gbarto.com's Introduction to Uzbek

Vocabulary List 2A

• Assalomu alaykum - peace be upon you
• Alaykum assalom - upon you be peace
• otim - my name (is)
• otingiz - your name (is)
• nima - what
• men - I
• kanadalik - Canadian
• -man - (I) am
• quayer - where
• -lik - from, related to
• -siz - (you) are
• quayerliksiz - where are you from
• amerikalik - American
• ish - work
• qil- do
• qilasiz - you do
• biznesmen - business man
• siyosat - politics
• siyosatshunos - political scientist
• bo'p - as
• ishla- - do work
• ishlayman - (I) do work

Reading 2A

B: Assalomu alaykum.
J: Alaykum assalom
B: Otim Ben Walker. Otingiz nima?
J: Otim John Wexler.
B: Men kanadalikman. Qayerliksiz?
J: Men amerikalikman.
B: Nima ish qilasiz?
J: Men biznesmenman. Nima ish qilasiz?
B: Men siyosatshunos bo'p ishlayman.

Follow-up 2A

1. Where is Ben from?
2. What does Ben do for a living?
3. John says, "Men amerikalikman". What's another way of giving the same information?
4. What is John's career?
5. John says, "Men biznesmenman." What's another way of giving the same information?

Grammar and Commentary 2A

We've talked about Uzbek being an agglutinating language. Let's look at how some of the pieces go together. Note the similarity between "ish" (work) and "ishla-" (do work). Note as well, that the ending "-(y)man" is like "-man" (am). Similarly, "qilasiz" and "qayerliksiz" both end in "-siz". Technically, these endings are not the same (i.e. they're different grammatical components) but their similarities make it easy to recognize the one based on the other. Just take care not to confuse them.

Vocabulary 2B

• siyosatshunos - political scientist
• biznesmen - businessman
• Irlandiya - Ireland
• -dan - from
• -man - (I) am
• irlandiyak - Irish
• o'qi- to study
• -chi - doer
• o'quvchi - student
• o'qit- to teach
• o'qituvchi - teacher
• ish - work (noun)
• ishla- do work
• ishlayman - I do work
• bo'p - as
• ingliz - English
• Angliya - England
• jurnalist - journalist
• rus - Russian
• Rossiya - Russia
• agronom - agronomist
• nemis - German
• Germaniya - Germany
• injener - engineer
• o'zbek - Uzbek
• O'zbekiston - Uzbekistan
• yoz- - to write
• yozuvchi - writer

Reading 2B

Roundtable. A small group of foreigners is meeting with an Uzbek, Abdul. In this reading, they introduce themselves. Here we go:

B: Otim Ben Walker. Men Kanadadanman. Men siyosatshunosman.
Jo: Otim John Wexler. Men amerikalikman. Men biznesmenman.
P: Otim Patrick O'Donnely. Men Irlandiyadanman. Men o'qituvchi bo'p ishlayman.
Ja: Otim James Wilson. Men inglizman. Men jurnalist bo'p ishlayman.
I: Otim Ivan Petrovich. Men rusman. Men agronomman.
H: Otim Hans Manne. Men nemisman - men Germaniyadanman. Men injener bo'p ishlayman.
A: Ismi Abdul. Men o'zbekman. Men yozuvchiman.

Follow-up 2B

1. Ben says, "Men Kanadadanman." What's another way of saying this?
2. Patrick says, "Men Irlandiyadanman." How else could he say this?
3. John says, "Men amerikalikman." What's another way of saying this?
4. Make the same change as in number (3) for James, Ivan and Abdul.
5. If I need a teacher, whom do I call? An engineer? Someone who knows about farming?

We don't have a lot of grammar in this section, but there are a few things that should be pointed out. First of all, notice that "-lik" in Uzbek is like "-(i)an" in English - it can be tacked on some but not all country names. So while knowing the "-lik" ending will make it easier to remember the words for American, Canadian, Irish, et cetera, country names and nationalities will have to be memorized separately. To say where you're from, you say either "Men (country name)danman" or "Men (nationality)man."

We've also seen two ways of talking about your profession, "Men (profession)man" or "Men (profession) bo'p ishlayman." About those professions, note that "-chi" means "doer". So far, all our doers end not just in "-chi" but in "-uvchi". In the future, we'll see some that end in "-ovchi" or just "-chi" so while the ending can help with recognition, it can't be reliably used to figure out a profession name on your own.