#tt_advanced
I was just learning imperfect...
Today we're learning about the continuous past or imperfect. All linguistic terms aside, it is not as complicated as the name sounds. Let's first learn how to form it and then I will explain the use with some examples.

🕔 Present tense stem + idem, ideñ, etc:

min bara idem – i was going
sin bara ideñ – you were going
ul bara ide – he/she was going
bez bara idek – we were going
sez bara idegez – you were going
alar bara ide(lәr) – they were going

min kitә idem – i was leaving
sin kitә ideñ – you were leaving
ul kitә ide – he/she was leaving
bez kitә idek – we were leaving
sez kitә idegez – you were leaving
alar kitә ide(lәr) – they were leaving

min cırlıy idem – i was singing
sin cırlıy ideñ – you were singing
ul cırlıy ide – he/she was singing
bez cırlıy idek – we were singing
sez cırlıy idegez – you were singing
alar cırlıy ide(lәr) – they were singing

min biyi idem – i was dancing
sin biyi ideñ – you were dancing
ul biyi ide – he/she was dancing
bez biyi idek – we were dancing
sez biyi idegez – you were dancing
alar biyi ide(lәr) – they were dancing

🕔 The negative form affects only the first verb:
min cırlamıy idem / biyemi idem


🕔 So when is imperfect used?

⏳ This verb form mostly indicates an action taking place when a second action occurs:

Min aşxanәgә kerep barğanda, ul çığıp kilә ide.
When I was about to enter the restaurant, she was leaving.


⏳ It may indicate an action occurring at the moment of speaking:

Xәzer Ğabbasım, xәzer. Çığıp bara idem.
Just a moment, my Ghabbas, just a moment. I was just leaving.


⏳ It can also indicate an action performed more or less regularly, habitually, or a permanent quality of the subject:

Ul üzenә keşe kilgәnne bik yarata ide, axrısı, çönki bülmәsenә keşe küp kilә ide.
He apparently enjoyed people visiting him very much, for a lot of people used to come into his room.

Ul hәrwaqıt yәşlәr icatı belәn qızıqsına ide, yәşlәrgә ışana ide.
He was always interested in the creative work of the young, he believed in young people.


⏳ Imperfect may also serve as a background for the development of other events:

Uramda qar yawa ide. Aq uramnan qara kiyemle keşelәr aşığa-aşığa baralar ide. “Sufiyәga bu xәbәrne niçek әytergә?” – dip uyladı. Ul bit inde zur ömetlәr belәn kötә.
It was snowing outside. People dressed in black clothes were hurrying along the white street. ‘How do I tell Sufia this news?’ he thought. After all, she is waiting with great hopes.

🕔 There are also other cases, in which the continuous past is used, but these are the main ones. Hope this was helpful! If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below.
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Based on "Tatar Grammar. A Grammar of the Contemporary Tatar Literary Language" by Gustav Burbiel
All examples are taken from Tatar literature:
Әmirxan Yeniki, "Yörәk sere"
Ayaz Ğilәcev, "Bez unike qız idek"
Zәkiyә Rәsuleva, "Tuqay ezlәrennәn", M. Maqsud, "Ğ. İbrahimov turında istәleklәr"
İbrahim Ğazi, "Ğәyepsez ğәyeplelәr"

#tt_advanced
One of Tatar folk art's most ancient examples is about two twins. They were cursed, turned into fantastic birds, and doomed to eternal separation. Here is the text in the original with the translation of key phrases.

The text, the picture, and the audio are taken from Əydə Online. Compared with my usual posts, my job with this one was solely transliterating and translating the key phrases into English. It would offer those who already know Tatar well a reading practice in Latin script.

Please let me know in the comments, if you are interested in such a format, as I wasn't sure if this would be helpful for anyone.

https://telegra.ph/Saq-soq-b%C9%99yete-08-27

#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_newbie #tt_beginner #tt_intermediate #tt_advanced

Spelling rules – based partially on Neo-alif by @bababashqort and partially on the Zamanalif.

In our first post we introduced post, we introduced you to the Tatar alphabet. The Latin-based alphabet represents all the sounds that the Cyrillic-based one doesn’t. You can listen to each sound in that previous post and then come back to get acquainted with the rules for the correct spelling.

1️⃣ The Cyrillic "ц" is transliterated as “ts”:
цунами → tsunami

"Сц" is transliterated just as “s” in the Latin spelling, “це” and “це” as “se” and “si” respectively in loanwords:
сценарий → senariy
цент → sent
цивилизация → sivilizasiya

2️⃣ Letters “я, е, ю” at the beginning of a syllable are transliterated as "ya, yı, yu" if the syllable has a back vowel (ел → yıl), and as "yə, ye, yü" if the syllable has a front vowel (егерме → yegerme).

3️⃣ “W” is written instead of the Cyrillic “в” and “y” as a semivowel at the end of the words:
авыл → awıl
тау → taw
сөйләү → söyləw
сайлау → saylaw

✔️ In Tatar, a vowel can not be followed by another vowel, except in the newest loanwords with the original spelling.

4️⃣ When the letter “u” or “ü” is followed by a vowel, a “w” is put between the vowels:
алуы → aluwı
уу → uwu
китүе → kitüwe
көлүе → kölüwe

✔️ Exception: the imperative verb “у” (to scrub) is written as “uw”, not “u”

5️⃣ Syllables "ка, га, ко, го, кый, гый, кы, гы, ку, гу" are spelled as "qa, ğa, qo, ğo, qıy, ğıy, qı, ğı, qu, ğu" if there are back vowels in the word:

бака → baqa
кояш → qoyaş
бакый → baqıy
гына → ğına
агу → ağu

6️⃣ If the word has front vowels (in the Arabic and Persian loanwords), these syllables are spelled "qə, ğə, qö, ğö, qi, ği, qe, ğe, qü, ğü":

гомер → ğömer
кагыйдә → qəğidə
кыйммәт → qimmət
шөгыль → şöğel
куәт → qüwət

7️⃣ If at the end of a word with front vowels there is a "къ" or "гъ", "къ" transliterates as "q" and "гъ" as "ğ".
нәкъ → nəq

8️⃣ "Ь" is not transliterated in any way.

9️⃣ The apostrophe ( ' ) indicates the glottal stop in certain loanwords, such as “Qör'ən”, “tə'sir” or “ma'may”

✔️ If no available fonts support the letter “Əə”, it can be replaced by “Ää”

✔️ The dot is used to indicate ordinal numbers:
20. bittə – on page 20
8. bülektə – in section 8

✔️ The following type of quotation marks is used: “ ”.

#tt_advanced
Bashkortostan Tatar dialects

The Republic of Bashkortostan is the homeland of more than a million Tatars. This makes up a fourth of the republic's population.

Numerous studies by both pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary scientists, the results of the “Atlas of Tatar Folk Dialects” (Kazan, 2015), and research using the method of language geography, showed that the following Tatar dialects are widespread in Bashkortostan, related to the two main dialects of the Tatar language: Bələbəy, Central, Yañawıl sub-dialects of the Minzələ dialect, Baqalı subdialect of the Tübən Kama-Kerəşen dialect, Böre, Zlatoust, Qormantaw, Tipkəy, Turbaslı, Uçalı dialects of the middle dialect and Bayqıbaş, Sterlitamak dialects of the Western (Mişər) dialect.

All this variety of dialects and subdialects means that there are a lot of different regional words and grammatical constructions used in different parts of Bashkortostan, but I have tried to sum them up into this list of curious features used in most of them.

💙 Phonetically, the following features are common to all considered dialects of the studied area:

🗣️ [u], [ü] > [о], [ö] or [ı], [е]:
topsa (lit. tupsa) – threshold
közətü (lit. küzətü) – to watch, to track
namıs (lit. namus) – honor, conscience

🗣️ [ı], [o], [u] > [i] before [y]:
biyaq (lit. bu yaq) – this side
biyil (lit. bıyıl) – this year
biyaw (lit. buyaw) – paint

🗣️ Instead of [ı] or [i], the use of diphthongs [ay]/[əy]:
anday (lit. andıy) – such, like that
pesəy (lit. pesi) – cat

🗣️ [c] > [y]: yılı (lit. cılı) – warm

🗣️ Skipping [h] at the beginning of a word:
awa (lit. hawa) – air, weather
önər (lit. hönər) – profession

🤍 Grammatical features:

📝 Affix -qay / -kəy has a very broad use and meaning:
• diminutive: bozawqay – baby calf

• no diminutive meaning:
nərsəkəy / nəstəkəy, nəməkəy – what
xəterkəy – memory

• expressing being unsure: ber xatınqay – some woman

• expressing similarity: ataqay balası – dad’s child, child similar to his or her dad

• word formation: səpəkəy / çəbəkəy itü (lit. qul çabu) – to apploud
sulaqay (lit. sulağay) – left-handed
sənsəkəy barmaq (lit. çənti barmaq) – little finger

📝 Using nominative (baş kileş) instead of dative (yünəleş):
Ufa kitkən (lit. Ufağa kitkən) – went to Ufa

📝 Using miñə / siñə (lit. miña / siña) or in some dialects miyə / siyə.

