Contents

Uyghur grammar

LIM:limitative case LMT:limitative case DV:direction voice PRN:pronominaliser SIM:similitude case EQU:equivalence case EQV:equivalence case INTENT:intention state INDIR:indirect statement mood HEARSAY:hearsay mood SUBJASS:subjective assessment mood OBJASS:objective assessment mood

Uyghur exhibits the agglutination characteristic to the Turkic family and its basic word orderissubject-object-verb. It lacks grammatical gender and does not use articles. The language's inventory of 24 consonants and eight vowels features both vowel harmony and consonant harmony. Nouns are marked for ten cases, in general with suffixes and are additionally inflected for number.

This article uses both the Arabic script (official for the language) and Latin script for Uyghur words.

The typical word order in Uyghur is subject–object–verb , as in the sentence "men uyghurche oquymen", lit., "I Uyghur study" Compare this to English, where the sentence would be expressed with subject–verb–object order: "I study Uyghur".

Uyghur is an agglutinative language, meaning that potentially many suffixes (denoting person, number, case, mood, etc.) are usually all attached to one word stem. For example "to your house," the main word, house, occurs first, and the modifying elements are attached directly to the right and written all in one word:

öy-ingiz-ge

home-2sg.POSS-DAT

ئۆيىڭىزگە

öy-ingiz-ge

home-2sg.POSS-DAT

"to your home"

ishle-wat-qan

work-CONT-INDEF.PAST

ئىشلەۋاتقان

ishle-wat-qan

work-CONT-INDEF.PAST

"having worked"

Nouns are not distinguished for gender (e.g. male, female), unlike in such languages as French, Spanish and German. Nouns are usually pluralized (with the suffix +lAr) except when preceded by a numeral: compare "atlar" ("horses") and "ikki at" (two horses). Instead of using articles (like English "a", "the"), Uyghur uses demonstrative pronouns ("this", "that") and no marker or the numeral one (bir) to indicate definiteness and indefiniteness, respectively, "this cat/the cat" vs. بىر مۈشۈك(bir müshük) "a/one cat" or مۈشۈك(müshük) "cat/cats."

Uyghur verbs take, usually at least for tense (present, past) and person (I, you, s/he, they, etc.), for example

oqu-y-men

read-PRES.FUT-1sg

ئوقۇيمەن

oqu-y-men

read-PRES.FUT-1sg

"I read/study."

Uyghur verbs can also take other suffixes to mark voice (causative, passive), aspect (continuous), mood (e.g. ability), as well as suffixes that change verbs into nouns—sometimes many all together:

oqu-wat-qan-im-da

read-CONT-PCP.PST-POSS.1sg-LOC

ئوقۇۋاتقانىمدا

oqu-wat-qan-im-da

read-CONT-PCP.PST-POSS.1sg-LOC

"When I was studying"

Negation usually also appears as a verb suffix, e.g.

oqu-ma-y-men

read-NEG-PRES.FUT-1sg

ئوقۇمايمەن

oqu-ma-y-men

read-NEG-PRES.FUT-1sg

"I don't read."

Uyghur has vowel and consonant harmony, a system where vowels or consonants in a word come to match or become similar to each other, especially as suffixes and other elements are attached. Many but not all words and grammatical elements in Uyghur behave according to these harmonic principles. If a suffix is written with one or more capital letters (e.g. +DA, +lAr, +GA, etc.), these capital letters indicate that these sounds are harmonic, that is, variable: D= d/t, G= gh/q/g/k; K= k/q; A= a/e; I= i/u/ü or ø/i/u/ü.

There are 32 basic sounds in Modern Uyghur.

Uyghur has 24 consonants (listed here according to the Arabic-script alphabet): b, p, t, j, ch, x, d, r, z, zh, s, sh, gh, f, q, k, g, ng, l, m, n, x, h, w, y (and 25 consonants if the glottal stop ‘ is counted). Most are not pronounced much differently than their English counterparts (e.g. Uyghur j in baj "tax" is pronounced like j in judge; Uyghur ch in üch "three" is pronounced like ch in itch; Uyghur h in he’e "yes" is pronounced like h in hello), except that l has palatalorvelar variants. A few sounds are not found in English: q gh and x. The voiceless uvular stop q [q] is pronounced like a back k, with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate, as in aq "white," Qeshqer "Kashgar." The sound gh [ʁ] ~ [ɣ] is typically a voiced fricative version of q, also pronounced at the very back of the mouth and sounds like French or German r, as in Roissy or Ruhr. (Near front vowels, gh is often pronounced more front, like French Rue or German Rübe.) Finally, the Uyghur voiceless velar or uvular fricative x [x] ~ [χ] is pronounced like ch in Scottish loch, or further back in the mouth, like a back version of German ach.

The four sounds k, g, q and gh are subject to consonant harmony: (1) within a stem (main word), they potentially determine its backness and (2) within a variable suffix, they conform to the backness and voicing of the preceding stem. Consonant harmony is discussed below.

The ژ zh [ʒ] (sounds like English garage), is only for foreign and onomatopoeic words like zhurnal ‘magazine, journal’ and pizh-pizh "sizzling." The letter ج j (normally pronounced [dʒ] as in baj ‘tax’) is in southern Xinjiang often pronounced [ʒ]. Initial y [j] can also be pronounced [ʒ] before i, e.g. yilan [ʒilan] ‘snake’.

In Uyghur words of Turkic origin, sh is rare, except as a suffix; similarly, since f was borrowed into Uyghur from Arabic and Persian, it is often replaced by p, especially in colloquial and rural usage: fakultët~pakultët ‘academic department’.

Uyghur has eight vowels. Vowels are rounded (o, u, ü, ö) and unrounded (a, i, e, ë); this distinction is sometimes termed labial vs. non-labial; they are front (ü, ö, e, ë) or back (u, o, a). These distinctions are critical for harmonic purposes, since Uyghur words are subject to vowel harmony. The orthographic vowel i represents both a front [i] and a back [ɨ] and is not subject to vowel harmony.

Uyghur accent (stress or high pitch, which we will for convenience call stress) is not well understood, yet some general remarks can be made to aid language learning. In Uyghur, stress is mostly determined by the length of syllables. This means that a syllable which is closed (i.e., ends in consonants [CVC or CVCC]) tends to attract stress, while a syllable which is open (i.e. ends in a vowel [CV]) does not. A rule of thumb is: stress the last syllable of the stem, e.g. ayagh "foot," Turpan'gha "to Turfan." (in the vocabulary lists, we underline stressed syllables.)

Word-internal harmony is relatively weak in Uyghur, but when suffixes are added to a word stem, certain suffix vowels and consonants harmonize with those of the stem. There are three variable vowels in Uyghur, A (a/e), I (i/u/ü), and U (u/ü). There are three harmonically variable consonant types: G (k/g/q/gh), K (k/q) and D (d/t). Uyghur's harmony system has three relevant components: voicing, backness and roundness harmony. Note that -AK will always be either -ek or -aq, and -IK can only be ik, iq, uq, or ük.

Remember that i represents both a front [i] and a back [ɨ], and is a neutral vowel and thus this can affect vowel harmony in suffixes. For instance:

ishik-ke

door-DAT

ئىشىككە

ishik-ke

door-DAT

"to the door"

Takes the front versions of archiphonemes G and A, as the word is solely made up of [i]s, but:

katip-qa

secretary-DAT

كاتىپقا

katip-qa

secretary-DAT

"to the secretary"

Takes the back versions, as the word is phonetically [kɑtɨpqɑ], with the /i/ turning to the back vowel [ɨ], due to the /ɑ/.

