Basic Kurmanji Vocabulary to Know

Kurmanji, also called Northern Kurdish, is spoken by tens of millions of people across south-eastern Turkey, northern Syria, northern Iraq and north-western Iran. It is the most widespread variety of the Kurdish languages. Learning a few key words already lets you greet people, say thank you and hold a simple conversation. This article gathers the basic vocabulary you need for your first exchanges.

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A little cultural and linguistic context

Before memorising word lists, it helps to understand a few features of Kurmanji. The language is written today with the Hawar Latin alphabet, created by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 in the journal Hawar. This alphabet has 31 letters: the usual 26 Latin letters, plus five letters with diacritics (ç, ş, î, û, ê) and the letter x, which marks a guttural sound. The letters q and w are also used. These letters, absent from the official Turkish alphabet, were long at the heart of political tensions.

Be careful not to confuse Kurmanji with Sorani (Central Kurdish), which is written with a modified Arabic-Persian alphabet and is spoken mainly in Iraqi and Iranian Kurdistan. These are two distinct varieties, not always mutually intelligible.

Grammatically, Kurmanji distinguishes two genders (masculine and feminine) and uses a case system. One of its most striking features is the ezafe, a small ending that links a noun to whatever describes it: -ê for masculine singular, -a for feminine singular, -ên for plural. About 30% of the vocabulary is borrowed from Arabic, Persian or Turkish, which can make some words easier to recognise if you already know one of these languages. Do not worry: to get started, you do not need to master these rules. Focus first on everyday words.

The basic vocabulary table

Here is a selection of words and expressions to learn first. These are the ones you will use from your very first contacts. Read them aloud to get used to the language's particular sounds.

These fourteen entries cover greetings, politeness and a few essential nouns. Learn them in small groups: three or four words a day are worth more than a long list forgotten the next morning.

The first numbers

Numbers come up constantly: prices, times, age, quantities. Here are the first ten:

• yek (1)
• du (2)
• sê (3)
• çar (4)
• pênc (5)
• şeş (6)
• heft (7)
• heşt (8)
• neh (9)
• deh (10)

Once you have learned these ten numbers, you will already be able to count objects, give a quantity at the market or understand a simple price.

Examples and a short dialogue

Nothing beats a real situation to remember vocabulary. Here are a few short phrases, then a typical welcome dialogue.

Useful phrases:

• Silav, çawa yî? : Hello, how are you?
• Ez baş im, spas. : I am fine, thank you.
• Navê min Sara ye. : My name is Sara.
• Ji kerema xwe, av. : Water, please.
• Spas, bi xatirê te. : Thank you, goodbye.

Welcome dialogue:

Azad: Silav! Bi xêr hatî. (Hello! Welcome.)

Sara: Spas. Çawa yî? (Thank you. How are you?)

Azad: Ez baş im, spas. Tu çawa yî? (I am fine, thank you. And you?)

Sara: Ez jî baş im. (I am fine too.)

Notice how the same building blocks come back: silav, spas, çawa yî, ez baş im. With a handful of expressions, you can already hold a complete polite exchange. The word jî here means "too" and can easily be added to many sentences.

A concrete case: introducing yourself and ordering

Imagine arriving at a café in a city in Kurdistan. You walk in, and you are welcomed with Bi xêr hatî. You answer Spas and greet with a Silav. To order water, Ji kerema xwe, av is more than enough. If you want two loaves at the bakery, you will say du nan, ji kerema xwe.

To introduce yourself, the basic structure is Navê min ... e, meaning "My name is ...". For example: Navê min Benjamin e. To ask for the other person's name, you say Navê te çi ye? ("What is your name?"). These two phrases, together with silav and spas, form the foundation of a first meeting.

What makes these situations easy is the repetition of the same words. You do not need a huge vocabulary to get by: about twenty well-chosen expressions already cover the vast majority of everyday interactions.

Summary and common mistakes to avoid

To sum up, the core to memorise first is: Silav (hello), Spas (thank you), Belê / Na (yes / no), Ji kerema xwe (please), Bibore (sorry), Çawa yî? (how are you?) and Bi xatirê te (goodbye). Add the first ten numbers and the nouns av, nan, mal, and you have a solid base.

A few classic beginner mistakes:

• Confusing Kurmanji and Sorani. These are two varieties of Kurdish with different alphabets. Always check which variety you are learning.
• Forgetting the diacritics. The ç, ş, î, û and ê change the pronunciation. Se and sê are not said the same way; neglecting the accent can cause confusion.
• Mispronouncing the letter x. It is not read like an English "x" but as a guttural sound, close to the Spanish jota.
• Forcing English grammar. Kurmanji has genders and a case system (including the ezafe). To start, memorise set expressions rather than translating word for word.
• Trying to learn everything at once. It is better to master twenty truly useful words than to skim over two hundred.

Going further

Once you have learned this basic vocabulary, several directions open up. You can enrich your greetings depending on the time of day, learn the days of the week, the colours and family members, then move on to the most common verbs such as "to be", "to have" and "to go". The key is consistency: a few minutes a day beat one long weekly session.

To pronounce the particular sounds of Kurmanji well (the guttural x, the ç, the ş), nothing replaces listening to native speakers. On Targumi, the Kurmanji lessons are built on audio recordings made by native speakers, which helps you set your accent from the start and recognise words by ear. Combine this listening with memorising the table above, and you will quickly progress toward your first real conversations.

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