=a/one teacher] b. Whereas the simple form of the indefinite article does not change for gender, when an indefinite noun is followed by a modifier such as a possessive pronoun (min, te, wî, wê, etc.) or an adjective, the indefinite article (-ek) must have an ezafeh ending.16 -ek + ezafeh (-ek-î = masc. [m.]) dest-ek-î min (-ek-e = fem. [f.]) mal-ek-e min [a hand of mine/one of my hands] [a house of mine/one of my…] nav-ek-î te kiras-ek-î wî çav-ek-î wê heval-ek-î me dersdar-ek-î wan tilî-yek-e te pêçî-yek-e wê kitêb-ek-e me heval-ek-e we mamoste-yek-e wan In Behdinan, the indefinite article -ek endings as the definite form of the noun: and -a for fem. (hence -eka). E.g.: dest-ek-ê min nav-ek-ê te çav-ek-ê wê takes the same ezafeh -ê for masc. (hence -ekê), mal-ek-a min tilî-yek-a te kitêb-ek-a me c. The indefinite article -ek can mean one as well as a/an. Consider the following sentences: 16Although one will also come across the indefinite article + modifier without ezafeh, this is most probably due to foreign (Turkish and Persian) influence. Because grammatical gender does not exist in Turkish or Persian (or Armenian, for that matter), whereas Kurmanji does have gender, there seems to be a tendency -which needs to be resisted -- to simplify constructions that require a knowledge of gender. For the purposes of this course, omitting the ezafeh ending on an indefinite noun + modifier will be considered a grammatical error. • 22 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Çend xûşkên te hene? How many sisters do you have? Xûşkeke te heye? Do you have a sister? Çend birayên wan hene? How many brothers do they have? Birayekî wê tune? Doesn't şe have a brother? Xûşkeke min heye. I have one sister. Birayekî wan heye. They have one brother. The same sentences in the southern dialects will look like this: Te çend xûşk hene? How many sisters do you have? Te xûşkek heye? Do you have a sister? Wan çend bira hene? How many brothers do they have? Wê birayek nîne? Doesn't şe have a brother? Min xûşkek heye17. I have one sister. Wan birayek heye. They have one brother. Consequently, there are two ways to express 'one' + noun. For example, 'one sister' can be: yek xûşk or xûşkek. The difference between them is a matter of emphasis. Yek xûşk means 'one sister', as opposed to 'two sisters', whereas xûşkek means 'one sister', as opposed to 'one brother'. So, unless you want to stress the word 'one', use the indefinite form of the noun when speaking of one thing or one person. d. Note again that some nouns may be masculine or feminine, depending on whether the person in question is male or female. The gender is reflected in the indefinite form of the noun as well. Hevalekî î min heye, ku navê wî Bahrî ye. Hevaleke e min heye, ku navê wê Gulistan e. e. Another way of rendering 'one of her fingers', 'one of our şirts', etc., is to say 'a finger of her fingers', 'a şirt of our şirts', etc. E.g.: Tilîyek ji tilîyên Kirasek ji kirasên Malek ji malên wan Kûçikek ji kûçikên Pisîkek ji pisîkên wê me we wî f. When a noun is modified by an adjective, the adjective will follow 17or, Min xû¤kek ya hey. This construction is too complex for beginners. • 23 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin the noun, and be connected to it by ezafeh. This holds true for both definite and indefinite nouns18. E.g.: mala piçûk kitêbeke sor [S: kitêbeka sor] kurrê birçî gundekî mezin [S: gundekê mezin] çavên rreş [S: çavêt rreş] the small house a red book the hungry boy a large village black eyes Here are some simple rrengdêr = adjectives that you will need. As much as possible, they have been arranged in groups of opposites: mezin [big] nû [new] baş/xweş/qenc [good] dirêj [long, tall] qelew[fat] şil/terr[wet] birçî [S: birsî] [hungry] birçîtî [S: têhnî] [thirsty] piçûk [small] kevn [old] xirab [bad] kurt [şort] zirav [thin] hişk/ziwa [dry] têr [full, sated] têr [full, sated] Colors: spî [white] kesk [green] sor [red] heşîn [S: şîn] [blue] zer [yellow] rreş [black] bor [grey] g. In a phrase such as 'one of my dogs is big and one [of my dogs] is small', it is not necessary to repeat the entire noun phrase [one of my dogs - kûçikekî min/seyekê min]. Instead, in the second part, yek can be used. Hence, one can say: Kûçikekî min mezin e, û yek piçûk e. Kirasekî min kevn e, û yek nû ye.One of my SHirts is old, and one is new. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) This is a white şirt. 2) He has a green eye and a blue one [=One of his eyes is green and one blue]. 3) I have two houses: one of my houses is grey and one is green. 4) Şe has two legs: one of her legs is long, and one of them is şort. 5) We have three brothers: one of our brothers is old and two of them are young. 6) They have four books: one of their books is new and big, and three of them are old and small. 7) You (s.) have two friends: one of your friends is tall and thin, and one is şort and fat. 8) You (pl.) have two teachers: one of your teachers is very good, and one is very bad. 9) He has many şirts: one of his şirts is wet, and two of them are dry. 10) My father has two sons: one of them is always hungry, and 18See note 16 above. • 24 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin one is a good student. II. a) Fill in the blank with the correct ezafeh form (m. or f.); b) then change each noun to the indefinite form; c) then translate both. E.g.: ders_ min: a) dersa min; b) derseke min; c) my lesson; a lesson of mine. 1) kitêb_ min. 2) kiras_ wî. 3) dest_ bavê me. 4) tilî_ hevala we. 5) kurr_ wê. 6) heval_ te. 7) diz_ gundê we. 8) hêk_ me. 9) mamosta_ wan. 10) pisîk_ xûşka min. III. Make sentences combining the indefinite forms from exercise II. with adjectives, and translate. E.g. derseke min: Derseke min dirêj e = One of my lessons is long. IV. Make up ten sentences using the numbers 1-10. KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Bahrî Ramazan Sebrî Female: Gelawêj Gulistan Mehabad • 25 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Çara [4] {Pikkert 3.3} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: 1. Şûr kalanê xwe nabirre. 2. Filan gund deh mal in, dwazdeh rrîspî ne. 3. Ew dibêje, lê napêje. DIALOGUE: I. Miho: Roj baş, xwendekarên min! Hûn çawan in, baş in? Rêbaz/Dara/Gelawêj/Bêrîvan: Sax bî, bijî, mamosta Miho! Em baş in. Miho: Hûn çi dikin? Gelawêj: Em dixwînin. Em dersa xwe dixwînin. Miho: Gelekî baş e! Hûn dersa xwe fêm dikin? Rêbaz: Erê, mamosta Miho! Em dersa xwe baş fêm dikin! Miho: Ez kurrekî nû dibînim. Ew kî ye? Navê wî çi ye? Dara: Navê wî Bêkes e, mamosta. Ew birayê min e. Miho: Ew çi dike? Bêkes, tu çi dikî? Dara: Ew nan dixwe, mamosta! Bêkes: Ez nan dixwim, mamosta! Miho: Bêkes, tu çima nan dixwî? Bêkes: Ez nan dixwim, ji ber ku ez birçî me! Miho: Ez fêm dikim ku tu birçî yî, lê em niha nan naxwin. Hêj zû ye! Niha em dersa xwe dixwînin. Bêkes: Baş e, mamosta. Ez êdî nan naxwim. Miho: Sipas, Bêkes! Tu kurrekî baş î! … Niha ew çi dike? Dara: Ew digrî, mamosta! II. Gelawêj: Miho: Dara: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: Dara: Mamosta, bavê te hêj sax e? Erê, bavê min sax e! Ew rrîspîyê gundê me ye. Bavê te çi dike? Bavê min gelekî hiz ji mamik û gotinên pêşîyan dike. Ew gelek mamikên kevn dibêje. Hûn jî hiz ji wan dikin? Mamosta, em mamikên kevn nizanin. Tu çend mamikên bavê xwe nabêjî? Hûn mamikeke bavê min dixwazin! Baş e. Yek ji wan wisa ye: "Dixwe, dixwe, têr naxwe." Çi ye? Ez dizanim, mamosta! Ga ye, ne wisa? Nexêr! Ga nîne! Kî dizane çi ye? Em nizanin, mamosta. Çi ye? • 26 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Miho: Aş e! Aş! Hûn fêm dikin? Aş dixwe û dixwe, lê têr naxwe. VOCABULARY: aş, m. ji ber ku Bijî! kalan, m. çend k’ê? [obl. of k’î?] çima? li k’u? dibêjim ná[+ pres. ind.] dibirrim nan, m. dibînim nan dixwim didim [S: didem] digrim niha digrîm nizanim dikim [S: dikem] p’irtûk, f.[=kitêb] dipêjim dişom rrîspî, m. dixwazim sax dixwim [S: dixom] Sax bî! dixwînim sipas! dizanim şûr, m. êdî t’êr dixwim fêm dikim wisa filan zarok, m.&f. goşt, m. zû hiz dikim ji… mill because Live long! (greeting) şeath (of a sword) some whom? why? where? I say not I cut bread I see; I find I have a [meal, I eat I give I take, catch; I close now I cry I don't know I do book I bake, cook I wash village elder I want; I ask for alive, healthy I eat Be well!(greeting) I read, I study Thank you! I know sword no longer, no more I eat my fill I understand so, such so and so, such and such child meat early; fast I like, I love • 27 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin NUMBERS: yanzdeh19 eleven, 11 dwazdeh [also: donzdeh]twelve, 12 sêzdeh thirteen, 13 çardeh panzdeh fourteen, 14 fifteen, 15 GRAMMAR: a. We are ready to start learning how to conjugate simple verbs (fêl, f. or lêker, f. ). In the present tense20, practically all verb forms consist of three parts: a prefix (di-); a verb stem (e.g., bîn- = 'see'); and a personal ending (-im, -î, -e, -in). The stress falls on the verb stem, occasionally on the personal ending, but never on the di- prefix (e.g., dibî î´nim, or dibîní ím, but never *dí íbînim). Consider the following example for the verb 'to see': 'to see' Ez Tu Ew di-bîn-i im 'I see' di-bîn-î î 'you (s.) see' di-bîn-e e22 'he/şe/it sees' Em Hûn Ew di-bîn-i in21 'we see' di-bîn-i in 'you (pl.) see' di-bîn-i in 'they see' This pattern can be applied to practically every verb in the language. So, for example: Ez di-xwaz-i im 'I want or ask for' Tu di-xw-î î23 'you (s.) eat' Ew di-gr-e e24 'he/şe takes or closes' Em di-bêj-i in25 'we say' Hûn di-d-i in26 'you (pl.) give' Ew di-k-i in27 'they do' A few verbs have a long vowel throughout the personal endings, such as Ez digrîm = I cry. The full conjugation of this verb in the 19In western regions such as Dersim [Tunceli], Adiyaman, and Bingöl the forms deha û yek, deha û didu, deha û sisê, etc. are more common. 20Present indicative active, to be more precise. 21[S: di-bîn-î în] 22[S: di-bîn-î ît/d di-bîn-î îtin/d di-bîn-i it/d di-bîn-i itin] 23[S: di-xo-y y] 24[S: di-gr-î ît/d di-gr-î îtin/d di-gr-i it/d di-gr-i itin ] 25[S: di-bêj-î în] 26[S: di-de-n n] 27[S: di-ke-n n] • 28 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin present tense is like this: Ez Tu Ew di-grî-m m di-grî di-grî28 'I cry' 'you (s.) cry' 'he/şe/it cries' Em Hûn Ew di-grî-n n 'we cry' di-grî-n n 'you (pl.) cry' di-grî-n n 'they cry' Note that Tu digrî could theoretically mean either 'You take or close' or 'You cry', and in southern dialects, Em digrîn could mean either 'We take or close' or 'We cry'. Context will usually make the meaning clear. Here is another common verb with a stem in a different vowel: di-şo= 'to wash': Ez Tu Ew di-şo-m m di-şo-y yî di-şo30 'I waş' 'you (s.) waş' 'he/şe/it waşes' Em Hûn di-şo-n n29 'we waş' di-şo-n n 'you (pl.) waş' Ew di-şo-n n 'they waş' b. Remember the set of pronouns that we use to express possession (min for 'my', te for 'your' (s.), wî for 'his' or 'its', wê for 'her' or 'its', me for 'our', we for 'your' (pl.), and wan for 'their')? Those are called oblique pronouns (or object pronouns), and they are also used to express the direct object of transitive verbs in the present tense. In this case, min = me (as in 'He sees me'); te = you (s.) (as in 'Şe knows you'); wî = him or it (as in 'You like him', 'You like it'); wê = her (as in 'I ask her'); me = us (as in 'They hear us'); we = you (pl.) (as in 'We see you'); wan = them (as in 'You hear them'). When serving as direct object, these objects come before the verb. Consider the following examples. Ez Tu Ew wî min wê di-bîn-im 'I see him' Em wan di-bîn-in di-bîn-î 'you see me' Hûn me di-bîn-in di-bîn-e 's/he sees her'Ew te di-bîn-in 'we see them' 'you see us' 'they see you' Note that all masculine nouns will be referred to with wî, and all feminine nouns will be referred to with wê. Hence, depending on the context, Ew wê dibîne could mean either 's/he sees her' or 's/he sees it' -- in referring to a feminine noun, such as kitêb or mal. Likewise, Ez wî dibînim could mean either 'I see him' or 'I see it' - if it refers to a masculine noun, such as kiras or dest. c. To form the negative of the present indicative, we must replace the affirmative prefix di- with the negative prefix na-. Note that 28[S: di-grî-t t/d di-grî-t ti n] di-¤o-y yn] 30[S: di-¤o-t t/d di-¤o-t tin] 29[S: • 29 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin this prefix always receives the stress (e.g., ná ábînim, ná áxwaze). Here is the full negative conjugation of the present indicative of dibînim 'I see': Ez Tu Ew na-bîn-i im 'I don't see' Em na-bîn-i in31 'we don't see' na-bîn-î î 'you (s.) don't see' Hûn na-bîn-i in 'you (pl.) see' na-bîn-e e32 'he/şe/it doesn't see' Ew na-bîn-i in 'they don't see' In the second person (i.e., tu and hûn), this form is often used in making polite commands, or in inviting people to do something. E.g.: Tu derîyê min nagrî? Won't you close my door? or, Please close my door! Tu navê xwe nabêjî? Won't you say your name? or, Please tell [us] your name! Tu nan naxwî? Won't you have something to eat? or, Please have something to eat! Note also that the verb dizanim = 'I know' is slightly irregular. It is one of two verbs that forms the negative of the present indicative with ni- rather than with na-. Here is the complete conjugation of the negative present indicative: Ez ni-zanim Em ni-zanin33 Tu ni-zanî Hûn ni-zanin Ew ni-zane34 Ew ni-zanin 'I don't know' 'we don't know' 'you (s.) don't know' 'you (pl.) know' 'he/şe/it doesn't know' 'they don't know' d. A word about word order! Kurdiş is an SOV [Subject - Object Verb] language. In other words, the normal word order in a Kurdiş sentence is: Subject 1 (Direct) Object 2 Verb 3 e.g., Ez I te you (thee) dibînim see = 31[S: na-bîn-î în] na-bîn-î ît/n na-bîn-î îtin/n na-bîn-i it/n na-bîn-i itin] 33[S: ni-zan-î în] 34[S: ni-zan-î ît/n ni-zan-î îtin/n ni-zan-i it/n ni-zan-i itin] 32[S: • 30 • I see you. M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Bûrhan Burhan destê xwe his hand Xwendekar dersa dirêj (The) students the long lesson dişo washes = Burhan waşes his hand. dixwînin read/study = The students study the long lesson. •Question words (interrogatives) take the place in the sentence that their grammatical function requires. E.g., Ew They çi what dixwazin? want? = What do they want? Bavê te Your father li ku (at) where ye? is? Tu You kê whom dibînî? see? = Whom do you see? = Where is your father? •Most verbal complements are placed before the verb, similarly to the direct object. E.g., Kûçik Dogs Bavê min My father ji goşt from meat li mal at home hiz dikin derive pleasure = Dogs like meat. e is = My father is at home. e. Xwe. When the subject and the object refer to one and the same person, a special pronoun will be used instead of min, te, wî, wê, etc. That special pronoun is xwe. So, for example, if in Engliş we say ‘I waş my hands’, where I and my both refer to the same person, in Kurdiş we will say Ez destên xwe dişom instead of: *Ez destên min dişom. Note that xwe is used for all persons and numbers. Here are some more examples: Tu xûşka xwe dibînî? 'Do you see your sister?'instead of: *Tu xûşka te dibînî? Em dersa xwe fêm nakin 'We don't understand our lesson.' instead of: *Em dersa me fêm nakin. Hûn kitêbên xwe dixwînin 'You read your books.' instead of: *Hûn kitêbên we dixwînin Therefore, we must distinguish between: Ew destên xwe dişo = 'He washes his (i.e., his own) hands' and Ew destên wî dişo = 'He washes • 31 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin his (i.e., someone else's) hands'. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) What do you want? I want my book. 2) Why is he waşing his hands? He is waşing them because they are red. 3) My sister waşes her hands. My sister is waşing her (=Dilvîn's) hands. 4) What are they doing? They are eating (=having a meal). 5) Whose book is this? (=This is the book of whom?). Memo knows, but he won't (=doesn't) say. 6) Who does not understand his/her lesson? All the girls understand it, but the boys are not reading it. 7) Why are you (pl.) closing your books? Ferhad says that you are all studying your lesson. 8) The eleven students are reading fifteen big books. 9) The thirteen young boys do not understand the riddle of the old village elder. 10) Why is Bêkes crying? He is crying because he can't catch (=doesn't catch) my cat. II. In the following sentences, replace the underlined words (direct objects) with the correct object pronoun, then translate both. E.g., Bêkes pisîka te nabîne --> Bêkes wê nabîne. Bêkes doesn't see your cat-->Bêkes doesn't see it. 1) Gulistan destên xwe naşo. 2) Kî nanê min dixwe? 3) Şûr kalanê xwe nabirre. 4) Em xwendekarên birçî dibînin. 5) Xwendekar dersa xwe naxwînin? 6) Hûn mamika rrîspîyê me fêm dikin? 7) Mamosta deh pirtûkên kevn digre. 8) Mamosta pirtûka kevn digre. 9) Em mamikên rrîspîyê we nizanin. 10) Ew xwendekara xwe nabîne. III. Fill in the blanks with xwe or with another object pronoun, as appropriate. 1) Bêkes destên _____ naşo. Ez destên _____ (=destên Bêkes) dişom. 2) Bavê te sê kitêbên _____ nagre. Tu kitêbên _____ (=kitêbên bavê te) digrî. 3) Dilxwaz xûşka _____ nabîne. Abûzer xûşka _____ (=xûşka Dilxwazê) dibîne. 4) Rîspî mamikên _____ dizane. Zarok mamikên _____ (=mamikên rrîspî) nizanin. 5) Ev sêzdeh kurr dersên _____ naxwînin, lê ew panzdeh keç dersên _____ dixwînin. 6) Ew kurr hêkên _____ naxwe. Ez hêkên _____ (hêkên kurr) dixwim! 7) Dara kirasê _____ naşo. Dîya wî kirasê _____ dişo. 8) Birayê min ji mamostayê _____ hiz dike, lê xûşka min ji mamostayê _____ (mamostayê birayê min) hiz nake. 9) Xûşka min ji dersdara _____ hiz dike, lê ew ji dersdarê birayê _____ hiz nake. 10) Em hiz ji gundê _____ dikin, lê ew sê kurr hiz ji gundê _____ (=our village) nakin. IV. a) Take three verbs from this lesson, and conjugate them fully in the present tense, both affirmative and negative forms. b) Make three sentences with each verb. Be sure to use both affirmative and negative forms! • 32 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Pênca [5] {Pikkert 1.9, 1.13, 1.14, 1.15, 1.16} FOLKLORE: Mamik: Li kêvir dixim, naşkê; li avê dixim, dişkê [pelê cixarê] DIALOGUE: I. Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: Bêrîvan: Dara: II. Dara, tu çend kitêban dixwînî? Ez sê kitêban dixwînim. Tu sê kitêban dixwînî!? Erê! Hersê kitêb jî baş in! Bavê min jî gelek kitêban dixwîne. Tu kitêban naxwînî? Nexêr, ez kitêban naxwînim. Çima tu naxwînî? Ez fêm nakim. Ez naxwînim ji ber ku çavên min baş nabînin. Tu wî çîyayî nabînî? Belê, Dara, ez wî çîyayî dibînim! Tu tilîyên destê min nabînî? Belê, Dara, ez tilîyên destê te jî dibînim! Tu çend tilîyan dibînî? Ez pênc tilîyan dibînim. Çavên te baş dibînin, ez dibêjim! Ez wan tiştan baş dibînim, lê ez tiştên piçûk baş nabînim. Niha ez fêm dikim çima tu naxwînî! Rêbaz: Gulistan: Rêbaz: Gulistan: Rêbaz: Gulistan: Rêbaz: Gulistan: Rêbaz: Gulistan: Gulistan, tu wê xwendekara nû nabînî? Belê, ez wê dibînim. Çima tu dipirsî? Ji ber ku ez nizanim navê wê çi ye. Ez jî nizanim navê wê çi ye. Tu ji mamosta Miho napirsî, navê wê çi ye? Çima tu bi xwe jê napirsî? Ji ber ku ez fedî dikim. [dikene.] Gulistan, çima tu dikenî? Niha ez fêm dikim! Tu ji wê xwendekara nû hiz dikî, ne wisa? Rêbaz: Nexêr!!! Ez hêj jê hiz nakim... Gulistan: Tu HÊJ jê hiz nakî!? Ez bawer nakim! Rêbaz: Tu çi dibêjî? ***** Gulistan: Roj baş mamosta! Miho: Roj baş Gulistan! Çawan î? • 33 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Gulistan: Sax bî, bijî. Tu jî baş î? Miho: Sipas. Gulistan, tu wî derî nagrî? Gulistan: Ser çava, mamosta. [Ew dêrî digre.] Mamosta Miho, dibêjin ku xwendekareke nû heye. Tu navê wê nizanî? Miho: Ez bawer dikim ku navê wê Ziyawer e. Tu wî kurrê çavrreş jî dibînî? Gulistan: Erê mamosta, ez wî dibînim. Ew kî ye? Miho: Ew jî xwendekarekî nû ye. Ez dibêjim, ku Ziyawer xûşka wî ye. Gulistan: Mamosta Miho, tu navê wî nizanî? Miho: Nexêr, ez navê wî hêj nizanim. ***** Gulistan: Rêbaz! Mamosta Miho bawer dike ku navê wê Ziyawer e. Rêbaz: Ziyawer. Navekî xweş e, ne wisa?! Gulistan: Belê. Û tiştekî din jî heye! Rêbaz: Çi ye? Gulistan: Birayekî wê jî heye. Em nizanin navê wî çi ye, lê ew çavrreş e. Rêbaz: [dikene.] Gulistan: Tu çima dikenî? Rêbaz: Ji ber ku tu ji wî xwendekarê çavrreş hiz dikî! Gulistan: Nexêr!! Ez navê wî jî nizanim! Rêbaz: Lê tu çawa dibêjî ku ez ji xûşka wî hiz dikim, û tu baş dizanî ku ez navê wê jî nizanim!? Gulistan: Xebera te ye! VOCABULARY: av, f. water li… dixim I hit bawer dikim I believe nan, nên, vî nanî, m. bread cixare, f. cigarette niha [S: noke] now ç’avrreş black-eyed p’el, m./f. leaf, sheet of paper ç’îya, ç’îyê, vî ç’îyayî, m. mountain ser çava gladly derî, dêrî, vî derî,m.door sipas! Thank you! din [S: dî] other, another tişt, m. thing dik’enim I laugh tiştek [m.] something • 34 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin dipirsim [+ ji] I ask (someone) van, pl. obl. these dişkê it breaks (vi.) vê,f.obl.; vî,m.obl.this wan, pl. obl. those fedî dikim I am shy, ashamed wê,f.obl.; wî,m.obl.that jê [=ji wî/wê] from him/her/it xebera te ye! You're right! kevir, kêvir, vî kevirî, m. rock, stone35 xweş pleasant, nice NUMBERS: şanzdeh hivdeh hijdeh sixteen, 16 seventeen, 17 eighteen, 18 nozdeh bîst nineteen, 19 twenty, 20 GRAMMAR: a. We have seen that pronouns have a special form when they are the object of a present tense verb or of a preposition (e.g., min vs. ez, or in Engliş me vs. I). This special form is called the oblique case. In Kurdiş, this is also true of nouns. The gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of a Kurdiş noun determine the ending that a noun will have in the oblique case. I. Let us start with feminine nouns. These are nouns that take an -a in the singular ezafeh form, e.g. kitêba a min, xûşka a te, etc. The corresponding oblique case form ends in -ê (-yê after a vowel). Hence, for kitêb the oblique case is kitêbê ê, and for tilî it is tilîy yê. This -ê şould not be confused with the masculine singular ezafeh form! The oblique case has many uses, but for right now we will focus on one of its most common uses: to express the direct object of a transitive verb in the present tense.36 Note that in the feminine singular ev and ew become vê and wê respectively in the oblique case. Hence, the oblique case of ev kitêb [this book] is vê kitêbê; likewise, ew tilî [that finger] becomes wê tilîyê in the oblique case. Here are some examples of the oblique case in use. Again, note the word order!: Em wê pisîkê ê digrin. We Ew dersê ê dixwînin. They study the lesson. 