When a stem ends in unstressed a or e (as part of the archiphoneme A), and it is followed by a consonant (i.e. suffixes), this a/e is usually raised to i. When a monosyllabic stem ends in a/e, and is followed by a consonant, its a/e is usually raised to ë. This is reflected in the orthography. Other vowels do not change.^[1]

For example:

choka,

chopstick,

چوكىلار

choki-lar

chopsticks

چوكا، چوكىلار

choka, choki-lar

chopstick, chopsticks

Here the -a of /ˈtʃo.kɑ/ is raised to /i/ to make the plural, /ˈtʃo.ki.lɑr/. Here is an example of a monosyllabic stem changingː

mang,

walk,

مېڭىۋاتىدۇ

mëng-iwat-idu

walk-CONT-3sg

ماڭ، مېڭىۋاتىدۇ

mang, mëng-iwat-idu

walk, walk-CONT-3sg

walk, s/he is walking

While the stem /mɑŋ/ is not an open syllable, as Uyghur syllable structure is onset-mandatory, when the stem takes the suffix -(I)wat- the /ŋ/ of the stem breaks off to form a syllable with the /i/ of the suffix, like soː /me.ŋi.wɑ.ti.du/ (here the [me] is not stressed). Where the a or e is stressed, the vowel does not raise, for instance with:

awaz,

voice,

ئاۋازىم

awazim

voice-POSS.1sg

ئاۋاز، ئاۋازىم

awaz, awazim

voice, voice-POSS.1sg

voice, my voice

As the syllable is stressed, it does not raise: /ʔɑ.ˈwɑz/, /ʔɑ.ˈwɑ.zim/. Words like this with a stressed final syllable are known as strong nouns and add a y or r between their stem and first/second person personal suffixes. Monosyllabic words ending in a rounded verb always add y.

Names, unfamiliar place names, and non-nativised loan words do not change. Loan words are frequent sources of stressed open final syllables, such as the Arabic loan /dun.ˈjɑ/, from Arabic: دُنْيَا, romanized: dunyā.

A-raising also takes place across word boundaries, but this is not reflected in writing, see:

lata

cloth

خەج

xej

shoe

لاتا خەج

lata xej

cloth shoe

Which is pronounced /ˈlɑ.ti xɛdʒ/.

Some loan words ending in p and b change that p/b to w when a vowel-initial suffix is added to them. This is not reflected in any orthography other than Cyrillic.

The table below shows some other sound changes in words that are not reflected in writing.

In Uyghur there is one set of personal pronouns used for the first- and third person, while there are three in the second person. The use of the three sets in the second person depends on the formality and politeness.^[2]

The personal pronouns are inflected for number and case. Follow the links of each of the personal pronouns to see them inflected.

The second person personal pronoun mostly used among people is the polite سىز, siz, while the informal سەن, sen is used between very close friends or when parents are addressing their children. The informal سەن, sen is also used when the speaker has a higher social rank than the addressed person.

The respectful سىلى, sili is used for respectfully addressing elders, grandparents or other notable persons of a community. Royalty is also addressed using سىلى, sili and sometimes even customers in stores.^[2]

Uyghur has several demonstrative pronouns with some of them being used for emphasis or as intensifiers, while others have less specific uses. Common for all of the demonstrative pronouns is that their use depends on the distance between the speaker and the thing or person to which is referred.^[3][4]

The demonstrative pronouns are inflected for number and case. In the table below, the demonstrative pronouns can be seen, although only in the singular. Follow the links of each of the demonstrative pronouns to see them inflected.

The most common demonstrative pronouns are بۇ, bu, ئۇ, u and شۇ, shu, the first being translated as this and the remaining two as that. The first is used when referring to an object or person which is visible and close to the speaker, the second is used when referring to an object or person which is away from the speaker and the third is used when referring to a previously mentioned object or person which is not particular close to the speaker in an affirmative statement.

The two first-mentioned demonstrative persons each have an intensified derived form ending in ۋۇ, -wu, ماۋۇ, mawu and ئاۋۇ, awu, respectively. These are used when it is necessary to make it clear that the object or person the demonstrative pronoun is referring to really is the object or person which the speaker means. The two first-mentioned demonstrative persons both also have another derived form, ending in شۇ, -shu, مۇشۇ, mushu and ئاشۇ, ashu, respectively. These are often used for confirming something the speaker is already familiar with.^[3]

The examples below illustrate the use of بۇ, bu and its derived forms.

bu

قەلەم

qelem

بۇ قەلەم

bu qelem

"This pen"

mawu

قەلەم

qelem

ماۋۇ قەلەم

mawu qelem

"This pen (and not any other pen)"

mushu

قەلەم

qelem

مۇشۇ قەلەم

mushu qelem

"This pen (which you are familiar with)"

Nouns in Uyghur have no grammatical genderordefinite marking, although the number 'one' bir can be used to mark indefiniteness. Plurals are marked by -lAr, with the vowel following the rules of vowel harmony.^[5] The plural is not used after numbers.

