I can say who I am, who you are, and what someone does: Men tarjimonman, Siz shifokorsiz, U talaba — and not drop the ending where English says “am” or “are”.
Men talabaman: who I am, who you are, who he or she is
Men talabaman: who I am, who you are, who he or she is
Why: say who you are, who you're talking to, and who he or she is — by job or role.
There are seven personal pronouns: men — I, sen — you (informal), siz — you (to one person, formally), u — he, she, it, biz — we, sizlar — you (to several people), ular — they. No gender: u is both “he” and “she”.
English says “I am a student”. Uzbek has no word for “am” and no “a”: the word that says who you are takes a personal ending, the same for every word:
• Men talabaman. Sen talabasan. Siz talabasiz.
• Biz talabamiz. Sizlar talabasizlar.
In the third person there is no ending: U talaba. For “they”, both Ular talaba and Ular talabalar (-lar: “more than one”) are correct.
The personal ending is unstressed: the stress stays on the word's last syllable. You can drop the pronoun: Talabaman already means “I'm a student”. Ask with kim: Siz kimsiz? U kim?
In conversation you'll also hear vrach (from Russian), but the course uses the literary word shifokor.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Men talaba” → Men talabaman.
• NOT “Men bir talabaman” → Men talabaman.
• NOT “Siz shifokor” → Siz shifokorsiz.
• u is “he, she”, not English “you”.
Pronouns and personal endings
The ending is the same for all words; there is none in the third person.
| Who | Pronoun | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | men | -man | Men talabaman |
| you (informal) | sen | -san | Sen talabasan |
| you (to one person, formal) | siz | -siz | Siz talabasiz |
| he, she | u | none | U talaba |
| we | biz | -miz | Biz talabamiz |
| you (to several people) | sizlar | -sizlar | Sizlar talabasizlar |
| they | ular | none (or -lar) | Ular talaba / talabalar |
Lesson notes
Men talabaman: who I am, who you are, who he or she is
Why: say who you are, who you're talking to, and who he or she is — by job or role.
There are seven personal pronouns: men — I, sen — you (informal), siz — you (to one person, formally), u — he, she, it, biz — we, sizlar — you (to several people), ular — they. No gender: u is both “he” and “she”.
English says “I am a student”. Uzbek has no word for “am” and no “a”: the word that says who you are takes a personal ending, the same for every word:
• Men talabaman. Sen talabasan. Siz talabasiz.
• Biz talabamiz. Sizlar talabasizlar.
In the third person there is no ending: U talaba. For “they”, both Ular talaba and Ular talabalar (-lar: “more than one”) are correct.
The personal ending is unstressed: the stress stays on the word's last syllable. You can drop the pronoun: Talabaman already means “I'm a student”. Ask with kim: Siz kimsiz? U kim?
In conversation you'll also hear vrach (from Russian), but the course uses the literary word shifokor.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Men talaba” → Men talabaman.
• NOT “Men bir talabaman” → Men talabaman.
• NOT “Siz shifokor” → Siz shifokorsiz.
• u is “he, she”, not English “you”.