35In catch that cat. Behdînan, kevir is used only for large rocks. For small stones, ber, m. is used. In Turkey [except Hekkari and environs], kevir does duty for both. 36In the past tenses of transitive verbs, this is not true. More on this in a later chapter! • 35 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Tu devê vê pirtûkê ê digrî. You close this book37. Ez dibînim. I see the student (f.). xwendekarê ê Note also that feminine indefinite nouns also take the ending -ê in the oblique case (-ek-ê ê): kitêb-ek-ê, tilî-yek-ê. Here are the same sentences, but with indefinite direct objects: Em pisîkekê ê digrin. We Ew dersekê ê dixwînin. They study a lesson. digrî. You close a book. dibînim. I see a student (f.). Tu devê Ez pirtûkekê ê xwendekarekê ê catch a cat. It is important to note that when a noun is used as an object at the same time that it has an ezafeh (e.g., 'my book' = kitêba min in 'He reads my book' = Ew kitêba min dixwîne), the ezafeh takes precedence over the oblique case. Hence, while one says Ew kitêbê dixwîne for 'He reads the book', with kitêbê = 'the book' as the direct object in the oblique case, if we change kitêb to kitêba min = 'my book', the sentence will read Ew kitêba min dixwîne = 'He reads my book'. With this in mind, let us take the same sample sentences again, this time with direct objects that have ezafeh + modifier: Em pisîka te digrin. We Ew dersa dirêj dixwînin. They study the long lesson. digrî. You close the new book. Tu devê pirtûka nû Ez xwendekareke nû dibînim. catch your cat. I see a new student (f.). One last point. Suppose we have the sentence Ew vê kitêbê dixwîne = 'He reads this book'. What will happen to the demonstrative vê if we add a modifier to kitêb? In other words, how do we say 'He reads this new book' or 'He reads this book of mine'? In the direct case (or nominative case), 'this new book' would be ev kitêba nû, and 'this book of mine' would be ev kitêba min. However, when functioning as an object, 'this book' would change from ev kitêb to vê kitêbê. But what happens when there is a modifier? Here is the answer: while ev will change to vê, thereby şowing that kitêb is in the oblique case, kitêba nû will remain kitêba nû. Consequently, when ev kitêba nû is used as an object, it will become vê kitêba nû. Consider the 37Literally: "You close the mouth of this book". Without the word dev [=mouth; front part], the sentence might mean "You take this book". • 36 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin following examples: Em but: Em vê pisîkê vê pisîka a te digrin. digrin. Ew but: Ew wê dersê dixwînin. They study that lesson. wê dersa a dirêj dixwînin. They study that long lesson. Tu devê vê pirtûkê digrî. but: Tu devê vê pirtûka a nû digrî. Ez but: Ez We We catch catch this cat. this cat of yours. You close this book. You close this new book. wê xwendekarê dibînim. I see that student (f.). wê xwendekara a nû dibînim.I see that new student (f.). II. Plural nouns. Whereas in the direct or nominative case, all nouns are identical in the singular and plural (e.g., kitêb can mean either '[the] book' or '[the] books'), in the oblique case, all nouns end in -an (sometimes şortened to -a, particularly in southern dialects). Hence, the oblique plural of kitêb is kitêba an (or kitêba a in the south), and for heval -- regardless of gender -- it is hevala an (or hevala a). Here are some sample sentences with plural oblique forms: Hûn keça an dibînin. You (pl.) see the girls. Em hêka an dixwin. We eat [the] eggs. Ez sê kitêba an dixwînim. I read [the] three books. The oblique plural forms of ev and ew are van (these) and wan (those) respectively. Let us add them to the above sentences: Hûn van keça an dibînin. You (pl.) see these girls. Em wan hêka an dixwin. We eat those eggs. Ez van sê kitêba an dixwînim. I read these three books. Once again, if an object has modifiers, the ezafeh will take precedence over the oblique case. Observe the following: Hûn keçê ên birçî dibînin.38 You (pl.) see the hungry girls. Em hêkê ên te dixwin. We eat your Ez sê kitêbê ên nû dixwînim. I read the three new books. 38These eggs. three sentences in Behdinani would look like this: Hûn [or hûng] kiçê êt birsî dibînin; Em hêkê êt te dixoyn; Ez sê kitêbê êt nû dixwînim. • 37 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin However, as mentioned above, if an object has both a demonstrative (these, those) and another modifier, the demonstrative will şow the oblique case, while the noun will take the ezafeh form followed by the modifier. For example: Hûn van keça an dibînin. You (pl.) see these girls. but: Hûn van keçê ên birçî dibînin. You (pl.) see these hungry girls. Em wan hêka an dixwin. but: Em wan hêkê ên te dixwin. We eat those eggs. We eat those eggs of yours. Ez van sê kitêba an dixwînim. I read these three books. but: Ez van sê kitêbê ên nû dixwînim.I read these three new books. III. We have left masculine singular nouns for last, because they are a little bit more complicated. In all Kurmanji dialects, whether northern or southern, in conjunction with the demonstratives, masculine singular nouns take -î (-yî before final vowels) in the oblique case. The demonstratives ev and ew have the masculine singular oblique forms vî and wî respectively. Hence, 'this hand' (ev dest39) and 'that brother' (ew bira) have the oblique forms vî destî î and wî biray yî. Consider the following sample sentences: Ew vî tiştî î dixwaze. Şe wants this thing. Em wî kûçikî î digrin. We catch that dog. Tu çima vî nanî î dixwî? Why do you eat this bread? Ez wî çiyay yî dibînim. I see that mountain. As with feminine nouns, note that masculine indefinite nouns also take the same oblique case ending as their definite counterparts: -î in (-ek-î î): dest-ek-î, bira-yek-î. Let's look at our sample sentences for more examples: 39ev Ew tiştekî î dixwaze. Şe wants something. Em kûçikekî î digrin. We catch a dog. Tu çima nanekî î dixwî? Why are you eating a [loaf of] bread? Ez çiyayekî î dibînim. I see a mountain. deste e in some dialects -- including, among others, Behdinan. • 38 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin By now it şould come as no surprise that when a masculine noun is an object at the same time that it has an ezafeh (e.g., 'my brother' = birayê min in 'Şe sees my brother' = Ew birayê min dibîne), the ezafeh will take precedence over the oblique case. Our sample sentences will demonstrate this: Ew tiştê te dixwaze. She wants your thing. Em kûçikê birçî digrin. We catch the hungry dog. Tu çima nanê min dixwî? Why do you eat my bread? Ez çiyayê mezin dibînim. I see the large mountain. Once again, if the object has a demonstrative as well as another modifier, the demonstrative (ev or ew) will go into the oblique case (vî or wî), while the noun will take the ezafeh + modifier. Examples are: Ew vî tiştî î dixwaze. but: Ew vî tiştê ê te dixwaze. She wants this thing. She wants this thing of yours. Em wî kûçikî î digrin. but: Em wî kûçikê ê birçî digrin. We catch that dog. We catch that hungry dog. Tu çima vî nanî î dixwî? but: Tu çima vî nanê ê min dixwî? Why do you eat this bread? Why do you eat this bread of mine? Ez wî çiyay yî dibînim. but: Ez wî çiyay yê mezin dibînim. I see that mountain. I see that large mountain. So far, the masculine singular has not differed from the feminine singular or from the plural. Here comes the hard part: simple masculine singular nouns in the oblique case are treated differently in the northern dialects than they are in the south. In the south, i.e., in Behdinan and in Hekkari, the pattern is simple: all masculine singular nouns get -î (or -yî before a vowel40) in the oblique case, e.g. çavî î, biray yî, nanî î. However, in the north, the situation is a bit more complex: when accompanied by a demonstrative (vî or wî), masculine oblique nouns take the ending -î (e.g., vî çavî î, wî biray yî, vî nanî î). But, simple nouns (without a demonstrative) do not take the ending -î. Instead, many (but not all) of them change the last -e- or -a- in the word to -ê ê-, e.g. çavî --> çê êv; birayî --> birê ê; nanî --> nê ên. The technical term for such stemchanging vowels is ablaut. Masculine nouns that do not have an -a- or 40 In Behdinan, often just -y before a vowel, e.g. biray y, çiyay y. • 39 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin an -e-, such as gund (village), remain unchanged in the simple oblique case (although with the demonstrative it becomes vî/wî gundî). Three principle parts of masculine nouns şould be memorized: direct case, simple oblique case, and oblique case with demonstrative. The following is a list of the three principle parts of the masculine nouns we have had thus far which manifest ablaut: aş bira çav dest dev ga heval kiras nan êş birê çêv dêst dêv gê hevêl kirês nên vî vî vî vî vî vî vî vî vî aşî birayî çavî destî devî gayî hevalî kirasî nanî At the end of this chapter, you will find a chart summarizing the declensions for masculine singular, feminine singular, and plural nouns. Please study it carefully, and refer to it whenever you need it. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) Ez te nabînim. 2) Tu tiştekî naxwazî. 3) Ew nagrî. 4) Em pisîkan nagrin. 5) Hûn dêrî nagrin. 6) Ew dersê naxwînin. 7) Ew dersa pêşîn naxwîne, ew dersa didua dixwîne. 8) Tu destê min dibînî. 9) Hûn kitêban dibînin. 10) Em hêkan dixwin. 11) Ew tiştan dibînin. 12) Ew tiştekî dixwaze. 13) Tu pirtûkê digrî. 14) Mamosta dêrî digre. 15) Dara çiyê dibîne? II. Change the affirmative sentences in exercise I to negative, and change the negative sentences to affirmative. Then translate. III. Where possible, add demonstratives (ev and ew) to the sentences in exercise one. Then translate. (e.g., Ez xwendekarê dibînim --> Ez wê xwendekarê dibînim). IV. Where possible, add modifiers (min, te, etc. or adjectives) to the sentences in exercise one. Then translate. (e.g., Ez xwendekarê dibînim --> Ez xwendekara nû/xwendekara te dibînim). V. Where possible, add demonstratives and modifiers to the sentences in exercise one. Then translate. (e.g., Ez xwendekarê dibînim --> Ez wê xwendekara nû dibînim). VI. Where possible, add numbers (1-20) and any combination you choose (from exercises II, III, IV, and V) to the sentences in exercise one. • 40 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Then translate. Declension of Nouns Direct Ezafeh Oblique Masc. -ê (-ê-) ø [S: -î] vî -î Fem. -a -ê Pl. -êt/-êd/-ên -a[n] Direct Ezafeh çav çavê te jin jina te Oblique çêv vî çavî jinê çav : jin çavên te : jinên te çava[n] : jina[n] Direct Ezafeh bira birayê te (birê te) birê vî birayî tilî tilîya te Oblique tilîyê bira : tilî birayên te : tilîyên te biraya[n] (bira[n]) : tilîya[n] Declension of Indefinite Nouns Direct Ezafeh Oblique Masc. -ek -ekî -ekî Fem. -ek -eke -ekê Pl. -in -ine -ina Dir Çav-ek jin-ek Ezaf çavekî te jineke te Obl çavekî jinekê *çav-in : *jin-in çavine te : jinine te çavina : jinina Dir bira-[ye]k tilî-yek Ezaf birakî/ birayekî te birakî/ birayekî tilîyeke te Obl tilîyekê • 41 • *bira-yin : *tilî-yin birayine te : tilîyine te birayina : tilîyina M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Şeşa [6] {Pikkert 3.1; 3.7} FOLKLORE: Mamik: Vedikim naçe, girêdidim diçe. Ew çi ye? [çarix] another version: Tiştek heye, ku girê didim, diçe; ku divekim, disekine. [çarox] DIALOGUE: I. [Kesek li dêrî dixe.] Helîme: Bextiyar, hinek li dêrî dixin. Rabe, dêrî veke û bibîne, kî ye! Bextiyar: Baş e. Ser çava. [Bextiyar dêrî vedike.] … Roj baş, Mamosta Miho! Bi xêr hatî! Kerem ke! Kerem ke! Miho: Nav xêrê da bî! Çawan î, Bextiyar? Baş î? Bextiyar: Ser serê min! Kerem ke, rrûne! Ser pîyan nesekine! Tu çi vedixwî? Çay? Qawe? Miho: Ez gelek hiz ji çayê dikim! Bextiyar: Ser çava. Helîme, mêvanekî me heye! Tu bo me çayê çê nakî? Helîme: [Ji mezela din tê.] Mêvanê me kî ye? [Mêvên dibîne.] Ah! Mamosta Miho! Gelek bi xêr hatî! Çawan î? Baş î? Miho: Nav xêrê da bî! Sax bî, bijî. Ez baş im. Tu jî baş î? Helîme: Ser serê min! Çay niha tê! [derdikeve.] ***** Helîme: Miho: Helîme: II. [Çayê tîne.] Keremdar bî! Xan, çaya te Destê te sax Noşî can be! Çay hazir e! Kerem ke! … [Çayê vedixwe.] … Hmm! Helîme gelek xweş e! Germ e, û şîrin e! be! [derdikeve.] Bextiyar: Eh, Mamosta. Tu nabêjî, xwendingeh çawan e? Xwendekarên te çawan in? Miho: Xwendekarên min baş in! Bextiyar: Çend xwendekarên te hene? Miho: Bîst û pênc xwendekarên min hene. Bextiyar: Baş e, çend kurr û çend keç in? Miho: Deh kurr û panzdeh keç in. Bextiyar: Û hemî xwendekarên te her rroj tên û dersên xwe dixwînin? Miho: Erê! Her rroj tên. • 42 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Bextiyar: [Dibîne ku Miho çayeke din dixwaze.] Helîme! Çayeke din bo Mamosta Miho dagre û bîne! Helîme: [Ji mezela din] Ser çava! Çay niha tê! Bextiyar: Hemî xwendekarên te zû tên? Miho: Xwendekareke min heye ku tim dereng tê. Lê hemî xwendekarên din zû tên. Bextiyar: Ew xwendekara te ku tim dereng tê -- kî ye? Navê wê çi ye? Miho: Navê wê Perwîn e. Bextiyar: Perwîn! Lê navê keça min jî Perwîn e! Tu nabêjî ku keça min Perwîn tim dereng tê xwendingehê!? Miho: Belê Bextiyar! Ez wisa dibêjim! VOCABULARY: bo, prep. çarix/çarox, f. çay, f. [S: ça] çêdikim for peasant şoe tea I make, fix, repair, prepare (e.g., a meal) dadigrim I fill up (vt.) derdik’evim + ji I leave, exit, go out of derdixim I cause to leave, I throw/take/bring out dereng late destê te sax be greeting said to anyone who does stg. for you, e.g. serves you tea diçim I go diherrim I go disekinim I stand, I stop germ warm, hot girêdidim I tie, bind hinek [pl.] someone, somebody, some people hazir ready K’erem ke! greeting said to a guest when offering or inviting K’eremdar bî! response to Kerem ke. mezel, f. room, chamber mêvan, mêvên, vî mêvanî, m.&f. guest Nav xêrê da bî! response to Bi xêr hatî. Noşî can be! Bon appetit! qawe, f. coffee rradibim I get up, rise rradizêm I lie down, go to sleep rrûdinim I sit ser pîyan standing, on one's feet ser serê min expression denoting that one is pleased to see • 43 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin şîrin têm tînim someone [lit.'on my head'] sweet I come I bring [towards the (neg. naynim/naînim; imperative vedikim vedixwim wisa Xan xwendingeh, f. NUMBERS: bîst û yek bîst û pênc sî [also: sih, sîh] I open I drink so, thus; such respectful title after school twenty one, 21 twenty five, 25 thirty, 30 bîne) speaker] names çil pêncî şêst forty, 40 fifty, 50 sixty, 60 GRAMMAR: a. Compound verbs. Some verbs have prefixes. Let us begin by giving an Engliş parallel: we have in Engliş the verb to stand, and the verb to understand. The verb understand is conjugated the same way as the verb to stand, e.g. both have the same past tense form: stood, understood. Under- is a prefix. In Engliş, we also have verbs that change meaning when accompanied by a separate word or particle, e.g. to stand up, to stand for, to stand still. The meanings of Kurdiş verbs can be modified in a similar faşion with the addition of prefixes. In most dialects, the prefixes precede the present stem marker di- (e.g., ve-d di-kim = 'I open'). For the purposes of this course, we will use this structure. However, it is important to note that in some dialects, the di- comes first (e.g., di-ve-kim = 'I open'). Common prefixes (or preverbs) include: da-, der-, hil-, jê-, lê-, pê, rra-, tê-, ve-, wer-. Less common ones are: çê- and rrû-. I. Here is the present tense affirmative of some common verbs: rrûdi-nim = 'I sit'; ve-di-kim = 'I open'; and rra-di-bim = 'I get up'. 'to sit' Ez rrû-d di-nim41 Em rrû-d di-nin Tu rrû-d di-nî Hûn rrû-d di-nin Ew rrû-d di-ne Ew rrû-d di-nin 'I sit' 'we sit' 'you (s.) sit' 'you (pl.) sit' 'he/şe/it sits' 'they sit' 'to open' 41[S: Ez di-¢û-nim; Tu di-¢û-nî; Ew di-¢û-nît(in); Em di-¢û-nîn; Hûn di-¢û-nin; Ew di-¢û-nin] • 44 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ez Em Tu Hûn Ew Ew ve-d di-kim42 ve-d di-kin ve-d di-kî ve-d di-kin ve-d di-ke ve-d di-kin 'I open' 'we open' 'you (s.) open 'you (pl.) open' 'he/şe/it opens' 'they open' 'to get up, rise' Ez rra-d di-bim43 Em rra-d di-bin Tu rra-d di-bî Hûn rra-d di-bin Ew rra-d di-be Ew rra-d di-bin ' 'I get up' 'we get up' 'you (s.) get up' 'you (pl.) get up' 'he/şe/it gets up' 'they get up' II. The negative of the present indicative of compound verbs is formed the same way as it is with simple verbs, i.e. by replacing diwith an accented (stressed) ná-. Here is the negative present indicative of rrû-di-nim: 'not Ez Em Tu Hûn Ew Ew to sit' rrû-n ná-nim44 rrû-n ná-nin rrû-n ná-nî rrû-n ná-nin rrû-n ná-ne rrû-n ná-nin 'I don't sit' 'we don't sit' 'you (s.) don't sit' 'you (pl.) don't sit' 'he/şe/it doesn't sit' 'they don't sit' Other compound verbs include: •çê-d di-kim I make, fix, repair, prepare (e.g., a meal) •da-d di-grim I fill up (vt.) •der-d di-kevim + ji I leave, exit, go out of •der-d di-xim I cause to leave, I throw/take/bring out •girê-d di-dim I tie, bind •rra-d di-zêm I lie down, go to sleep •ve-d di-xwim I drink b. Imperatives. imperative form Imperatives are the door' means When we want to give someone a command, we use the of the verb, e.g. 'Close the door!' or 'Come here!'. always addressed to the second person (you): 'Close 'Hey you, close the door!'. 42[S: Ez di-ve-kem; Tu di-ve-key; Ew di-ve-ket(in); Em di-ve-keyn; Hûn di-ve-ken; Ew di-ve-ken] 43[S: Ez di-¢a-bim; Tu di-¢a-bî; Ew di-¢a-bît(in); Em di-¢a-bîn; Hûn di-¢a-bin; Ew di-¢a-bin] 44[S: Ez ná-¢û-nim; Tu ná-¢û-nî; Ew ná-¢û-nît(in); Em ná-¢û-nîn; Hûn ná-¢û-nin; Ew ná-¢û-nin] • 45 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin I. In English, the imperative is very easy to form: it is the simple form of the present tense and infinitive. However, in Kurdish, the situation is slightly more complex. To form a simple imperative in Kurdish, the di- of the present tense must be replaced with bi-, and the personal ending will change, depending on whether one or more people are being commanded to do something. The ending for the singular will be -e45 (-ø or no ending after a vowel), and for the plural, -in (-n after a vowel). The 'formula', then, is: singular: bi-X X-e (bi-A A) plural: bi-X X-in (bi-A A-n), where X = verb stem ending in a consonant, and A = verb stem ending in a vowel. So, for example, from di-k-im = 'I do', we will get bi-k-e (s.) and bi-k-in (pl.) = 'Do!' Here are some more examples: Singular bi-b bîn-e bi-x xw-e bi-g gr-e bi-ş şo bi-x xwaz-e Plural bi-b bîn-in bi-x xw-in bi-g gr-in bi-ş şo-n bi-x xwaz-in English See! Eat! Take! Close! Waş! Want!46 II. The negative imperative (e.g. 'Don't close the door!', 'Don't go!') is formed by replacing the bi- prefix of the affirmative imperative with an accented (stressed) né-, or with an accented mé47. Hence, 'Don't do!' would be né-k-e/m mé-k-e (s.) and né-k-in/m mé-kin (pl.). **Note that whereas the negative of the simple present tense is ná á[with an á], the negative of the imperative is né é- [with an é]** Here are the negative imperatives of the verbs listed above: Singular Plural English né-bîn-e • mé-bîn-e né-xw-e • mé-xw-e né-gr-e • mé-gr-e né-bîn-in • mé-bîn-in né-xw-in • mé-xw-in né-gr-in • mé-gr-in Don't Don't Don't Don't 45In see! eat! take! close! some regions, such as Mardin in Turkey, there is no ending (-e) for the imperative singular. Hence, instead of bi-k-e they say bi-k. The singular imperatives of the other verbs shown here in Mardin dialect are: bi-bîn; bi-xu; bigir; bi-¤o; bi-xwaz. 46or, Ask for! Request! 47Negative imperatives with me- have a cognate in Persian as well. • 46 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin né-şo • mé-şo né-xwaz-e • mé-xwaz-e né-şo-n • mé-şo-n né-xwaz-in • mé-xwaz-in Don't wash! Don't want! III. Compound verbs. The imperative of compound verbs in the negative follows the same principle outlined above, simply inserting an accented (stressed) -né- between the preverb and the stem, e.g. çêné-k-e (s.) & çê-n né-k-in (pl.) = 'Don't make!'. In the affirmative, however, the -bi- is generally dropped. Hence, instead of çê-b bi-k-e and çê-b bi-k-in, one generally finds çê-k-e and çê-k-in. Here are some more examples: neg. neg. neg. neg. Singular ve-xw-e ve-n né-xw-e ve-m mé-xw-e rrû-n-e rrû-n né-n-e rrû-m mé-n-e da-gr-e da-n né-gr-e da-m mé-gr-e rra-b-e rra-n né-b-e rra-m mé-b-e Plural ve-xw-in ve-n né-xw-in ve-m mé-xw-in rrû-n-in rrû-n né-n-in rrû-m mé-n-in da-gr-in da-n né-gr-in da-m mé-gr-in rra-b-in rra-n né-b-in rra-m mé-b-in Engliş Drink! Don't drink! Sit! Don't sit! Fill! Don't fill! Get up! Don't get up! In some instances, the affirmative imperative can optionally take the -bi-, e.g.: neg. neg. kerem [bi-]k-e kerem né-k-e kerem mé-k-e guh [bi-]d-e guh né-d-e guh mé-d-e kerem [bi-]k-in kerem né-k-in kerem mé-k-in guh [bi-]d-in guh né-d-in guh mé-d-in ~Please! ~Please don't! Listen! Don't listen! IV. Irregular imperatives. Some very common verbs form irregular imperatives. •herr-e né-herr-e/n né-ç-e mé-herr-e/m mé-ç-e •wer-e né-wer-e/n né-yê mé-wer-e/m mé-yê •bêj-e né-bêj-e mé-bêj-e herr-in né-herr-in/n né-ç-in mé-herr-in/m mé-ç-in wer-in né-wer-in/n né-yên mé-wer-in/m mé-yên bêj-in né-bêj-in mé-bêj-in • 47 • Go! Don't go! Come! Don't come! Say! Tell! Don't say! Don't tell! M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin c. Irregular verbs: to go and to come. These extremely common verbs şow certainly irregularities which need to be explained. I. to go. The verb 'to go' has two alternative stems for the present tense, 1) one based on the imperative (herr-) -- extremely common in the north, and 2) one based on the past tense (ç-) -- the norm in the south. Both form their negatives regularly. Here is their conjugation: 1. Ez Em Tu Hûn Ew Ew di-h herr-im di-h herr-in di-h herr-î di-h herr-in di-h herr-e di-h herr-in 'I go' 'we go' 'you (s.) go' 'you (pl.) go' 'he/şe/it goes' 'they go' negative: Ez ná-herr-im, etc. 2. Ez Em Tu Hûn Ew Ew di-ç ç-im di-ç ç-in di-ç ç-î di-ç ç-in di-ç ç-e di-ç ç-in 'I go' 'we go' 'you (s.) go' 'you (pl.) go' 'he/şe/it goes' 'they go' negative: Ez ná-ç-im, etc. II. to come. The original forms of this verb are still preserved in the southern dialects (dihêm). However, in the north a şortened form has arisen (têm), with a negative that needs a bit of attention. We will list the northern form first: 1. Ez Em Tu Hûn Ew Ew tê-m tê-n tê-yî tê-n tê[-t] tê-n 'I come' 'we come' 'you (s.) come' 'you (pl.) come' 'he/şe/it comes' 'they come' note negative: Ez ná-yê-m, etc. 2. Ez Em di-h hê-m di-h hê-yn 'I come' 'we come' • 48 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Tu Hûn Ew Ew di-h hê-y di-h hê-n di-h hê-t[in] di-h hê-n 'you (s.) come' 'you (pl.) come' 'he/şe/it comes' 'they come' negative: Ez ná-hê-m, etc. d. Hev. There is a good deal of variety in the ways to say 'each other' or 'one another' in Kurdiş. Some regions prefer hev, or hev û du or hev û din, while others (largely in the south) prefer yek û du (êk û du). So, for example: Em ji hev [û û du] hiz nakin We don't like one another Note the use of hev, etc. in the following, where the Engliş does not require it: Bêrîvan û Gulistan hevalê ên hev in Bêrîvan and Gulistan are friends [literally, 'friends of each other']. Dara û Bêkes biray yên hev in Dara and Bêkes are brothers [literally, 'brothers of each other']. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) Do you (s.) like this boy? Yes, I like him, we are friends [of one another]; 2) Stand up (pl.)! Don't sit down!; 3) I don't know what you want. Say what you want; 4) Our dogs are coming. Open (s.) the door!; 5) Our mother likes both tea and coffee; 6) We are bringing eggs and white bread; 7) Why are you (pl.) leaving [from] your house? Don't leave your house!; 8) Our friend (f.) is making tea for her guest; 9) We like both our cats. Do you (s.) like our cats? Don't you (pl.) like our cats?; 10) They are taking their dog out of their friend's (m.) house. I am taking my dog out of my daughter's school. II. a. Change these polite commands into simple imperatives. b. Then make them into negative imperatives. E.g., a. Tu destên xwe naşoyî? -> Destên xwe bişo! --> b. Destên xwe neşo! 1) Tu vê dersa xwe naxwînî? 2) Hûn çayê bo vê mêvana xwe çênakin û naînin? 3) Hûn vê pisîka min naşon? 4) Tu navê xwe nabêjî? 5) Hûn vî derîyê kevn nagrin? 6) Hûn çaroxên xwe girênadin? 7) Hûn nayên, hûn mêvanê me nabînin? 8) Tu naherrî, tu xûşka xwe ji wê xwendingeha wê naînî? 9) Tu ji wan xwendekarên nû napirsî, navên wan çi ne? 10) Hûn kerem nakin, hûn rrûnanin? 11) Tu vê qaweya germ û şîrin venaxwî? 12) Tu rranabî, tu dêrî bo dîya xwe venakî? • 49 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin III. Choose three simple verbs and each one in the affirmative present indicative; affirmative imperative; IV. Write out and say the following 16; 18; 57; 39; 46; 52; 43. KURDIŞ PERSONAL NAMES Male: Bextiyar three compounds verbs. Conjugate indicative; negative present negative imperative. numbers in Kurdiş: 34; 65; 28; Female: Helîme Perwîn • 50 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Hefta [7] {Pikkert 1.11; 2.6} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Deynê Sibatê li Adarê ye READING: Hevalekî min heye, navê wî Bahrî ye. Bahrî xelqê Sêwregê ye, lê ew îro li Sêwregê najî. Ew li Îstanbolê dijî. Bahrî xwendekar e, li zanîngeha Îstanbolê dixwîne. Bahrî xwendekarekî ze‘f baş e; ew her rroj pirr pirtûkan dixwîne. Gava ku Bahrî naxwîne, li stranên Kurdî guhdarî dike, ji ber ku kêfa wî ji stranên Kurdî rra tê. Bahrî pirr, pirr ji stranên Şivên hiz dike. Şivan stranbêjekî Kurdî ye: ew Karagêçî ye. Karagêçî ‘Eşîreteke mezin e, nêzîkî Wêranşehrê, di herêma Rehayê da. Bahrî û Şivan hev nas dikin, ji ber ku Karagêçî nêzîkî Sêwregê ne jî. Bahrî bêjin e, lê jina Şivên heye; navê wê Gulistan e. Gulistan xelqê Wêranşehrê ye. Kurrekî wan heye, navê wî Serxwebûn e. Şivan, Gulistan û Serxwebûn li Tirkîyê najîn, ew li Swêdê dijîn. Herdu çavên Serxwebûn rreş in, mîna çavên bavê wî. Gulistan jî dibêje ku çavên wê heşîn in. Kêfa te ji çavên heşîn rra tê? Kêfa xûşka min ji çavên heşîn rra nayê: kêfa wê ji çavên rreş rra tê. Gava ku ez herdu çavên xwe di neynikê da dibînim, ez dibêjim ku “Herdu çavên min rreş nînin! Tu çima dibêjî ku ez çavrreş im?!” Gava ku tu herdu guhên xwe di neynikê da dibînî, tu çi dibêjî? Kêfa te ji guhên te rra tê? Guhên te dirêj in, yan jî kurt in? Destên te jî: tu destên xwe çawa dibînî? Kêfa te ji wan rra tê yan ne? Destên te biçûk in, yan jî mezin in? Em lingên xwe çawa dibînin? Lingên me dirêj in yan kurt in? Bi pirç in yan bê pirç in? Lingên van keçan bê pirç in, lê lingên wan kurran ze‘f bi pirç in. Destên wî kurrî gelek mezin in! Tu wî nas dikî? Erê, ez wî nas dikim. Çima tu dipirsî? Ji ber ku kêfa min ji destên mezin rra tê. Destên bavê min jî mezin in! Hûn ji pisîka min hiz dikin? Kêfa we ji pisîkan rra tê? Pisîka min pirr bi aqil e. Navê wê Reşê ye, ji ber ku rrengê wê rreş e. Kêfa wê ji solên mêvanan rra ze‘f tê. Ew bi solên wan dileyîze. • 51 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Pisîka hevalê min jî, ku navê wê Dîcle ye, bi qelemên mêvanan dileyîze. Kerem kin, bi pisîkên me rra bileyîzin! VOCABULARY: Adar, f. March (the month) ango that means, i.e. bê without bêjin unmarried (man) bê p’irç’ hairless bi with, by means of; in (a language) bi aqil intelligent, smart bi p’irç’ hairy bi … rra with, together with bo for deyn, m. debt digel [S] with, together with dijîm I live dileyîzim (bi) I play (with something) ‘Eşîret, f. tribe gava ku when guhdarî dikim, vt. [+li] I listen (to) herêm, f. region, province, district îro today ji from ji … rra to, for jin, f. woman, wife k’êfa min ji X rra [S: bi X] tê I like … mêr, m. man mîna like, similar to nas dikim [S: dinyasim] I know (a person), recognize nexweş sick, ill neynik, f. mirror nêzîkî near to, close to p’irr [=gelek] very; much p’irç’, f. body hair qelem, f. pen rreng, m. color rrûp’el, f. page (of a book) Sibat, f. February sol, f. shoe stran, f. song stranbêj, m.&f. singer Swêd, f. Sweden şivan, şivên, vî şivanî, m. shepherd T’irkîye, f. Turkey xelqê… from,native of zanîngeh, f. university • 52 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin ze‘f [=gelek] very; much NUMBERS: Heftê heştê seventy, 70 eighty, 80 not sed ninety, 90 one hundred, 100 GRAMMAR: a. The oblique case has several functions in Kurdiş. So far, we have covered the use of it as direct object, e.g. Ez Ez Ew Em te dibînim kitêbê dixwînim dêrî vedike wan pisîkan digrin 'I see you' 'I read the book' 'He opens the door' 'We catch those cats' The oblique case is also used as the second part of a possessive (or genitive or ezafeh) construction. In English, we have such constructions as 'the hair of the girl' (or, 'the girl's hair) or 'the hands of the teacher' (or, 'the teacher's hands'). The italicized part of these phrases is the second part of the possessive construction. We already know how to do this in Kurdish with pronouns: kitêba min = 'my book', or 'the book of me'. If we were to substitute the pronoun min = 'my' with a noun, that noun will always be in the oblique case, e.g. kitêba keçê= 'the book of the girl' (or, 'the girl's book) In this construction, the first part of the possessive (or genitive or ezafeh) construction takes the ezafeh ending (k kitêb-a keçê; dest-ê vî kurrî; çav-ên keçan); the second part takes the oblique case (kitêba keç-ê; destê vî kurr-î; çavên keç-an). Here are some sentences with this construction: Navê keçê Gulbahar e Bavê xwendekarê mamosta ye Birayên jinê nexweş in Guhên pisîkan dirêj in Rûpelên kitêbê pirr in The The The The The girl's name is Gulbahar. student's (f.) father is a teacher. woman's brothers are ill. cats' ears are long. pages of the book are many. b. Another use of the oblique case is as the object of prepositions. Engliş prepositions include: in, on, to, with, for, beside, through, and many more besides. Kurdiş prepositions include: bê = 'without', bo = 'for', ji = 'from', li = 'in, at', mîna = 'like, similar to', and nêzîkî = 'near'. Nouns and pronouns governed by prepositions are in the oblique case, e.g.: ji wan from them • 53 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin li Îstanbol-ê ê nêzîkî Wêranşehr-ê ê in Istanbul near Viranşehir It should also be noted that the four prepositions bi (with, by means of), di (inside), ji (from), li (in, at) can combine with the third person singular pronouns wî (him) and wê (her). The following transformations are then as follows: bi di ji li + + + + wî/wê wî/wê wî/wê wî/wê pê tê jê lê For example, Ez jê hiz dikim Em lê dijîn with him/her/it inside him/her/it from him/her/it in or at him/her/it I love him/her We live in it. c. Ambipositions. In addition to prepositions, Kurdiş also has constructions that consist of a preposition coupled with a postposition, for example di … da48 = 'in, inside'. This is sort of like a sandwich (a circumfix or ambiposition), in that di precedes the noun, and da follows it, e.g. di xwendingeh-ê ê da = 'in school'. Other examples of such 'sandwiches' are bi … rra49 = '[together] with' and ji ... rra50 = 'to': bi min rra = 'with me'; ji te rra = 'to you'. Traditionally, students of Kurmanji are taught that there are three postpositions: da [or de] indicating position, rra [or rre] indicating motion towards or across, and ve indicating togetherness. These meanings are only meant to be a general guide, but it şould be noted that these postpositions can radically change the meaning of the accompanying preposition, e.g.: ji wan ji wan rra from them to or for them Note that the contractions mentioned above also apply to ambipositions, e.g. ji + wî/wê + rra di + wî/wê + da jê rra tê da for him/her/it in him/her/it It şould be noted that in southern dialects (both Hekkari and Behdinan), the simplest way to say 'with' is digel, equivalent to bi … rra in the north: digel min = bi min rra = with me. Also, in Behdinan bo is used instead of ji … rra for 'to' or 'for'. 48Variant: di … de e bi … ¢e e 50Variant: ji … ¢e e 49Variant: • 54 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin d. I like, you like, etc. We have already learned the expression hiz dikim ji …, which really means 'I love'. If I want to say that I like something, rather than love it, another very common expression is used: Kêfa min ji … rra tê. In southern dialects, they replace the sandwich ji … rra with the simple preposition bi51, and say Kêfa min bi … têt. Here are a few examples of how this is used: Kêfa wî ji hêkan rra [S: bi hêkan] nayê Kêfa te ji pisîkan rra [S: bi kitikan] têt? Kêfa min ji vê kitêbê rra tê He doesn't like eggs. Do you like cats? I like this book. With the contractions mentioned above, we obtain the following: Kêfa min jê rra tê [S: Kêfa min pê têt] I like it. e. What do you think of this? In Kurdish, instead of asking someone what s/he thinks of something, one asks how s/he sees it: Tu … çawa dibînî? For example: Tu destên xwe çawa dibînî? = What do you think of your hands? In other words, when asking someone his/her opinion about something, this construction can be used. f. Where are you from? The way to ask someone where s/he is from in Kurdish is different from its English equivalent. One asks 'You are the people of what place?' = Tu xelqê ku derê yî? Xelq, m. is a noun meaning 'people'. The answer is: 'I am the people of [X]' = Ez xelqê [X]ê me. The place is in the oblique case, as it is the second part of an ezafeh (genitive or possessive) construction. E.g., Ez xelqê Rehayê me = I am from Urfa; Ew xelqê Dihokê ye = S/he is from Dihok. Note that xelq is used for both genders and both numbers: Bavê min xelqê Dihokê ye; Dîya min xelqê Wêranşehrê ye [never *xelqa a Wêranşehrê ye]; Herdu xwendekarên te xelqê Swêdê ne [never *xelqê ên Swêdê ne]. g. to know. As in many other languages, Kurdish has two different words for 'to know'. Ez dizanim is used for facts, e.g. 'I know that he is a teacher' = Ez dizanim ku ew mamosta ye. Note that this is often used with ku. Remember: Ez dizanim ku … This is the equivalent of German wissen, French savoir, Spanish saber, Turkiş bilmek, and Persian dÐnestan. However, when one knows or is acquainted with a person, a different verb is used: Ez nas dikim [S: Ez dinyasim52]. This can also mean 'to recognize'. Hence, this is much the same as German kennen, French connaître, Spanish conocer, Turkish tanışmak, and Persian şenÐkhtan. 51For 52In this expression only -- NOT in general! Hekkari, they say Ez dinaysim, and near Akre they say Ez dinasim. • 55 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Note the following distinction: Ez wê keçê nas dikim, lê ez navê wê nizanim I know that girl, but I don't know her name. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) What are the cats doing? They are playing with the guests' şoes. 2) The dogs are playing with the guest's (f.) books. 3) Do you like children? I like the şepherd's children. 4) What do you think of that girl's eyes? They are green and very big. 5) Does Şivan live in Istanbul? No, he doesn't live in Istanbul, he lives in Sweden with his {careful!} wife. 6) Are you sitting in the boy's room? No, I am not sitting in the boy's room, I am sitting in his sister's room. 7) Why are you reading that old book? Because I like the book's name! 8) Do you know that man? I know him, but I don't know his name. 9) He knows that our teacher's friend lives in that big house. 10) They don't know that our friends' teacher knows the şepherd. 11) Don't you know where Şivan is from? He is from Urfa, isn't he? 12) My mother is from Sweden. II. Translate into English: 1) Navê xwendekarê Zîn e. Navê birayê wê jî Ehmed e. 2) Bavê wê hevala me li Sêwregê dijî. 3) Em navê wî stranbêjî nizanin. Em wî hêj nas nakin. 4) Bahrî, tu nizanî ku dîya vê keçikê dersdar e? 5) Birayê rrîspîyê gundê me nexweş e. 6) Hemî xwendekarên me xelqê Tirkîyê ne. 7) Tu nizanî ew stranbêj xelqê ku derê ye? Nexêr, ez wî nas nakim. 8) Derîyê wê mezelê venekin! Di wê mezelê da neleyîzin! 9) Em nizanin çima tu tim dixwînî, ji ber ku kêfa te bi dersan nayê. 10) Kûçikê Gulistanê kirasên birayê wê dixwe. Kêfa wî bi kirasan têt. III. Answer these questions in the negative, then give the affirmative answer in parentheses: e.g.: Navê te Ramazan e? [nexêr; Dara] --> Nexêr, navê min Ramazan nîne; navê min Dara ye. 1) Tu mêrê vê jinê nas dikî? [nexêr; wê jinê bi xwe]; 2) Ew navê wê zanîngehê dizane? [nexêr; ez]; 3) Kêfa we bi/ji gotinên pêşîyan rra tê? [nexêr; bi mamikan]; 4) Xûşka wî şivanî xwendekar e? [nexêr; stranbêj]; 5) Bavê wan zarokan li Tirkîyê dijî? [nexêr; li Swêdê]; 6) Îro rrîspîyên wî gundî tên? [nexêr; li mala Şivên rrûdinin]; 7) Jina Sebrî xelqê Sêwregê ye? [nexêr; xelqê ‘Efrînê]; 8) Mêvanê Lezgîn çayê vedixwe? [nexêr; qawê]; 9) Ferhad û Bûrhan birayên hev in? [nexêr; hevalên hev]; 10) Bêkes destên xwe dişo? [nexêr; destên Xecê]. IV. Translate the following prepositional phrases into Kurdiş; then change the noun into the corresponding pronoun (plus contraction when appropriate), e.g. with the girl --> bi keçê rra --> pê rra: 1) with my father; 2) inside the school; 3) to the friends; 4) from the friends; 5) near the house; 6) in Istanbul; 7) with (=by means of) a pen; 8) without a name; 9) for my sister; 10) in the book. • 56 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin V. Write out and say the following numbers in Kurdiş: 73; 38; 61; 88; 46; 94; 97; 49; 76; 55; 82. KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Serxwebûn Şivan KURDISH PLACE NAMES Dihok Reha [=Urfa] ‘Efrîn Sêwreg [=Siverek] Karagêçî [tribe] Wêranşehir • 57 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Heşta [8] {Pikkert 6} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Çil heravî nikarin rrûtekî bişêlînin. READING: Rojekê xwendekarên Mamosta Miho dibêjin ku, “Îro em naxwazin herrin cem Mamosta Miho. Em dixwazin ku ew bê mala me!” Ew dibêjin, “Bila îro Mamosta Miho bê mala me!” Xwendekarek tê cem Mamosta Miho û jê rra dibêje ku, “Mamosta, divê ku tu îro bêyî cem me, em naxwazin herrine xwendingehê. Eger tu hazir nînî bêyî mala me, tu ji me hiz nakî!” Mamosta Miho ji xwendekarên xwe rra dibêje ku, “Ez naxwazim ku hûn bêjin ku ez ji we hiz nakim. Ez dikarim bêm cem we, lê divê (=lazim e) hûn çay û mêst bidine min; ku hûn çay û mêst nedin, ez hazir nînim bême mala we!” Xwendekar dibêjin ku, “Bila! Bila Mamosta Miho bê cem me, bila ew pisîka xwe jî bîne! Em çayê didine mamostê, û em şîr didine pisîka wî.” Mamosta Miho dibêje ku, “Gelek sipas dikim, lê divê ku hûn şîr nedine pisîka min: pisîka min hiz nake şîr vexwe, ku ew şîr vexwe, ew nexweş dikeve.” Xwendekar dibêjin ku, “Wê gavê, pisîka xwe neyne: tu bi tenê were, bila pisîk li malê bimîne!” VOCABULARY: bajar, bajêr, vî bajarî, m.[S: bajêr] bê aqil bila [or, bira] [+ subj.] bi t’enê cem da [ku] [+ subj.] datînim city stupid let (something be); okay alone; only at/over someone's house in order to/that I put, place (neg. danaynim/danaînim;imperative dayne) dibihîzim dibim difroşim [di]karim [+ subj.] I hear 1) [S: dibem] I take [away from the speaker]; 2) [S: dibim]I become, get I sell I can, am able • 58 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin (neg. níkarim) dik’irrim dimînim dipeyivim dişêlînim dişêm [+ subj.] (neg. néşêm) dişînim divê[t] (neg. névê[t]) diyarî, f. eger gerek her tişt hingiv, m. [S: hingivîn] heravî, m. [= diz] ji bo[na] ku [+ subjunctive] ji … rra ku [+ subjunctive] lazim e mase (vê masê), f. mast, mêst, vî mastî, m. min divêt nexweş dik’evim nînim nînî pirsyar, f. qayîl rrazî rrojekê rrût şekir, şêkir, vî şekirî, m. şîr, m. wê gavê NUMBERS: dusid sêsid çarsid pêncsid şeşsid I buy, purchase I stay, remain I speak, talk I undress, strip; I rob I can, am able [S} I send it is necessary, must gift, present if it is necessary, must everything honey thief in order to/that to if it is necessary, must table yoghurt I want [S] I get sick, fall ill I am not you (s.) are not question willing willing one day naked sugar milk then, in that case 200 300 400 500 600 heftsid heştsid nehsid hezar 700 800 900 1,000 GRAMMAR: a. Subjunctive. In Engliş, when we express a fact -- as opposed to a wiş -- we say "All your wişes are coming true", or "It is". These may be contrasted with such constructions as "May all your wişes come true" or "Let it be". In Kurdiş, these latter notions are expressed • 59 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin with the Subjunctive Mood. First we will discuss how the Subjunctive is formed; after that, we will learn how to use it. I. Formation: The Subjunctive Mood is formed in much the same way as the Imperative mood.53 In the affirmative, the di- prefix of the Indicative Mood is replaced with bi-. In the negative, ná- is replaced by né-. Here is an example: ez tu ew Subjunctive Affirmative bi-bîn-i im em bi-bîn-i in54 bi-bîn-î î hûn bi-bîn-i in 55 bi-bîn-e e ew bi-bîn-i in Subjunctive ez tu ew NOTICE: né-bîn-i im né-bîn-î î né-bîn-e e Ez nabînim Ez nebînim Negative em né-bîn-i in hûn né-bîn-i in ew né-bîn-i in I don't see/find (that) I may not see/find With compound verbs, bi- is optional. Hence: Ez ve-kim or Ez ve-bikim (in either case, the negative is Ez ve-n né-kim). IRREGULAR: •Ez im (to be): Ez bim, tu bî, ew be, em/hûn/ew bin56 •Ez dibêjim (to say): Ez [bi]bêjim, tu [bi]bêjî, ew [bi]bêje, em/hûn/ew [bi]bêjin. Note that the bi- prefix is optional. •Ez diherrim/diçim (to go): Ez herrim, tu herrî, ew herre, em/hûn/ew herrin [or: Ez biçim, tu biçî, ew biçe, …] 53One could even say that the Imperative is derived from the Subjunctive. bi-bîn-î în 55S: bi-bîn-î ît(i in) 56S: ew bît, em bîn 54S: • 60 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Note that with the stem herr-, the bi- prefix is absent. •Ez têm (to come): Ez bêm/werim, tu bêyî/werî, ew bê/were, em/hûn/ew bên/werin. Note that with the stem wer-, the bi- prefix is absent. In Behdinani, the preferred form is dihêm, with a regularly formed subjunctive bihêm. •heye, hene (there is/are): hebe57, hebin. II. Usage. 1) After auxiliary verbs: •Ez dixwazim = 'to want' + subj.: e.g.: Ez dixwazim bibînim = I want to see [lit. 'I want that I see'] Note that in this construction that whereas in Engliş the infinitive remains unchanged regardless of the subject of the verb 'to want', in Kurdish the subjunctive takes the same person as the modal auxiliary dixwazim: Tu dixwazî bibînî You want to see [lit. 'You want that you see'] Em dixwazin bibînin We want to see [lit. 'We want that we see'] The subjunctive may be in a different person, in a construction such as the following: Ez dixwazim [ku] tu bibînî I want you to see In Behdinan, dixwazim means only 'I request', 'I ask for'. For 'I want, you want, he-şe wants' they use min divêt, te divêt, wî-wê divêt, etc. instead (see divêt below). Note also that the negative is formed with né-: Min névêt = Ez naxwazim: e.g.: Min divêt bibînim I want to see Min divêt [ku] tu bibînî I want you to see 57S: hebît • 61 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin •Ez [di]karim = 'can, to be able' + subj.: e.g.: Ez [di]karim herrim I can go NEGATIVE: Ez ní-karim, tu ní-karî, ew ní-kare, em/hûn/ew ní-karin e.g.: Em nikarin te bibihîzin We cannot hear you In southern dialects, rather than dikarim, the most common way to say 'I can' is Ez dişêm. The negative is formed with né-: Ez neşêm = Ez nikarim: e.g.: Ez dişêm biçim I can go Em neşêyn te bibihîzîn We cannot hear you •Ez [di]zanim = 'to know how to' + subj.: e.g.: Ez [di]zanim bileyîzim I know how to play NEGATIVE: Ez ní-zanim, tu ní-zanî, ew ní-zane, em/hûn/ew ní-zanin e.g.: Hûn nizanin bi Kurmancî bipeyivin? Don't you know how to speak [in] Kurdish? Note that for both dikarim and dizanim the di- prefix is optional. •divê[t] (NEGATIVE: névê[t]) = gerek = lazim e: all three mean 'must, have to' e.g.: Divê [ku] bixwî You must eat (It is necessary that you eat) With a negative subjunctive, it means '[you] must not', e.g.: Divê [ku] néxwî You must not eat (It is necessary that you not eat) • 62 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Lazim e [ku] dêrî ven nékî You must not open the door As mentioned above, with oblique pronouns, divêt expresses 'to want' in southern dialects (Min divêt = Ez dixwazim). 2) After conjunctions. bila/bira = 'let58': e.g.: Bila herrin Let them go da ku/ji bo[na] ku = 'in order to/that': e.g., Em diherrine bajêr ji bona ku nên bikirrin We are going to town in order to buy bread eger/heke/ku = 'if' e.g., Eger pirsyareke wan hebe, bila niha bêjin If they have a question, let them say so now Ku hûn wisa nekin, ez hazir nînim bêm If you don't do so, I'm not willing to come 3) After certain adjectives. hazir = 'ready' or 'willing' rrazî/qayîl = 'willing' e.g.,Ez hazir im bixwînim Ew qayîl nîne bê I am ready to study He's not willing to come b. Word Order: Indirect Object. The indirect object can be expressed in two alternative ways (which is also true of Engliş!): 1) With the ambiposition/circumfix/“sandwich” ji … rra/rre placed before the verb. E.g., Dîya min ji min rra diyarîyekê dişîne 58This is known as the jussive in traditional grammar books. Note that in English, 'let' is an imperative rather than a conjunction. • 63 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin My mother to me a gift sends My mother sends me a gift, or: My mother sends a gift to me. Dersdar ji xwendekaran rra çîrokan dixwîne The teacher to the students stories reads The teacher reads the students the stories, or: The teacher reads the stories to the students. 