📝 Using collective numerals instead of cardinal ones when attaching possessive affixes:
berəwse (lit. berse) – one of them, ikəwse (lit. ikese) – two of them
Berəwse qaytmasa da qıyın – It is hard even if one of them doesn’t come back

📝 Using anaw(ı) instead of the literary ənə ul (that one), manaw(ı) instead of menə ul (this one)

📝 In the present tense of the indicative mood, the affix -ıy/-i of the literary language corresponds to -ay/-əy:
qaray (lit. qarıy) – looks
söyləy (lit. söyli) – tells
tuqtamay (lit. tuqtamıy) – doesn’t stop
eşləməy (lit. eşləmi) – doesn’t work
kilməyem (lit. kilmim) – I don’t come

📝 More frequent use of -ıñqıra/-eñkerə, meaning an incomplete, repeating or an intensified action, than in the literary language:
qoymaq açıñqırağan – pancake dough turned sour

📝 Using -sığız/-segez instead of the literary -sız/-sez:
barasığız (lit. barasız) – you go

📝 Adding plural suffixes to nominal predicates:
Üzləre qaydalar (lit. qayda) ikən? – Where are they (themselves)?
Alar sezdələrme (lit. sezdəme)? – Are they at your place?

📝 Deviations in the use of voices:
uquwın bette (lit. beterde) – finished studying
yazışıp (lit. yazıp) utıram – I’m doing some writing

#tt_advanced
Aq yılan

Read the tale

#tt_advanced
Maturlıq

We're continuing reading the classics of Tatar literature. Here is a (slightly) shortened version of a beautiful and touching story written by Əmirxan Yeniki in 1964. Hope you enjoy reading it and learn some new vocabulary I have highlighted for you! 🌸

#tt_advanced
Tatarça sləñ

Wassup everyone, today we have an unusual lesson for you. We’re going to learn some Tatar slang to talk like cool kids do.

əstəğı – jeez, OMG
kəttə – cool
ut (lit. fire) – lit, cool
menə siña mə – wow, dang
çistıy (tuydım, arıdım, etc.) – syn. inde, intensifier word (e.g. fed up, sick of sth., etc.)

tintək – dummy, fool
çuqınçıq – rascal, damn boy/girl

sızu – to run off
mançu (lit. to dip) – to punch, to smash
çəlderü – to steal
salu (lit. to pour) – to drink (alcohol)
sıpırıp quyu – to shovel up (food), to clean the plate
tıqşınu – to stick one’s nose (into sth.)
taqıldaw – to chatter
cenlənü – to get pissed, mad
şıttırma – stop lying, quit with the nonsense
başnı qatırma – stop bothering me

arba – car
səpit – bike
matay – motorcycle

According to statistics, Tatar youth use modern Tatar literary language (63%), dialectal vocabulary (12%), slang and jargon (15%), and colloquial expressions (10%).
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Z. Gilfanova, Expressing Emotions with Colloquial Words in Conversational Tatar Language, 2021

#tt_advanced
Mişər dialect

Today, let's dispel the misconception that the Mişər dialect of Tatar is a "corrupted" version of the language. Contrary to the belief that it branched off from the Kazan dialect, Mişər and Kazan dialects originated independently. Linguists classify Mişər as a distinct dialect with unique phonological and morphological features, influenced by ancient Kipchak tribes, Oghuz, and Finno-Ugric elements. Despite globalization and the Kazan dialect influence, significant linguistic differences persist, challenging the idea of complete assimilation. Instead of seeing linguistic diversity as division, we should seek unity through appreciation, understanding that true unity lies in embracing and respecting linguistic richness.

❓So, what is the Mişər dialect?
Also called the Western Dialect, the Mişər dialect may be divided into the following groups:

Ç-dialects (Southern or Ləmbrə Mişər): ç is pronounced [tɕ]
Include Temnikov, Ləmbrə, Kuznetsk, Bashkortostan and other sub-dialects.

Ts-dialects (Northern or Nijgar Mişər): ç is pronounced [ts]
Include Sergaç, Çüprəle and Bayqıbaş sub-dialects.

