Kurdish grammar
Encyclopedia
Nouns
A Kurdish noun in the absolute state,i.e. without any ending of any kind, gives a generic sense of the noun. It is
also the “lexical” form of the noun, i.e. the form in which a noun is given in
a vocabulary list or dictionary. Nouns are declined in four cases: nominative
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, oblique
Oblique case
An oblique case in linguistics is a noun case of synthetic languages that is used generally when a noun is the object of a verb or a preposition...
, construct (or ezafe) and vocative
Vocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
.
| Sing. M. | Sing. F | Plur. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oblique | -î | -ê | -an |
| Construct | -ê | -a | -ên/êt |
| Vocative | -o | -ê | -no/ine |
| Indefinite | -ek- | -ek- | -anek |
| Definite | -eke- | -eke- | -ekan |
Pronouns
Kurmanji Kurdish uses two types of personal pronouns.| Number | | Singular | | Plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | | NOM. | | OBL | | NOM. | |OBL. | ||||
| normal | suffix | normal | suffix | normal | suffix | normal | suffix | |
| 1st | Ez | -(i)m | Min | -(i)t | Em | -(i)n | (ê)Me | -man/(i)n |
| 2nd | Tu | -î | Te | (i)t/u | Hun | (i)n | (ê)We | |
| 3rd | Ew | -e | Wê (FEM.) Wî (MASC.) |
î/y | Ew | (i)n | (e)Wan | -yan |
The ez forms (NOM.) are used as subjects in the present and future tenses. They are also used as subjects in past tenses when the verb is an intransitive one. They are used as objects in past tenses when employed with a transitive verb.
The min forms (OBL.) are used with any proposition or postposition. They are also employed as objects in present and future tenses, but as subjects of the transitive verbs in past tenses.
Kurmanji has lost the suffixes for OBL pronouns, whereas Sorani has lost nominative normal pronouns.
Demonstrative
Demonstrative pronouns when followed by postpositions (attached to the nouns) become demonstrative adjectives.| Case | | NOM. SING. | | NOM. PLUR. | | OBL. SING. | | OBL. PLUR. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Distance | MASC. | FEM. | |||
| near | ev ... (e) | ev ... ane | vî ... î | vê ... ê | van ... an(-e) |
| far | ew ... (e) | ew ... ane | wî ... î | wê ... ê | wan ... an(-e) |
| too far | how ... e | how ... ane | how ... e | how ... e | how ... ane |
As demonstrative adjectives, Sorani Kurdish does not use OBL forms (though for demonstrative pronouns it does use OBL. plural forms); neither Kurmanji uses nominative plural forms.
Pre- and postpositions
The table shows some prepositions.| Preposition | postposition | absolute form | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Li/Le | da/de & ra/re & (e)we/ve | lê | at, of, from |
| Ji | ra/re | jê | from |
| bo /jibo | for | ||
| -e | |||
| to, towards | |||
| Di/de | da/de | tê da/de | in |
| be/bi | pê | to, by | |
| be/bi | (e)we/ve | pê we | with |
Present and future
Present and future tenses for the verb zanîn ( to know).| Person | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenses | | Intransitive & transitive | |||
| Present | dizanim | dizanî | dizane | dizanin |
| Subjunctive present | bizanim | bizanî | bizane | bizanin |
| Future | -ê bizanim | -ê bizanî | -ê bizane | -ê bizanin |
| | Intransitive past | ||||
| Simple past | hatim | hatî | hat | hatin |
| Imperfective preterite | dihatim | dihatî | dihat | dihatin |
| Perfect | hatîme | hatîye | hatîye | hatîne |
| Plusperfect | hatibûm | hatibûy(î) | hatibû | hatibûn |
| Subjunctive preterite | hatibim | hatibî | hatibe | hatibin |
| Past Conditional | hatibam(a) | hatibay(î) | hatiban(a) | hatiban(a) |
Past tenses for intransitive verb of hatin (to come).
If a transitive verb accepts a nominative personal suffix, it agrees with the object of the sentence.
Transitive verbs in Sorani when not used in sentences accept OBL. personal suffixes (in contrast to intransitive verbs which always accept NOM. personal suffixes).