2) With the oblique case placed after the dative construction. E.g., Dîya min goşt My mother (the) meat Dersdar The teacher dide gives the verb. We will call this min to me kitêban dide the books gives xwendekaran to the students This latter construction is also used to express motion to which (generally with a verb of motion). Note that this construction is often preceded by the “preposition” -e suffixed to the preceding verb . E.g., Em We diherrin-e e are going-to Mêvan The guests Ez I bajêr the city tên-e e are coming-to kitêba xwe my book mala me our house didim-e e am giving-to te you Note that in the third person, before this "preposition" the verb often takes the ending -it-. E.g., Ew van kitêban tîne = 'He brings these books', but: Ew van kitêban tîni ite bavê xwe = 'He brings these books to his father'. Question words (interrogatives) take the place in the sentence that their grammatical function requires. E.g., Em We diherrin-e e are going-to ku? } Mêvan tên-e e The guests are coming-to c. ku derê? where? dibim #1 & #2. There are two verbs with the present tense dibim. • 64 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin One is a transitive verb meaning 'to take or carry [away from the speaker]'59. This corresponds to tînim = 'to bring [toward the speaker]'. E.g.: Vî nanî bibe bavê xwe! Ez van kitêban dibime xwendingehê Take this bread to your father! I take these books to school. Note that dibim #1 often has both a direct object before the verb and an indirect object after the verb. In southern dialects -- both Hekkari and Behdinan -- the form of dibim #1 is dibem (dibey - dibet[in] - dibeyn - diben).60 The second verb with dibim in the present tense is the verb to become.61 This verb patterns with the dative construction. For example, to say 'I am becoming a teacher' we would say 'Ez dibim[e] mamosta', with mamosta following the verb. If we were to say 'Ez mamosta dibim' (or 'Ez mamostê ê dibim'), it would mean 'I am taking the teacher (somewhere)'. The most important point to remember here is that word order is essential in distinguişing dibim #1 (=to take) from dibim #2 (=to become). d. Oblique case. Another use of the oblique case is to express time. For example, rrojekê = 'one day'. During the day, in the daytime is rrojê; at night is şevê. In the summer is havînê; in the winter is zivistanê. EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) I want to go to Bitlis [Bidlîs, f.]. Don't you want to come too?; 2) They don’t want to go to Van [Wan, f.]. We don't want them to come; 3) They don’t want us to go to Mehabad. But we must go; 4) You (s.) cannot eat my bread, but you must drink your tea; 5) Şe must come to my house, but şe does not want to; 6) Let him sit beside [li ber] the table, and read his lesson; 7) The cats want to drink their milk. I don’t want them to drink the milk; 8) I want her not to read those books. I don’t want her to read that red book; 9) They do not know how to say their (own) names. I am not ready to say that [ku] they are stupid; 10) We are ready to go to the town of Urmiye in order to buy honey, sugar and yoghurt. II. Give the present subjunctive, affirmative & negative, of the following verbs: •dibînim •dikim •dixwim •didim •rradibim 59The infinitive of this verb is birin. in southern dialects the two verbs are distinct: dibem = 'to take' and dibim = 'to become'. 61The infinitive of this verb is bûn. This is actually the verb 'to be'. 60Hence, • 65 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin •dibihîzim •vedixwim •tînim •dibim •difroşim III. Translate the following into Engliş. 1) Birayê min dixwaze bibe mamosta. 2) Xûşka min dixwaze mamostayê xwe bibite malê. 3) Tu nabihîzî, hevala te çi dibêjite te? 4) Hûn van kitêbên xwe yên kevn nafroşine me? 5) Çima ew naxwaze bêjite min [or, ji min rra bêje] ew çi dikirre gava ku ew diçite bajêr? 6) Ew sê zarrok mastê dîya xwe tînine mamostayên xwe li xwendingehê. 7) Gava ku ew mêst dixwe, ew tim nexweş dikeve. 8) Hevalên min diherrine bajêr da ku ew ji min rra mêst bikirrin û bînin. 9) Divêt ku birayê te mastê dîya xwe bibite bajêr. 10) Ji bona ku tu bibî xwendekarekî baş, ez dixwazim te bibime zanîngehê. IV. Make up ten sentences using subjunctives and indirect objects. KURDISH PLACE NAMES Bidlîs Ûrmiye Mehabad Wan • 66 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Neha [9] {Pikkert 7} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Zikê tijê birinc be, wê tijê xencer be. DIALOGUE: I. Gulistan: Ez dixwazim tiştekî ji te bipirsim. Bêrîvan: Kerem ke, bipirse! Navê[t] bitirsî, bipirse. Ango, divê netirsî bipirsî! Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Gulistan: Bêrîvan: Baş e: Heftêya tê tu yê çi bikî? Heftêya tê ez ê herrime mala xwe. Heta kengî tu yê li wê derê bimînî? Ez ê pênc rrojan li wê derê bimînim. Tu çima dipirsî? Çimkî heftêya tê ez naxwazim li vir bi tenê bimînim. Ez dixwazim bi te rra bêm, lê ez ditirsim ku tu yê bêjî ‘Nexêr! Tu nikarî bi min rra bêyî! Lazim e ku tu li vî bajarî bimînî.’ Ez nikarim tutiştî bibêjim bêî ku îzinê ji dê û bavê xwe bixwazim. Tu li vir bimîne, ez ê herrim ji wan bipirsim û bêm. [Bêrîvan derdikeve, telefonî dê û bavê xwe dike, û tê]. Gulistan: Ew çi dibêjin? Bêrîvan: Ew dibêjin ‘Ser seran û ser çavan!’ Heftêya tê em ê pevrra [=bi hev rra] herrine mala dê û bavê min! Tu yê mêvana me bî! II. Miho: Rêbaz: Meha tê ez ê hespê xwe bifroşim. Bi çendê tu yê wî bifroşî? Miho: Ez ê wî bi hezar banqnotan bifroşim. Gelo tu dixwazî wî bikirrî? Tu ji hespan hiz dikî? Ez gelekî ji hespan hiz dikim, lê sala tê bavê min dê çêleka xwe bifroşe ü gamêşekê bikirre. Ew ê li ku derê gamêşekê bibîne ku bikirre? Kêfa min ji gamêşan rra nayê: ez ji wan ditirsim. Tu çima ji wan ditirsî? Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: • 67 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Miho: Çimkî ez her ditirsim ku ew ê pê li min bikin û min bikujin! VOCABULARY: banqnot, f. [also: panqnot](Turkish) lira bêî ku [+ subjunctive] without ...-ing bi çendê? for how much? ç’êlek, f. [=mange] cow çimkî [=ji ber ku] because dê û bav, pl. parents dikujim ditirsim [+ji] to kill to fear [someone], be afraid of [someone] gelekî gelo …? hesp, m./f. heyv, f. heftê, f. •heftêya tê heta îzinê (dixwazim) very interrogative particle horse moon; month [S] week next week until (to ask for) permission k’engî? when? k’êfxweş happy li vir here li wê derê = li wir there mange , f. [=ç’êlek]cow meh, f. [S: heyv] month •meha tê next month nîvrro, f. noon paş after p’evrra [S: pêkve] together p’ê li … dikim to cruş, stomp on pê rra [=bi wî/wê rra]with him/her sal, f. year •sala tê next year ser seran û ser çavan! welcome! sib[eh]ê [S: subahî] tomorrow • 68 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin telefonî … dikim to call … on the phone, ring up t’ijî t’ucar t’utişt xencer, f. zik, m. full never nothing dagger tomach NUMBERS: du hezar sê hezar çar hezar pênc hezar şeş hezar 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 heft hezar heşt hezar neh hezar deh hezar mîlyon 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 1,000,000 GRAMMAR: a. Future tense. The future tense (e.g., 'I will see') is formed as follows: I. Affirmative: 'future marker' dê [variants: wê or -ê] + present subjunctive. follows: Personal pronouns combine with the future marker, as Affirmative ez ê bi-bîn-im em ê bi-bîn-in tu [y y]ê ê bi-bîn-î hûn ê bi-bîn-in ew ê bi-bîn-e ew ê bi-bîn-in I will see we will see you (s.) will see you (pl.) will see s/he will see they will see In Behdinan, the Future Affirmative is formed slightly differently. The particle dê is followed by the naked present stem without any prefix, e.g.: ez dê bîn-im em dê bîn-în tu dê bîn-î hûn dê bîn-in I will see we will see you (s.) will see you (pl.) will see • 69 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin ew dê bîn-ît[in] ew dê bîn-in s/he will see they will see II. Negative: identical with present indicative: Negative ez na-bîn-im em na-bîn-in tu na-bîn-î hûn na-bîn-in I won't see we won't see you (s.) won't see you (pl.) won't see ew na-bîn-e ew na-bîn-in s/he won't see they won't see Therefore, Ez nabînim = I don't see; I don't find; I won't see; I won't find. In some regions, forms such as Ezê nebînim exist, but many people consider this to be unacceptable usage. There is no single answer regarding the correctness of such forms. Because they do in fact exist, we are mentioning them, albeit only in passing. III. Note the future tense of the following verbs: •to know: Ez ê bizanibim, tu yê bizanibî, etc. (in Behdinan: Ez dê zanim) negative: Ez nizanim, tu nizanî, etc. •to be able: Ez ê bikaribim, tu yê bikaribî, etc. (in Behdinan: Ez dê şêm) negative: Ez nikarim, tu nikarî, etc. •to be: Ez ê bim, tu yê bî, etc. negative: Ez nabim, tu nabî, etc. •to go: Ez ê herrim, tu yê herrî, etc. [also: Ez ê biçim, tu yê biçî, etc.] (in Behdinan: Ez dê çim) negative: Ez naherrim, tu naherrî, etc. [also: Ez naçim, tu naçî, etc.] •to say: • 70 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ez ê [bi]bêjim, tu yê [bi]bêjî, etc. (in Behdinan: Ez dê bêjim) negative: Ez nabêjim, tu nabêjî, etc. •there is: Dê hebe, dê hebin (in Behdinan: Dê hebît) negative: Nabe, nabin Strictly speaking, these are only irregular in the way that they form the subjunctive. b. Double negatives. In Kurdiş, it is correct negatives, e.g.: to use double Ez nikarim tutiştî bêjim I can't say anything [lit. 'I can't say nothing'] Ew tucar naxwaze herre He doesn't ever want to go [lit. 'He never doesn't want to go'] c. Nouns that end in -e e. There is some variety in the inflection of nouns that end in -e. Let us take the noun qawe (f.) = 'coffee' as an example. There are two inflections that are possible: 1) ezafeh and 2) the oblique case. The ezafeh of qawe can be either qawey ya- or qawa a-. Likewise, the oblique case can be either qawey yê or qawê ê. So also mase (f.) = 'table' and mange (f.) = 'cow' d. Interrogative particle. In Engliş, when we want to change a statement into a question, we often need to change the verb. For example, if we wiş to change the sentence "He wants to see my father" into a question, we must add the auxiliary verb do, yielding "Does he want to see my father?". In Kurdiş, there are several possible ways to change a statement into a question. The simplest way is simply to change the intonation: "Ew dixwaze bavê min bibîne" --> "Ew dixwa aze bavê min bibî îne?" with rising intonation on -xwaz- in dixwaze and bîn- in bibîne. A second way is to start the sentence with gelo. This can transform any (yes-no) statement into a question, e.g., Gelo ew dixwaze bavê min bibîne? e. For how much? When you tell how much you paid for something -- or intend to charge for it -- in Kurdiş you use the preposition bi: e.g., Bi çendê tuyê wî bifroşî? = How much will you sell it for? Ezê wî bi hezar banqnotan bifroşim = I will sell it for 1,000 liras. EXERCISES: I. Translation: 1) He asks us what we will do; 2) Cats are afraid of cats?; 3) I cannot come study with will come to your house tomorrow; we are doing. He will ask us what dogs. When will dogs be afraid of (bi…rra) you today, but (lê) I 4) Next week my sister will go to • 71 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Diyarbakir with her husband in order to buy bread, milk, and new şirts; 5) When will your parents sell their horse? They will take him to Van next month in order to sell him; 6) For (bi) how much will your friends sell the cow? They will sell her for 1200 liras; 7) Do you [pl.] want to stay in this city? We will be very happy if you [will] stay; 8) Are her children afraid of their [own] horses? When will they sell them?; 9) I must ask my brother if he will go to Zakho (Zaxo, f.) next year. I want to go with him; 10) How many thieves will strip a naked woman? I don’t know: you must ask your teacher. II. Translate into English: 1) Ew du diz dê bavê te bikujin; 2) Ez ê hingiv û goşt bikirrim; 3) Tu yê hezar û yek pirsyaran ji min bipirsî; 4) Hûn ê van sê pisîkan bifroşin; 5) Em ê wan çil kûçikan bidine mamostayên xwe; 6) Ew xwendekara nû dê van pênc kitêban bixwîne; 7) Ew ê li vî bajarî bimînin; 8) Paş nîvrro dîya min dê telefonî min bike; 9) Zarokên me dê bi zarokên we rra bileyîzin; 10) Paş nîvrro ez ê gelek birçî bim. III. Make the sentences in Exercise II. into questions. IV. Change the sentences in Exercise II. into the negative. V. Write out and say the following numbers in Kurdiş: 173; 238; 1,261; 8,847; 46,000; 494; 3,972; 493; 7,654; 5,508; 625. KURDISH PLACE NAMES Dîyarbekr [Amed] Zaxo • 72 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Pronunciation drills ev van xwe kêç’ kirin digrim kurr guh ew wan xwê keç’ k’irrîn digrîm k’ûr gû vê vîn bixwe keys karîn digerrim kor got wê viyan bixwîne k’ês k’es din şiv şêr te ji beş dibe dev ew dev dîn şîv şîr tê jî bêş dibêje dêv ev dew dên şev şerr terr jê baş divê dew wan devan deyn ew dew ew devê wê keç’ nîv binive! wê divêt navê vê keç’ê navê wê keç’ê ev dev ev dewê wê keç’ik nivîn binivîse! we divêt navê wî kurrî navê vî kurrî van devên wan ew devê we keç’ek nivistin nîvişk navê we navê vê xwendek’arê navê wî xwendek’arî • 73 • şî’ir t’êr davêje dêw ev dewê we keç’ikek nivîsîn navê wê M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Deha [10] {Pikkert 9.4} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan62: •Ji guran birçîtir e, ji maran tazîtir e. Hungrier than wolves, more naked than snakes (said of very poor people) •Xew - ji hesin girantir e, ji şêkir şîrintir e. Sleep -- it’s heavier than iron, sweeter than sugar. •Şam şekir e - lê welat şîrintir e. Damascus is sugar, but home is sweeter. •Têjikên maran ji maran pîstir in. The snakes’ young are dirtier than the snakes. Mamik: •Hilindir milindir, kurr ji bavê bilindtir. Hilindir milindir, the son is taller than the father. [kurr = dû; bav = agir] DIALOGUE: I. Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: 62See Xwendekarno! Îro ezê ji we bixwazim ku hûn behsa xûşk û birayên xwe bikin. … Bêrîvanê! Çend xûşk û birayên te hene? Du xûşk û sê birayên min hene. Tu ji hemiyan mezintir î? Nexêr, birayê min Lezgîn ji min mezintir e. Du birayên min yên din û herdu xûşkên min ji min piçûktir in. Baş e, Rêbazo! Birayê te Bêkes ji te piçûktir e, ne wisa? Belê, Seydayê Miho. Ez çar salan jê mezintir im. T’u xûşk û birayên te yên din tunin, Rêbazo? Belê! Xûşkeke min jî heye. Ew ji min gelekî mezintir e. Navê mêrê wê Xemgîn e. Sê zarokên wan hene. Tu ji zarokên xûşka xwe mezintir î? Ango, hemî xwarzîyên te ji te piçûktir in? Ez pênc salan ji mezintirîn xwarzîyê xwe mezintir im. also Lescot #90-94, p. 202; #165, p. 212; #272, p. 225 • 74 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Miho: Rêbaz: II. Miho: Ferhad: Miho: Gelawêj: Bêrîvan: Miho: Bêrîvan: Miho: Gelawêj: Bi gotineke din, tu pênc salan ji nuxurîyê xûşka xwe mezintir î. Erê, rrast e. Ferhado! Mala te ji xwendingehê dûr e yan nêzîk e? Mala min du kîlometreyan ji xwendingehê dûr e. Û tu, Gelawêjê, mala te dûrtir e yan nêzîktir e? Mala min nêzîktir e, Mamosta. Mala min kêmtir ji kîlometreyekê ji vir dûr e. Seyda! Mala Gelawêjê ji hemiyan nêzîktir e! Bi rrastî? Baş e, dûrtirîn mal --- mala kê ye? Seyda, ez dibêjim ku mala Şêxmûs ji hemiyan dûrtir e. Mala wî çend dûr e? Mala wî ne li vî bajarî ye! Ew li gundekî dijî! VOCABULARY: agir, êgir, vî agirî, m. fire baran, f. rain behsa … dikim [S: behsê…]I discuss, talk about bêtir more bi gotineke din in other words bilind high, tall çêtir better demsal, f. season (of the year) dibare it rains, it falls (of rain or snow) dinya, f. world dû, m. smoke dûr [+ ji] far [from] gelî [+ oblique case plural] plural vocative particle: O [people]! giran heavy; expensive gundî, m. villager, peasant gur, m. [S: gurg] wolf here/herî most, -est hesin, m. [S: asin] iron (mineral) jê [=ji wî/wê] from him/her; than he/her kêm little, few k’itêbxane, f. library k’îjan? which? kîlometre, f. kilometer lê feminine vocative particle lo masculine vocative particle mar, m. snake mirîşk, f. chicken nêzîk near, close nîv half nuxurî, m.&f. oldest child • 75 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin p’itir more [S] p’îs dirty rrast right sar cold seyda, m. [=mamosta] teacher Şam, f. Damascus tazî [=rrût] naked têjik, m. [also: çêjik] cub, whelp, young (of animal) -tir more, -er t’u [S: çu] no, none welat, welêt, vî welatî, m. country, homeland xew, f. sleep xwarzî, m.&f. nephew, niece [child of one's sister]63 SEASONS: bihar, f. biharê havîn, f. havînê spring in the spring summer in the summer payîz, f. payîzê zivistan, f. zivistanê fall, autumn in the fall winter in the winter GRAMMAR: a. The comparative degree of adjectives. Add -tir to the positive (simple) degree. E.g., dirêj xweş xirab kevn kêm long pleasant bad; ruined old (things) little, few dirêjt tir xweşt tir xirabt tir kevnt tir kêmt tir longer more pleasant worse older less, fewer A few common adjectives have irregular forms: çêt tir bêt tir, pit tir mezt tir better (also: başt tir, qenct tir) more (also: pirrt tir, ze‘ft tir) bigger (also: mezint tir) “Than” is expressed by the preposition ji, e.g., ji min bilindt tir ji şêkir şîrint tir 63The higher/taller than me sweeter than sugar children of one's brother are called birazî. • 76 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin b. The superlative degree. Several different constructions are used. I. ji hemîyan + comparative adjective [-tir] (than all) (more [X]) ji hemîyan çêtir = the best (of all) ji hemîyan pîstir = the dirtiest II. li 1 Li + noun + simple adjective 2 Kurdistanê 3 Dîyarbekir 64 mezin e. Diyarbekir is the greatest/largest place in all of Kurdistan III. here/herî + here mezin herî xweş IV. simple adjective the largest the nicest simple adjective mezint tirîn + -tirîn [under Persian & Sorani influence] the largest Note that this precedes the noun it modifies: Dîyarbekr Diyarbakir mezint tirîn bajarê Kurdistanê ye. is the largest city in Kurdistan. Did you notice that in the last sentence the Kurdish says literally "the largest city of Kurdistan"? In English we can say "the best little boy in the world", "the prettiest garden in the city", etc.; we also say "the shortest month of the year", "the greatest day of my life", etc. In Kurdish, this is expressed with an ezafeh construction, e.g.: Xweştirîn rroja a payîzê ê or Roja a payîzê ê ya ji hemîyan xweştir the loveliest day in/of the fall Dirêjtirîn rroja a salê ê or the longest day of the year Roja a salê ê ya herî dirêj c. Secondary ezafeh. We know how to say "my book" (kitêba min) and "the new book" (kitêba nû), but how can we say "my new book"? As with most things in Kurdiş, there are two ways to render this! The simplest way is with independent ezafeh markers: yê for masculine 64see Pikkert 9.4, p. 36 • 77 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin singular, ya for feminine singular, and yên [S: yêt] for plural. Hence, "my new book" would be kitêba min ya nû. Likewise, "his old şirt" would be kirasê wî yê kevn. Notice also that in the last section, one way of saying "the longest day of the year" was rroja salê ya herî dirêj. The rule is that when you have two modifiers for the same noun, one is attached to the noun by ezafeh and the second follows with an independent ezafeh marker65. In other words, if we want to add a modifier to a noun which is already modified (by a noun, adjective, or pronoun), we must use secondary ezafeh.66 The second way to render such constructions is like this: kitêba mine e nû. Instead of the independent ezafeh markers, the endings -î (masculine singular and all plural nouns) and -e (feminine singular) are added at the end of the first ezafeh construction. E.g.: qelema mine e dirêj = qelema min ya dirêj = my long pen destê tey yî rrast = destê te yê rrast = your right hand kitêbên wêy yî nû = kitêbên wê yên nû = her new books qelema mine e dirêje e nû = qelema min ya dirêj ya nû = my long, new pen kitêbên wêy yî nûy yî mezin = kitêbên wê yên nû yên mezin = her big, new books d. Vocative. When you address a person or call him or her by name, in many dialects of Kurdiş a special form of the name is used: the vocative case. To form this case, add -o to masculine singular nouns, -ê to feminine singular nouns, and -no to plural nouns. In addition, the particles lo (masculine singular), lê (feminine singular) and gelî (+ oblique plural [-an]) may be added as well, e.g.: lo Bêkeso o! lê Bêrîvanê ê! O Bêkes! O Bêrîvan! gundîn no! gelî gundîy yan! }O villagers! e. Oblique case. In Lesson 8 we mentioned that the oblique case is used to express time. For example, rrojekê = 'one day'. In the dialogue of this chapter, we have seen more extended examples of the oblique case, to express measurement: 65Another way to put this might be as follows: when you have two modifiers for the same noun, one is attached to the noun by primary ezafeh and the second follows with a secondary ezafeh marker. 66This is a paraphrase of Pikkert #2.10, p. 16. • 78 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ez çar salan jê mezintir im = I am four years older than him. [I am older than him by four years] Ez pênc salan ji mezintirîn xwarzîyê xwe mezintir im = I am five years older than my oldest nephew. [I am older than my oldest nephew by five years] Mala min du kîlometreyan ji xwendingehê dûr e = My house is two kilometers [far] from the school. [My house is far from the school by two kilometers] EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) My dog is smarter than your nephew; 2) Which is the coldest season? Winter is the coldest; 3) Let your brother eat [bread, i.e., a meal]. He is hungrier than you; 4) Are you your father's eldest child? In other words, are you the biggest son of your parents or not?; 5) Is your niece fatter than your sister? No, my niece is thin -- my sister is much fatter than her!; 6) Do you see those two men? They are father and son. The father is much şorter than his son; 7) In the winter, there is no city colder than Erzurum [a city colder than Erzurum there is not]; 8) They say that Seattle is the wettest city in the world; every day it rains!; 9) What will you do in the summer? I will play with my nieces and nephews; 10) My eldest child will come see me in the fall. II. Say each of these sentences in more than one way: 1) The newest book in the library; 2) The thirstiest student in the school; 3) My father's fattest sister; 4) The wettest day of the year; 5) The bluest eyes in this world; 6) The coldest room in the house; 7) Your brother's oldest şirt; 8) Our chicken's whitest egg; 9) The worst school in the city; 10) The hottest month of the year; 11) Your old book; 12) Their red chicken; 13) My new friend; 14) Our smart, new teacher; 15) Their large, pleasant city. III. Translate: 1) Hevlêr mezintirîn bajarê Kurdistana 'Îraqê ye? Nexêr, Kerkûk ji Hevlêrê mezintir e; 2) Dihok ji Zaxoyê mezintir e, û Zaxo ji Amêdîyê mezintir e; 3) Silêmanî ji Hevlêrê piçûktir e; 4) Kîjan bajar xweştir e: Silêmanî yan Kerkûk?; 5) Hevlêr ji Mehabadê kevntir e, ne wisa?; 6) Şîrintirîn keça xwendingeha me -- xûşka te ye!; 7) Mezintirîn bajarê Kurdistana Tirkîyê kîjan bajar e? Dîyarbekr e, yan bi gotineke din, Amed ji hemîyan mezintir e; 8) Germtirîn demsal kîjan e? Havîn ji hemîyan germtir e; 9) Xweştirîn demsal kîjan e? Bihar ji hemîyan xweştir e; 10) Havînê, bajarekî ji Mêrdînê hişktir tune. IV. Make up five sentences using comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, and five sentences using secondary ezafeh. • 79 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Şêxmûs KURDISH PLACE NAMES Amêdî Kerkûk Erzirom Mêrdîn Hevlêr Silêmanî • 80 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Yanzdeha [11] {Pikkert 4.1, 4.2, 4.6} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: •Roj rreş bû, tu jê rreştir be. If the day is [lit. 