Mixed dialects: Çistay sub-dialect and others

The great majority of the Mişərs live outside of Tatarstan, in the Mordvinian, Chuvash, and Bashkort republics, in the oblasts of Penza, Saratov, Volgograd, Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Sterlitamak, and Orenburg. A comparatively small number of Mişərs can be found in Tatarstan. For example, in and around Çistay, Alekseevsk, Aqsubay and Çirmeşən districts.

🎧 Phonetics

A number of common features are characteristic to all Mişər dialects. In phonetics, these include:

🗣 Unrounded [a]

🗣 [y] instead of [ʉ] from Tatar literary language

🗣 In some subdialects, the unrounded [e̞] instead of [ɘ]
e.g., set (lit. söt) – milk

🗣 ı [ə] instead of the rounded o [ʊ]
e.g., ın (lit. on) – flour

🗣 Monophthongization of diphthongs:
kü (lit. köy) – melody
bələ (lit. bəylə) – tie
kurik (lit. qoyrıq) – tail

🗣 Use of velar k, g instead of uvular q, ğ of the central dialect and Tatar literary language

🗣 Using [j] instead of [ʒ] at the beginning of a word:
yəy (lit. cəy) – summer
yiñ (lit. ciñ) – sleeve

🗣 In the Ç-dialects, the use of [tɕ] instead of [ɕ]:
pıtçak (lit. pıçaq) – knife

[ʤ] instead of [ʒ]:
endce (lit. ence) – pearl

🗣 In the Ts-dialects, the use of [ts] instead of [ɕ]:
pıtsak (lit. pıçaq) – knife
[dz] instead of [ʒ]:
endze (lit. ence) – pearl

🗣 [v] instead of [j] in cases like:
sevü (lit. söyü) – to love
sevək (lit. söyək) – bone

#tt_advanced
Fikerlәw həm fəlsəfə

💭 Mantıyq — döres fikerləw turında fən. Ul tormışnıñ törle konseptların añlatuğa rasional qaraşnı tә’min itə torğan tanıp belü qoralı.

mantıyq – logic
fikerləw – thinking, reasoning
qaraş – position, point of view
tanıp belü – cognition

Mantıyq farazlarnı isbatlar yəisə kire qağır öçen dəlillər, analiz həm çağıştıru qullana həm dönyanı idarə itüçe üzara bəyleleklərne añlarğa yərdəm itə.

faraz – presumption
isbatlaw – to prove
kire qağu – to disprove, to deny
dəlil – evidence
analiz – analysis
çağıştıru – comparison
üzara bəylelek – correlation

🤗 Temağa kübrək faydalı leksika:

sıltaw, səbəp – excuse, reason
raslaw – confirmation
yomğaq – conclusion
nəticə – consequence, result

çınbarlıq – reality
añ, xuş, zihen – mind, conscience
toyğı, xis – feeling, sense
(añğa) qabul itu, (añğa) alu – to perceive

ışanıçlı – reliable
çığanaq – source
tənqit – criticism
ğəyepləw – to judge

bilgeləmə – definition
qarşı kilü – to object, objection
xuplaw – to approve, approval
artıq yuğarı isəpləw – to overestimate, overestimation
artıq tübən isəpləw – to underestimate, underestimation

❓Ə sez ğədəttə mantıyq yəisə intuisiyә/xislər nigezendə nəticələr yasıysızmı? Üzegezne tiz ışanuçan keşe dip sanıysızmı? Sezneñçə xalıq arasında tənqitle fikerləwne arttırır öçen nindi ısullar bar?

#tt_advanced
Kəcül çitek

After a little break I’m bringing you a short story by Ğayaz İsxaqi. It’s a 15-20 minute read, so it won’t take you long to finish it and let me know your thoughts!

How do you feel about the characters and their actions? Do you recognize some of the phrases or actions as familiar, maybe from your personal experience growing up? 🤔

#tt_advanced
Historical names for months and days of the week

Turkic peoples in the Volga-Ural-Siberian regions used the ancient Egyptian solar cycle, and used to calculate the years based on the periodicity relative to the movement of the sun in order to perform cattle breeding, farming and other household activities. More on that in the upcoming #tt_culture post.

🗓 Ay isemnəre:

Yañarış ayı – March
Saban ayı – April
Çereşmə ayı – May
Peçən ayı – June
Uraq ayı – July
Indır ayı – August
Bilek ayı – September
Qaraköz ayı – October
Kerəw ayı – November
Qırlaç – December
Aqman – January
Buşay – February

🗓 Atna könnəre:

Tuğan – Monday
Atlağan – Tuesday
Qankön – Wednesday
Atnakiç – Thursday
Comğa – Friday
Atnartı – Saturday
Bazar – Sunday