Kurdish Discussion Group

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kızılkara
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Kurdish Discussion Group

Postby kızılkara » 2005-06-23, 2:46

this is our very first Kurdish lesson..
i am not a native kurdish speaker, even i cant speak except for some words.. because of these reasons, please dont believe in my every words before checking them :-)

my sources are "Dersên Zmanê Kurdî", written by Baran (Kemal Burkay) and An Introductory Course on Kurdish Language [Kurmanji dialect] (Kurdish-English) by F. R. Akrawy, Burhan Dinler.. for the first one, there is no copyright problem but i havent reached the owners of the second one..

There are 31 letters in Kurdish alphabet: 8 vowels and 23 consonants.
a b c ç d e ê f g h i î j k l m n o p q r s ş t u û v w x y z

The vowels are: a e ê i î o u û

a--- ('a' in 'bar', 'father') av: water
b--- ('b' in 'bar') bira : brother
c--- ('j' in 'joy') ciwan : young man
ç --- ('ch' in 'cheese') çar : four
d--- a) (door ) dar : wood
---- b) (dawn) dhol : dram
---- c) ('ti' in English) Ez di xoum : I eat
e--- ('a' in 'act') ez : I
ê--- ('ai' in 'fair') mêrik : man
f--- ('f' in English) fire : wide
g--- (game) ga : bo
h--- (house) heft : seven
i --- ('e' in 'ben') bira : brother
î --- ('ee' in 'keep') îro : today
j--- ('s' in 'pleasure') jin : woman
k--- ('k' in 'kodak') kevir : stone
l--- (bell) l~e : but
m--- (month) merd : brave
n--- (nine) nan : bread
o--- (kodak) roj : day
p--- (poor) par : last year
q--- (quit) qirin : yel
r--- (rise) roj : day
s--- (seven) seri : head
ş --- ('sh' in 'shell') şev : night
t--- (tea) tu : you
u--- (shut) du : two
û --- ('u' in French) dûr : far
v--- (vote) vIr : hear
w--- (wind) welat : country
x--- ('ch' in German and Scottish) xal : uncle
y--- (year) yar : friend, lover
z--- (zero) zar: child

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Postby SamuraiMaster » 2005-09-13, 18:52

I have worked with these lessons before and found them quite lacking. I could provide better lessons from a book I have. I'm not a native speaker my self, but I'm willing to help!

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Postby SamuraiMaster » 2005-09-26, 20:49

Kurdish lessons will be put on wiki by me. I don't know the schedule I'll utilize, because I'll be learning the language as I go, but just keep checking the Kurdish link at wiki to see the lessons. And corrections are always welcome by more advanced learners or native speakers!

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Postby Irrisim » 2006-02-26, 14:18

Choní!
No kurdish lessons have been added so far on the wiki.. What happened? What dialect are you planning to post lessons for?

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Postby Stan » 2006-03-21, 20:20

Hmm...
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I'd get elected on Friday
assassinated on Saturday
buried on Sunday

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Postby SamuraiMaster » 2006-03-22, 18:59

Irrisim wrote:Choní!
No kurdish lessons have been added so far on the wiki.. What happened? What dialect are you planning to post lessons for?
Yeah, sorry about that. I haven't gotten to that yet. I've been working on the translation project for caucasian languages here at unilang lately. Don't quote me on this, but I'll try to start something by summer. If anyone else can start any lessons in the mean time go for it! Other then that all I can say is keep checking wiki or try to find some one else. Sorry . . . :(
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Postby Irrisim » 2006-03-23, 13:21

No problem. As long as you haven't forgotton about us eager learners :lol:
By the way- out of which sources are you planning on posting the lessons? And what dialect? Kurmancî or Soraní?

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Postby SamuraiMaster » 2006-04-06, 15:12

Irrisim wrote:No problem. As long as you haven't forgotton about us eager learners :lol:
By the way- out of which sources are you planning on posting the lessons? And what dialect? Kurmancî or Soraní?
As I'm sure most of us know that there is not much material in English on Kurdish. I'm using the Kurdish Basic Course to learn the language myself (even though I know it is out dated) I find the Sorani dialect a little more interesting then the Kurmanci dialect, that would be the lessons I would create (Maybe it's just my love for the Arabic script! :) ). Although I noticed that you have started lessons yourself! :wink:
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Postby SamuraiMaster » 2006-04-06, 15:17

As a side note to my last post, I'll probaby start posting lessons for the similar Iranian language of Pashto by next week on wiki. I'll start the Kurdish lessons some time in May I think. Again, don't quote me on this! :?
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Postby kman1 » 2006-05-14, 10:26

Ok I think I understand Kurdish a bit better after reading some of the posts here. So if I want to learn Kurdish using the Arabic script then I should learn Sorani not Kurmanci since Sorani is the main dialect used in Iraq, correct? Then Sorani is the one I'll learn.

