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Revision as of 20:09, 13 March 2013 by Alsace38 (talk | contribs) (→Nouns)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)This article deals with the grammar of the Kurdish language. Kurdish is an inflected language, it adds prefixes and suffixes to roots to express grammatical relations and to form words.
Nouns
- A Kurdish noun in the absolute state,
in other words without any ending of any kind, gives a generic sense of the noun.
- It is also the “lexical” form of the noun, i.e. the form in which a noun is given in
a vocabulary list or dictionary.
- Nouns are declined in four cases: nominative, oblique, construct (or ezafe) and vocative.
Nouns can be simple or compound.
- Any unmodified noun in Kurdish may be generic, i.e., it can refer to one or more than one items. Plural is not obligatory when more than one item are implied.
- There is 3 grammatical genders: feminin, masculin and neutral.
- Definiteness is not formally marked.
- Adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in number and case.
- Personal pronouns are marked for number and person (1st, 2nd, 3rd). They can be free-standing or take the form of clitics. Free-standing forms are used for emphasis.
| Sing. M. | Sing. F | Plur. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oblique | -î | -ê | -an |
| Construct | -ê | -a | -ên/êt |
| Vocative | -o | -ê | -no/ine |
| Indefinite | -ek- | -ek- | -anek |
| Definite | -eke- | -eke- | -ekan |
Pronouns
Kurmanji Kurdish uses two types of personal pronouns.
| Number | Singular | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | NOM. | OBL | NOM. | OBL. | ||||
| normal | suffix | normal | suffix | normal | suffix | normal | suffix | |
| 1st | Ez | -(i)m | Min | -(i)m | Em | -(i)n | (ê)Me | -man/(i)n |
| 2nd | Tu | -î | Te | (i)t/u | Hun | (i)n | (ê)We | -tan/u |
| 3rd | Ew | -e | Wê (FEM.) Wî (MASC.) |
î/y | Ew | (i)n | (e)Wan | -yan |
The ez forms (NOM.) are used as subjects in the present and future tenses. They are also used as subjects in past tenses when the verb is an intransitive one. They are used as objects in past tenses when employed with a transitive verb.
The min forms (OBL.) are used with any proposition or postposition. They are also employed as objects in present and future tenses, but as subjects of the transitive verbs in past tenses.
Kurmanji has lost the suffixes for OBL pronouns, whereas Sorani has lost nominative normal pronouns.
Demonstrative
Demonstrative pronouns when followed by postpositions (attached to the nouns) become demonstrative adjectives.
| Case | NOM. SING. | NOM. PLUR. | OBL. SING. | OBL. PLUR. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | MASC. | FEM. | |||
| near | ev ... (e) | ev ... ane | vî ... î | vê ... ê | van ... an(-e) |
| far | ew ... (e) | ew ... ane | wî ... î | wê ... ê | wan ... an(-e) |
| too far | how ... e | how ... ane | how ... e | how ... e | how ... ane |
As demonstrative adjectives, Sorani Kurdish does not use OBL forms (though for demonstrative pronouns it does use OBL. plural forms); neither Kurmanji uses nominative plural forms.
Pre- and postpositions
The table shows some prepositions.
| Preposition | postposition | absolute form | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li/Le | da/de & ra/re & (e)we/ve | lê | at, of, from |
| Ji | ra/re | jê | from |
| bo /jibo | for | ||
| -e | -ê | to, towards | |
| Di/de | da/de | tê da/de | in |
| be/bi | pê | to, by | |
| be/bi | (e)we/ve | pê we | with |
Verbs
Present and future
Present and future tenses for the verb zanîn ( to know).
| Person | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenses | Intransitive & transitive | |||
| Present | dizanim | dizanî | dizane | dizanin |
| Subjunctive present | bizanim | bizanî | bizane | bizanin |
| Future | -ê bizanim | -ê bizanî | -ê bizane | -ê bizanin |
| Intransitive past | ||||
| Simple past | hatim | hatî | hat | hatin |
| Imperfective preterite | dihatim | dihatî | dihat | dihatin |
| Perfect | hatîme | hatîyî | hatiye | hatine |
| Plusperfect | hatibûm | hatibûy(î) | hatibû | hatibûn |
| Subjunctive preterite | hatibim | hatibî | hatibe | hatibin |
| Past Conditional | hatibam(a) | hatibay(î) | hatiban(a) | hatiban(a) |
Past tenses for intransitive verb of hatin (to come).
If a transitive verb accepts a nominative personal suffix, it agrees with the object of the sentence. Transitive verbs in Sorani when not used in sentences accept OBL. personal suffixes (in contrast to intransitive verbs which always accept NOM. personal suffixes).
See also
Notes
References
- W. M. Thackston (2006) Kurmanji Kurdish: A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings
- Sorani Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings W. M. Thackston