'was'] black, you be blacker than it. •Rûnişt li germa, rrabû li serma. He sat around when it was warm, he got up when it got cold. •Ber baranê rrevîm, bin zîpikê ketim. I ran from the rain, I landed under the hail. [ber = ji ber = from in front of] DIALOGUE: I. Bêrîvan: Ferhad: Bêrîvan: Ferhad: Bêrîvan: Ferhad: Bêrîvan: Ferhad: Bêrîvan: Ferhad: Bêrîvan: Ferhad: II. Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: 67or, Heftêya çûyî, ez çûm dê û bavê xwe bibînim. Tu çend rrojan li wir mayî? Ez pênc rrojan li wir mam. Û tu kengî zivirrî vî bajarî? Dihî yan pêr? Dihî em zivirrîn. Em?! Tu bi tenê neçûyî malê? Nexêr, hevala min Gulistan bi min rra bû -- em pevrra çûne serêdanê. Çawa derbaz bû? Baş bû? Erê! Gelekî xweş derbaz bû! Kêfa Gulistanê ji bajarê min rra hat. Em di wî bajarî da gelekî gerryan. Gulistan çima bi te rra hat? Ew çima li vir nema, yan jî ew çima neçû dê û bavê xwe bibîne? Ew bi min rra hat ji ber ku mala dê û bavê wê gelekî dûr e. Çêtir bû ku ew bi min rra hat, da ku heftêyekê li vir bi tenê nemîne. Xebera te ye! Seydayê Miho, tu kengî hatî vî bajarî? Ez pêrar hatime vî bajarî -- ango berî du salan. Tu li kuderê mezin bûyî? Ez li gundekî li bakura Diyarbekrê mezin bûm. Gundê te mezin e yan piçûk e? Wê demê gundê me mezin bû, lê niha gelekî piçûk e. Herkes rrevî, çû bajêr67. Ma kes li gundê we nemaye, mamosta Miho? çûy ye bajêr. • 81 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Rêbaz: Miho: Bi rrastî ez nizanim -- ji mêj ve ye ez neçûme gundê xwe. Dê û bavê te jî ji gund derketin, yan li wir man? Dîya min li gund ma, lê bavê min rrabû, çû bajêr. Bavê te çima ji gund derket? Ew çima çû bajêr? Bavê min çûye bajêr da ku li kar bigerre. Li gund kar tune? Di wextê xwe da kar hebû, lê êdî nema. Niha herkes mecbûr e ji gund derkeve û herre bajêr. VOCABULARY: berî before (of time); ago dem, f. time derbaz bûn (derbaz dibe), vi. to pass dihî [also: duh] yesterday ‘erd, f. earth, floor, ground êdî nema it's all gone, there is no more firrîn (difirrim), vi. to fly gerryan (digerrim), vi. to roam, wander herk’es everyone, everybody heftêya çûyî last week ji mêj ve for/since a long time k’ar, m. work, labor k’etin (dik’evim), vi. to fall lê gerryan (li …digerrim), vi.to look for, search, seek ma signals a question mecbûr [+ subjunctive] forced, required (to do stg.) meha çûyî last month par last year pêr two days ago, day before yesterday (par na) pêrar two years ago, year before last rrevîn (dirrevim), vi. to flee, escape, run away serêdan, f. visit serma, f. cold weather, the cold sêv, f. apple wê demê = di wextê xwe da formerly, once, in the past zivirrîn (dizivirrim), vi. to return, go or come back zîpik, f. hail [form of precipitation] DIRECTIONS: bakur, f. rrojhilat, f. Rojhilata Navîn north east Middle East başûr, f. rrojava, f. • 82 • south west M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin GRAMMAR: a. Past Tense of Intransitive Verbs [vi.] With this lesson, we will be introducing the past stem of the verb system. This is formed by removing the final -[i]n from the infinitive, which we will also be introducing at this time. In English, the infinitive is the basic form of the verb preceded by the preposition 'to', e.g.: 'to eat', 'to be', 'to go', 'to see', etc. Up till now we have been referring to verbs by the first person singular of the present tense, e.g., dikirrim = 'I buy'; dikim = 'I do'; dixwazim = 'I want'. From now on, we will refer to verbs by their infinitive forms (kirrîn = 'to buy'; kirin = 'to do'; xwestin = 'to want'). Whereas in Engliş it is necessary to learn three principal parts of every verb (e.g., see saw - seen; go - went - gone; walk - walked - walked, etc.), in Kurdish verbs only have two principal parts: present stem (e.g., dikirrim) and infinitive (e.g., kirrîn). If we know these two forms and whether the verb is transitive or intransitive, it is possible to conjugate verbs fully. At the end of this chapter, we have included a table showing the infinitives of all the verbs introduced thus far as well as whether they are transitive (vt.) or intransitive (vi.). This information will enable you to form the past tense. Note that infinitives with consonant stems end in -in (e.g., hati in = 'to come', xwesti in = 'to want', dîti in = 'to see'), and those with vowel stems end in -n (e.g., çûn n = 'to go', bûn n = 'to be', girîn n = 'to cry', dan n = 'to give'). For this lesson, you need only concern yourself with verbs marked as vi. [intransitive]. I. The endings for the past tense of intransitive verbs are the same as those for the present tense, except that the third person singular receives no ending (-ø). To form this tense, take the infinitive of the verb, and remove the final -[i]n. E.g., hati in --> hat; çûn n --> çû. The endings are added to this past tense stem. The negative is formed by prefixing né- to the affirmative form. Notice that ne- is identical with the negative particle for the Present Subjunctive. Paradigm: I. hatin = 'to come' Affirmative Ez hati im Em hati in68 Tu hatî î Hûn hati in Ew hat Ew hati in 68S: 'I came' 'we came' 'you (s.) came' 'you (pl.) came' 's/he came' 'they came' em hatî în • 83 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Negative Ez néhati im Em néhati in Tu néhatî î Hûn néhati in Ew néhat Ew néhati in II. çûn 'I didn't come' 'we didn't come' 'you (s.) didn't come' 'you (pl.) didn't come' 's/he didn't come' 'they didn't come' = 'to go' Affirmative Ez çûm m Em çûn n69 Tu çûy yî Hûn çûn n Ew çû Ew çûn n 'I went' 'we went' 'you (s.) went' 'you (pl.) went' 's/he went' 'they went' Negative Ez néçûm m Em néçûn n Tu néçûy yî Hûn néçûn n Ew néçû Ew néçûn n 'I didn't go' 'we didn't go' 'you (s.) didn't go' 'you (pl.) didn't go' 's/he didn't go' 'they didn't go' It must be stressed that in this chapter we are dealing only with intransitive verbs -- verbs that do not take a direct object. In the next chapters we will introduce the past tense of transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object). This distinction is basic to the Kurdiş verb system. To illustrate the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs in Engliş, consider the following: We can say 'Şe closes the door', or 'Şe sees the boy', or 'Şe reads a book'. In all three cases, we can ask 'What (or whom) does şe close or see or read?': What does she close? answer: the door Whom does she see? answer: the boy What does she read? answer: a book This tells us that 'to close', 'to see' and 'to read' are transitive verbs: they require direct objects. However, if we say 'She goes to the city', or 'She laughs', or 'She lives in Paris', it would make no sense to ask 69S: em çûy yn • 84 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin *What does she go? *What does she laugh? *What does she live? This is because the verbs 'to go', 'to laugh' and 'to live' are intransitive70. To test whether verb X is transitive or intransitive, ask the question 'What does s/he X?'. If the question makes grammatical sense and seems answerable, the verb is probably transitive. However, if the question seems not to make sense grammatically, the verb is more than likely intransitive. The following verbs are intransitive: •bûn (-im/dibim) •çûn (diçim/diherrim) •derk’etin (derdik’evim) •firrîn (difirrim) •girîn (dig[i]rîm) •hatin (têm) •hebûn (heye, hene) •jîn (dijîm) •k’enîn (dik’enim) •k’etin (dik’evim) •lê gerryan (lê digerrim) •man (dimînim) •peyivîn (dipeyivim) •rrabûn (rradibim) •rrazan (rradizêm) •rrevîn (dirrevim) •rrûniştin (rrûdinim) •sekinîn (disekinim) •tirsîn (ditirsim) •zivirrîn (dizivirrim) 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to 'to be; to become' go' leave, go out' fly' cry' come' exist, there is/are'* live' (≠ to die) laugh' fall' seek, look for, search for' remain, stay' speak, talk' get up, rise' go to sleep, lie down' flee, escape, run away' sit' stand, stop' fear, be afraid of' return, go or come back' 70One can think of examples in which these verbs could be made transitive in English (although not in Kurdish), e.g., 'to go an extra mile', or 'to live a long life', or 'to laugh up a storm'. * Negative tune (pl. tunene), past tense tunebû (pl. tunebûn). • 85 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) We stayed; We did not stay; 2) They fell; They have not fallen for a long time; 3) You (sing.) flew; You didn't fly; 4) He laughed; He did not laugh; 5) I lived; I didn’t live; 6) You (pl.) were; You were not; 7) Who fell? No one fell; 8) What was there? There were two cats; 9) Did the child cry? No, he has not cried for a long time -- he laughed; 10) When did the guests come? They did not come yesterday; 11) What did you look for in Diyarbekir?; 12) I looked for work to the south of [li başûra] that city. II. Translate the following sentences into Kurmanji. 1) I will come to your house next month; 2) My friend (f.) will go to Van next year; 3) His şirt will fall on the floor ('erdê); 4) We will be afraid of your dogs tomorrow; 5) Your (pl.) sister is a student in this school; 6) You (pl.) have apples, and we have eggs; 7) Your sister is laughing; 8) The boys come out of the school; 9) The chicken will fly to Mardin tomorrow; 10) Why is Bêkes crying? III. Put the sentences in Exercise II. into the negative. IV. Put the sentences in Exercise II. into the past (negative) -making all necessary changes (e.g., tomorrow-->yesterday). V. Put the sentences in Exercise II. into the past (affirmative). VI. Make up ten questions using intransitive answer them. past tense verbs, and Another proverb: •Gerîyam dora dinê, xilas nebûm ji mirinê (Z-1440) Infinitives of verbs introduced up to lesson 11: Present Tense çêdikim dadigrim datînim derdik’evim derdixim dibare dibêjim dibihîzim dibim I dibim II [S: dibem] dibirrim dibînim Meaning Infinitive ± Transitivity I make, fix çêkir-in vt. I fill up dagirt-in vt. I put, place danî-n [S: dana-n] vt. I leave, exit derk’et-in vi. I cause to leave derxist-in vt. it rains, falls barî-n vi. I say, tell got-in vt. I hear bihîst-in vt. I become bû-n vi. I take, carry [away]bir-in vt. I cut birrî-n vt. I see; I find dît-in vt. • 86 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin diçim didim [S: didem] difroşim digrim digrîm diherrim dijîm [di]karim dik’enim dikim [S: dikem] dik’irrim dikujim dileyîzim dimînim din[y]asim dipeyivim dipêjim dipirsim disekinim dişêlînim dişêm dişînim dişkê dişom ditirsim divê[t] dixwazim dixwim [S: dixom] dixwînim dizanim fedî dikim fêm dikim girêdidim heye -im lê digerrim nas dikim rradibim rradizêm rrûdinim têm tînim vedikim vedixwim I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I go çû-n give da-n sell firot-in take, catch; I close girt-in cry girî-n go çû-n live jî[ya]-n can, am able karî-n laugh k’enî-n do kir-in buy, purchase k’irrî-n kill kuşt-in play leyîst-in remain, stay ma-n vi. know [S} n[y]asî-n speak, talk peyivî-n I bake, cook pat-in I ask pirsî-n I stand, stop sekinî-n I strip, rob şêland-in I can, am able şiya-n I send şand-in it breaks şkest-in I waş şûşt-in I fear, am afraid tirsî-n must, it is necessaryviya-n I want; I ask for xwest-in I eat xwar-in I read, I study xwend-in I know zanî-n I am aşamed fedî kir-in I understand fêm kir-in I tie girêda-n there is hebû-n I am bû-n I seek, look for lê gerrya-n I know nas kir-in I get up, rise rrabû-n I go to sleep rraza-n I sit rrûnişt-in I come hat-in I bring anî-n [S: îna-n] I open vekir-in I drink vexwar-in • 87 • vi. vt. vt. vt. vi. vi. vi. vt. vi. vt. vt. vt. vt. vt. vi. vt. vt. vi. vt. vi. vt. vi. vt. vi. vt. vt. vt. vt. vt. vt. vt. vt. vi. vi. vi. vt. vi. vi. vi. vi. vt. vt. vt. M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Donzdeha [12] {Pikkert 4.3,4.4,4.6} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: •Me hingî got, me tu jê nesot. We said [it] then, [but] we didn't burn anything of it •Mirîşkê çav li betê kir, qûna xwe ç’irrand71 The chicken imitated the bustard, and tore its own backside •Xanima min, min tu li jêr jî dîtî, li jor jî dîtî72 My lady, I have seen you from below, I have seen you from above •Eger ez dîtim, ez im; eger nedîtim, diz im. If they saw me, it's me; if they didn't see me, it is a thief [lit., 'I am a thief'] READING: Bavê min ez birime bajêr Wextê ku ez biçûk bûm, bavê min ez birim bajêr. Bajar gelekî mezin bû, ji gundê me mezintir bû. Li gund hesp ze‘f in, lê li bajêr min tu hesp nedîtin. Min kerek didû dîtin. Gava em gihîştin bajêr, ez gelekî tirsîm. Min tutişt fêm nekir, min tukes nas nekir. Min ji bavê xwe pirsî, ku, “Bavo, te çima ez anîm vê derê, vî bajarî? Te çima ez anîm vî bajarê mezin?” Bavê min got, “Lawo, tu mezin bûyî û lazim e ku tu bibînî dinya çiqas mezin e.” Min fêm kir, û gotina bavê xwe rrast dît. Min dîsa jê pirsî: “Bavo, wê gavê, te çima birayên min yên biçûk jî neanîn?” Got, “Lawo, ew hê biçûk in, ji te biçûktir in, bila li malê, li cem dîya xwe bimînin. Wextê ku wek te mezin dibin, ezê wana jî bînim bajêr.” Ez kenîm û min ji xwe rra got, “Ez çiqas bextewar im ku bavê min merivekî wisa ye!” Hinekî paşê, min tiştek dît, ku kêfa min gelek jê rra hat. Ez birçî bûm û min ji bavê xwe rra got, “Bavo, ez birçî me. Emê kengî nan bixwin?” Bavê min tiştek negot, wî destê min girt û ez birim cihekî, ku jêrra dibêjin “xwaringeh”. Em li ber masekê rrûniştin, û merivek hat û ji me pirsî: “Hûn dixwazin çi bixwin?” Min fêm nekir, min nezanî ev meriv kî bû û çi ji me xwest. Di gundê me da tiştekî wisa tune. Bavê min kenî, û ji mêriv rra got, “Du dew û du döneran ji me rra bîne.” Pênc deqe şûnda, ew zivirrî û xwarina me danî ser masê. Min zanî, dew çi ye -- li gundê me jî dew pirr e. Lê min nezanî ‘döner’ çi ye. Nan e, û di nava nên da goşt heye. Ev goşt jî 71Lescot 72Lescot #40, p. 194. #226, p. 220. • 88 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin goştê berxan e. Min di ‘emrê xwe da tiştekî wisa nexwaribû* -- ze‘f kêfa min jê rra hat. Ez dikarim bêjim ku min hiz ji dönerê kir. Ji wê rrojê û were, xwarina min ya here hizkirî, ev döner e. VOCABULARY: berx[ik], f. lamb bet, f. type of duck, bustard bextewar glad; lucky, fortunate cih, m. [also: cî] place; bed ç’av kirin, vt. [li] to copy s.o., imitate çiqas? how much?; how çiqas bextewar im how lucky I am ç’irrandin (diç’irrînim), vt. to tear, rip dew, dêw, vî dewî, m. drink made of yoghurt and water [Turkish ayran] di nava … da inside of, within, in the middle of dîsa[n] again döner [Turkish] gyros, şawermah, lamb cooked on a rotating spit 'emir, m. (‘emrê min) life(time); age gihîştin (-gih[êj]-), vi. to reach, arrive at gotin (-bêj-), vt. to say gotin, f. (one's) words, what one says hinekî a little, a little bit hinekî paşê a little bit later hingî then, at that time hizkirî belovèd, favorite jêr below ji … û were ever since [T -den beri] jor above k’er, m.&f. donkey k’erek didû a donkey or two li cem at the house of, over s.o.'s house meriv, mêriv, vî merivî, m. man, person paşê after(wards) p’encere, f.(p’encera-; p’encerê) window qûn, f. rear end, backside rrast dîtin to consider [something] right or correct sotin (disojim), vt. to burn (vt.) şûnda after(wards), later t’u [S: çu] no, none t’uk’es nobody, no one wek like, as wextê (ku) when (conj.) *This is past perfect. See lesson 13. • 89 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin wê gavê xwarin, f. xwaringeh, f. then, in that case food restaurant DAYS OF THE WEEK: Şemî, f. [S: Şembî] Yekşem, f.[S: ‰kşembî] Duşem, f. [S: Duşembî] Sêşem, f. [S: Sêşembî] Çarşem, f. [S: Çarşembî] Pêncşem, f. [S: Pêncşembî] Înî, f. [S: (H)eynî] rroja ~ê rroja Duşemê Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday on ~ on Monday GRAMMAR: a. Past tense of transitive verbs [vt.]. Transitive verbs (vt.), i.e., verbs that take a direct object, behave differently in the past tenses from intransitive verbs (vi.). The type of construction which occurs in the past tense of transitive verbs in Kurdiş is called an ergative construction.73 Historically, the past tense of a transitive verb in an ergative construction is turned into a passive construction. E.g., 'I opened the door' becomes 'The door was opened by me'. The logical direct object (the door) becomes the grammatical subject, and the logical subject (I) becomes the grammatical agent (by me). Therefore, instead of saying ‘I (you, he, şe, etc.) did something’, in Kurdiş one is actually saying ‘something was done by me (you, him, her, etc.)'. b. Formation: 1) As with intransitive verbs (vi.), the past stem is formed by removing the final -[i]n from the infinitive, e.g., kir-in girt-in --> --> kir girt xwar-in dît-in --> --> xwar dît vekir-in --> vekir anî-n --> anî 73For the comparative linguists among our readers, the distinction which German, French, Italian, Dutch, and Danish maintain between transitive and intransitive verbs in the past tense is comparable to the distinction made in Kurdish. E.g., German 'ich habe gesehen' vs. 'ich bin gegangen'; French 'j'ai vu' vs. 'je suis allé'; Italian 'ho visto/veduto' vs. 'sono andato', etc. For an interesting discussion of this, drawing parallels with the ergative in Iranian languages, see: Émile Benveniste. Problèmes de linguistique générale (Paris : Gallimard, 1966), esply chap. XV "La construction passive du parfait transitif", vol. 1, pp. 176-186. • 90 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin 2) The logical subject goes into the oblique case, while the verb takes no personal ending. (The personal ending of the verb is determined by the person and number of the logical direct object -see d. below). E.g., Ez dikim I do ----> Tu dikî You do ----> Min kir I did (by me was done) Te kir You did (by you was done) Ew dike ----> S/he does Wî/wê kir He/şe did (by him/her was done) Em dikin We do Me kir We did (by us was done) Hûn dikin ----> You do We kir You did (by you was done) Ew dikin They do Wan kir74 They did (by them was done) ----> ----> c. As with intransitive verbs, the negative of the past tense is formed by prefixing stressed né- to the verb, e.g., min né-kir, te né-kir, wî né-kir, wê né-kir … min ve-n né-xwar, te ve-n né-xwar, wî ve-n né-xwar, wê ve-n né-xwar … d. If the logical direct object is plural, the verb must agree with it in number. *Note that it is irrelevant whether the logical subject is singular or plural. E.g., 1) Present tense: I open the door. Ez dêrî vedikim. I open the doors s. Ez derîy yan vedikim. Past tense: I opened the door. Min derî vekir. I opened the doors s. Min derî vekiri in. historically 74In the north, forms such as wan kiri in, wan goti in, etc. are very common, due to influence from foreign languages and/or internal transformation. In this course, such forms will be considered incorrect, unless they are agreeing with a plural direct object. For an in depth study of this curious phenomenon, see: Margreet Dorleijn. The Decay of Ergativity in Kurmanci : Language Internal or Contact Induced? (Tilburg : Tilburg University Press, 1996), 183 p. • 91 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin By me the door was opened. By me the doors s were opened. Present tense: You don’t see the girl. Tu keçikê ê nabînî. You don’t see the girls s. Tu keçika an nabînî. Past tense: You didn’t see the girl. Te keçik nedît. You didn’t see the girls s. Te keçik nedîti in. historically By you the girl was not seen. By you the girls s were not seen. 2) With a noun as the logical subject: Present tense: The şepherd finds the wolf. Şivan gur dibîne. The şepherd finds the wolv ves. Şivan gura an dibîne. Past tense: The şepherd found the wolf. The şepherd found the wolv ves. Şivê ên gur dît. Şivê ên gur dîti in. historically By the şepherd the wolf was found. By the şepherd the wolves s were found. 3) With a plural subject: Present tense: The şepherds s find the wolf. Şivan gur dibîni in. The şepherds s find the wolves. Şivan guran dibîni in. Past tense: The şepherds s found the wolf. Şivana an gur dît. The şepherds s found the wolves. Şivana an gur dîtin. e. Let us look once again at a pair of sentences from above: Şivên gur dît The shepherd found the wolf (By the shepherd the wolf was found) and Şivên gur dîtin The shepherd found the wolves (By the shepherd the wolves were found) In these paired sentences, the number of the verb is determined by the logical direct object. As Pikkert states in 4.3, in an ergative • 92 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin past tense, “the verb will agree with the object in number and person.” Since all nouns are by definition third person, there is no question of person when the logical direct object is a noun (gur in the above sentences). But what if the logical direct object is a pronoun ? Suppose we want to say ‘The şepherd found me (you, us, etc.)’? Let us begin by taking a look at the past tense endings for intransitive verbs, using the verb hatin as an example: Ez hati im Em hati in Tu hatî î Hûn hati in Ew hat Ew hati in Transitive verbs can take these same endings, however, the meaning will be passive rather than active. Observe: Ez dîti im Em dîti in Tu dîtî î Hûn dîti in Ew dît Ew dîti in ‘Ez dîtim’ does not mean *‘I saw/found’, but rather ‘I was seen/found’ (passive); another way of seeing this is to translate it as ‘[someone] saw/found me’. Hence, the full paradigm of the transitive verb dîtin and the two possible translations for each form are as follows: Ez dîti im I was seen or [X] saw me Tu dîtî î You (s.) were seen or [X] saw you (s.) Ew dît S/he was seen or [X] saw him/her Em dîti in We were seen or [X] saw us Hûn dîti in You (pl.) were seen or [X] saw you (pl.) Ew They were seen or [X] saw them dîti in Now back to our earlier question: How does one say ‘The shepherd found me (you, us, etc.)’