The Talking Kazakh (Qazaq) Phrasebook

The Talking Phrasebook Series presents useful phrases and words in side-by-side translation and with audio files specifically geared to help students work on listening skills and pronunciation. Below, you will find several useful phrases and words. To the left is the English and to the far right is the Latvian translation.

In the center column for each row is a play button. The recorded file will feature first English, then the Kazakh in three versions: one slow, one with each syllable broken out, and a last version that will be spoken as it might be overheard in a conversation between native speakers.

10 Facts About Kazakh (Qazaq)

Status: Kazakh is a Turkic language of the Kipchak family. It is closely related to, and largely mutually intelligible with, Kyrgyz. It is more distantly related to other Turkic languages spread from Turkey to the far reaches of Siberia.

Kazakh and Qazaq: Kazakh was originally written in Arabic script. The Russians changed that to Cyrillic. Independent Kazakhstan decreed in 2017 that it would switch to a Latin-based alphabet that would, for the first time, be designed to hold truer to the language’s original Turkic roots. By this newly derived alphabet, “Kazakh” (derived via Russian) should now be written in English  as “Qazaq” (derived directly from Kazakh). However, the decree has seen very slow implementation. Even Kazakhstan’s official government sites still write “Kazakhstan” rather than “Qazaqstan” and write their Kazakh-language versions in the older Cyrillic alphabet. In fact, most of the country still uses Cyrilic, although the new alphabet is now slowly being adopted by some schools. The spelling “Qazaq” has been adopted mostly by companies, movements, and individuals seeking to mark themselves as modern and/or progressive – for instance: Qazaq.ai, Qazaq Green Fest, and the youth-focused Qazaq Culture Project. As “Kazakh” remains the most widespread and official version of the name, this page and this site continue to use it as standard. Eventually, the country may fully convert to the new spelling and alphabet, but the change will likely take place over many more years.

Speakers: Today, Kazakh has an estimated 17 million speakers. About 14 million of those live in Kazakhstan, where ethnic Kazakhs make up about 71% of the population. The largest Kazakh diasporas currently live in China (1.6 million), Uzbekistan (821,000) Russia (591,000) and Mongolia (121,000). Smaller but significant populations live in Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, the US, and Iran.

Bilingualism: Many Kazakhs are bilingual. Despite Russians making up only about 15% of the population, half of Kazakh schools offer instruction either fully or partly in Russian. Nearly all Kazakh public schools teach Russian, Kazakh, and English and most educated Kazakhs can speak at least two languages; most commonly, these are Kazakh and Russian although English is gaining in popularity while Russian is falling.

Foreign Influence: Kazakh had been heavily influenced, especially in vocabulary, by Arabic, Persian, Mongolian, and Russian. Many words related to religion and ethics have predictably come from Arabic: адал (honest); ақиқат (truth); сабыр (patience). Persian has supplied many related to trade and governance: сауда (commerce); қала (city); пошта (postal service). Russian has also had heavy influence. However, since independence, there has been an active, state-supported movement to replace Russian words with native Kazakh words.

Complex cases: Like most Turkic languages, Kazakh has a complex system of cases. Kazakh specifically has seven: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, ablative, and instrumental.

Gender: Kazakh has no grammatical gender. The Kazakh pronoun “oл” can mean “he,” “she,” or “it.”

Multiple Negatives: In Kazakh, a sentence can be made negative using one of three participles: емес, жоқ, or болмайды, which all function much as the English “not.” For example, бұл кітап (this is a book) and бұл кітап емес (This is not a book). However, when negating a verb, it is most common to use an additional suffix in the verb conjugation. For example, in the sentence “түсінемін” (I understand), “түсіну” means “to understand” and the suffix “-мін” indicates the first person singular. To negate the sentence, we add another suffix before –мін. “Түсінбеймін” means “I don’t understand” with the additional suffix “-бей” meaning “not.” Other negation suffixes include –ма, –ме, –ба, –бе, –па, –пе, used based on the verb’s ending.

Respectful Pronouns: Kazakh has eight personal pronouns – including four versions of “you,” to be used based on formality and number. There are informal “you” pronouns: сен (singular) and сендер (plural). There are also formal “you” pronouns: сіз (singular) and сіздер (plural). Each of these have their own conjugative forms for related verbs as well.

Dialects: Kazakh differs slightly based on where it is spoken. These differences are mostly confined to pronunciation and vocabulary and are attributed to varying influences from other languages and cultures. For instance, in northern Kazakhstan, which borders Russia and where many of Kazakhstan’s Russian population is concentrated, more Russian influence remains. In the south, meanwhile, more influence from other Turkic languages such as Uzbek, Naimen, and Uyghur can be discerned.

Unique Characters and Sounds in Kazakh

Kazakh pronunciation can be difficult for English speakers. Although its new Latin alphabet may make it look quite approachable, many of the letters adopted will make unexpected sounds for English speakers. There are also subtleties to the pronunciation that are challenging for English speakers to copy as we do have the same subtleties in our own language.

The “Q” in the word “Qazaq,” (denoted by the accented “Қ” in Cyrillic) is a good example. It makes the “q” sound as in “quack,” but without the “u” sound that always follows in English. The jaw is kept mostly closed rather than partly open, the throat is initially tight, and more of the sound is made at the back of the throat. This gives the letter an additional explosive and almost fricative sound that is not otherwise found in the English or Russian “k” sounds.

“Ğ” in Kazakh is similar (written as “Ғ” in Cyrillic). It is often described as like the “g” in “ing” – but it must be pronounced without any hint of the “i” or the “n” in front. It is a hard “g” sound, made with the tongue moving back. Here too, more sound is made at the back of the throat and with a distinct fricative element not found in English. It can perhaps be understood as something between the Russian “г” and “х”.

“Ö” is another surprise. It sounds something like “woeh” – almost like the sound English speakers say when they pronounce the sound of “w,” but with the tongue sliding backward and more of the sound produced, again, in the throat.

“Ì,” topped with an accent mark, not a dot, is a short “i” sound like that found in the word “illness” – but pronounced from deeper in the throat in Kazakh.

“J” might also be a surprise, as it’s pronounced the same as the Russian “ж” – or “zh.” Much like the English letter, but with the first “d” sound dropped.

“Ç” and “Ş” are easier. Both are the equivalents of adding an “h” to their closest English-language equivalents. So, they make the “ch” and “sh” sounds, respectively.

“Ñ” should be familiar if you’ve studied Spanish – it makes the same “ny” sound found in “mañana.”

These are just a few of the special characters and sounds that you will encounter in Kazakh. In general, keep in mind that this language harnesses much more of the language potential of the throat than an English speaker might be used to.

Survival Basics

Introductions in Kazakh

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Asking Directions

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Shopping

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Counting

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