The Talking Uzbek 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 Uzbek translation. Uzbek is currently transitioning from the Cyrillic script to Latin. While Cyrillic is common in Uzbekistan, Latin is the official script.

In the center column for each row is a play button. The recorded file will feature first English, then the Uzbek 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. (Except in “Counting,” whose audio files have been grouped into three sets.)

Interested in learning more about Uzbek culture? Access our full Uzbek archives here.

Interesting Facts about Uzbek

1. There is no grammatical gender in Uzbek. The adjective “u” can fill in for “he,” “she,” and “it.”
2. Uzbek has six noun cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, and ablative. Ablative is most common in Turkic and Turkic-influenced languages and most commonly denotes movement away from something else.
3. Uzbek, like many Turkic languages, use subject-object-verb order. If English used this same rule, you would need to say, for example, “I Uzbek learn.”
4. Uzbek can use complex suffix strings for example, the word “kel­d­i­mizmi” is effectively a full sentence meaning “Have we arrived.” “Kel” is the root while “di” indicates past tense, “miz” applies it to “we,” and “mi” indicates that a question is being communicated.
5. Uzbek uses postpostions rather than prepositions. If English used these, you would need to say, for example, “I live America in.”
6. Because the Persian Empire once ruled much of Central Asia, Uzbek has strong Persian influences. However, it still shares a relatively high degree of mutual intelligibility with many other Turkic languages such as Turkmen and Kazakh.
7. Uzbekistan is by far Central Asia’s most populous country, with about 35 million people and growing. There are also large populations of ethnic Uzbeks outside of Uzbekistan. The vast majority of these people are native Uzbek speakers. Altogether, there are about 44 million people who speak Uzbek as a first language worldwide.
8. In part because Uzbekistan was once part of larger empires spreading to the south, including the Iran-based Persian, the India-centered Mughal, and the home-grown Timurid Empires, there are still about 4.5 million Uzbek speakers in northern Afghanistan, where it is an official language, about 300,000 in Pakistan, and about one million in western Kyrgyzstan, concentrated around the city of Osh.
9. Uzbekistan was once part of the Russian empire and the USSR and retains strong commercial and diplomatic ties with Russia. Most Uzbeks can speak Russian and Russian is a mandatory subject in public schools. As of 2021, there were about 5 million ethnic Uzbeks working as guest laborers in Russia.

Survival Basics for Uzbek

back to top

Introductions in Uzbek

back to top

*Note that the same form is used for both sexes.

Asking Directions

back to top

More About the Uzbek

back to top

Lagman: The Noodles of the Silk Road

Posted: October 11, 2023

Lagman is a dish that is very common in Central Asia, China, and many Middle Eastern countries. It can also be found in Russia and the Caucasus and is a popular dish among the Crimean Tatars. The basic recipe, which combines noodles with meat, has hundreds of variations. In Uzbekistan, the dish tends be a […]

Uzbek Holidays 2024: A Complete Guide

Posted: December 26, 2023

Most of Uzbekistan’s holidays are recognizable from the old Soviet calendar, although they have been moved, refocused, and/or renamed to now celebrate Uzbekistan’s independent, post-1991 history and culture rather than that of the USSR. The major exceptions to this are two major Islamic holidays and the ancient Persian New Year celebrations that have now been […]

OIMO Festival in Bishkek

Posted: August 4, 2014

International ОIМО Festival/Международный фестиваль ОЙМО Ala-Too Square, Bishkek/Ала-тоо пл., Бишкек July 25-27 The 9th Annual International OIMO Festival was held this past weekend in Bishkek. The festival is a celebration of regional cultures with national foods, music concerts, film screenings, fashion shows, and most notably a large handicraft fair. Artists, vendors, and presenters hail from […]

More Phrasebooks

back to top

The Talking Azerbaijani Phrasebook

Posted: September 29, 2024

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 Azerbaijani translation. In the center column […]

0 comments

The Talking Kazakh (Qazaq) Phrasebook

Posted: June 19, 2024

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 Kazakh translation. In the center column […]

0 comments

The Talking Latvian Phrasebook

Posted: June 6, 2024

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 […]

0 comments

Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin