#tt_culture
Tatar mythological creatures
💧 In Tatar mythology, there are water spirits associated with bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and springs. The most famous out of all of them is Su Anası. The name translates to "Mother Water" in English. She has long hair, big black eyes and no eyebrows. Su Anası usually lives underwater, but she comes out from time to time to brush her hair at a shore. She is considered a menacing, but a protective and nurturing figure, a guardian of water sources and is believed to have the power to influence the waters' fertility, purity, and overall well-being.

💧Su Anası's blessings are vital for the fertility of the land and the success of crops. To honor Su Anası and seek her favor, people would offer prayers, rituals, and sometimes sacrifices to appease her and ensure a good harvest. These offerings could include various items, such as food, coins, or symbolic objects. Rituals often involved chanting, singing, and reciting prayers to establish a connection with the water spirit.

💧 At the beginning on the 20th century Ğabdulla Tuqay turned Su Anası into a character of a children's book. In his story, a boy stole Su Anası's golden comb and ran to his village. He told his mother that he had found it on his way, but when Su Anası came at night and started banging on his window, the mother found out the truth. She returned the comb to Su Anası and scolded the boy for the theft.

💧 Su Babası, depicted as an old man, lives in deep waters. One of the beautiful mythologic creatures associated with the Underwater Kingdom is Su Qızı. She lives in her father's magnificent palace. When an earthly man falls in love with her, according to some legends, his life ends tragically. It's a reminder, that Su Qızı is not from this world, but belongs to another world, foreign to us human beings.

💧 The reverence for water sources and nature spirits like Su Anası is deeply embedded in the cultural heritage of Turkic and Tatar communities. These beliefs reflect the close relationship between people and the natural environment in these regions.

🏠 Kazan Tatars also have various spirits associated with places people live in. For example, Abzar iyәse lives in a yard or a barn and can assume a human or an animal form. Being the barn spirit, he protects domestic animals, especially horses, from all kinds of troubles. Siberian Tatars have similar deities, called Mal iyәse or Cәnki baba.

🏠 Another character in Tatar mythology is Biçura. She is a short woman wearing an örpәk - a traditional cloth covering her head. She is believed to live in the basements or bathrooms. She does not cause any significant harm to people, but disturbs them at night in various ways: she screams, plays, laughs, jokes, drags the sleeping person from place to place; hides things from one place to another. The Tatars have a saying about her: “Where did this thing go; hasn’t Biçura stolen it?”

Let me know if you want to learn about more Tatar deities and spirits 👇🏼

#tt_newbie
Vowel harmony
In accordance with a phonetic law called vowel harmony, the vowel contained in the first syllable of a native Tatar stem determines the quality of the vowels in the succeeding syllables. That means that, as a rule, all vowels in a native Tatar word are either back vowels or front vowels. With a few exceptions, the rule of vowel harmony applies also to Tatar suffixes.

⚡️ The vowel phonemes o, ö in the first syllable of a word affect the quality of the vowels ı and e respectively in succeeding syllables, causing them to be rounded towards o or ö. However, the labialization (rounding) of these phonemes is increasingly weakened (particularly in suffixes) the farther they are positioned from the first syllable until it ceases entirely: bötenebez (all of us)

⚡️ The vowel phonemes u, ü do not usually occur in non-first syllables or in the final position of native Tatar words, but they do in the Tatar infinitive verb and its derivations. For example:
bulu (to be, to become)
kölü (to laugh)

⚡️ The vowel phoneme i usually occurs only in the first syllables of native Tatar stems. A few exceptions are:
əti (father), əni (mother), əbi (grandmother), ipi (bread)

The vowel i does not appear in suffixes, but it does in verb inflection. For example:
eşləw (to work) - ul eşli (he works)

⚡️ Thus, with the above exceptions, the following rules of vowel harmony are applied:

· Any of the back vowels a, ı, u, o in the first syllable may be followed by either a or ı:
barabız (we go), pıçaq (knife), borın (nose)

· Any of the front vowels ə, e, i, ü, ö in the first syllable may be followed by either ə or e:
tübətəy, sötle (with milk), bülək (gift)

⚡️ In native Turkic words there are very few exceptions to the principle of vowel harmony. Words in which such exceptions occur are for example:
miña 'to me'
siña 'to you'
içmasa 'at least'
zəñgərsu 'bluish'

· compound words components of which belong to different vowel harmony groups:
könçığış (east) = kön (day) + çığış (rising)
öçpoçmaq (triangle) = öç (three) + poçmaq (corner, angle)

⚡️ With a few exceptions, the principle of vowel harmony does not apply to Arabic and Persian loanwords, nor does it apply to words borrowed more recently from Russian or from other European languages. In these words back and front vowels may occur together in the same word.

⚡️ With Arabic and Persian loanwords, the vowels in the Tatar suffixes tend to correspond to the vowel of the last syllable of the loanword:

kitap (book) - kitabım (my book)
xatirə (recollection) - xatirələr (recollections)
şəhər (city) - şəhərlərebez (our cities)

⚡️ Some loanwords deviate from the above rule (more often than not these are bisyllabic words with the pattern a-i):

tarix (history) - tarixnıñ (of the history)
səlam (hi) - səlamnər (greetings)

#tt_beginner
Genitive
The genitive is formed by joining -nıñ/-neñ to the stem:

yortnıñ - of the house
yortlarnıñ - of the houses
öyneñ - of the home
öylәrneñ - of the homes
bülmәgezneñ - of your (pl./form.) room
bülmәlәregezneñ - of your (pl./form.) rooms

🔷 The genitive is used to describe:
Ownership or possession:
әniyemneñ qulları - my mom’s hands

🔹 Possessive relation in time, place, quality, quantity, measure, extent, purpose:

ütkən ğasırnıñ urtası - the middle of the past century
şәhәrneñ binaları - the city’s buildings
keşelәrneñ öçtәn bere - one third of the people
tawnıñ biyeklege - the height of the mountain

🔹 If a genitive relation exists between three nouns in a sentence, the first noun is in the genitive, the second noun takes the appropriate possessive suffix (-ı, -e, -sı, -se, -ları, -lәre) to which in turn the genitive suffix -nıñ/-neñ is joined, and the third noun, governing the second, takes the possessive suffix only:

tutaşnıñ keçkenә genә awızınıñ yılmayuwı - the smile of the young lady’s little mouth

🔹 The genitive suffix may sometimes be omitted:

Tuqay şiğerlәre - Tuqay’s poems
il başqalası - country’s capital

🔹 The genitive suffix is always omitted:

· When the second noun qualifies the first one:
Qazan şәhәre - the city of Kazan
· When two or more nouns together form a compound noun:
İrek mәydanı - Liberty Square

🔷 Let's look at the genitive suffixes in the dialog:

A: "Minem abıyımnıñ yaña tuğan bəbisen kürdeñme?"
B: "Əye, min anı ğailə aşında abıyıñnıñ qoçağında kürdem."
A: "Ә, yaxşı! Alarnıñ öy baqçasın oşatasıñmı?"
B: "Baqça çınnan da matur, ayıruça böten ul tösle çəçəklər belən. Süz uñayınnan, minem apamnıñ et köçekləre turında işetteñme?"
A: "Әye, işettem, apañnıñ eteneñ matur köçekləre tuğan ikәn."
B: "Bezneñ ğailələr törle yaqlardan üsə axrısı!"
A: "Şulay şul! Ğəilələrebezdə bu yaña tuğan bәbilәrne kürü bik rəxət."

_____________________

A: "Have you seen my brother's new baby?"
B: "Yeah, I saw her in your brother's arms during the family dinner."
A: "Oh, great! How do you like their house's garden?"
B: "The garden's really beautiful, especially with all those colorful flowers. By the way, have you heard about my sister's dog's puppies?"
A: "Yeah, I heard that your sister's dog had adorable puppies."
B: "Sounds like our families are growing in all sorts of ways!"
A: "Definitely! It's lovely to see these new additions in our families."

#tt_info
Səlam, duslar! ✨
This project is my work of passion and takes a lot of my free time and creative energy. If you like what I do, please consider supporting Learn Tatar with a small donation on Paypal.

If you don’t have an opportunity to support financially, your likes, comments and questions are a huge motivation for me to keep working on these posts and keep improving!

Any kind of engagement and feedback is very welcome 🤗

Aygöl 🫰🏼

#tt_intermediate
Postpositions Governing the Nominative and the Genitive
The following postpositions require the nominative (N) if the governed word is a noun and the genitive (G) if the governed word is a personal pronoun (except the 3rd person plural!). As a rule, demonstrative pronouns in the singular are also in the genitive. However, bu, ul, şul may stand in the nominative.

📍 All of the following postpositions describe location and can have the suffixes of locative (in,at), dative (to), or ablative (from):

östendə (östenə, östennən) - on, upon, on top of (onto, from)
astında - under
töbendə - at the bottom
başında - at the beginning
yağında - on the side
tarafında - on the side
yanında - beside, near
qırıyında - beside, next to, near

östəl (N) östenə quydı - placed on the table
but: minem (G) östemә utırdı - sat on me

aldında / qarşısında - before, in front of
arasında - between, among
urtasında - in the middle
eçendə - inside
artında - behind
tirəsendə - around

tərəzə (N) aldında tora - stands in front of the window
but: sineñ (G) aldıñda tora - stands in front of you