Uyghur has ten cases, all of which except the nominative are marked by suffixation after possible plural or possessive suffixes.^[6][7] Case always comes after plurals and possessive suffixes. Note that the locative-qualitative, limitative, equivalence, and similitude cases are sometimes not considered to be cases.

Note that as the example word, كىتاب/kitab, has its final consonant devoiced to phonetically be /kiˈtɑp/, it uses the unvoiced variants of suffixes.

The nominative indicates the subject; that which is predicated in the sentence. It can also indicate the target of address, and names for qualified objects. For example:

uyghur

Uyghur:NOM

ئوقۇغۇچى

oqughuchi

student

ئۇيغۇر ئوقۇغۇچى

uyghur oqughuchi

Uyghur:NOM student

a Ugyhur student

It can also function as a predicate, for example:

men

1sg

ئوقۇغۇچى

oqughuchi

student:NOM

مەن ئوقۇغۇچى

men oqughuchi

1sg student:NOM

I am a student

The genitive indicates the thing that possesses, and is primarily a qualifier but can function as a predicate, for example:

bu

that

لۇغەت

lughet

dictionary

ئەخمەتنىڭ

Exmet-ning

Akhmat-GEN

بۇ لۇغەت ئەخمەتنىڭ

bu lughet Exmet-ning

that dictionary Akhmat-GEN

that dictionary is Akhmat's

The genitive can also be pronominalised, allowing the noun it indicates as possessed to be dropped. The use of the suffix -ki after it for this is optional, unless the word it is qualifying is not in the nominative case. For example:

më-ning

1sg-GEN

لۇغەتىم

lughet-im

dictionary-POSS.1sg

ياخشى

yaxshi

good

ئەمەس،

emes,

is-not,

قاسىمنىڭ

qasim-ning

Kasim-GEN

ياخشى

yaxshi

good

مېنىڭ لۇغەتىم ياخشى ئەمەس، قاسىمنىڭ ياخشى

më-ning lughet-im yaxshi emes, qasim-ning yaxshi

1sg-GEN dictionary-POSS.1sg good is-not, Kasim-GEN good

My dictionary is no good, Kasim's is better

Not using -ki here is fine as Kasim's dictionary would also be in the nominative, but:

më-ning

1sg-GEN

ماقالەمنى

maqalem-ni

article-ACC

باسمىدى،

bas-mi-di,

print-NEG-PST.3sg,

تۇرسۇننىڭكىنى

Turnsun-ning-ki-ni

Tursun-GEN-PRN-ACC

باستى

bas-ti

print-PST.3sg

مېنىڭ ماقالەمنى باسمىدى، تۇرسۇننىڭكىنى باستى

më-ning maqalem-ni bas-mi-di, Turnsun-ning-ki-ni bas-ti

1sg-GEN article-ACC print-NEG-PST.3sg, Tursun-GEN-PRN-ACC print-PST.3sg

He didn't print my article, he printed Tursun's

As here Tursun's article would also take the accusative case, -ki must be used. Some nouns in the nominative act like genitive nouns, and require the nouns they qualify to take a possessive suffix. These are known as nouns in the nature of the possessive case, and produce closely bound noun phrases that are usually used in the place of one word. Qualifiers (i.e. adjectives) that come before the phrases qualify the entire phrase, not just the head word. For example:

uzun

long

تارىم

tarim

Tarim:GEN

دەرياسى

derya-si

river-POSS.3sg

ئۇزۇن تارىم دەرياسى

uzun tarim derya-si

long Tarim:GEN river-POSS.3sg

the long Tarim river (not "the Tarim's long river")

