Unit 6 : How to Talk about your student life : “School Life”

1. Numerals : Cardinal & Ordinals

Numbers from 1 to 12. The first syllable is always stressed, and when you write “eleven” or “twelve” for instance, you just have to compose “ten + one” or “ten + two”. And, you do not need to add the plural form to the noun once you already have added a cardinal right before, examples : ikki qelem, on ikki oqughuchi.

  1. Bir
  2. Ikki
  3. Üch
  4. Töt
  5. Besh
  6. Alte
  7. Yette
  8. Sekkiz
  9. Toqquz
  10. On
  11. On Bir
  12. On ikki …
  • 1st = birinci
  • 2nd = ikkinchi
  • 3rd = üchinchi
  • 4th = tötinchi
  • 5th = beshinchi
  • 6th = altinchi
  • 7th = yettinchi
  • 8th = sekkizinchi
  • 9th = toqquzinchi
  • 10th = oninchi
  • 11th = on birinchi …
  • 20th = yigirminchi
  • 30th = ottuzinchi
  • 40th = qiriqinchi
  • 50th = ellikinchi
  • 60th = atmishinchi
  • 70th = yetmishinchi
  • 80th = sekseninchi
  • 90th = toqsaninchi
  • 99th = toqsan toqquzinchi
  • 100th = yüzinchi …

2. Temporal expressions : telling the time : saet

The word saet comes from Arabic, and it means “time”, “o’clock”, and “watch”, depending on the context. It is often literally formulated as “time how much became?”. See the example :

– Saet qanche boldi ? / Saet sekkiz boldi = What is the time? or What time is it? / It is 8 o’clock

When you want to state the hour, when something happens or happened, you just need to proceed like that : saet + numeral + suffix (da/ta/de/te), when “at/on” is used. Be careful about the changing vowels ! It is also common to use chüshte in order to say at noon or midnight ; and for 12 o’clock you can just say tün or even yérim keche (where the word “yérim” is often added after the noun “saet”, in order to say “half or half past…”). See the following list :

  • Saet birde = at one o’clock
  • Saet ikkide = at 2 o’clock
  • Saet üchte = at 3 o’clock
  • Saet tötte = at 4 o’clock
  • Saet beshte = at 5 o’clock
  • Saet altide = at 6 o’clock
  • Saet yettide = at 7 o’clock
  • Saet sekkizde = at 8 o’clock
  • Saet toqquzda = at 9 o’clock
  • Saet onda = at 10 o’clock
  • Saet on birde = at 11 o’clock
  • Saet on ikkide at 12 o’clock
  • Saet besh yérim(da) = at five-thirty / half past five
  • Saet toqquz yérim(da) = at nin-thirty / half past nine

2.2 Time duration : the gerund giche for “until/as far as/up to”

In order to express temporal distance, you can  start up with the numeral (A) and add the ablative +din, and continue by adding the end of the time span (second numeral, as B) with the gerund +giche (/ghice/qiche/kiche).  So there you have : A + DIN followed by B + GICHE

  • Saet sekkizdin on ikkigiche sinipta oquymen = I study in the classroom from 8 to 12.
  • On ikki yérimgiche yeyimen = I typically eat (by) 12.30 p.m
  • Ürümchidin Ghuljigha yette yüz kilométr (bar) = It is/there is 700 km from Ürümchi to Ghulja
  • Ürümchidin Ghuljighiche yette yüz kilométr = From Ürümchi all the way to Ghulja it is 700 km
  • Her küni töt saettin ders anglaymen = I attend lessons (for) 4 hours every day
  • Her küni ottuz minuttin yügürimen = I run (for) 30 minutes every day

I assume you have noticed that when the ablative –din is not used, it means that the gerund (giche) by itself specifies the temporal point at which an action or event ends (see “on ikki yérimgiche…”). Moreover, if you want to express yourself doing an activity in a time, beware that you need to add –din/tin to the noun saet or minut as you already saw it right there.

2.3 Days of the week :

I consider here that we can directly go to the translation and examples, easily :

  1. Heptining birinchi küni – Düshenbe ( Monday )
  2. Heptining ikkinchi küni – Seyshenbe ( Tuesday )
  3. Heptining üchinchi küni – Charshenbe ( Wednesday )
  4. Heptining tötinchi küni –  Peyshenbe ( Thursday )
  5. Heptining beshinchi küni – Jüme ( Friday )
  6. Heptining altinchi küni – Shenbe ( Saturday )
  7. Heptining yettinchi küni – Yekshenbe ( Sunday )

In order to ask it to someone, you just have to say : ” Kün’ge néme ? ” ( What day is it ? ) and reply with  ” Bügün kün’ge jüme ” or just ” jüme “. It is also useful to know how to ask in which week we are : ” Heptining qanchinchi/nechchinchi ? ” / ” Heptige qanche ? “. If someone asks you : ” Bügün kün’ge peyshenbimu ? ” you should be able to reply ” Yaq, bügün jüme “.

3. Adjectival suffix : +liq/lik, luq,lük

See the examples to have an idea about how to add the right suffix, so that you will get an inductive reasoning :

  • Etigenlik tamaq = breakfast
  • Chüshlük tamaq = lunch
  • Kechlik tamaq = dinner
  • Derslik kitab = textbook
  • Suluq shaptul = juicy peach
  • Almilik bagh = apple orchard

4. Some useful notes about language :