Language/Tajik/Grammar/Nouns
Hi Tajik learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will explore Tajik nouns and their gender, number, and case endings. Nouns are important in any language because they refer to people, places, things, and ideas. By learning Tajik nouns, you can better describe the world around you and have more meaningful conversations with native speakers.
Once you've mastered this lesson, take a look at these related pages: Give your Opinion, Personal Pronouns, Present Tense & Introduction to the Tajik Alphabet.
Tajik Nouns[edit | edit source]
In Tajik, nouns are divided into two genders: masculine and feminine. However, this gender division is not always based on biological gender. For example, some animals have opposite genders than in English. The word for "lion" is masculine, while "lioness" is feminine.
Like in many other languages, Tajik nouns can be singular or plural. To form the plural, you add "-ҳо" (-ho) to the singular form. For example:
| Tajik | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| мегӯй | meguj | Snake (singular) |
| мегӯйҳо | megujho | Snakes (plural) |
In addition to gender and number, Tajik has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, and ablative. Case indicates the function of the noun in a sentence. For example, the nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence, while the accusative case is used for the direct object.
Case endings in Tajik can be tricky to master, but with practice, you can become proficient. The good news is that unlike some other languages, Tajik nouns do not have articles (words like "the" in English) to decline.
Common Tajik Nouns[edit | edit source]
Here are some common Tajik nouns to get you started. As you can see, some Tajik nouns have gender built into the noun itself, while others have gender based on their articles or accompanying adjectives.
| Tajik | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| мебел | mebel | Furniture (masculine) |
| боло | bolo | Child (masculine) |
| дастгоҳ | dastgoh | Factory (masculine) |
| хона | khona | House (feminine) |
| рӯзгор | ruzgor | Day-laborer (masculine) |
| моҳ | moh | Moon (masculine) |
| ноҳия | nohiya | Village (feminine) |
Let's see some Tajik nouns in action!
Dialogue[edit | edit source]
- Person 1: Саҳиб, шумо аз куҷо шуда ҳастед? (Sahib, shumo az kujo shuda hasted?) - Sir, where are you from?
- Person 2: Ман аз Душанбе шудам. Шумо чӣ кор мекунед? (Man az Dushanbe shudam. Shumo chi kor mekuned?) - I am from Dushanbe. What do you do?
- Person 1: Ман дар медреса фалсафа муаллимӣ мекунам. Ту чӣ китобҳоро меҳнат кардаи? (Man dar medresa falsafa muallimi mekunam. Tu chi kitobhorо mehnat kardai?) - I am a philosophy teacher at a madrasa. What books do you study?
- Person 2: Ман молият меҳнат мекунам. Ман китобҳои ҳафтаи нависандаи "Мадар" ро меҳонам. (Man moliyat mehnat mekunam. Man kitobhoi haftai navisandai "Madаr" ro mehnam.) - I work in finance. I am currently reading "Mother" by a new author.
Plural Nouns[edit | edit source]
To turn singular nouns into plural nouns, you add "-ҳо" (-ho) to the end of the word. However, some nouns have irregular plural forms. Here are some examples:
| Tajik | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| китоб | kitob | Book (singular) |
| китобҳо | kitobho | Books (plural) |
| сӯбх | subh | Morning (singular) |
| сӯбҳо | subho | Mornings (plural) |
| медон | medon | Square (singular) |
| майдонҳо | maydonho | Squares (plural) |
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
In this lesson, we learned about Tajik nouns and their gender, number, and case endings. By studying common Tajik nouns and using them in dialogue, you can become more comfortable with Tajik grammar. To improve your Tajik skills further, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! And for more Tajik grammar rules, see our Grammar page.
➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎
Sources[edit | edit source]
With this lesson finished, you may want to explore these additional pages: Negation, Using Adjectives & Negation in Sentences.
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Future Tense
- How to Use Be
- Plurals
- Personal Pronouns
- Give your Opinion
- Gender
- Questions
- Personal pronouns
- Conditional Mood
- Negation