Dative nouns are usually subordinate to verbs or verbal phrases and act as adverbial modifiers. They can also be adjectival modifiers. For example, the dative case can indicate the target of an action (usually preceded by "to" in English):

biz

1pl

بېيجىڭغا

Bëyjing-gha

Beijing-DAT

كەلدۇق

kel-duq

come-PST.1pl

بىز بېيجىڭغا كەلدۇق

biz Bëyjing-gha kel-duq

1pl Beijing-DAT come-PST.1pl

we came to Beijing

It can also indicate:

• The object of actions expressed by certain intransitive verbs
• The subject of verbs in the causative voice formed from transitive verbs
• The purpose of an action
• The instrument or price of certain actions

Accusative-case nouns are subordinate to transitive verbs and indicate the object of their action, for example:

bu

this

ئاتنى

at-ni

horse-ACC

مەن

men

1sg

مىنىمەن

min-i-men

ride-PRES.FUT-1sg

بۇ ئاتنى مەن مىنىمەن

bu at-ni men min-i-men

this horse-ACC 1sg ride-PRES.FUT-1sg

I will ride this horse

Sometimes nouns in the nominative case are the subject of transitive verbs, these are known as nouns in the nature of the accusative case and generalise the nature of the object, making its relation with the verb closer, and creating an object-verb phrase used in place of a simple verb. For example:

kino

film

كۆرمەك

kör-mek

watch-INF

كىنو كۆرمەك

kino kör-mek

film watch-INF

to watch films

These nouns function as qualifiers (for mostly verbs, but sometimes adjectives) and signify the action's temporal or physical location. They indicate:

• The place where an action occurs.
• The time at which an action occurs, or the time for which it lasts.
• The circumstances or atmosphere in which an action occurs.
• The instrument of an action.

ular

3pl

ئايىروپىلاندا

ayiropilan-da

aeroplane-LOC

كەلدى

kel-di

come-PST.3pl

ئۇلار ئايىروپىلاندا كەلدى

ular ayiropilan-da kel-di

3pl aeroplane-LOC come-PST.3pl

They came by aeroplane.

When subordinate to an adjective, they indicate the place or field of an activity.

bügün

today

مەكتەپتە

mektep-te

school-LOC

كىنو

kino

film

يوق

yoq

is.NEG

بۈگۈن مەكتەپتە كىنو يوق

bügün mektep-te kino yoq

today school-LOC film is.NEG

There is no film at school today.

When used as a predicate, they indicate the location or source of the subject.

sëning

2sg.GEN

لۇغەتىڭ

lughet-ing

dictionary-POSS.2sg

ئەخمەتتە

Exmet-te

Akhmat-LOC

سېنىڭ لۇغەتىڭ ئەخمەتتە

sëning lughet-ing Exmet-te

2sg.GEN dictionary-POSS.2sg Akhmat-LOC

Akhmat has your dictionary.

Ablative nouns are subordinate to verbs and sometimes adjectives and adverbs, and they mostly act as adverbial modifiers. It is usually associated with the pronoun "from" in English

When acting as an adverbial modifier, they can indicate:

• The point of departure/separation of the subject/recipient, or the object that is passed through.
• Things which are mentally distanced from the subject of an action.
• The source of an action.
• The starting point of a limit connected with an action.
• The material/components of the subject/recipient.
• A generality/group from which one or some are related to the action.
• The field covered by the action.
• The reason for the action (cause).

