I can say whose something is — Rustamning kitobi, doʻstimning ismi — and ask “whose?”
Whose? The genitive: -ning
Whose? The genitive: -ning
Why: to say whose something is: “a friend's name”, “Anna's bag”, “the meaning of a word”.
The genitive answers the question “whose?” The owner takes the ending -ning, and the thing takes the “his, her” ending: -i or -si.
• Rustamning kitobi — Rustam's book;
• Annaning sumkasi — Anna's bag.
Two words, two endings: English 's marks only the owner. The owner always comes first, as in English.
-ning is the same for every word. You already know it: mening, sening (with one n), sizning, uning; and also buning — “of this”.
If the owner is “my friend”, the first word has two endings: first “my”, then -ning: doʻst + im + ning → doʻstimning ismi — “my friend's name”. The same with the “his, her” ending: aka + si + ning → akasining.
The question “whose?” is kimning?, and it stands where the answer goes: Kimning sumkasi bu yerda? — Rustamning sumkasi.
A name takes no -ning, but the second word still takes the ending: telefon raqami — “phone number”, Toshkent shahri — “the city of Tashkent”.
Watch out: gap means both “sentence” and “talk”.
Common mistakes:
• ×doʻstim ismi → doʻstimning ismi;
• ×Rustamning kitob → Rustamning kitobi;
• ×kitobi Rustamning → Rustamning kitobi.
Whose: the owner with -ning and the thing with the “his / her” ending
The owner comes first. A name takes no -ning, but the thing still has the ending.
| Owner | Item | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Rustamning | kitobikitob + i | Rustam's book |
| Annaning | sumkasisumka + si | Anna's bag |
| doʻstimning | ismiism + i | my friend's name |
| kimning? | … | whose? |
| telefona name: no -ning | raqamiraqam + i | phone number |
| Toshkenta name: no -ning | shahrishahar → shahr + i | the city of Tashkent |
Lesson notes
Whose? The genitive: -ning
Why: to say whose something is: “a friend's name”, “Anna's bag”, “the meaning of a word”.
The genitive answers the question “whose?” The owner takes the ending -ning, and the thing takes the “his, her” ending: -i or -si.
• Rustamning kitobi — Rustam's book;
• Annaning sumkasi — Anna's bag.
Two words, two endings: English 's marks only the owner. The owner always comes first, as in English.
-ning is the same for every word. You already know it: mening, sening (with one n), sizning, uning; and also buning — “of this”.
If the owner is “my friend”, the first word has two endings: first “my”, then -ning: doʻst + im + ning → doʻstimning ismi — “my friend's name”. The same with the “his, her” ending: aka + si + ning → akasining.
The question “whose?” is kimning?, and it stands where the answer goes: Kimning sumkasi bu yerda? — Rustamning sumkasi.
A name takes no -ning, but the second word still takes the ending: telefon raqami — “phone number”, Toshkent shahri — “the city of Tashkent”.
Watch out: gap means both “sentence” and “talk”.
Common mistakes:
• ×doʻstim ismi → doʻstimning ismi;
• ×Rustamning kitob → Rustamning kitobi;
• ×kitobi Rustamning → Rustamning kitobi.