Lesson 4. Stress and the first ending: -lar

You don't have to learn the stress of each Uzbek word: it is almost always on the last syllable. In bo-la (child) the stressed syllable is la; in mak-tab (school) it is tab. Stress is never marked in writing — not in books, not in this course. The rule is enough. Add the ending -lar (it means “more than one” — more on it below), and the stress moves onto it: bola → bolalar, maktab → maktablar. The stressed syllable is now lar. Unstressed vowels keep their full sound, even in a long word: in oʻqituvchilar (teachers) every vowel is clear, never “uh”, and the stressed syllable is the last one. Words borrowed through Russian often keep their original stress. Common mistakes: • NOT stress on the first syllable: in bolalar the stressed syllable is lar, not bo.

The ending -lar means “more than one”: kitob — book, kitoblar — books; uy — house, uylar — houses. Where English adds -s, Uzbek adds -lar. The ending is the same for every word: it never changes. Always -lar — after any vowel and any consonant. The ending is joined to the word. If the word ends in l, you get two l's in a row: gul — gullar. Write both. As you already know, the stress moves onto -lar. Common mistakes: • NOT kitobler — the ending is always -lar. • NOT gular — gullar has two l's. • NOT “kitob lar” — the ending is joined to the word.