Ablative nouns subordinate to adjectives indicate unequal comparison. Some adjectives also sometimes require the ablative case for noun modifiers, for example:

ular-ning

3pl-GEN

ئۆيى

öy-i

house-POSS.3pl

شەھەردىن

sheher-din

town-ABL

يىراق

yiraq

far

ئۇلارنىڭ ئۆيى شەھەردىن يىراق

ular-ning öy-i sheher-din yiraq

3pl-GEN house-POSS.3pl town-ABL far

their house is far away from town

These nouns function as qualifiers (for almost any part of speech) and signify the word's temporal or physical location. The difference between this and the locative case is that the qualifier is not specific, but general/universal. For example:

Tursun-diki

Tursun-LOC

كىتاب

kitab

book

تۇرسۇندىكى كىتاب

Tursun-diki kitab

Tursun-LOC book

a book which Tursun has (lit. a book in Tursun's possession, it may or may not be his)

When context is clear, it is possible to drop the noun that the locative-qualitative case noun is qualifying and use this non-dropped noun pronominally, which also takes the cases of the dropped noun.

bu

this

دوسكا

doska

blackboard

بىزنىڭ

biz-ning

1pl-GEN

سىنىپتىكىدىن

sinip-tiki-din

classroom-LOC-ABL

بىر

bir

one

ھەسسە

hesse

times

چوڭ

chong

big

بۇ دوسكا بىزنىڭ سىنىپتىكىدىن بىر ھەسسە چوڭ

bu doska biz-ning sinip-tiki-din bir hesse chong

this blackboard 1pl-GEN classroom-LOC-ABL one times big

this blackboard is as big again as the one in our classroom

These nouns are subordinate to verbs and function as adverbial modifiers, and sometimes as the predicate.

When they modify verbs, they indicate the final point reached as a limit of an action, for example:

men

1sg

بۇ

bu

this

قېتىم

qëtim

occasion-POSS.1sg

خوتەنگىچە

xoten-giche

Hotan-LIM

بارىمەن

bar-i-men

go-PRES.FUT-1sg

مەن بۇ قېتىم خوتەنگىچە بارىمەن

men bu qëtim xoten-giche bar-i-men

1sg this occasion-POSS.1sg Hotan-LIM go-PRES.FUT-1sg

this time I will go as far as Hotan

When a limitative case noun acts as a predicate, it indicates the final limit of the subject.

Nouns in the similitude case can act as qualifiers or adverbial modifiers, in both cases they liken the quality/action to their base noun. For example:

hawa

weather

ئوتتەك

ot-tek

fire-SIM

قىزىپ

qizip

hot

كەتتى

ketti

turn-PST.3sg

ھاۋا ئوتتەك قىزىپ كەتتى

hawa ot-tek qizip ketti

weather fire-SIM hot turn-PST.3sg

the weather became as hot as fire

Nouns in the equivalence case can act as qualifiers or adverbial modifiers, in both cases they liken the quality/action to their base noun, with respect to the level/amount/measurement. For example:

umu

3sg-also

تۇرسۇنچىلىك

tursun-chilik

Tursun-EQV

ئوقۇغان

oqu-ghan

study-PERF.PRES

ئۇمۇ تۇرسۇنچىلىك ئوقۇغان

umu tursun-chilik oqu-ghan

3sg-also Tursun-EQV study-PERF.PRES

he's also studied to the same level as Tursun

Uyghur, like Uzbek, has possessive suffixes that indicate person.^[7]

Monosyllabic nouns ending in rounded vowels (i.e. su) will add a y before first and second person suffixes (i.e. suyum, suyingiz but susi).

Uyghur has a wide variety of affixes which form words from others. This section will go over noun-formation affixes.

Adjectives in Uyghur can often be used as adverbial modifiers, and indicate the quality of an object or action.

Most adjectives can have their degree modified, and these are known as "gradable" adjectives. However, it is impossible to strengthen or weaken some adjectives (i.e. ئەركەك, erkek, 'male'), which are known as "non-gradable" adjectives.

There are a variety of ways to indicate degree when it comes to gradable adjectives.