🕐 Postpositions meaning while, during:

waqıtında, waqıtta
çaqta

bala (N) çaqta işettem - I heard when I was a child

👯 Postpositions meaning as, like:

kebek
sıman
şikelle
işe
rəweşendə
tösle, tösendə

bularaq
bulıp
itep

kileş
köye, köyençə, köyenə
xəlendə

at (N) kebek eşli - works like a horse
but: sineñ (G) kebek aqıllı - smart like you

➡️ Postpositions meaning because of, due to, as a result of:

arqasında
səbəple
nəticəsendə

tığınlıq (N) arqasında soñardı - came late because of traffic
but: minem (G) arqamda buldı - happened because of me

Postpositions meaning through, over, across, via, along:

arqılı
aşa
buyı (buyına, buyında, buyınnan, buyınça)
buylap
ütə

sınawlar (N) aşa üttek - we went through the challenges
but: anıñ (G) aşa bara - goes through it

⚠️ And other important postpositions:

belən - with
öçen - for
urınına - instead of
nigezendə - on the basis of

sineñ (G) öçen señlem (N) belən bülək yasadım - I made a present for you with my sister

turında, xaqında - about
aralaş - every other
sayın - every, each

kön (N) sayın anıñ (G) turında uylıym - I think about him/her/it every day

Have you already read our latest post? Time to check your knowledge 👇🏼

#tt_advanced
Passive Verbs

Passive verbs are formed by joining:

a) -l to verb stems ending in a vowel except bi-syllabic verbs whose first syllable ends in -l, verb stems ending in -i, -u or -la, -lə:
yasa – do, make, yasal – be done, made

b) -el / -ıl to verb stems ending in -i, -u or a consonant except -l:
ki – put on, kiyel – be worn
qu – chase, quwıl – be chased
tap – find, tabıl – be found

c) -n to verb stems ending in -la, -lə or bisyllabic verbs the first syllable of which ends in -l, and the second one in a vowel:
cırla – sing, cırlan – be sung
alda – lie, aldan – be lied to

d) -ın, -en to verb stems ending in -l.
bül – divide, bülen – be divided

➡️ Passive verbs are mostly formed from transitive verbs:
uqı – read, uqıl – be read
yu – wash, yuwıl – be washed
di – he (she, it) says, diyelə – it is said
yaz – write, yazıl – be written
onıt – forget, onıtıl – be forgotten

In such sentences, the speaker/writer directs the readers' attention away from the agent and more towards the action and its receiver:
anıñ xezməte qabul itelde – his work was accepted
bu kön bəyrəm itelə – this day is celebrated

⛔️ In Tatar, a passive verb can be formed from an intransitive verb. In this case, it would mean "one does something":
bar – barıla (one goes)
qayt – qaytıla (one returns)
yör – yörelə (one walks)
tor – torıla (one stands, gets up)

👤 When the passive verb expresses an action, the agent is indicated by the possessive form of taraf (in most cases of the third person, singular) in the ablative case:
... hiçqayçan həm hiçkem tarafınnan cırlanmağan cırlarnı cırlar
ide. – ... would sing songs which had never been sung by anybody before.
(Ğadel Qutuy, Ilham)

If taraf is preceded by a possessive pronoun, the possessive suffixes may be omitted:
minem taraftan bilgeləngən plan buyınça – according to the plan set up by me

🌺 If the "doer" of the passive voice is inanimate, it is indicated by the postposition belən:
qoyma belən ayırılğan – separated by a fence
çəçəklər belən qaplanğan – covered with flowers

Or not named at all:
uram yaxşı yaqtırtılğan – the street is well lit

👥 Verb stems ending in -la, -lə or in -l and, consequently, forming their passive with -n, -ın, -en, may take an additional -ıl / -el (double passive):
söyləngən – söylənelgən
uylanğan – uylanılğan

#tt_culture
The evil spirit of Albastı

Kazan, Crimean, Siberian Tatars, Mishar, Kazakh, Bashkort, Kyrgyz, Karakalpak, Nogay, and other Turkic peoples believed in this spirit. The name is derived from "əl" (hand) and "basmak" (to press). She is usually depicted as an ugly disheveled woman with such big breasts that she can throw them over her shoulder. She has long and pointed nails. According to Bashkort mythology, Albastı appears as a woman to men and as a man to women. She can also appear as a tree or a moving hay cart. Despite the scary appearance, Albastı herself is afraid of dogs' barking and crowing of roosters.

Sometimes, when a person fell asleep, they would realize that they are in bed unable to move, and with a heart beating fast. Albastı would be sitting on their chest, pressing and choking them, or even sucking their blood. In this panicked state, the person would wake up and in that moment, Albastı would get off them and disappear. That might be how people used to explain sleep paralysis back in the day.