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Postby Irrisim » 2006-05-14, 10:46

kman1 wrote:Ok I think I understand Kurdish a bit better after reading some of the posts here. So if I want to learn Kurdish using the Arabic script then I should learn Sorani not Kurmanci since Sorani is the main dialect used in Iraq, correct? Then Sorani is the one I'll learn.

No. It is not.
Kurmancî is the main dialect used in Iraq, Soraní is not taught in schools, and it is only spoken by the Yezidi, Talabani and some Southern Kurds.
Kurmancî is, and has always been the biggest and main dialect in all of the Kurdish region, Kurdistan.
Anyhow, the Kurdish region - Kurdistan, is not to be confused with the province of Kurdistan (Kordestan) which is located in Iran, and officially recognised by the Iranian government.
The main language of Kordestan is Soraní Kurdish. So, it all depends on who you wanna communicate with.
I'm moving to Kordestan in a copule of years for study at the uni there.
Kurmancî is spoken by most Kurds, but Soraní is second largest.
I'd suggest you learn both, Kurmancî first, because all Soraní speaking adults speak Kurmancî as well, as does some Kurmancî speakers speak Soraní.

Bi xêr hatin kman1 8)

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Postby nettchelobek1 » 2006-05-30, 23:38

which are the main differences between Kurdish and Standard Arabic? :o
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Postby ego » 2006-05-30, 23:50

Kurdish is an Indoeuropean language similar to Persian, it has nothing to do with Arabic, except for vocabulary loans etc

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Postby nettchelobek1 » 2006-05-30, 23:54

how many cases does it have?
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Postby Sisyphe » 2006-05-31, 3:27

nettchelobek1 wrote:how many cases does it have?

Unfortunately, Kurdish didn't lose its case system distinctions like Persian did:( ...but the Kurdish case system is still a lot easier than other Middle Eastern languages like Turkish, Azeri or Arabic :D :shock: . Kurdish has 3 cases: nominative, indirect and vocative.
Before you ask the question, it has 6 verb tenses: present, future, past, past prolonged, perfect and pluperfect.
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Postby nettchelobek1 » 2006-05-31, 5:09

Do you know any page where I can learn the basics and/or pronunciation?
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Postby Irrisim » 2006-05-31, 11:57

Yeah - I have lessons for two dialects on this forum. :roll:

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Kurdish case

Postby 0stsee » 2007-09-05, 2:40

Sisyphe wrote:
nettchelobek1 wrote:how many cases does it have?

Unfortunately, Kurdish didn't lose its case system distinctions like Persian did:( ...but the Kurdish case system is still a lot easier than other Middle Eastern languages like Turkish, Azeri or Arabic :D :shock: . Kurdish has 3 cases: nominative, indirect and vocative.
Before you ask the question, it has 6 verb tenses: present, future, past, past prolonged, perfect and pluperfect.


I read that some Kurdish dialects don't have no cases at all, whereas others have a complicated system.
Some don't have no gender distinction, others have.

This is much more confusing than Norwegian. How are they supposed to communicate with each other?? :?
Ini tandatanganku.

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Postby Sisyphe » 2007-09-05, 2:49

I've become aware of that since then as well - if my recollections are correct, the most common dialect, Kormenji, has both cases and grammatical gender, while Sorani lacks both features. There are other less-commonly spoken dialects, but I know nil about them, so maybe someone else can intercede here. ;) As for mutual intellibility, it's extremely limited from what I've read - I think it was in my Méthode de Kurde Sorani that I read that Kormenji and Sorani are as closely related as English and German are. And naturally, they're definitely not readily mutually intelligible in written form. :P What a drag, eh?
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Kurdish

Postby 0stsee » 2007-09-05, 3:13

So Kurdish is rather an ethnic definition rather than a truly linguistic one. :?:
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