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This lesson is divided up into several sections. After your done you'll be ready to have your very first conversation in Uzbek. Sure, it'll be real simple—but you'll know how to greet somebody, introduce yourself, ask some polite questions, and say goodbye. If you want to do it intensive (which I'd recommend) you can do this all as one lesson. If you don't have much time the dialogues are broken up into four sections—just do one. (Eventually I think we'll merge all four tiny dialogues)
Cultural Notes
For many years Soviet histories portrayed Central Asia as a backward area with no tradition of scholarship and learning. In fact, education in the region was widespread and well developed long before the nineteenth century Russian conquest. There existed a large network of "old style" primary (maktab) and higher (madrasa) schools, which taught religious subjects. In those days many children studied at maktabs in their own neighborhoods. Some continued their studies for another ten years at a madrasa.
After the Russian conquest, the tsarist administration established schools with instruction in Russian for the indigenous nationalities. These trained a small number of Central Asians to serve the tsarist administration. Around the turn of the century, reform minded local intelligentsia called iadids opened "new style" schools (usul-i jadid). Unlike the "old style" schools, the jadid schools taught secular subjects.
Both the "old style" and the "new style" schools disappeared in the 1920s. Today Uzbekistan has educational institutions developed after the Soviet model, including primary and secondary schools, specialized technical schools, and institutes and universities. . . --The rest of the information from the peace corps manual is dated. Any important cultural fact about education can go here--
Dialogues
Uzbek Dialogue • Lesson Two •   | |
|---|---|
| First Dialogue | |
| Aziz | Eshiting va gapni yozing. |
| Mike | Iltimos, sekin oʻqing. |
| Aziz | Xoʻp Siz meni tushunyapsizmi? |
| Second Dialogue | |
| Mike | Men bu gapni tushunmayman. |
| Aziz | Qaysi gapni? |
| Mike | "Sogʻ boʻling!" nima degani? |
| Aziz | Bu - yaxshi tilak. Siz uni doʻstlaringizga aytishingiz mumkin |
| Third Dialogue | |
| Aziz | Mayk, yakshanbada siz qayerda boʻldingiz? |
| Mike | Yakshanbada men oʻyda boʻldim. |
| Aziz | Siz uyda nima qildingiz? |
| Mike | Men kitob oʻqidim, televizor koʻrdim va doʻstimga xat yozdim. |
Vocabulary
| Uzbek Dialogue • Lesson Two • | ||
|---|---|---|
| eshiting | listen (imperative, singular or plural polite) | |
| va | and | |
| gap | sentence | |
| gapni | the sentence (accusative case) | |
| yozing | write (imperative) | |
| iltimos | please | |
| sekin | slowly | |
| oʻqing | read (imperative) | |
| oʻqiyman | I will read (present-future tense) | |
| siz | you | |
| meni | me (accusative) | |
| tushunyapsizmi? | do you understand? | |
| bu | this | |
| tushunmayman | I do not understand (negative present-future) | |
| qaysi? | what?, which? | |
| sogʻ | healthy | |
| boʻling | be (imperative singular and plural polite) | |
| sogʻ boʻling | be healthy | |
| nima degani? | what does it mean? | |
| tilak | wish | |
| uni | it, him, her (pronoun, accusative case) | |
| doʻstlaringizga | to your friends (possessive, dative case) | |
| aytishingiz | your saying (possessive) | |
| mumkin | may, can, possible (verbal predicate) | |
| yakshanbada | on Sunday (locative case) | |
| qayerda? | where? | |
| boʻldingiz | you were (definite past) | |
| uyda | at home (locative case) | |
| boʻldim | I was (definite past) | |
| nima? | what? | |
| qildingiz | you did (definite past) | |
| kitob | book | |
| oʻqidim | I read (definite past) | |
| televisor | television | |
| koʻrdim | I watched (definite past) | |
| doʻstimga | to my friend (possessive, dative) | |
| xat | letter | |
| yozdim | I wrote | |
Grammar and Vocabulary Explanations
For Dialogue 1
In Uzbek the infinitive is formed by adding the suffix -moq to the verbal stem:
| Uzbek Examples of -moq • Lesson Two • | |
|---|---|
| eshitmoq | to listen |
| yozmoq | to write |
| oʻqimoq | to read |
Without the infinitive or any other suffix, the Uzbek verbal stem is identical to the second person singular or imperative which is used in familiar or sometimes impolite situations:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | |
|---|---|
| eshit! | listen! |
| yoz! | write! |
| oʻqi! | read! |
To express the imperative for singular and plural in a polite manner, the suffix -ing is added to a verbal stem ending in a consonant. The suffix -ng is added to a stem ending in a vowel:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | ||
|---|---|---|
| eshit+ing | listen | |
| yoz+ing | write | |
| oʻqi+ing | read | |
In the sentence gapni yozing the suffix -ni indicates the accusative case and expresses the idea of a definite quality. It is equivalent to English 'the':
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • |
|---|
| gapni yozing |
| sentence+the write+you |
| (Write the sentence!) |
Pronunciation Notes
Pronounce the letters ng as one sound as in the American English ng in the word song, and not as two sounds n and g as in English 'in good standing'.
Imperative sentences are pronounced in Uzbek with a falling intonation on the last syllable:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | ||
|---|---|---|
| sekin oʻqing | read slowly | |
For Dialogue 2
The negative of a verb is formed by adding the suffix -ma to the stem of the verb before adding any of the tense or person suffixes:
| Uzbek Example • Lesson Two • | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| yozi | write! | yozma! | don't write! |
| oʻqi | read! | oʻqima! | don't read! |
The word tushunmayman is a negative verb in the present-future tense and can mean 'I do not understand' or 'I will not understand.' It is formed by adding the suffix -i to the negative form of the verb:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| tushun+ma+i+man |
understand+not+do/will+I |
I (will) do not understand | |
As in English, an adjective always stands before the noun it qualifies:
| Uzbek Example • Lesson Two • | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| yaxshi tilak | |||
| good wish | |||
Aytishingiz mumkin (you can say) consists of a verbal noun aytishingiz (your saying) and a verbal predicate mumkin (it is possible).
The expression Sogʻ boʻling! (Be healthy) is used by Uzbeks to wish each other well when saying goodbye.
For Dialogue 3
The locative case suffix -da is attached to nouns and has the meaning of 'at,' 'in,' 'on':
| Uzbek Example • Lesson Two • | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| uy | home | uyda | at home |
| yakshanba | Sunday | yakshanbada | on Sunday |
The verbal forms of oʻqidim (I read), qildingiz (you did) etc. . . contain the definite past tense suffix -di. This suffix is added to the verb stem and indicates in a factual manner that an action was completed in the recent past:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | ||
|---|---|---|
| xat yozdim | I wrote a letter (and finished writing it) | |
Sentence Patterns
When a word needs to be emphasized, it is usually placed immediately before the predicate:
| Uzbek Examples • Lesson Two • | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yakshanbada men uyda boʻldim | Men uyda yakshanbada boʻldim | ||
| Sunday+on I home+at was+I | I home+at Sunday+on was+I | ||
| I was at home on Sunday | I was at home on Sunday | ||
Uzbek Proverb
| Uzbek Proverb • Lesson Two • | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Translation: In the healthy body is a healthy mind. | |
| Meaning:Sound body = Sound mind | |
Recap
Congratulations! You can now have your first ever conversation in Uzbek--and that wasn't that hard either? Was it?
In future editions of this book we might have exercises and such, so that you can practice what you learned, and really get it to soak in--and also so you can double check and make sure you know it. But they aren't available just yet :)