Greetings and Politeness in Kurmanji

Knowing how to greet someone opens a door. In Kurmanji, the main variety of Northern Kurdish spoken in Turkey, Syria, northern Iraq and northern Iran, the first words you exchange matter a great deal in a culture where hospitality is central. This article gives you the most useful greeting and politeness phrases, their pronunciation and when to use them. You will leave able to start a simple, respectful conversation.

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A little cultural context

Kurmanji is written with the Hawar Latin alphabet, created by Celadet Alî Bedirxan in 1932 in the journal Hawar. This alphabet has 31 letters, including five with diacritics (ç, ş, î, û, ê) and letters such as x, q and w. Be careful not to confuse Kurmanji with Sorani (Central Kurdish), which is written in a modified Arabic-Persian script and spoken mainly in the Kurdistan regions of Iraq and Iran.

In everyday Kurdish life, a greeting is rarely rushed. People take time to ask about each other, about family, health and work. A simple "hello" followed immediately by a direct request can feel abrupt. Politeness therefore lives as much in the rhythm as in the words: you greet, you ask after the person, and only then do you get to the point. Eye contact and, between people of the same sex who know each other, a warm handshake often go with those first words.

The most universal word, Silav, comes from a root shared with the Arabic salâm (peace). You will hear it across the entire Kurdish-speaking world, both spoken and written. Its variant Selam is also very common. Like much of Kurmanji vocabulary, around 30% of words are borrowed from Arabic, Persian or Turkish: spotting these roots helps you memorize faster.

Essential vocabulary

Here are the expressions to learn first. The pronunciation column is an approximation for an English reader: ş sounds like "sh", ç like "ch" in church, û like "oo", î like a long "ee", and ê like the "ay" in day.

Notice the two forms of goodbye: Bi xatirê te ("I entrust you [to God]") is said by the person leaving, while Oxir be is the reply from the one staying. This division of roles is typical of the region's languages.

A dialogue to see the words in action

Here is an exchange between two people who meet on the street. It combines greetings, asking after each other and parting words.

Azad: Silav, Rojîn! Tu çawa yî? (Hi, Rojîn! How are you?)

Rojîn: Silav Azad, ez baş im, spas. Tu çawa yî? (Hi Azad, I'm fine, thanks. And you?)

Azad: Ez jî baş im. Malbat çawa ye? (I'm fine too. How is the family?)

Rojîn: Gelek spas, ew jî baş in. (Thank you very much, they're fine too.)

Azad: Baş e. Ez diçim niha, bi xatirê te. (Good. I'm leaving now, goodbye.)

Rojîn: Oxir be! (Goodbye, safe journey!)

A few useful grammar notes. The subject pronouns are ez (I), tu (you, singular), ew (he/she), em (we), hûn (you, plural), ew (they). The small word jî means "too" and goes after the word it completes: ez jî (me too). The verb "to be" is shown by endings: ez baş im (I am fine), ew baş e (he/she is fine), ew baş in (they are fine).

A concrete case: arriving at someone's home

Imagine you are invited to a Kurdish family's home. At the doorstep, your host greets you with Bi xêr hatî! ("Welcome!") when speaking to one person, or Hûn bi xêr hatin! for a group or out of politeness. The expected reply is Bi xêr be or, very often, Ser çavan (literally "on my eyes"), a lovely phrase expressing that welcoming the guest is an honor.

Once you are seated, you will almost certainly be offered tea (çay). To accept politely, a simple Spas is enough, with a slight nod. To ask for something, frame your sentence with Ji kerema xwe (please). If you need to apologize, for example to leave early, Bibore opens the phrase.

When it is time to go, the host will often insist that you stay longer. This is a hospitality ritual: declining once or twice before accepting, or thanking warmly before taking your leave, is part of the social game. You then say Bi xatirê te (or Bi xatirê we in the polite plural), and you will be answered Oxir be.

Recap and common mistakes

Keep the essentials in mind: Silav to greet in any situation, Spas to say thank you, Ji kerema xwe to ask politely, and the pair Bi xatirê te / Oxir be to part.

The most common pitfalls for beginners:

• Mixing up the two "goodbyes." Bi xatirê te is said by the one leaving, Oxir be by the one staying. Swapping them sounds odd.
• Forgetting the formal/informal distinction. Tu addresses someone you know well; hûn is plural and also a form of respect toward an elder or a stranger. With an older person, prefer Hûn çawa ne? over Tu çawa yî?.
• Mispronouncing the diacritics. Şev (night) without the "sh" becomes unclear, and baş said "bass" instead of "bash" changes everything.
• Greeting too quickly and rushing to the point. In Kurdish culture, people take time to ask after one another. Skipping this step can seem cold.
• Confusing Kurmanji and Sorani. Both are Kurdish but differ in script and part of the vocabulary. The phrases above are Kurmanji.

Going further

Greetings are the first step, but Kurmanji has a grammar of its own that is worth taming step by step: two genders (masculine and feminine), a case system, and the ezafe, the link that joins a noun to its modifier (-ê for masculine singular, -a for feminine, -ên for plural). The past tense of transitive verbs even follows an ergative construction, where the subject takes the oblique form. None of this is insurmountable with a little method.

To anchor your pronunciation, nothing beats listening. On Targumi, Kurmanji lessons rely on audio recorded by native speakers, which lets you tune your ear to the real sounds of ç, ş and x before you even try to reproduce them. Repeat the greetings out loud, several times a day, until they become automatic.

The best way to make progress is to practice a little every day: a Silav in the morning, a Spas for every favor, and soon these words will be part of your daily life. Start small, stay regular, and the rest will follow naturally.

Conclusion

You now have the basic greetings and politeness phrases in Kurmanji: greet with Silav or Roj baş, ask after someone with Tu çawa yî?, say thank you with Spas, ask with Ji kerema xwe, and take your leave with Bi xatirê te. These few expressions, used at the right moment and with the right rhythm, are enough to create a warm first connection. Try them out at your next meeting.

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