Lesson 1. The alphabet and the vowels: ә, ө, ү, ұ, і, ы

Kazakh is written in the Cyrillic alphabet: 42 letters, the 33 of the Russian alphabet plus nine Kazakh ones. A dozen look like English letters and sound different: В is v, Н is n, Р is r, С is s, Х is the ch of “loch”, У is w or oo-w, Е is the e of “bet”, И is close to the ee of “see”. Press each tile in the chart below to hear a word with the letter. A Latin alphabet is planned for 2031; the course uses Cyrillic, as Kazakhstan does today. Today's vowels: ә, ө, ү, ұ, і and the short ы. Vowels are hard (back) or soft (front), in pairs: а — ә, о — ө, ұ — ү, ы — і; е is always soft. See the table: you need it in lesson 3. • ә — the a of “cat”: әке (father). • ө — the vowel of “bird” with rounded lips: өте (very). • ү — the ee of “see” with rounded lips: үй (house). • ұ — the short oo of “book”: ұл (son). у is another letter (lesson 2). • ы, і — very short: the a of “about”, the i of “sit”: жыл (year), тіл (language). Unstressed vowels don't change: о is always a pure o — отыз (thirty). One letter changes the word: үш “three”, ұш “fly!” (more in the second table). Common mistakes: • NOT “OH-tiz” — отыз starts with a pure o, with no glide, and the stress is on the last syllable: [otəz]. • NOT і as the ee of “see” — in тіл the vowel is short, the i of “sit”. • NOT ұ instead of ү — they are different letters and different words.

Add the Kazakh keyboard once — the paths for a phone and a computer are in the table. Then all 42 letters are on your keyboard. If you type the plain Cyrillic letter instead of a Kazakh one — ә → а, ө → о, ү → у, ұ → у, і → и, қ → к, ғ → г, ң → н, һ → х — the answer counts, and the answer key shows the right spelling: learn that one. Only these substitutions count; э or я for ә, ё for ө, and ю for ү are mistakes. And ы is not і: for і you can type и, but not ы. Latin letters never count, even the ones that look the same. Words that differ only in a Kazakh letter (үш — ұш) are checked by choice, not in writing.