? If we convert the sentence to its corresponding passive in English, we come one step closer to the answer: • 93 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin By the shepherd I was seen Şivên ez dîti im The shepherd saw me By the şepherd you were seen Şivên tu dîtî î The şepherd saw you Another example of this construction can be found in the reading passage at the beginning of this chapter: Bavê min ez birim[e] bajêr By my father I was taken to town My father took me to town [or, to the city] f. Here is another way of looking at the formation of the past tense of transitive verbs: 1. singular 2. singular 3. singular 1 direct case Ez Tu Ew 2 oblique case min te wî (masc.) wê (fem.) I (me) you he (him) şe (her) 1. plural 2. plural 3. plural Em Hûn Ew me we wan we (us) you they (them) indef. sing. f. def. sing. f. def. pl. def. pl. sêvek Keç Sêv kitêb sêvekê keçê sêvan kitêban an apple [the] girl [the] apples [the] books Each clause with a transitive verb can have only one from column 1 and only one from column 2. In the present tense, the logical subject will be in the direct case (column 1), and the direct object will be in the oblique case (column 2), e.g.: Ez (1) I-dir. I see you. te (2) dibînim you-obl. see so also with nouns rather than pronouns: Şivan (1) Shepherd-dir. min (2) me-obl. dibîne sees • 94 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin The shepherd sees me. Keç (1) Girl-dir. The girl reads kitêban dixwîne (2) books-obl. reads the books. For transitive verbs, in the past tense the logical subject will be in the oblique case (column 2), and the direct object will be in the direct case (column 1), e.g.: Min (2) I-obl. I saw you. tu (1) you-dir. dîtî saw-2nd pers. sing. [Ez (1) --> min (2); te (2) --> tu (1) ; {ez}dibînim Şivên ez (2) (1) Shepherd-obl. me-dir. The şepherd saw me. --> {tu} dîtî] dîtim saw-1st pers. sing. [Şivan (1) --> Şivên(2); min (2) -> ez (1); {şivan}dibîne --> {ez}dîtim] Keçê kitêb xwendin (2) (1) Girl-obl. books-dir. read-3rd pers. pl. The girl read the books. [Keç (1)--> Keçê (2); kitêban (2) --> kitêb (1); {keç}dixwîne --> {kitêb} xwendin] In both past and non-past tenses, the verb agrees with whatever is in the direct case. In the present tense75, the logical subject is in the direct case, and the verb agrees with it in person and number: Ew sêvekê (1) (2) She-dir. an-apple-obl. She eats an apple. dixwe e Ew sêvekê (1) (2) They-dir. an-apple-obl. They eat an apple. dixwi in Ew du sêvan (1) (2) She-dir. 2-apples-obl. She eats two apples. dixwe e [Ew dixwe] eats-3rd pers. sing. [Ew dixwin] eat-3rd pers. pl. [Ew dixwe] eats-3rd pers. sing. 75i.e., in all non-past tenses of the transitive verb, and in all tenses of the intransitive verb. • 95 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ew du sêvan (1) (2) They-dir. 2-apples-obl. They eat two apples. dixwi in [Ew dixwin] eat-3rd pers. pl. Em te nas diki in (1) (2) We-dir. you-sing.-obl. know-1st pers. pl. We know you (s.). [Em nas dikin] In the past tense of the transitive verb, the logical direct object is in the direct case, and the verb agrees with it in person and number: Wê sêve ek (2) (1) She-obl. an-apple-dir. She ate an apple. xwar Wan sêve ek (2) (1) They-obl. an-apple-dir. They ate an apple. xwar Wê du sêv (2) (1) She-obl. 2-apples-dir. She ate two apples. xwari in Wan du sêv (2) (1) They-obl. 2-apples-dir. They ate two apples. xwari in [sêvek xwar] ate-3rd pers. sing. [sêvek xwar] ate-3rd pers. sing. [du sêv xwarin] ate-3rd pers. pl. [du sêv xwarin] ate-3rd pers. pl. Me tu nas kirî î [tu nas kirî] (2) (1) We-obl. you-sing.-dir. knew-2nd pers. sing. We knew you (s.). EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) I give; I don’t give; I gave; I didn’t give. 2) You (s.) see; You don’t see; You saw; You didn’t see. 3) She comes; She doesn’t come; She came; She didn’t come. 4) He reads; He doesn’t read; He read; He didn’t read. 5) We drink; We don’t drink; We drank; We didn’t drink. • 96 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) II. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) You (pl.) open; You don’t open; You opened; You didn’t open. They catch; They don’t catch; They caught; They didn’t catch. The şepherd saw us on Wednesday. The şepherds did not see us on Thursday. Did they catch you (s.)? No, they did not catch me. When did you (pl.) return home? We returned home on Sunday. Our mother waşed us. Did your (s.) mother waş you? The student (f.) took her to school. The students did not take them to school. You (s.) have not seen us for a long time. Who brought you (pl.) home on Thursday? My friends brought me home. They heard us yesterday. We heard them two days ago. Translate, giving the four forms (singular and plural direct object, present and past tense): She reads (read) the book(s). The dogs catch (caught) the cat(s). The boy opens (opened) the door(s). The teacher does not (did not) read the lesson(s) on Tuesday. The student waşes (waşed) his hand(s). The woman does not (did not) sell her cow(s) on Saturday. My sisters eat (ate) the bread(s). You (pl.) do not (did not) close the window(s). We bring (brought) the yoghurt home on Monday. Your (s./pl.) mothers loves (loved) you (s./pl.). They don’t (didn’t) tell me anything [=They don’t say a thing to me]. Do (did) the fathers take the children to school today (yesterday)? III. Translate into English: 1) Te em dîtin, nedîtin? Me tu dîtî, nedîtî?; Roja înê min hûn negirtin. Roja Pêncşemê we ez negirtim; 2) Wê destên xwe neşûştin; 3) Roja Çarşemê me dîya xwe bire Wanê. We dê û bavê xwe birine Sêrtê?; 4) Wan ez nas kirim, lê “rroj baş” negote min; 5) Ji mêj ve min tu nedîtî; 6) Wextê ku tu çûyî Rehayê rroja Şemîyê, te çi kirrî? 7) Min sê kirasên nû kirrîn; 8) Yên ku ez anîm, dê min dîsa bibin. IV. Make up ten sentences using transitive and intransitive. verbs in the past tense, both KURDISH PLACE NAMES Sêrt • 97 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Sêzdeha [13] {Pikkert 4.5, 4.7, 5.3} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Mêra mêr dikuştin, Cibo ûr dişûştin Men were killing men, Jibo was waşing intestines. Kelb bin sîya 'erebêda rrûniştibû, ewî tirê sîya boçika wî ye The dog sat under the şade of the wagon, he thoughT it was the şade of his own tail. READING: Merivekî gundîyek kuştibû û dirrevî. Gundîyan dabûye pey merivkuj ku bigrin. Wî dît di rrê da çend rêwîyên din ber bi wî ve tên. Tirsî ku wî bigrin, xwe zûzûka avête zevîya nîskan ya li devê rrê, baqek nîsk çinî û rrevî. Gundîyên ku dabûye pey wî -- gazî rêwîyan kir, ku wî bigrin. Rêwîyên ku ji pêşber dihatin, mêrik girt. Wan pirsî, çima gundî wisa bi pey wî ketin. Mêrik got: "Ez di rrê da dihatim, min ji zevîya wan baqek nîsk çinî, niha dixwazin min bigrin, bikujin." Rêwîyan ew berda û gundîyên ku dabû dû -- girtin, wan got: "Şerm e, şerm, ji ber baqek nîsk hûnê mêr bikujin, çi ye?" Gundîyan ku ew yek bihîst 'ecêbmayî man, wan got: "Kî zane -- zane, kî nizane -- baqê nîskan e."76 VOCABULARY: avêtin (davêjim), vt. xwe avêtin, vt. bala xwe dan, vt. baq, m. ber bi [… ve] ber•dan (berdidim), vt. berî ku bilûr, f. bîr, f. ji bîr kirin, vt. boç’ik, f. carina Cibo to throw to jump, leap to realize, see handful towards to let go, release before (conjunction + verb) flute (Turkiş kaval) memory to forget tail sometimes man's name 76Adapted from: Ordikhane Dzhalil & Dzhalile Dzhalil. Mesele û Met'elokê K'urda bi Zimanê K'urdî û Rûsî = Kurdskie Poslovitsy i Pogovorki na Kurdskom i Russkom IAzykakh (Moskva : Glavnaia redaktsiia vostochnoπ literatury, 1972), anecdote #18, p. 385. The punchline "Kî zane -- zane, kî nizane -- baqê nîskan e" is a well known Kurdish proverb. • 98 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin cînar, m.&f. [also: cîran] neighbor çinîn (diçinim), vt. to pick (fruits) dan pey/dû, vt. = k’etin pey to follow, chase, pursue dev, dêv, vî devî, m. mouth; edge devê rrê the side/edge of the road dû = pey after 'ecêbmayî man, vi. to be amazed, şocked, stunned, surprised 'erebe, f. ('ereba-; 'erebê)cart, wagon gazî kirin, vt. to call gelek caran often, usually gihandin (digihînim), vt. to cause to arrive, to bring someone to hergav always her heftê every week her rroj every day hiştin (dihêlim), vt.[hêlan (S)]to leave, let heta until ji ber because of, for the sake of jin anîn, vt. to get married (of a man) k’elb, m. = kûçik dog k’etin pey, vi. to follow, chase, pursue lê•xistin [li… dix(în)e],vt.to play (an instrument) mal77, m. property merivkuj, m. murderer mêrik, m. man, fellow, chap mêr kirin, vt. to be married off (of a woman) nazik delicate, gentle nîsk, f. lentil(s) p’al, f. slope, side (of mountain) pey = dû after pê hesîn (pê dihesim), vi.to find out, become aware of pêşber opposite, facing p’irrîcar often, usually piştî ku after (conjunction + verb) qesr, f. castle rrêwî, m.&f. traveller, here: people on the road se‘at, f. hour; clock sî, f. shade sûk, f. market şerm, f. shame, disgrace t’eslîm kirin to deliver, hand over (to someone) [(ji) oblique case] + t’irêit seems to [s.o.], [s.o.] thinks (that stg. is so) [ji] min t’irê it seems to me. ûr/’ûr, m. intestine(s) 77Notice the gender difference between these two homonyms: mal, f. = house, home; mal, m. = property. • 99 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin wekî = ku xort, m. ze‘f caran zevî, f. zûzûka that (conj.) young man often, usually field quickly, fast, in a flaş MONTHS: K’anûna Paşîn, f. Sibat, f. Adar, f. Nîsan, f. Gulan, f. Hezîran, f. January February March April May June Tîrmeh, f. July T’ebax, f. August Îlon, f. September Çirîya Pêşîn, f. October Çirîya Paşîn, f. November K’anûna Pêşîn, f. December GRAMMAR: a. Past Continuous Tense. The past continuous tense (Pikkert’s “Progressive Past Tense”) is used for events which occurred repeatedly or habitually in the past. This is rendered in Engliş by such constructions as: I was going, I used to go, I would go78 In Kurdish, there is a past continuous tense, formed by prefixing the present indicative tense marker di- to the past tense. This holds true for both transitive and intransitive verbs. E.g., Ez diçûm Min dixwar Tu dihatî Te ved dikir Ew dikenî Wî digot I used to go, I was going, I would go I used to eat, I was eating, I would eat You used to come, you were coming, you would come You used to open, you were opening, you would open He used to laugh, he was laughing, he would laugh He used to say, he was saying, he would say The negative is formed by prefixing a stressed né- to the prefix di-. Note that unlike the present tense, in which the negative particle replaces the di-, in the past continuous tense, these two prefixes stand side by side. E.g., Present: Ez diçim Ez náçim Ez dixwim Ez náxwim Past continuous: Ez diçûm Ez diçûm Min dixwar Min dixwar 78In Turkish, both gidiyordum and giderdim correspond to this. • 100 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin This tense is often signalled by adverbs indicating habitual activity, e.g., every day (her rroj), every week (her heftê), sometimes (carina), always (her [û her]/hergav/tim [û tim]), never (tucar), often or usually (gelek caran/pirrîcar/ze‘f caran). b. Relative clauses. In Engliş, typical sentences with relative clauses include the following: a) The man who was my friend is now a senator. b) The book which you are reading is fabulous. c) ... that live in the house that Jack built. Relative clauses are often signalled, then, by such markers as who, which, and that, although these markers could be omitted in examples b) and c) above. Particularly from a Kurdiş perspective, but in other languages as well, we may view relative clauses as equivalent to adjectives in that both modify their nouns. The difference is that while an adjective is a single word, a relative clause is a whole phrase. A noun is connected to its modifying relative clause by an ezafeh construction. In this way also, adjectives and relative clauses behave similarly. E.g., •Keça a bedew xûşka min e. The beautiful girl •Keça a (ku) tu dibînî is my sister. xûşka min e. The girl (whom) you see •Em diherrine is my sister. bajarê ê mezin. We are going to •Em diherrine the big city. bajarê ê (ku) tu têda dijî. We are going to the city (which) you live in. [lit., '(which) you live in it'] Therefore, relative clauses are constructed according to the following formula: noun + ezafeh (+ A +-ê/-a/-ên ku) + (B) • 101 • phrase C M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Because the ku is optional, sometimes a noun in its ezafeh form will be encountered without any apparent modifier (i.e. adjective). In such situations, one is undoubtedly in the presence of a relative clause. E.g., Rîya a tu li ser The road (which) you are on Mêrê ê tu nas dikî The man (whom) you know The following sentences contain embedded relative clauses. Try them on for size!: 1) Ew firrî û çû cem kevirê li pala çîyê bû. [pal, f. = slope, side (of mountain)] He flew and went to the rock which was on the side (or foot) of the mountain. 2) Gelo nabe, wekî em evê qîza nazik bigihînine ewî xortê tu dibêjî? [wekî = ku; gihandin (digihînim), vt. = to cause to arrive, to bring someone to; xort, m. = young man; nazik = delicate, gentle] Why don't we bring this delicate girl to that young man you are talking about? 3) Ezê vê qesrê û malê tê de timam teslîmê te bikim. [qesr, f. = castle; mal, m. = property; teslîm kirin = to hand over to someone] I will hand over to you this palace and all the property [that is] in it. c. To express such things as "he who…", "the one who...", two constructions are possible: 1) the interrogative pronoun kî may be used, e.g.: Kî zane -- zane, kî nizane -- baqê niskan e He who knows knows, he who does not know [thinks] it's a handful of lentils 2) the independent ezafeh markers: yê for masculine singular, ya for feminine singular, and yên [S: yêt] for plural79 + ku are used. E.g., Yên ku ez anîme dê min dîsa bibin 79see Lesson Ten, c. Secondary ezafeh. • 102 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Those who brought me will take me back d. Past Perfect Tense. The past perfect (or pluperfect) tense is used when speaking of two past events, one of which is further back in time than the other, e.g. ‘He had already left when I arrived.’ The formula for constructing this tense in Engliş is: past tense of auxiliary verb have + past participle. In Kurdish, the construction is similar, in that it also consists of an auxiliary verb (bûn) plus a special participle. The participle is formed by removing the -n from the infinitive, e.g. girti-n ---> girti- çû-n da-n kenî-n vekiri-n ---> ---> ---> ---> çûdakenîvekiri- The auxiliary verb bûn is attached (suffixed) to this participle. Hence, the past perfect of girtin is girtibû. As with other past tenses, the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs is preserved in this tense also. What follow are paradigms for the past perfect tense with the transitive verb girtin and the intransitive verb hatin. 80With vt. min girtib bû80 te girtib bû wî/wê girtib bû me girtib bû we girtib bû wan girtib bû I had taken/caught you (s.) had taken/caught he/şe had taken/caught we had taken/caught you (pl.) had taken/caught they had taken/caught vi. ez hatib bûm tu hatib bûyî ew hatib bû em hatib bûn hûn hatib bûn ew hatib bûn I had come you (s.) had come he/şe had come we had come you (pl.) had come they had come a plural direct object, the form will be min girtibûn n. • 103 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin The negative is formed by prefixing accented né- to the participle, e.g. Ez hatib bûm = I had not come. In Northern Kurmanji, for the verbs zanîn (to know) and karîn (to be able), the past perfect is most often used to express the simple past tense, e.g.: Dibêjin sultan Sulêman pêxember bi zimanên çûk û çivîka gişka zanibû They say that Sultan Suleyman the Prophet knew the languages of all the birds. EXERCISES: I. Translate into Kurdiş: 1) When I was a boy, I would go to school every day; 2) When you were a student, you never studied your lessons; 3) We used to live in a big house; 4) The şepherd used to play; 5) Our father used to bring small chickens home from the market; 6) The boy who ate the apples is our neighbor; 7) I used to study in the room in which you are sitting; 8) My father brought the chickens which you (pl.) were eating from the market; 9) My father had gone to the city before it rained; 10) I had not seen my brother before he died; 11) He had seen me in the winter, in the month of February; 12) Şe had [already] read the lesson, when you asked her; 13) I didn’t know that you were (=are) from Malatya; 14) You had [already] seen the house we lived in [it]. II. Translate into Engliş: 1) Mamoste nan xwaribû berî ku mêvan bigihine mala wî; 2) Piştî ku tu bi rrê ketî, min bala xwe da ku te kitêba xwe li cem min hiştibû; 3) Berî ku ew pê bihesin, em gihîştibûn çîyê; 4) Ehmedê Xanî ji Kurdan rra gotibû: “Hon (=hûn), berî her tiştî, Kurd in.”; 5) Min dixwest tiştekî ji te bipirsim; 6) Bavê min nedihişt ku ez piştî se‘at nehan ji malê derkevim; 7) Dihî birayê min hat me bibîne. Ji meha Tebaxê û were -- ango ji havîna çûyî -- ew nehatibû malê û me ew nedîtibû; 8) Gelo te ji bîr kir ku wan tiştek ji te xwestibû?; 9) Li mehên biharê û havînê -- ango ji Adarê heta Tebaxê -- em diçûne mala wan û ew dihatine mala me; 10) Bavê Meyroyê du hesp kirrîbûn gava ku Meyroyê ji bavê xwe xwest ku jêrra hespekî bikirre. III. Give the past continuous tense of the following verbs in the person and number indicated in parentheses; indicate whether the verb is transitive (vt.) or intransitive (vi.). E.g., dîtin (ez) --> min didît, vt. 1) gotin (tu); 2) bihîstin (em); 3) girîn (hûn); 4) derketin (ew, pl.); 5) vexwarin (ez); 6) xwestin (ew, sing. f.); 7) çinîn (em); 8) berdan (ew, sing. m.); 9) pirsîn (tu); 10) tirsîn (hûn); 11) hiştin (em); 12) zivirrîn (ew, pl.). • 104 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin IV. Give the negative of the past continuous tense for the verbs in Exercise III. V. Give the past perfect tense of the verbs in Exercise III. VI. Give the negative of the past perfect tense for the verbs in Exercise V. VII. Make up ten sentences using verbs in the past continuous and past perfect tenses. Make sure to include negative verbs and plural direct objects! KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Cibo Female: Meyro KURDISH PLACE NAMES Meletîye • 105 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Çardeha [14] {Pikkert 10.8 ff.} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: Bar min naêşîne, serbar diêşîne. READING: Rovîyekî xapînok hebû. Ew birçî bû, dilê wî diçû mirîşk û kewan. Da ku ew mirîşk û kewan bixapîne, wî deholek kire stûyê xwe û li ber kuna xwe sekinî, li dehola xwe xist û digot, "Xebereke mezin! Lîstika mişkan di vê kunê da! Rabin! Rabin! Vê delîveya zengîn û rengîn winda nekin! Werin! Werin! Derbazbûna mirîşk û kewan belaş e." Bi vî awayî rovî dixwest mirîşk û kewan bigihîne kuna xwe bêî ku wan bitirsîne. Kewek û mirîşkek hatin. Rovî ew sekinandin. Wan bangê rovî bihîst, û ji hev ra got, "Were, em derbazî wê de’watê bibin, ji ber ku bê pere ye." Gava ku derbaz bûn, rovî got, "De werin, werin, ez we bixwim. Hûn ketin dava min." Bi vê gotinê, rovî dilê kew û mirîşkê şewitand. Kew û mirîşkê dest bi girînê kir û got, "Apê rovî, dev ji me berde! Canên me bihêle!" Rovî got, De, îro xem nake, taştê û şîva min heye, ezê sibehê we bixwim," û rovî kevirek danî ber kuna xwe û çû. Kew û mirîşkê got, 'Emê dersekê bi‘elimînine wî rovîyê xirab!' Wan bi nikilên xwe kevir wergerrand, derketin û revîn.81 VOCABULARY: awa, m. bi vî awayî bang, m. bar, bêr, vî barî, m. belaş beş, f. bê p’ere bi kurtayî can, m. çarek, f. dan (didim), vt. + infinitive dav, f. dehol, f. delîve, f. deqe, f. derbaz bûn (derbaz dibe), vi. dest pê [bi …] kirin (dikim), 81adapted way, manner, faşion in this way call, cry load, burden free of charge part, section free of charge shortly, briefly soul, spirit, life quarter, fourth to have someone do something trap (snare) drum opportunity, chance minute (60 seconds) here: to enter vt. to begin, start (doing stg.) from: Stig Wikander. Antolojîya Tekstên Kurdî (Stockholm : Orfeus, 1996) • 106 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin dev jê [ji …] berdan (berdidim), vt. to let go of, cease and desist de’wat, f. (wedding) celebration dibistan, f. elementary school dil, m. heart dilê wî diçe ... He feels like (eating something) dîrok, f. history dotin (didoşim), vt. to milk (cows, şeep, etc.) 'elimandin (di'elimînim), vt. to teach, accustom 'elimîn (di'elimim), vi. + dative construction82 to learn, get used to êşandin (dêşînim), vt. to hurt, cause pain êşîn (dêşe), vi. [also: êşan], to hurt (vi.), smart [ê]xistin (têxim/dixim/dixînim), vt. to drop, insert; to take off (clothes) firrandin (difirrînim), vt. to cause to fly (off) firavîn, f. lunch, midday meal fîlm, f. film, movie gihandin (digihînim), vt. to convey, bring, cause to reach guneh, m. pity; guilt hiştin (dihêlim), vt. here: to save from death ji holê rra•bûn (rradibe), vi. to cease to exist, disappear ji holê rra•kirin (rradike), vt. to get rid of, do away with kew, m. partridge kêm minus, less (-) kun, f. hole, opening (to an animal's lair) lîstik, f. game ma interrogative particle signaling a negative answer mişk, m. mî, f. [also: mih] name, f. nêç’îr, f. nikil, m. nivîsîn (dinivîsim), vt. p’adşa, p’adşê, vî p’adşayî, m. rasthatî, f. rrengîn rrû•ç’ikandin (rrûdiç’ikîne), sekinandin (disekinînim), vt. serbar, m. sibehê stû, m. kire stûyê xwe 82See mouse (pl. mice) female şeep, ewe letter, epistle hunting beak, bill (of bird) to write king event, occurrence colorful vt. to pluck, pull out (feathers) to stop (vt.), cause to stop, put a stop to that which is on top of the load; here: rider tomorrow neck he hung it from (put it around) his neck Lesson 8, ¶b.2. • 107 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin şewitandin (dişewitînim), vt. to burn (vt.) [set on fire, consume] şewitîn (dişewitim), vi. to burn (vi.) [be on fire] şîv, f. dinner, evening meal taştê, f. [S: têşt] breakfast t’emaşe kirin (~ dikim), vt. [+ li] to watch, look at (a movie) tirsandin (ditirsînim), vt. to frighten, scare vegerr, f. return[ing], coming/going back wer•gerrandin (werdigerrînim),vt. to overturn, knock over winda kirin (dikim), vt. to lose; to miss (an opportunity) xapandin (dixapîne), vt. to deceive, fool xapînok, m./adj. cheater, deceptive xeber, f. news; words zengîn rich zivirrandin (dizivirrînim), vt.to return (vt.), give back TIMES OF THE DAY: {all are feminine} spêde = sehar early morning rroj day; sun berî nîvrro forenoon, mid morning êvar [S: (h)êvarî] evening nîvrro noon şev night piştî nîvrro afternoon nîveşev midnight GRAMMAR: a. The Causative Verb. A causative verb is one which causes something to happen, or causes someone to do or become something. As such, causatives are by definition transitive, as they always take a direct object83. They can often be paired off with a corresponding intransitive verb. The follow are English examples: to rise to raise (to cause to rise) to sit to seat (to cause to sit) to lie to lay (to cause to lie) to to to to go come die learn to to to to take (to cause to go) bring (to cause to come) kill (to cause to die) teach (to cause to learn) In English, other causatives are formed from adjectives, e.g. 83This is equivalent to Turkish ettirgen verbs (e.g., yapmak - yap-tðr-mak). • 108 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin thick to thicken large sad to enlarge to sadden In Kurdish, causatives are always transitive, and generally end in andin in the infintive, with a present stem in -în- 84. The -andin is generally added to the present stem of the corresponding simple verb, as will be seen in the following examples of verb pairs: tirsîn 'to fear' tirs-andin 'to frighten' gihan/gihîştin 'to reach, arrive' gih-andin 'to convey, bring, cause to reach' 'elimîn 'to learn, get used to' 'elim-andin 'to teach, accustom' sekinîn 'to stop (vi.), stand' sekin-andin 'to stop (vt.), cause to stop zivirrîn 'to return (vi.), go back' zivirr-andin 'to return (vt.), give back' êşîn 'to hurt (vi.)' êş-andin 'to hurt (vt.), cause pain' şewitîn 'to burn (vi.)' [be on fire] şewit-andin 'to burn (vt.)' [set on fire, consume] Some very common verbs have causatives formed from different roots: çûn hatin 84-ên- 'to go' 'to come' birin 'to take (away from speaker)' anîn [S: înan] 'to bring (towards speaker)' in some dialects. • 109 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin k’etin 'to fall, enter' [ê]xistin 'to drop, insert' bûn 'to be, become' man 'to remain, stay' kirin 'to make, do' hiştin [S: hêlan] 'to let, leave' b. A second degree of causativity also exists85. This is used when one has a third party do something for one. In English, we express this by combining the verb to have with another verb, e.g.: to have someone cut one’s hair to have someone fire the employee to have someone removed by force to have dinner brought to the room In Kurdish, this is expressed by combining the verb dan with the infinitive (either direct or oblique case) are some examples: dan sekinandin[ê] 'to have someone dan zanîn[ê] 'to have it made dan rrûçikandin[ê] 'to have [birds] of a second verb86. Here stopped' known, i.e., to announce' plucked' This construction may involve three individuals: 1) the subject [person giving the command]; 2) the intermediary [person charged with carrying out the subject's command]; and 3) the recipient(s) [person(s) or thing(s) upon whom the intermediary carries out the subject's command]. The intermediary (#2 above) can be identified by the preposition bi preceding it. E.g., Padşê bi celaçî the king the executioner serên dizan heads of the thieves dan birrîn caused to be cut off 1 subject 2 intermediary 3 recipient The king had the executioner behead the thieves. Şivan 85 bi birayê xwe mîyan Turkish yap-tðr-t-mak. 10.12. 