This is known as "the repeated form" and emphasises that the quality is unique to a large number of things of the same type, or that the action possessing the quality indicated by the adjective is repeated many times.

eza-lar

member-PL

پىلاننى

pilan-ni

plan-ACC

ئەمەلگە

emelge

implement

ئاشۇرۇشنىڭ

ashurush-ning

something-GEN

يېڭى-يېڭى

yëngi-yëngi

new-REDUP

چارە-تەدبىرلىرى

chare-tedbir-lir-i

remedy-means-PL-POSS.3sg

ئۈستىدە

üstide

over

ئويلىنىۋاتىدۇ

oylin-iwat-idu

contemplate-CONT-PRES.3pl

ئەزالار پىلاننى ئەمەلگە ئاشۇرۇشنىڭ يېڭى-يېڭى چارە-تەدبىرلىرى ئۈستىدە ئويلىنىۋاتىدۇ

eza-lar pilan-ni emelge ashurush-ning yëngi-yëngi chare-tedbir-lir-i üstide oylin-iwat-idu

member-PL plan-ACC implement something-GEN new-REDUP remedy-means-PL-POSS.3sg over contemplate-CONT-PRES.3pl

"the members are considering many new ways of implementing the plan"

Some adjectives can be directly turned into nouns, for example:

soghuq

cold

چۈشكىچە

chüshkiche

noon-LIM

ئىشلارنى

ish-lar-ni

job-PL-ACC

تۈگىتىۋالايلى

tügi-t-iwal-ay-li

complete-DV.SBJ-IMP.2pl

سوغۇق چۈشكىچە ئىشلارنى تۈگىتىۋالايلى

soghuq chüshkiche ish-lar-ni tügi-t-iwal-ay-li

cold noon-LIM job-PL-ACC complete-DV.SBJ-IMP.2pl

"before the cold comes let's try and finish the jobs"

They can also function as nouns when the noun is dropped, indicating objects with the quality they have.

Like most Turkic languages, copulas are important to verbs, and some are words that have become fixed in a single form ("incomplete copulas", some of which are suffixes), although "complete copulas", which are entirely separate words, do exist.

In the present tense, it is not essential to use a copula, for example:

bu

this

كىتاب

kitab

book

بۇ كىتاب

bu kitab

this book

"This is a book."

These copulas can differ between regions, the forms given in the table are those used in Northern Xinjiang.

The negative copula, emes, does not inflect for person or tense. For example:

bu

this

كىتاب

kitab

book

ئەمەس

emes

NEG

بۇ كىتاب ئەمەس

bu kitab emes

this book NEG

"This is not a book."

Verbs in Uyghur inflect in a variety of ways, such as for tense, aspect, and mood.^[7]

There are two infinitival suffixes in Uyghur, -(I)sh and -mAK. -(I)sh is used in most situations where the infinitive and gerund is used in English, primarily when discussing an action as a noun, as such -(I)sh is often accompanied by the accusative -ni. For example:

biz

1pl

ئۇيغۇرچە

Uyghurche

Uyghur

ئۆگىنىشنى

ögin-ish-ni

study-INF-ACC

ياخشى

yaxshi

good

كۆرىمىز

kör-i-miz

look-PRES.FUT-1pl

بىز ئۇيغۇرچە ئۆگىنىشنى ياخشى كۆرىمىز

biz Uyghurche ögin-ish-ni yaxshi kör-i-miz

1pl Uyghur study-INF-ACC good look-PRES.FUT-1pl

"We like to study Uyghur"

oq-ush

read-INF

تەس

tes

difficult

ئەمەس

emes

is-NEG

ئوقۇش تەس ئەمەس

oq-ush tes emes

read-INF difficult is-NEG

"reading is not difficult" (lit. to read is not difficult)

While some tenses inflect for person, some such as the future-present tense simply go between the stem and the following personal suffixes.

These are by far the most common suffixes, and are known as "type 1" suffixes. The possessive markers are also used with some tenses, and in this context are known as "type 2".

Tömür describes Uyghur as having four states and three tenses, with all of the states being able to take past and present tenses, thus producing nine state-tenses for verbs. Some of these have multiple variants.

The archiphoneme Y here is y after vowels, i after consonants, and yi if the verb is "yu". The archiphoneme K is much like G but is always voiceless.

The simple past tense always indicates that the action or state expressed by the verb took place before the time of speaking, no matter the mood of the verb.

