Kazakh Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Kazakh grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Kazakh and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Kazakh and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Kazakh.

Prepositions - Kazakh
and және
above жоғарыда
under төменде
before дейін
after кейін
in front of алдында
behind артында
far from алыста
near жақында
in
inside ішінде
outside сыртында
with бірге
without
about
between арасында
but бірақ
for үшін
from
to

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Kazakh
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] мен тамақты пышақсыз жеймін
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] ол шіркеу жанында тұрады
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] оның бойын одан ұзынырақ
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] ол өзінің кішкентай итімен келді
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] сіз менімен бірге бара аласыз ба?

Negation in Kazakh

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Kazakh
I understand you [affirmative form] мен сізді түсіндім
I don't understand you [negation + verb] мен сізді түсінбедім
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] бұл сөз дұрыс емес
don't leave me [imperative negation] мені жалғыз тастап кетпеңізші
no problem [negation + noun]

Negative Sentences - Kazakh
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] мен французша сөйлемеймін
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ол Германияға барған емес
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] ол бізді көрмей тұр
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] ол шахмат ойнай алады ма?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] біз кеш келмейміз

Questions in Kazakh

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Kazakh
how? қалай?
what? не?
who? кім?
why? неге?
where? қайда?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Kazakh
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] сіз қай жерде тұрасыз?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] ол қытайша сөйлейді ме?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] бұл қанша тұрады?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] сізге көмектесейін бе?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] есіміңіз кім?

Adverbs in Kazakh

It's time to learn the adverbs in Kazakh. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Kazakh
now қазір
yesterday кеше
today бүгін
tonight бүгін кешке
tomorrow ертең
soon жақын арада
quickly тез
slowly баяу
together бірге
very өте
almost
always әрқашан
usually әдетте
sometimes кейде
rarely сирек
never ешқашан

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Kazakh
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] сіз мені түсіндіңіз бе?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] маған көмек дәл қазір қажет
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ол өте ақылды
I will always love you [verb + adverb] мен сізді әрқашан жақсы көретін боламын
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] біз неміс тілін бірге оқуымызға болады ма?

Pronouns in Kazakh

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Kazakh. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Kazakh
I мен
you сен
he ол
she ол
we біз
they олар

Object Pronouns - Kazakh
me мені
you сені
him оны
her оны
us бізді
them оларды

Possessive Pronouns - Kazakh
my менің
your сенің
his оның
her оның
our біздің
their олардың

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Kazakh
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] мен сіздің досыңызбын
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] сіз өте тез сөйлейсіз
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] оның үш иті бар
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ол неміс тілінде сөйлей алады
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] біз кеш келмейміз
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] олар сүт пен нан сатып алды

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Kazakh
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] есіміңіз қалай?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] мен сізге ақша беремін
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ол оған хат жазды
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] олар кеше оған барып келді
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] ол бізге көмектесе алады ма?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] ол оларға тамақ берді

Possessive Pronouns - Kazakh
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] менің есімім Мая
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] бұл жерде сіздің ағаңыз тұрады
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] оның анасы бізге тамақ істейді
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] кітап оқу оның ермегі
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] Парижге бару біздің арманымыз
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] олардың үйі алыс емес

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Kazakh
this is my house бұл менің үйім
that restaurant is far ол ресторан алыс
these apples are delicious бұл алмалар дәмді екен
those stars are shiny ана жұлдыздар жарқырап тұр

I hope you learned a lot about the Kazakh grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!