Kyrgyz grammar

Phonology

Vowels

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	y	ɯ	u
Mid	e	ø		o
Open			ɑ

Consonants

	Labial	Dental/ alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar/ Uvular
Nasal	m	n			ŋ/ɴ
Plosive	p b	t d			k/q g/ʁ
Affricate			tʃ dʒ
Fricative	f v	s z	ʃ
Lateral		l/ɫ
Trill		r
Approximant				j

The consonant phonemes /k/, /g/, and /ŋ/ have uvular realisations ([q], [ɢ], and [ɴ] respectively) in back vowel contexts (before back vowels). In front-vowel environments, /g/ is fricativised between continuants (to [ɣ]), and in back vowel environments both /k/ and /g/ fricativise (to [χ] and [ʁ] respectively). Additionally, the liquid /l/ is realised as a dorsal /ɫ/ in back vowel contexts. Other consonants have slightly different realisations in front- versus back-vowel contexts and when between continuants or not, but these are the clearest examples.

Desonorisation and devoicing

In Kyrgyz, suffixes beginning with /n/ show desonorisation of the /n/ to [d] after consonants (including /j/), and devoicing to [t] after voiceless consonants; e.g. the definite accusative suffix -NI patterns like this: кемени the boat, айды the month, торду the net, колду the hand, таңды the dawn, көздү the eye, башты the head.

Suffixes beginning with /l/ also show desonorisation and devoicing, though only after consonants of equal or lower sonority than /l/, e.g. the plural suffix -LAr patterns like this: кемелер boats, айлар months, торлор nets, колдор hands, таңдар dawns, көздөр eyes, баштар heads. Other /l/-initial suffixes, such as -LA, a denominal verbal suffix, and -LUU, a denominal adjectival suffix, may surface either with /l/ or /d/ after /r/; e.g. тордо-/торло- to net/weave, түрдүү/түрлүү various.

See the section below on case for more examples.

Nominal Morphology

Case

Nouns in Kyrgyz take a number of case endings that change based on vowel harmony and the sort of consonant they follow (see the section on phonology).

Case	Underlying form	Possible forms	"boat"	"air"	"bucket"	"hand"	"head"	"salt"	"eye"
Nominative	—		кеме	аба	челек	кол	баш	туз	көз
Genitive	-NIn	-нын, -нин, -дын, -дин, -тын, -тин, -нун, -нүн, -дун, -дүн, -тун, -түн	кеменин	абанын	челектин	колдун	баштын	туздун	көздүн
Dative	-GA	-га, -ка, -ге, -ке, -го, -ко, -гө, -кө	кемеге	абага	челекке	колго	башка	тузга	көзгө
Accusative	-NI	-ны, -ни, -ды, -ди, -ты, -ти, -ну, -нү, -ду, -дү, -ту, -тү	кемени	абаны	челекти	колду	башты	тузду	көздү
Locative	-DA	-да, -де, -та, -те, -до, -дө, -то, -тө	кемеде	абада	челекте	колдо	башта	тузда	көздө
Ablative	-DAn	-дан, -ден, -тан, -тен, -дон, -дөн, -тон, -төн	кемеден	абадан	челектен	колдон	баштан	туздан	көздөн

Normally the decision between a velar consonants ([g], [k]) and uvular consonants ([ʀ] and [q]) pronunciation of /г/ and /к/ is based on the backness of the following vowel—i.e. back vowels imply a uvular rendering and front vowels imply a velar rendering—and the vowel in suffixes is decided based on the preceding vowel in the word. However, with the dative suffix in Kyrgyz, the vowel is decided normally, but the decision between velars and uvulars can be decided based on a contacting consonant, for example банк /bank/ 'bank' + GA yields банкка /bankka/, not /bankqa/ as predicted by the following vowel.

Pronouns

Kyrgyz has eight personal pronouns:

Personal pronouns

Singular		Plural
Kyrgyz (transliteration)	English	Kyrgyz (transliteration)	English
Мен (Men)	I	Биз (Biz)	We
Сен (Sen)	You (singular informal)	Силер (Siler)	You (plural informal)
Сиз (Siz)	You (singular formal)	Сиздер (Sizder)	You (plural formal)
Ал (Al)	He/She/It	Алар (Alar)	They

The declension of the pronouns is outlined in the following chart. Singular pronouns (with the exception of сиз, which used to be plural) exhibit irregularities, while plural pronouns don't. Irregular forms are highlighted in bold.

Declension of pronouns

	Singular				Plural
	1st	2nd inf	2nd frm	3rd	1sg	2nd inf	2nd frm	3rd
Nom	мен	сен	сиз	ал/ол	биз	силер	сиздер	алар/олор
Acc	мени	сени	сизди	аны/ону	бизди	силерди	сиздерди	аларды/олорду
Gen	менин	сенин	сиздин	анын/онун	биздин	силердин	сиздердин	алардын/олордун
Dat	мага	сага/cаңа	сизге	ага/аңа/ого/оңо	бизге	силерге	сиздерге	аларга/олорго
Loc	менде	сенде	сизде	анда/ондо	бизде	силерде	сиздерде	аларда/олордо
Abl	менден	сенден	сизден	андан/~анан/ондон	бизден	силерден	сиздерден	алардан/олордон

In addition to the pronouns, there are several more sets of morphemes dealing with person.

Morphemes indicating person

	pronouns	copulas	present tense	possessive endings	past/conditional	imperative
1st sg	мен	-mIn	-Ăm(In)	-(I)m	-(I)m	-(A)yIN
2nd sg	сен	-sIŋ	-ĂsIŋ	-(I)ŋ	-(I)ŋ	—, -GIn
2nd formal sg	сиз	-sIz	-ĂsIz	-(I)ŋIz	-(I)ŋIz	-GIlA
3rd sg	ал/ол	—	-Ăt	-(s)I(n)	—	-sIn
1st pl	биз	-BIz	-ĂßIz	-(I)BIz	-(I)K	-(A)lI(K) -(A)ylI(K)
2nd pl	силер	-sIŋAr	-ĂsIŋAr	-(I)ŋAr	-(I)ŋAr	-GIlA
2nd formal pl	сиздер	-sIzdAr	-ĂsIzdAr	-(I)ŋIzdAr	-(I)nIzdAr	-GIlA
3rd pl	алар/олор	—	-(I)şAt	-(s)I(n)	-(I)ş-	-sIn, -IşsIn

Constructions which don't otherwise make sense

Examples of things I'm still trying to figure out

• таанытуу болду
• бир нерсе сурайын деген элем
• бул суроо менен кайрылсам дегем

Third person as participial??

• сабак берет окшойсуң
• билбейт экенмин
• болот турбайбы
• болгон турбайбы
• болот атпайбы

Possessed gerund as participial??

• бергени жатам
• келгени кетти
• Америкага окууганы баргысы келет

Morpheme List

-NAKAy

• жакшынакай
• жөнөкөй
• кичинекей

-(I)n

• силки- - to shake (v.t.)
• силкин- - to shake (off) (v.i.)

• ойло- - to think (about, that, on) (v.t.)
• ойлон- - to think (v.i.)

• көр- - to see (v.t.)
• көрүн- - to be visible (v.i.)

• жөлө- - to support from the side (v.t.)
• жөлөн- - to lean with support from the side

• тая- - to support from underneath (v.t.)
• таян- - to lean (on) with support from underneath

• сура- - to ask
• суран- - to request?

• жап- - cover
• жамын- - cover oneself

• жуу- - wash (v.t.)
• жуун- - wash up (onself)

• макта- - praise (v.t.)
• мактан- - brag (about oneself)