Exmet

Akhmat

ماقالە

maqale

article

يازدى

yaz-di

write-PST.3sg

ئەخمەت ماقالە يازدى

Exmet maqale yaz-di

Akhmat article write-PST.3sg

"Akhmat wrote an article"

It can also be used in some special senses to indicate that the action will take place immediately, show an absolute determination to carry out the action, or indicate the sense of hypothesis.

men

1sg

ماڭدىم

mang-dim

walk-PST.1sg

مەن ماڭدىم

men mang-dim

1sg walk-PST.1sg

"I'm leaving (right now)" lit. I've left

The present perfect tense indicates the current existence of the state which the action has brought about. It differs from the simple past tense in requiring the action to be completed to a degree that it has changed the state of the object.

Bu

this

ماقالىنى

maqali-ni

essay-ACC

ئەخمەت

Exmet

Akhmat

يازغان

yaz-ghan

write-PERF.3sg

بۇ ماقالىنى ئەخمەت يازغان

Bu maqali-ni Exmet yaz-ghan

this essay-ACC Akhmat write-PERF.3sg

"Akhmat has written this essay"

The past perfect tense indicates the existence of the state which the action has brought about before another related matter, or at a specific point in the past.

xet

letter

يازغانىدىم

yaz-ghanidim

write-PERF.PST.1sg

ئۇزاق

uzaq

not

ئۆتمەي

ötmey

long

جاۋاپ

jawap

reply

كەلدى

kel-di

arrive-PST.3sg

خەت يازغانىدىم ئۇزاق ئۆتمەي جاۋاپ كەلدى

xet yaz-ghanidim uzaq ötmey jawap kel-di

letter write-PERF.PST.1sg not long reply arrive-PST.3sg

"the reply came not long after I had written the letter"

The present imperfect tense indicates the present existence the state of an action that regularly/always occurs, or will occur later. This includes actions such as:

• Actions that always happen according to objective laws and logic
• Actions that express temperament/habits
• Actions which express character, special skills, etc
• Actions which indicate a job or daily activity
• Actions which always happen according to rule
• Actions that definitely will happen according to logic, or have been decided will happen.
• Actions which indicate determination or which the speaker considers will happen.

kün

sun

شەرقتىن

sherq-tin

east-ABL

چىقىدۇ

chiq-idu

rise-IMPERF.3sg

كۈن شەرقتىن چىقىدۇ

kün sherq-tin chiq-idu

sun east-ABL rise-IMPERF.3sg

"The sun rises from the east"

The present imperfect tense indicates the existence the state of an action that regularly/always occurs, or will occur later, at some point in the past or before a related matter. This includes actions such as:

• An action/matter that happened continuously in the past, i.e. "used to teach"
• An intention, plan, or agreement about carrying out an action before a certain matter.
• A conjecture about an action that has not taken place, or will definitely not take place.
• When a writer is talking about things that were happening before or at the time of the event.

men

1sg

ئۈرۈمچىگە

Ürümchi-ge

Urumqi-DAT

باراتتىم

bar-attim

go-IMPERF.PST.1sg

مەن ئۈرۈمچىگە باراتتىم

men Ürümchi-ge bar-attim

1sg Urumqi-DAT go-IMPERF.PST.1sg

"I had planned to go to Urumqi" (note that this is an example of the second variety)

The present continuous tense indicates the present existence of a continuously ongoing or fixed state of an action.

men

1sg

ماقالە

maqale

essay

يازماقتىمەن

yaz-maqtimen

write-CONT.1sg

مەن ماقالە يازماقتىمەن

men maqale yaz-maqtimen

1sg essay write-CONT.1sg

"I am writing an essay"

The present continuous tense indicates the existence of a continuously ongoing or fixed state of an action at a previous time or before a certain matter.

men

1sg

ماقالە

maqale

essay

يازماقتا

yaz-maqta

write-CONT

ئىدىم

idim

PST.1sg

مەن ماقالە يازماقتا ئىدىم

men maqale yaz-maqta idim

1sg essay write-CONT PST.1sg

"I was writing an essay"

The present intention tense indicates the present existence of an action that has been intended or agreed upon.

u

3sg

سىزگە

siz-ge

2sg-DAT

بىرنەرسە

birnerse

something