86Pikkert • 110 • dide dotin M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin the şepherd his brother the ewes (şeep) 1 subject 2 intermediary 3 recipient The şepherd has his brother milk the ewes. Note also that the verb causes to milk dan must agree in number and person with the recipient, which is the logical direct object. In the first sentence above, if the king had the executioner behead only one thief, the sentence would look like this: Padşê bi celaçî serê ê diz da birrîn the king the executioner head of the thief caused to be cut off 1 subject 2 intermediary 3 recipient The king had the executioner behead the thief. c. Telling time. To ask what time it is, one says "Se‘at çend e?"87 The four quarters of the hour are expressed as follows, using the hour of 5:00-6:00 as an example: 5:00 5:15 5:30 5:45 Se‘at Se‘at Se‘at Se‘at pênc e. pênc û çarekek e. pênc û nîv e. şeş kêm çarekek e. The following terms are essential to know in telling time: çarek nîv kêm = = = quarter, fourth half minus, less (-) The other fractions of the hour are expressed as follows: 5:05 5:10 5:20 5:25 Se‘at Se‘at Se‘at Se‘at pênc pênc pênc pênc û û û û pênc e. deh e. bîst e. bîst-û-pênc e. Notice that between half past the hour (5:30) and the next hour (6:00), one figures the minutes remaining to the next hour, using kêm. (5:45 is Se‘at şeş kêm çarekek). So also: 5:35 5:40 5:50 87Other Se‘at şeş kêm bîst-û-pênc e. Se‘at şeş kêm bîst e. Se‘at şeş kêm deh e. possibilities are: Çi ©în e? and Çi heyam e? • 111 • [6:00 minus 25] [6:00 minus 20] [6:00 minus 10] M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin 5:55 Se‘at şeş kêm pênc e. [6:00 minus 5] d. Whereas Se‘at pênc e means "It is 5:00", to express at what time something happens, the following construction is used: Se‘at di pêncê da or Se‘at di pêncan da = "at 5:00".88 Consider the following distinctions: Se‘at çar û çarekek e Se‘at di çar û çarekekê ê da It is 4:15 at 4:15 Heft kêm çarekek Se‘at di heft kêm çarekekê ê da 6:45 at 6:45 Neh û nîv Se‘at di neh û nîvê ê da 9:30 at 9:30 Yanzdeh kêm deh Se‘at di yanzdeh kêm deha an or dehê ê da 10:50 at 10:50 e. Other important time expressions include: Tê neha[n] or nehê = It is coming up on 9:00; It is almost 9:00 A.M. is spêdê/siharê [in the morning] or berî nîvrro [before noon] P.M. is piştî nîvrro [after noon] or êvarê [in the evening] or şevê [at night] Şeş spêdê yan şeş êvarê? = 6:00 A.M. or 6:00 P.M.? Yanzdeh û nîv berî nîvrro yan şevê? = 11:30 A.M. or P.M.? EXERCISES: I. Translate: 1) Ma ne guneh e, ku ji bona jina xwe tu me gişkan bidî rrûçikandin?; 2) Tu dikarî bi kurtayî xwe bidî nas kirin?; 3) Wextê ku Ûsib ji nêçîrê vegerre, emê wî bidne sekinandinê; 4) Wî jê rra da zanîn ku sibehê naherre dibistanê; Wî jê rra got ku sibehê neherre [neçite] dibistanê; 5) Îro mamostê ji me rra da zanîn ku sibehê se‘at di heşt û nîvê da emê li fîlmekê temaşe bikin; 6) Ezê ji te rra roja vegerra xwe bidim zanîn; 7) Ew dîrokê bi kurrê xwe dide xwendin; 8) Dîroka dinyaê ji me re dide zanîn ku heta niha, gelek zimanên dinyaê ji holê rabûn; 9) Her spêdê se’at di şeşan da bavê min bi xûşk û birayên min mî û çêlek didan dotin; 10) Berî nîvrro dîya min bi Birûskî çar nameyên dirêj dan nivîsîn. II. Write out the following time expressions: E.g., 8:00 = se‘at 88In northern dialects, all numbers except one (and 21, 31, 41, etc.) are treated as plurals, and receive the plural oblique ending -an. In southern dialects (including Hekkari), on the other hand, all numbers are treated as feminine singulars, and receive the feminine oblique ending -ê. • 112 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin heşt e. a) 4:30; b) 12:20; c) 7:15; d) 7:45; e) 1:45; f) 3:35; g) 11:05; h) 10:55; i) 9:25; j) 9:35; k) 2:10; l) 1:50. III. Change the time expressions in Exercise II so that they tell at what time. E.g., 8:00 = se‘at heşt --> se‘at di heştan or heştê da. IV. Make up ten sentences using causatives, e.g.: KURDISH PERSONAL NAMES Male: Birûsk Ûsib . Female: Gelawêj • 113 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Panzdeha [15] {Pikkert} FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: •Bende ji bende tê nas kirinê A slave is recognized by another slave. •Mêr bi te‘na tê kuştin A man is (=can be) killed by reproach. •Her çêlek tê dotinê, lê her gilî nayê gotinê Every cow can be milked, but not every word can be said. LECTURE: Wek tê zanîn, li welatên demokratîk, serok ji alîyê gel ve tê hilbijartin. Piştî hilbijartinê, dengên dengderan tên hejmartin, û çend rojên paştir, encamên hilbijartinê tên ragihandin. Encamên hilbijartinê bi giringtirîn nûçeyên wê rojê tên zanîn, û di hemî rojnameyan da û di destgehên ragihandinê yên din da -- wek radyo û televîzyonê -- tên belav kirin. Gelek caran middeta heftîyekê di bernameyên radyo û televîzyonê da, behsê tiştekî din ji bilî hilbijartinan naête kirin. Rûpelên pêşîn yên rojname û kovaran bi wêneyên serokê nû-hilbijartî ve têne xemilandin. Piştî çend rojan gelek kes dibêjin, "Êdî bes e! Gelo tiştekî din tune ku em behs bikin? Gelo li radyo û televîzyonê ji bilî hilbijartinê, behsê bûyerên din naête kirin? Bê guman li dinyayê bûyerên din hene ku hêjayê behs-kirinê bin!" Û hêdî hêdî destgehên ragihandinê dev ji behs-kirina hilbijartinê berdidin, û tiştên din peyda dikin ku behs bikin. VOCABULARY: behsê … kirin vt. belav kirin vt. to discuss, talk about to distribute, spread; to broadcast • 114 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin bende m. slave; human being bername f. bê guman bêguneh bi sedan [precedes its noun] bi … ve bi … zanîn vt. bûyer f. civîn (dicivim) vi. civîn f. program sans doute innocent hundreds of … with to consider, regard event, occurrence to gather; (f.) gathering gathering ciwan ciwanî f. çap kirin vt. ç’îrrok f. dawî f. demokratîk deng m. dengder m.&f. destgeh f. young; (S) beautiful (one’s) youth to print story, tale end democratic voice; vote voter apparatus, organization destgehên ragihandinê dev ji… ber•dan vt. di dû … rra di nav … da encam f. faşîst gel m. gilî m. giring the media to let go of, quit doing stg. after inside, within, in result fascist the people, the folk words, speech, talk; complaint important girtî arrested, imprisoned; (m.) hatin ser hukm hejmartin (dihejmêrim) hêjayê … prisoner to come to power (government) to count; to regard, consider worth (doing, discussing), vt. hilbijartin (hildibijêrim) hilbijartin f. worthy of vt.to elect; to choose, select election • 115 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin hilweşandin (hildiweşînim) vt. to wreck, ruin, destroy hin hikûmet f. ji bilî ji dûr ve kerî m. kovar f. metre f. middet f. middeta heftîyekê some (+ plural noun) government except for, besides from afar herd, large flock magazine, journal, periodical meter period (of time) for (the period of) a week nîşan dan vt. nûçe pl. nû-hilbijartî radyo f. ragihandin (radigihînim) rejîm f. rojname f. rrûpel f. serok m. to şow news newly-elected radio to announce, report, communicate regime newspaper page (of a book) president vt. şerr, şêrr, vî şerrî m. şor kirin vt. televîzyon f. te‘n m. welat, welêt, vî welatî m. wêne f. xemilandin (dixemilînim) vt. zarrotî f. war to speak television reproach, reproof country, state picture, image to adorn, decorate childhood GRAMMAR: a. The Passive Voice. Whereas in the active voice, it is generally the subject that is the focus of attention, in the passive voice it is the direct object -- the recipient of the action -- that is emphasized. As a general rule, only transitive verbs can be made passive. For the purposes of those studying Kurdish, this means that only those verbs which form an ergative past tense can be made passive. Whereas the ergative itself is historically a type of • 116 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin passive construction, it is not perceived as such today. There exists another, explicitly passive construction formed with a helping (auxiliary) verb (i.e., in a periphrastic construction), which can be used in all tenses, unlike the ergative, which in Kurdish is limited to the past tenses. It should be noted, however, that the passive is relatively little used in Kurmanji; although it seems to be more common in journalistic language. In English, the sentence The boy closes the door 1 2 3 can be made passive by making the logical direct object (the door) into the subject of the passive verb, and the logical subject (the boy) into the agent: the verb will change from closes to is closed. The resulting construction yields: The door is closed by 3 2 In English, then, the passive verb is verb to be (or, colloquially, to get) the boy 1 formed by using the auxiliary plus the past participle of the transitive verb. In Kurdiş, passives are formed using the auxiliary verb hatin (to come) [in all tenses] plus the infinitive (in the direct or oblique case). Consider the following: hatin kuştin(ê) Ew hat kuştin(ê) Tuyê bêyî kuştin(ê) Bi sedan girtî tên kuştin(ê) to be killed He was killed You will be killed Hundreds of prisoners are killed The agent of the passive verb (by the boy) is expressed with ji alîyê … ve, or less commonly with bi destê, e.g.: Serok ji alîyê gel ve tê hilbijartin The president is elected by the people. Soro ji alîyê hikûmetê ve hat girtin Soro was imprisoned by the government. • 117 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Axayê me bi destê Mîşo hat birîndar kirin Our agha was wounded by Mişo. b. Indefinite plural. There is an indefinite plural form which is more common in some regions than in others89. It consists of the morpheme -in added to the end of the direct case of the noun, and has the following oblique case and ezafeh forms: direct: oblique: ezafeh: -in çîrok-in stories, some stories -ina çîrok-ina car-ina -ine heval-ine min çîrok-ine dirêj [I listen to] some stories sometimes some friends of mine (some) long stories These forms can be found in the chart at the end of Lesson Five. The form -in comes from the independent word hin = some, which can be used independently as well, and precedes the noun it modifies: hin çîrok = çîrok-in hin meriv = meriv-in = = some stories some people EXERCISES: I. Translate into Engliş: 1) Serekî birrî nayê k’irrîn; 2) Xwîn bi xwînê nayê şûştin, xwîn bi avê tête şûştin; 3) Di salên min ên zarotî û ciwanîyê de, di nav mala me da bi Zazakî û Kurmancî dihat şorkirin; 4) Di sala 1960'an (hezar-û-nehsid-û-şêstan) da hatim girtin. Di dû du salan re hatim berdan; 5) Di dû 1972'an re -- wek tê zanîn -- ez tim girtî mam; 6) Gelek mirovên bêguneh; zarrok, jin, kal û pîr hatine kuştin, xanîyên gundîyan hatine hilweşandin û zeviyên wan hatine şewitandin; 7) Di dawîya civînê da fîlma Yilmaz Güney, “Kerî” hate nîşan dan; 8) Çawa tê zanîn, di sala 1971-ê (hezar-û-nehsid-û89This form is particularly common in the region of Mardin, Kurdistan of Turkey. • 118 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin heftê-û-yekê) da rejîma faşîst hate ser hukm; 9) Bi sedan metre ji dûr ve dengê muzîka kurdî dihate bihîstin; 10) Rûpelên wê kovarê bi ç’îrrok û wêneyên rrengîn hatine xemilandin. II. Translate into Kurdiş: 1) The people elect the president; 2) The students read the newspapers; 3) The father killed his daughter; 4) My nephew prints that magazine in Istanbul; 5) The newly-elected president announces the end of the war; 6) The media report (on) that important event; 7) Hundreds of students will buy the book and read it; 8) They hear the sounds of this war even (jî) in the farthest villages; 9) The Kurdiş people will never forget the name (of) Ehmedê Xanî [Ahmed-i Khani]; 10) Will the newly-elected president fool the people of this country?; 11) The newspapers often frighten everyone; 12) The students lost hundreds of colorful magazines; 13) The new government will not release the prisoners; 14) This is the first time in history that a president milks hundreds of cows. III. Convert the sentences in Exercise II. into the passive voice. (The direct object becomes the subject; the subject becomes the agent, e.g., He sees the boy --> The boy is seen by him). IV. Give the indefinite plural forms (direct case, oblique case, & ezafeh) of the following nouns: 1) xwendekar; 2) dersdar; 3) mal; 4) pirtûk; 5) dest; 6) ling; 7) çav; 8) kûçik; 9) pisîk; 10) xûşk. More proverbs exhibiting the passive voice: •Kirasê merîya tê guhastin, xeysetê merîya nayê guhastin (Z-1233) •K’inc têne p’îne kirinê, gilî nayêne p’îne kirinê (Z-1246) • 119 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Şanzdeha [16] {Pikkert } FOLKLORE: •Te hîn kir -- ji bîr neke, te ji bîr kir -- hîn neke. What you've taught don't forget, what you've forgotten, don't teach. •Yê dirreve jî gazî xwedê dike, yê dide pey jî gazî xwedê dike. Both the one being chased and the chaser call on God. •Zilamek got: "Ez ji kûç’kê xwe hînî mêranîyê bûm." A man said: "I learned what is it to be a man from my dog." READING: Tê bîra min, gava ku ez piçûk bûm, bapîrê min gazî min kiribû û gotibû, "Lawo, hindik ma ku ez terkî vê dinyaê bikim, û berî ku ez derbazî cennetê (bihiştê) bim, çend gotinên min ji te ra hene. Serê min bi te bilind e -- paşeroja te ronahî ye. Ez dizanim ku rojekê ji rojan tu yê bibî zanayekî mezin. Ji niha ve xwe hînî gelek tiştan bike: çend ji te bê, hînî zimanên biyanî be, û kitêban bixwîne. Kitêb û pirtûk her tiştî nîşanî me didin, û alîkarîya me dikin ku em vê dinyaê çêtir fêm bikin. Ji bona vê yekê, ez dixwazim vê pirtûkê pêşkêşî te bikim." Û wî pirtûkek da min. Wan rojan ez fêrî zimanên biyanî nebûbûm, û kitêba ku bapîrê min pêşkêşî min kiribû bi zimanekî din bû. Dîsan min zanîbû ku ew pirtûka hanê diyarîyeke hêja ye. Min dixwest sipasîya bapîrê xwe bikim, lê berî ku ez bikaribim bersiva wî bidim, bapîrê min çavên xwe li dinyaê girtin, û çû ber dilovanîya Xwedê. Niha ez mezin im, û çend ez behsê bapîrê xwe bikim, têrê nake. Ez gelekî bêrîya wî dikim. Min gelekî jê hiz dikir. Min bi a wî kir, min xwe hînî gelek zimanan kir, û rojekê ji rojan ez ê bibim mamosta. VOCABULARY: ft-î (filan tiştî) fk-î (filan kesî) alîkarî, f. alîkarîya [fk-î] kirin, vt. bapîr, m. bersiv, f. something, anything someone, anyone help, aid, assistance to help, assist grandfather answer, response • 120 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin bersiva [fk-î] dan, vt. bes beşdarî [ft-î] bûn, vi. bêrîya [fk-î] kirin, vt. bi a [wî] kirin, vt. bi-dehan [pre-posed modifier] bi-hezaran [pre-posed modifier] bihişt, f. bilind bi-mîlyonan [pre-posed modifier] bi-sedan [pre-posed modifier] biyanî bîr, f. hatin bîra [fk-î], vi. ji bîr kirin, vt. cennet, f. çavên xwe li dinyaê girtin, vt. çûn ber dilovanîya xwedê, vi. derbaz bûn, vi. derbazî [ft-î] bûn, vi. derbaz kirin, vt. [fk-î] derbazî [ft-î] kirin, vt. dilovanî, f. diyarî, f. êkê [S] fêrî [ft-î] bûn, vi. [S] [fk-î] fêrî [ft-î] kirin, vt. [S] xwe fêrî [ft-î] kirin, vt. [S] gazî [fk-î] kirin, vt. hêja hînî [ft-î] bûn, vi. [fk-î] hînî [ft-î] kirin, vt. xwe hînî [ft-î] kirin, vt. îsal ji bona vê yekê ji niha ve mêranî, f. miqatî [fk-î] bûn, vi. navneteweyî [ft-î] nîşanî [fk-î] dan, vt. paşeroj, f. peyiv, f. pêşîn [ft-î] pêşkêşî [fk-î] kirin, vt. pişikdarî [ft-î] bûn, vi. [S] rojekê ji rojan to answer s.o. enough, sufficient to participate in to miss s.o., long for s.o. to do as [he] said, to follow [his] advice tens of; [loosely: dozens of] thousands of paradise, heaven high, tall millions of hundreds of foreign memory to remember, recall to forget paradise, heaven to close one's eyes on the world to die, pass away to pass, cross over to pass into; to enter to pass (time) [vt.] to let s.o. pass mercy, compassion gift, present first to learn to teach to learn, study stg. to call, summon s.o. precious, valuable to learn; to get used to to teach; to accustom to to learn, study stg. this year therefore, for this reason (starting) from now manliness, bravery to take care of s.o. international to şow s.o. stg. future word first to present stg. to s.o. to participate in some day, one day (in the future) • 121 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin ronahî, f. salvegerr, f. serbilind sipasîya [fk-î] kirin, vt. terkî [ft-î] kirin, vt. têr[ê] kirin, vt. tixûb, m. xwedê, m. yekem[în] zana, adj & m. zilam, zilêm, vî zilamî, m. EXPRESSIONS: Çend gotinên min ji te ra hene Çend ji te bê [or tê] (source of) light, brightness anniversary proud [lit., 'with head high'] to thank s.o. to leave (behind) to be enough, satiate border, limit, frontier god first learnèd, well-educated; [m.] scholar man hanê: ev pirtûka hanê Miqatî xwe be! Serê min bi te bilind e Tê bîra min Têra min dike I have some things to tell you As much as you can [lit.'how much it comes from you'] this here: this book here Take care of yourself! I am proud of you I remember It is enough for me LANGUAGES: inglîzî elmanî ‘erebî farisî spanyolî firensî90 rûsî tirkî swêdî polonî English German Arabic Persian (Farsi) Spanish French Russian Turkish Swedish Polish GRAMMAR: a. Generic ezafeh. In addition to the ezafeh endings that have been introduced thus far (-ê masc. sing.; -a fem. sing.; -ên [S: -êt] pl.), there is also a generic ezafeh ending in -î, which does not change for gender or number. It is used in conjunction with adjectives that need a complement, e.g.: bes enough: Tu bes- me yî You are enough for us. dûr far: Ew dûr- me ye He is far from us. nêzîkî near: Em nêzîk- te ne We are near you. 90The form firensizî can also be heard, from the Turkish form fransðz. • 122 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin beşdar participating: Ez beşdar- civînê dibim I'm participating in the meeting. The last example above exemplifies a special class of verbs which consist of a noun or adjective + verb, most often bûn = 'to be' and kirin = 'to make, do'. Such verbs employ the generic ezafeh to express the object or recipient of the action. For example, hîn bûn means 'to learn' or 'to get used to': Ez hîn dibim means 'I learn' or 'I get used to'. If we wish to add an object to this phrase, e.g. 'I learn Kurdish' or 'I am getting used to my new life', we must do so by adding a generic ezafeh (-î)91 to hîn, yielding Ez hîn-î î Kurdî dibim and Ez hîn-î î jiyana xwe ya nû dibim. (The title of this book is 'Em hînî Kurmancî dibin' = We are learning Kurdiş).92 The following is a list of common verbal phrases which require the generic ezafeh: •ft-î (filan tiştî) •fk-î (filan kesî) •hînî ft-î bûn accustomed to stg. •fêrî ft-î bûn •beşdarî ft-î bûn •pişikdarî ft-î bûn •miqatî fk-î bûn •telefonî fk-î kirin •gazî fk-î kirin •derbazî ft-î bûn •terkî/terka ft-î kirin •nêzîkî ft-î bûn •dûrî ft-î bûn something, anything; someone, anyone} to learn stg.; to get used or to learn stg. to participate in stg. to participate in stg. [S] to take care of s.o. to call s.o. up (on the phone) to call, summon s.o. to enter, pass over into to leave off doing stg., quit doing stg. (e.g., smoking) to be close to, to approach to be far from Note that such verbs may take two objects. For example, •hînî (fêrî) ft-î kirin Ew hînî (fêrî) Kurdî dike 'to teach stg.' For example, '[S]he teaches Kurdish'. If we wish to say '[S]he teaches me Kurdish', one must make the verb kirin take an additional direct object, yielding: 91Cf. MacKenzie Kurdish Dialect Studies (London : Oxford University Press, 196162), vol. 1, §264 (d), p.161. 