I can say where I'm going, who I'm visiting, and who I give things to: put a word in the dative and choose between бару and келу.
Where to and to whom: the dative
Where to and to whom: the dative
Why: to say where you're going, whom you're visiting, and to whom you give or say something. The questions are қайда? “where to?” and кімге? “to whom?”. This form is the dative.
English puts “to” before the word; Kazakh puts an ending after it:
• -ға / -ге — after vowels and р, л, й, у, м, н, ң, з, ж;
• -қа / -ке — after voiceless consonants and б, в, г, д.
The hard or the soft form: the last syllable decides.
After “my” and “your” (-м, -ң) only -а / -е is left: балама, әкеңе. After -ңыз, as usual: үйіңізге. After the “his / her” ending the form is special: it comes at the next level.
Pronouns: маған, саған, сізге, оған, бізге, оларға.
The question қайда? means both “where?” and “where to?”; the ending of the answer decides: Алматыда (where) — Алматыға (where to).
Бару — “to go (there)”, away from the speaker; келу — “to come (here)”, toward the speaker; on foot or by any transport, the verb is the same. Жақын — “close to”: үйге жақын.
The verb comes last: Мен дүкенге барамын.
Common mistakes:
• ×Мен барамын дүкенге → Мен дүкенге барамын.
• ×Мектепке келемін (on your way there from home) → Мектепке барамын.
• ×магазинге → дүкенге: write the Kazakh word дүкен, not the Russian магазин.
• ×әкемге → әкеме.
• ×жігітге → жігітке.
Where to, to whom: endings
The hard or the soft form: the last syllable of the word decides. The word банк is an exception: it takes soft endings, as in банкте.
| The word ends in… | hard word | soft word |
|---|---|---|
| a vowel; р, л, й, у; м, н, ң; з, ж | -ға: қалаға | -ге: үйге |
| voiceless; б, в, г, д | -қа: саябаққа | -ке: жігітке |
| -м, -ң (“my”, “your”) | -а: балама | -е: әкеме |
To whom: pronouns
Learn these six forms as a whole. Сендер and сіздер follow the general rule: сендерге, сіздерге.
| Who | To whom | In English |
|---|---|---|
| мен | маған | to me |
| сен | саған | to you (informal) |
| сіз | сізге | to you (one person, formally) |
| ол | оған | to him, to her |
| біз | бізге | to us |
| олар | оларға | to them |
Lesson notes
Where to and to whom: the dative
Why: to say where you're going, whom you're visiting, and to whom you give or say something. The questions are қайда? “where to?” and кімге? “to whom?”. This form is the dative.
English puts “to” before the word; Kazakh puts an ending after it:
• -ға / -ге — after vowels and р, л, й, у, м, н, ң, з, ж;
• -қа / -ке — after voiceless consonants and б, в, г, д.
The hard or the soft form: the last syllable decides.
After “my” and “your” (-м, -ң) only -а / -е is left: балама, әкеңе. After -ңыз, as usual: үйіңізге. After the “his / her” ending the form is special: it comes at the next level.
Pronouns: маған, саған, сізге, оған, бізге, оларға.
The question қайда? means both “where?” and “where to?”; the ending of the answer decides: Алматыда (where) — Алматыға (where to).
Бару — “to go (there)”, away from the speaker; келу — “to come (here)”, toward the speaker; on foot or by any transport, the verb is the same. Жақын — “close to”: үйге жақын.
The verb comes last: Мен дүкенге барамын.
Common mistakes:
• ×Мен барамын дүкенге → Мен дүкенге барамын.
• ×Мектепке келемін (on your way there from home) → Мектепке барамын.
• ×магазинге → дүкенге: write the Kazakh word дүкен, not the Russian магазин.
• ×әкемге → әкеме.
• ×жігітге → жігітке.