The most famous story about Albastı goes like this. Once a man was riding from some city to his village at night. Before reaching the village, he sees that two stacks of hay are moving on both sides of him, and near these stacks, there is some light.

Looking more closely, the man was horrified, recognizing Albastı in the haystacks. He began to whip his horse to go faster, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t get past the luminous haystacks.

After two or three hours of racing, he rides up to a dark forest, which he clearly remembered wasn’t in this area before. He starts hallucinating and hears the sounds of music, distant human voices, the mooing of cows, and the neighing of horses... He was even more frightened and prayerfully kept riding. He looked around - the same haystacks and the same unusual light around them were following him.

The man lost all hope of deliverance. He laid down in his cart and let go of the reins...
Suddenly, he hears the roosters crowing, and immediately both haystacks and the light near them disappear. After that, the horse, feeling relieved, took off straight at a gallop, so that it was impossible to hold it. The man arrived in his native village in the morning, exhausted and traumatized.

However, after this incident, he fell ill and barely survived. If the roosters had not crowed in time on that dark night, his death would surely have been inevitable.

That was the story of Albastı. Have you ever heard of her before? Let me know in the comments if you're interested in more mysterious stories and legends from the Tatar mythology.

#tt_newbie
What's your name?

Today we're learning how to introduce ourselves. First, let's look at the personal pronouns:

min – I
sin – you
ul – he/she/it
bez – we
sez – you (plural/formal)
alar – they

👩🏻 Minem isemem ... – My name is ...

Sineñ isemeñ niçek? – What’s your name?
Min … yəştәmen. – I’m … years old.

👷🏻‍♀️ Sin kem bulıp eşliseñ? – What do you do?
... bulıp eşlim. – I work as ...
... ölkәsendә eşlim. – I work in the field of...

Uqıtuçı bulıp eşlim. – I work as a teacher.
Tabib bulıp eşlim. – I work as a doctor.
Satuçı bulıp eşlim. – I work as a seller.

📍 Sin qaydan? – Where are you from?
Min ...dan/dәn (-nan/-nәn) – I'm from ...

Min Tatarstannan. – I'm from Tatarstan.
Min Başqortstannan. – I'm from Bashkortostan.

(We will learn more professions and country names in the next two weeks.)

🥰 Tanışuwıbızğa şatmın! - Nice to meet you!
Min də şatmın. - Nice to meet you too.


Let's take a look at the dialog:
A: Səlam! Min Almaz. Sezneñ isemegez niçek?
B: Səlam, min Liliyə! Tanışuwıbızğa şatmın.
A: Min də! Könegez niçek ütte?
B: Yaxşı, rəxmət. Ə sezneke?
A: Mineke də. Sez kem bulıp eşlisez?
B: Min cirle agentlıqta grafik dizayner bulıp eşlim. Ə sez?
A: Qızıq! Min satuda eşlim, ləkin dizayn mine hərwaqıt qızıqsındırdı.

________

A: Hi! I'm Almaz. What's your name?
B: Hi, I'm Liliyə! Nice to meet you.
A: Likewise! How's your day been?
B: Good, thanks. How about yours?
A: Mine too. So, what do you do for a living?
B: I work as a graphic designer at a local agency. How about you?
A: That's interesting! I work in sales, but I've always been fascinated by design.


Let’s get to know each other in the comments 🙌🏼

#tt_beginner
Dative

The dative is formed by means of the suffixes -ğa, -gә, -qa, -kә, -na, -nә, -a, -ә.

🔶 -ğa/-gә is joined to stems ending in a voiced consonant or a vowel and to stems with the possessive suffixes of the 1st and 2nd persons plural:

Qazanğa - to Kazan
suğa - into the water
bülmәbezgә - into our room
yortığızga - to your house

🔸 -qa/-kә is joined to stems ending in a voiceless consonant:
atqa - to a horse
kibetkә - to a shop

🔸 -na/-nә is joined to stems with the possessive suffixes of the third person singular and plural:
dustına - to his/her friend
etenә - to his dog

🔸 -a/-ә is joined to stems with the possessive suffixes of the first and second persons in singular:
urınıma - to my place
әtiyeñә - to your dad

🔸 Words borrowed from or via Russian which end in -k or -g and require Tatar suffixes with back vowels take -qa.
katalogqa - to a catalog

🔶 The dative case indicates the indirect object:
The dative functions as the circumstantial complement of the verb, giving precision to the action in a number of ways. For example, it indicates:
· Motion in various directions:
uramğa çıqtı - he went out to the street

· Time limit:
irtәdәn kiçkә qədər - from morning till evening

· The amount of money for which something is bought or sold:
100 sumğa sattıñ - you sold for 100 rubles

· Measure and degree:
berniçә kilogramğa awırraq - heavier by several kilogram

· Purpose (with verbs denoting movement):
balıqqa barabız - we’re going fishing