92Note that in speech one often hears such forms as: Ez Kurdî hîn dibim instead of Ez hînî Kurdî dibim. For the purposes of this course, we will avoid this type of construction. • 123 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ew min hînî (fêrî) Kurdî dike. So also: •fk-î suwarî ft-î kirin = to have s.o. mount [a horse, donkey] e.g., Ezê te suwarî vî kerî bikim 'I will have you ride this donkey', 'I will put you on the back of this donkey'. •ft-î/fk-î derbazî ft-î kirin = to let s.o. pass, cross, enter e.g., Wan em derbazî tixûbê navneteweyî kirin 'They let us pass across the international border'. With the following verbs, there are also two objects. However, the order is reversed here: the direct object (stg.) is the object of the main verb, and the indirect object (s.o.) is the object of the noun + generic ezafeh: •ft-î nîşanî fk-î dan = to şow s.o. stg. e.g., Ezê van kitêban nîşanî te bidim 'I will şow these books to you' •ft-î pêşkêşî fk-î kirin = to present stg. to s.o. e.g., Em vê bernamê pêşkêşî we dikin 'We present this program to you' b. There are other verbs that consist of a noun + verb (often kirin, bûn or man) which form their objects using a regular ezafeh construction, for example : •alîkarîya fk-î kirin •bêrîya fk-î kirin •bersiva ft-î/fk-î dan to help, assist to miss, long for s.o. to answer, respond to e.g., Ezê yeko yeko bersiva pirsyarên te bidim 'I will answer your questions one by one'. •li hêvîya/benda fk-î bûn/man/sekinîn •çavnihêrîya fk-î kirin •behsa (behsê) ft-î kirin •qala ft-î kirin •têra ft-î kirin •spasîya fk-î kirin to to to to to to wait for s.o. wait for s.o. discuss, talk about stg. discuss, talk about stg. be enough for, satisfy thank s.o. c. Ordinal numbers. There are several possible inventories of ordinal numbers. • 124 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin The traditional northern Kurmanji system is to use the plural oblique case of the numbers, with a special word for 'first': pêşîn (pêşin) first, 1st diduya[n] second, 2nd sisîya[n] third, 3rd çara[n] fourth, 4th pênca[n] fifth, 5th şeşa[n] sixth, 6th hefta[n] seventh, 7th heşta[n] eighth, 8th neha[n] ninth, 9th deha[n] tenth, 10th yanzdeha[n] eleventh, 11th diwazdeha[n] <also: donzdeha[n]> twelfth, 12th sêzdeha[n] thirteenth, 13th etc. bîsta[n] sîya[n]/siha[n] çila[n] pêncîya[n] şêsta[n] etc. twentieth, 20th thirtieth, 30th fortieth, 40th fiftieth, 50th sixtieth, 60th seda[n] hundredth, 100th In southern Kurmanji, the numbers are in the feminine singular oblique case: êkê duwê sêyê çarê pêncê şeşê heftê heştê nehê dehê yanzdehê diwazdehê sêzdehê etc. first, 1st second, 2nd third, 3rd fourth, 4th fifth, 5th sixth, 6th seventh, 7th eighth, 8th ninth, 9th tenth, 10th eleventh, 11th twelfth, 12th thirteenth, 13th bîstê sihê twentieth, 20th thirtieth, 30th • 125 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin çilê pêncîyê şêstê etc. fortieth, 40th fiftieth, 50th sixtieth, 60th sedê hundredth, 100th A third system, borrowed from Sorani, suffixes -em or -emîn to the cardinal number. Note that this type of ordinal number may precede or follow the noun it modifies: dersa duwem or duwemîn ders = 'second lesson'. yekem[în] duwem[în] sêyem[în] çarem[în] pêncem[în] şeşem[în] heftem[în] heştem[în] nehem[în] dehem[în] yanzdehem[în] diwanzdehem[în] sêzdehem[în] etc. bîstem[în] sihem[în] çilem[în] pêncîyem[în] şêstem[în] etc. sedem[în] first, 1st second, 2nd third, 3rd fourth, 4th fifth, 5th sixth, 6th seventh, 7th eighth, 8th ninth, 9th tenth, 10th eleventh, 11th twelfth, 12th thirteenth, 13th twentieth, 20th thirtieth, 30th fortieth, 40th fiftieth, 50th sixtieth, 60th hundredth, 100th d. Preposed modifiers. This last group of ordinal numbers is one of several categories of modifiers that precede the noun they modify. In all such cases, there is no ezafeh connecting the modifier to its noun -- a situation markedly different from modifiers that follow their nouns, always linked by an ezafeh construction. Many of these preposed modifiers have to do with quantity or counting (nos. 1., 2., 3., 6. [çend], 8., 9. below): 1. cardinal numbers: du kitêb, sê meh, çar jin 2. ordinal numbers (optional): Duwem[în] Şerrê Cîhanê = 'World War • 126 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Two' (note: Şerrê Duwem/Diduya[n]/Duwê yê Cîhanê is also possible) 3. bi-dehan = tens of (or dozens of), bi-sedan = hundreds of, bihezaran = thousands of, bi-mîlyonan = millions of: bi-dehan xwendekar = 'dozens of students' 4. superlatives of adjectives in -tirîn: dirêjtirîn roja salê = 'the longest day of the year' 5. demonstratives: ev = this & these (oblique: vî [m.] - vê [f.] van [pl.]) and ew = that & those (oblique: wî [m.] - wê [f.] - wan [pl.]) 6. question words: kîjan = which (di kîjan bajarî da = 'in which city?' -- note: with masculine singular nouns in the oblique case, kîjan behaves like the demonstratives ev and ew: one cannot say *di kîjan bajêr da, just as one must say di vî bajarî î da and not *di vî bajêr da); çend = how many; çi = what, which 7. xweş (xoş): Xoş mirov e = He's a nice person.93 8. Words meaning 'some': çend, hin(ek): çend gotin = 'some words', hinek kes = 'some people' 9. gelek - ze'f - pirr [much, many, lots of]: gelek kitêb = 'many books', pirr tişt = 'lots of things'; kêm [few]: kêm jin = 'few women'; hemû - gişk - her [all, each]: hemû zarok = 'all the children', her rroj = 'every day'. EXERCISES: I. Translate into Kurdiş: 1) I want to help you (pl.); 2) Without your help, we cannot teach our children Kurdiş; 3) If the voters don't participate in the election, no one will be elected; 4) If you don't take care of yourself, who will take care of you?; 5) Şe did not answer her grandfather; 6) They want to present some books to their teacher; 7) The [village] elder summoned all the young men of the village; 8) Which stories do you want to şow us?; 9) Every night I telephone my friend and speak with him for an hour; 10) What is the longest word in (of) the Kurdiş language?; 11) Thousands of children crossed the international border yesterday, and hundreds of women will cross it tomorrow; 12) We miss the stories and riddles of our grandfather, who passed away last year. II. Translate each of the following phrases in three (3) different ways: 1) the first lesson; 2) in the fourteenth year; 3) the twentieth day; 4) after the third war; 5) the hundredth book; 6) the 93This construction is borrowed from Turkish, although the word xwe¤ itself is originally of Iranian origin: Persian khÝsh sËa - passed into Turkish as ho¤. • 127 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin eleventh president; 7) the sixty-fourth anniversary; 8) the twentyninth student; 9) the happiest child; 10) before the second word. III. Translate into Engliş: 1) Îsal emê hînî zimanekî bin; 2) Gişk xwendekarên min zanayên mezin in, ku xwe fêrî her tiştî dikin; 3) Ez çend caran ji te dipirsim, lê tu bersiva min nadî; 4) Îro se'at di nehan da li televîzyonê pêşkêşî bernameyeke nû dikin; 5) Bapîrê min her digote min: "Serê min bi te bilind e; xwe hînî hemî zimanên dinyaê bike, da ku paşeroja te ronahî be"; 6) Çend ji min bê, ez miqatî xûşk û birayên xwe dikim; 7) Gelo tu yê beşdarî çaremîn civîna dersdaran bî? Nexêr, ez beşdarî civînên wisa nabim; 8) Ev cara çaran e ku ez tême serêdana mala bavê xwe; 9) Were bi me ra çayekê vexwe! Ev se'atek e ku em li hêvîya te disekinin!; 10) Îsal heştemîn sal e ku ew beşdarî wê civînê dibe. IV. Transform the following sentences: change bûn into kirin, adding a second object: in the new sentence, the subject will always be in the first person plural (we/us), e.g.: Ew hînî ingilîzî dibe = 'Şe learns Engliş' --> Em wî hînî ingilîzî dikin = 'We teach her Engliş': 1) Hûn hînî vî zimanî dibin; 2) Tu suwarî wê trênê dibî; 3) Ew derbazî vî welatî bû; 4) Ew keçik dê fêrî swêdî be; 5) Ev sê kurr derbazî xwendingehê nebûn; 6) Xûşka te hînî polonî nabe -- ew hînî rûsî dibe; 7) Tu fêrî ‘erebî nebûyî?; 8) Hûn ê suwarî trimbêla me bin; 9) Hevalê te hînî spanyolî dibe; 10) Hemî xwendekar fêrî tirkî bûbûn, û niha fêrî kurdî dibin. • 128 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Hivdeha [17] FOLKLORE: mamik: •Gulek derk’etîye ji qudretê, Hin dinê kêrî me tê, Hin axretê. Ew çiye?94 A flower has come out from God, Some of it is of use to us in this world, Some in the next. What is it? •Odeke şûştî-mûştî Çil feqîr têda rrûniştî. Ew çiye?95 A waşed-maşed room Forty paupers have sat down in it. What is it? •Ro betilî Şev xemilî. Ew çi ye?96 Idle during the day Dressed up at night. What is it? LECTURE: Dapîra min ji min ra got ku ‘Eyşê li de’watê xortek nas kiriye, û dilketiyê da, û ku wan civan daye hev. Piştî ku de’wat xilas bûye, ‘Eyşe çûye malê, bi şevê ew xort hatiye bin pencera wê, bang lê kiriye. Wê jî buxçika xwe daye hev û bi wî xortî ra revîye. Dotira rojê dê û bavê wê daye pey wan û li mala wî xortî ew zeft kirine. Gundî ketine navbera wan. Dê û bavê xort jî hatine, pişt re wan şandiye dûv melayekî, wî jî fesla wan kiriye û ew li hev anîne. Piştî hingî çi qewimîye? Çi qewimîye dayka min jî hew dizane. Xwedê zane keçik û xort pevre zewicîne û gehîştine mirada xwe. Min ev serpêhatî ji we ra gotin, ku hûn feydê jê werbigrin. 94Answer: pembû = cotton. dev û didan = mouth and teeth. 96Answer: ç’ira = lamp. 95Answer: • 129 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin VOCABULARY: axret, f. the next world, hereafter betilî idle buxçik, f. parcel, pack (for traveling) civan, m. [also: jivan] rendez-vous ç’ira, f. lamp didan, didên, vî didanî, m. [also: diran]tooth {pl. teeth} fesla [fk-î] kirin, vt. to settle a feud feyde (feydê), f. benefit, use hew negative particle; scarcely, hardly kêr useful; necessary li hev anîn, vt. to reconcile qudret, f. [heavenly] power serpêhatî, pl. story; adventure, experience şandin[e] dûv [şandin, vt.] to send for, send after xemilî adorned, dressed up zeft kirin, vt. to catch (redhanded), seize EXPRESSIONS: buxçika xwe dane hev civan dane hev Kêrî me tê to pack up one's things to make a date, rendez-vous It is of use to us GRAMMAR: a. Past participle. The past participle is both adjective and verb at one and the same time. In Engliş, the third principle part of the verb is the past participle (eat - ate - eaten; go - went - gone; talk - talked - talked). In Kurmanji, the past participle is formed from the infinitive, by removing the final -in (-n if the stem ends in a vowel) and adding -î (-yî before a vowel stem), e.g.: girt-in hat-in bû-n da-n ---> ---> ---> ---> girt-î hat-î bû-yî da-yî 'taken; captured' '[having] come' 'been' 'given' {Particularly in southern dialects, there is a plural form in -în (girt-în; hat-în; bû-yîn; da-yîn), for when the referent of the past participle is plural in number, i.e., to agree grammatically with a plural subject for vi., and with a plural direct object for vt. More on this in the section on relative clauses.} Some common adjectives are in fact past participles: girtî 'closed, şut' vekirî 'open' borî / çûyî 'past, last (week, month)' • 130 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin dilketî şkestî xeyalşkestî dilşkestî 'beloved' 'broken' 'disillusioned' 'broken-hearted', 'heartbroken' Past participles may also be nouns (substantives): girtî (m.&f.) = destgirtî/dergistî (m.&f.)= 'prisoner' 'fiancé(e)' b. Past participles in relative clauses. Particularly in southern Kurmanji dialects, the past tense verb in a relative clause is in the past participial form. In addition, the following conjunctions signal the relative clause: ku berî[ya] ku piştî ku gava ku/demê ku/wextê ku heta ku 'that, which' 'before' 'after' 'when' 'until' Here are some examples of this usage: [KDS-II] •Behrem Fêris zadê xo xar û k’ete ser enîşka xo. (742.) Wextê k’etîye ser enîşka xo bera xo daê, eve k’afirekî têtin, çil û êk destêt pêve Bahram Féris ate his food and leant back on his elbow. (742.) When he leant back on his elbow he noticed a monster coming, with forty-one hands •Rabû, hespê xo li axûrê derêxist, suwar bû, çû. Wextê çûyî biraê wî Ehmed Çelebî dûvrra kire hewar… He got up, took his horse out of the stable, mounted it and went. When he went his brother Ahmed Chelebi şouted after him. •Em rrabûyn, me bo xo agir di wê dirkêve helkir, em rrûniştîne xarê li wê dirkê gelek, heta me bo xo çayek çê kirî, me zadê xo xar We got up, we made a fire for ourselves there and we sat there a long time until we had made ourselves some tea and eaten our food. •Di dîwana da demê suhbet tên kirin liser wan roja, delîvek buha peyda dibet [sic] ji bo wan kesa ewên ew çîrok bi serê wan hatîn bêjin, bi rengekî dramatîkî. In the diwans, when those days are discussed, a golden opportunity arises for those people to whom those stories happened to tell [it] • 131 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin in a dramatic way from: Metîn 3:6 (1992), 32. •Ew ezim yê biraê te ez kuştîm I am he whom your brother killed. from: KDS II Gulli #757, 350 c. Perfect tense. The perfect tense97 is used to express an action that began in the past and continues into the present. It often corresponds to the Engliş Present Perfect tense, e.g., 'I have seen, you have gone, şe has left', etc. The distinction between transitive (vt.) and intransitive (vi.) verbs applies to this tense. E.g. Ez hatime Min dîtiye I have come I have seen Tu çûye Te xwariye You have gone You have eaten It can sometimes be used to express the adverb 'already' (German 'schon'; French 'déjà'), e.g.: Min xwariye Te ew pirtûk xwendiye? Wê jinê mêr kiriye I've (already) eaten. Have you (already) read that book? That woman is (already) married, has (already) gotten married. This is one of the tenses whose formation and usage differs markedly between the north and the south. In all cases, the negative is formed with the accented prefix ne-. Both northern and southern forms are given below: Northern: vi. Ez hatime I have come Tu hatiye* You have come Ew hatiye* He/şe has come {*Also may be written hatîye} 97Or Em hatine Hûn hatine Ew hatine We have come You have come They have come Present Perfect tense. The intricacies of this tense and its usage are far more complex, and bear an in depth study. In some cases this tense is used for reporting hearsay (i.e., telling about something one has heard second hand), as opposed to something which one has witnessed -- for which the simple past (or past perfect in some cases) is used. It can also be used in speaking of an imagined scenario, and in folktales. There is a certain resemblance between the use of this tense and the mi¤li past tense of Turkish, used for reporting hearsay. The extent of this resemblance has yet to be examined in detail. • 132 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin vt. Min kiriye** I have done Te kiriye You have done Wî/Wê kiriye He/şe has done {**Also may be written kirîye} Southern: vi. Ez hatîme Tu hatiye Ew hatiye {hatîye} or Ez yê/ya hatîm Tu yê/ya hatî Ew yê/ya hatî vt. Min kiriye Te kiriye Wî/Wê kiriye {kirîye} Me kiriye We kiriye Wan kiriye We have done You have done They have done I have come You have come He/şe has come Em hatîne Hûn hatîne Ew hatîne We have come You have come They have come I have come You have come He/şe has come Em yêt hatîn Hûn yêt hatîn Ew yêt hatîn We have come You have come They have come I have done You have done He/şe has done Me kiriye We kiriye Wan kiriye We have done You have done They have done or Min yê/ya kirî I have done Te yê/ya kirî You have done Wî/Wê yê/ya kirî He/şe has done Me yê/ya kirî We have done We yê/ya kirî You have done Wan yê/ya kirî They have done The secondary ezafeh marker (yê/ya/yêt) agrees in gender and number with its referent (the subject for vi., the direct object for vt.). The southern forms indicates that the present perfect tense is based on the past participle, (hatî + me, kirî + ye), whereas this connection is less obvious in the north. d. Subjunctive of Perfect tense. The formation of the subjunctive is as follows: remove the -n from the infinitive (e.g., girti- [girtin]; hati- [hati-n]; da- [da-n]; çû- [çû-n]); add -be [singular] & bin [plural] for transitive verbs, and -bim, -bî, -be, -bin for intransitive verbs (i.e., the present subjunctive of the auxiliary verb bûn). E.g.: vt. Min kiri-be98 [-bin] Te kiri-be [-bin] Wî/Wê kiri-be [-bin] Me kiri-be [-bin] We kiri-be [-bin] Wan kiri-be [-bin] Min da-be98 [-bin] Te da-be [-bin] Wî/Wê da-be [-bin] Me da-be [-bin] We da-be [-bin] Wan da-be [-bin] 98Southern: kiri-bit[in]/kiri-bît[in]; da-bit[in]/da-bît[in]; hati-bit[in]/hatibît[in]; çû-bit[in]/çû-bît[in]. • 133 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin vi. Ez hati-bim Tu hati-bî Ew hati-be98 Em hati-bin99 Hûn hati-bin Ew hati-bin Ez çû-bim Tu çû-bî Ew çû-be98 Em çû-bin99 Hûn çû-bin Ew çû-bin Examples of usage: 99Southern: hati-bîn; çû-bîn. • 134 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Dersa Hijdehan [18] FOLKLORE: Ji gotinên pêşîyan: •Bextê k’esiva wekî hebîya, cotê wan çolê nedima. If the poor had any luck, their plow would not wilderness. remain in the •Heke hemî ç’îç’ka hijîr xar bana, çi xudanî nediman. If all the chicks ate the figs, there would be none left for their owner. •Heker gurg ji baranê tirsaba, da bo xo k’urkekî çêket. If the wolf feared the rain, he would make himself a fur coat. •Eger gur tirsa wî ji baranê hebana, wê serkumekî çêbikirana (L -#294, p. 228; see also Dz-#600, p. 137) ji xwe re •Gur qewata xwe bizanbya, wê dinya xirab kira (Dz-#583, p. 135) If the wolf knew his strength, he would destroy the world. READING: Kurik … tênagihîje ku diya wî ji bo çi wisa digrî. Herweha heta demeke kurt jî her li hêsrên diya xwe temaşe dike û bêdeng dimîne. Diya wî jî … di nava giriyê xwe de dilorîne û: --Ax!.. Bêvankes sax bûya! dibêje. --Ax ku … ku aniha bêvankes î sermiyanê mala min sax bûya!.. Ax ku ew aniha ne li pişta goristanê ramedî bûya!.. Ax! Li ser van lavelavên diya xwe şikeke sar li lawik çêdibe û tirsek lê radibe. Tirsa dînbûna diya wî dikeve dilê wî. Bi dev û lêvên ziwa vedigere ser diya xwe û dibêje: --Ji bona Xwedê, dako! Ma nuha bavê min sax bûya wî ê çi bikira!?.. Bawer bike ku bavê min jî di dewsa min da bûya, wî ê jî fena min çar bizin bikirana ber karmendên qamçûrî. Qamçûr vatiniyeke karmendan e, rêdareke dewletê ye. Ma ji te wetrê ku bavê min ê bizineke kêm bida wan? Ez dizanim… ez dizanim ku wî ê jî çar bizin bidana wan. Ma wî ê wekî din çi bikira? … Dako! Ez bi gorî!.. Bi navê Xwedê ku bavê min jî îro li vir bûya, em ê dîsa ji wan çar serê bizinên xwe bibana. Îcar tu çima ewqas dilê xwe teng dikî, daka min! [adapted from: Hesenê Metê. “Qamçûr” in: Ardû ji kurteçîrokên gelêrî (Stockholm: Weşanên Welat, 1990), p. 114-117.] • 135 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin VOCABULARY: Bêxîret lacking initiative; carefree bira = bila [+ subj.] let (it be) cî-nivîn pl. beds, bedding, mattresses ç’are f. (çara) remedy, cure; solution dest pê kirin (dest bi .. dike) to begin êp’êce (=T epeyce) quite a bit gêzî kirin vt. to sweep hildan vt. (hil*dide) to pick up, lift hîştin/hiştin vt. (dihêle) to leave, let pê nedibû did not succeed, did not work out qasî as much as qe (qet) at all sibê şebeqêda at the crack of dawn sivetira din [sibetira din] on the next day dîna xwe dan vt. to see, take a look şuxul m. work, labor; şuxul û ‘emel = do. şûnda: ji wê şûnda from then on, after that t’emî [=t’enbîh] dan vt. to instruct, give directions wekî usane in that case, if that is so xebat f. work, labor xebitîn vi. (dixebite) to work GRAMMAR: a. The Past Subjunctive (Pikkert, 6.8) Formation As it is a past tense, the Past Subjunctive a) preserves the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs; b) is formed differently in the north than in the south (Hekkari and Behdinan). In both cases the -(i)n of the infinitive is removed, e.g. girt-in çû-n --> --> girt çû In the north, the stem is preceded by the subjunctive prefix bi- (bbefore vowels) and followed by the following personal suffixes, corresponding to the subject for intransitive, and to the logical direct object for transitive verbs: Ez Tu Ew bi-X-ama bi-X-ayî bi-X-a Em Hûn Ew bi-X-ana bi-X-ana bi-X-ana In the south, there is no bi- prefix: instead, the stem is followed by the following personal suffixes, with the usual distinctions for transitive and intransitive verbs: • 136 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Ez Tu Ew -bam -bayî -ba Em Hûn Ew -bayn -ban -ban The following are examples of an intransitive and a transitive verb conjugated in the Past Subjunctive: •hatin (vi.): northern: Ez bihatama Tu bihatayî Ew bihata Em bihatana Hûn bihatana Ew bihatana southern: Ez hatibam Tu hatibayî Ew hatiba Em hatibayn Hûn hatiban Ew hatiban •girtin (vt.): northern: Min bigirta Te bigirta Wî/wê bigirta Me bigirta We bigirta Wan bigirta southern: Min girtiba Te girtiba Wî/wê girtiba Me girtiba We girtiba Wan girtiba as logical direct object: northern: Ez bigirtama Tu bigirtayî Ew bigirta Em bigirtana Hûn bigirtana Ew bigirtana southern: Ez girtibam Tu girtibayî Ew girtiba Em Hûn Ew girtibayn girtiban girtiban Usage The Past Subjunctive is used primarily in conditional sentences, to express unreal or contrafactual conditions. It often corresponds to English constructions like “If I were …” or “If I had been …”. The Turkiş past conditional (gelseydi, yapsaydð, etc.) corresponds to this tense. • 137 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Examples of usage: •Wekî tu bedew bûya[y]î, te ez kora nedistandim If you were beautiful, you would not have married a blind man like me. •Min ew zû bixara, ewî ev ‘emel neanî serê min If I had eaten him early on, he would not have done this to me [=Turkish: bu işi başıma getirmezdi] There are two Past Conditional tenses, one in use in the northern dialects, the other in the south. In the north, this tense is formed using the future tense marker wê/dê/-ê plus the Past Subjunctive. Hence, although Min bikira means “[If] I had done [it]” (=Turkish yapsaydım), Min-ê bikira means “I would have done [it]” (=Turkis yapacaktım, yapardım). In Behdinan, this tense is formed using the independent morpheme DA plus the naked present tense stem (without bi- or di- prefix). Hence, Southern Ez da kem = Northern Min-ê bikira = I would have done [it]. Note that the negative of this southern form is expressed with the imperfect tense: Ez da çim = I would have gone, but Ez nediç^um = I would not have gone. Here are some examples of both northern and southern versions of this tense: N: Te yê bidîta = S: Tu da bînî You would have seen/found [it] N: Ew ê biçûya = S: Ew da çît He would have gone N: Me yê bigirta = S: Em da girîn We would have closed/captured [it] N: Hûn ê bihatana = S: Hûn da hên You (pl.) would have come N: Wan ê bixwenda = S: Ew da xwînin They would have read/studied Examples of usage: •Ev, ko zilamekî diz bûya, wê îslehê me bidizîya, wê şerefa me bişkenanda • 138 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin If this man were a thief, he would steal (or, have stolen) our weapons, he would tarnish [lit. ‘break’] our honor. •Teyê bigota Almost [lit. ‘You would say’, ‘you would have said’] •Memê ewqasî bêxem û bêxîyal bû, qet teyê bigota, ew t’enêye ba=çêda Mem was so unconcerned and uninterested, it was almost as if he was alone in the garden [lit. ‘You would have said he is alone in the garden’] The Past Subjunctive is also used after modal auxiliaries that require the subjunctive (e.g., lazim, gerek, divê[t]), specifically with reference to the past tense. Examples of usage: •Lazim bû ko we bi a Beyrim bikira You were supposed to obey Beyrim [lit. ‘it was necessary that you did according to that (f.) of Beyrim’] •Divîya duhû çûbama [divîya = past tense of divêt] I should have gone yesterday •Vira zinarên usa mezin hebûn, ku weke panzdeh-bîst soyara dikaribû xwe piş wana veşarta [soyar = suwar/siyar = horseman, rider, knight] Here there were boulders so large that 15-20 horsemen could have hidden behind them. • 139 • M.L. Chyet / Em hînî Kurmancî dibin Pronunciation drills terr k’êr bîn kêç’ kirin digrim kurr guh din t’êr k’er bin keç’ k’irrîn digrîm kûr gû dîn tîr kerr şiv şêr ji şîv şîr jî şev şerr jê tirr karîn digerrim kor dên Q - K ked qab kîr p’ak qed kap qîr paqij kar beq noqav qoç’ qirrke kul qar Bek’o nok koç qelemek qul • 140 •