I can ask for and give directions — düz gedin, sağa dönün, burada dayanın — and address people the right way: a friend with sən, a stranger with siz.
Gedin! Dönün!: requests and directions
Gedin! Dönün!: requests and directions
Why: to make a request or an offer, or to give directions. Asking the way: “Bağışlayın, … haradadır?”.
The imperative. To one person you call sən: just the stem of the verb, without -maq / -mək: gəl, otur, bax, dön, get.
To siz (one person formally, or several people): the stem + -ın / -in / -un / -ün by the last vowel: baxın, gəlin, oturun, dönün. The familiar buyurun, bağışlayın are the same form. After a vowel, a linking y: oxuyun, gözləyin. A stem ending in t changes t to d, as in gedirəm: get → gedin.
Who gets which: a first name without a title — sən (Kamran, dön); a name with xanım / bəy, xala (to an older woman), a stranger, and several people — siz (Nigar xanım, dönün). English has one command form; Azerbaijani has two.
Direction takes the dative (“where to?”): sağa “to the right”, sola “to the left”; straight ahead is düz. “On the right, on the left” is sağda, solda (“where?”). sağ also means “alive, well”: hence sağ olun — “thank you” (literally “be well”).
The register doesn't change within one sentence: if you start with “Bağışlayın” or “Nigar xanım”, keep the -ın form.
Common mistakes:
• ×Bağışlayın, düz get → Bağışlayın, düz gedin.
• ×getin → gedin.
• ×dönin → dönün (the last vowel is ö).
Requests: sən and siz
To sən — the verb stem; to siz — the stem + -ın / -in / -un / -ün, after a vowel -yın / -yin / -yun / -yün; get → gedin (t → d).
| Verb | To sən | To siz |
|---|---|---|
| getmək (to go) | get | gedin |
| gəlmək (to come) | gəl | gəlin |
| baxmaq (to look) | bax | baxın |
| oturmaq (to sit down) | otur | oturun |
| dönmək (to turn) | dön | dönün |
| oxumaq (to read) | oxu | oxuyun |
| gözləmək (to wait) | gözlə | gözləyin |
Where to and where
Where to turn takes the ending -a; where something is takes -da.
| In Azerbaijani | In English |
|---|---|
| sağa | to the right |
| sola | to the left |
| düz | straight ahead |
| sağda | on the right |
| solda | on the left |
Lesson notes
Gedin! Dönün!: requests and directions
Why: to make a request or an offer, or to give directions. Asking the way: “Bağışlayın, … haradadır?”.
The imperative. To one person you call sən: just the stem of the verb, without -maq / -mək: gəl, otur, bax, dön, get.
To siz (one person formally, or several people): the stem + -ın / -in / -un / -ün by the last vowel: baxın, gəlin, oturun, dönün. The familiar buyurun, bağışlayın are the same form. After a vowel, a linking y: oxuyun, gözləyin. A stem ending in t changes t to d, as in gedirəm: get → gedin.
Who gets which: a first name without a title — sən (Kamran, dön); a name with xanım / bəy, xala (to an older woman), a stranger, and several people — siz (Nigar xanım, dönün). English has one command form; Azerbaijani has two.
Direction takes the dative (“where to?”): sağa “to the right”, sola “to the left”; straight ahead is düz. “On the right, on the left” is sağda, solda (“where?”). sağ also means “alive, well”: hence sağ olun — “thank you” (literally “be well”).
The register doesn't change within one sentence: if you start with “Bağışlayın” or “Nigar xanım”, keep the -ın form.
Common mistakes:
• ×Bağışlayın, düz get → Bağışlayın, düz gedin.
• ×getin → gedin.
• ×dönin → dönün (the last vowel is ö).