Çîrokek ji Floridayê, Beşa Yêkemîn

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Di zarokatiya min de bavê min çîrokek digot. Li Floridayê çivîkek heye ku dibêje “Bob-bob-wayt”. Ji ber vê yekê, navê wê jî “Bob White.” e.  Rojekê, ez û bavê xwe li daristanê dimeşiyan û me dengê wê çivîkê bihîst.

Bavê min got, “Te bihîst? Ew keçeke di bin bandora naletekê de ye.”

Hebû tunebû, li xaniyekî biçûk ê di nava daristanê de darvanekî bi navê Bob White dijiya. Rojekê, Bob çû nava daristanê û piştî çend saetan, wî darên berûyan ên baş û gelekî kevn dîtin. Wî got,

“Errik! Ku ez van daran jê bikim, ez dikarim pir pere bi dest bixim!”

Bi coş û peroş, Bob bivira xwe rakir. Li ser vê yekê, ji siya berûyan dengekî ecêb hat û got,

“Tu çi dikî? Ev dar pîroz in. Jêkirina yekî jî tawanekê giran e. Cezayê wê mirin e!”

Ji nava daran jineke pîr a wekî wan daran xwaromaro derket. Porê wê direj û spî bû û te digot qey ji çavên wê şewq dibarîn. Ew pîrebokek bû!

Darvan got, “Li min bibore! Min nizanîbû ku ev dar pîroz in. Ez ciwan im. Ez bîst û yek salî me. Ez naxwazim bimirim!”

Pîrebokê got, “Rast e. Tu gelekî ciwan û xurt î. Nexwe, pêşniyareke min heye. Heke bi min re bizewicî, tu dikarî bijî.”

Bob White got, “Temam. Em bizewicin. Ez dixwazim bijîm.”

Pîrebokê got, “Baş e. Piştî salekê were vir. Ji malbata xwe xatir bixwaze. Ez ê li benda te bim. Lê heke tu neyî, çû ji te!”

“Ez sond dixwim! Ez ê werim.”

Berdewam……

Kurdish Tip #9

Revel in the differences. They say that every new language is a new world, a new person. It certainly is a new way of thinking, and there is something very different about Kurdish that will really make your thoughts do somersaults. And I think that’s cool. And if you think that’s cool, too, you will enjoy learning it. And if you enjoy learning it, you will learn better.

Here’s whats so different and unique. The past tense is something called “ergative.” If you are interested in linguistics, go look it up, but let’s keep it simple here. In the case of Kurmanji, ergative means the pronouns suddenly switch up in the past tense. To say “I see him” in Kurmanji you just say Ez wî dibînim. To say, “I saw him”, you say Min ew dît. If you translate this word for word, you are saying “Me saw he.” AND, the verb conjugates according to the object. Weird, huh! So if you are an old witch and say “I ate those children”, you say Min ew xwarin. Or “Me ate they” — xwarin is plural (Please don’t do or say that.)

It’s tough to get used to at first. So I suggest memorizing the ones you will hear most and just not worrying about the rules till your ear is used to it. Here are the ones I hear from my relatives all the time.

Min bîst — I heard

Te bîst? — Did you hear?

Min dît — I saw.

Min got — I said

Te got çî? — What did you say?

Te xwar?  — Did you eat?

Me xwar — I ate.

ENGLISH

A tale from Florida, Part 1

In my childhood, my father used to tell this tale. In Florida there is a bird that says “bob-bob-white.” Because of this, it’s name is also “bob white.” One day, we were walking through the forest and we heard this bird.

My father said, “Did you hear? That is a bird under the effect of a curse!”

“Once upon a time, in a small house in the middle of the woods, lived a woodcutter named Bob White. One day, Bob went into the forest and after some hours, found a beautiful and old grove of oak trees. He said,

“Whoa! If I cut these trees, I can make a lot of money!”

Excitedly, Bob raised his ax. At that point, from the shadows of the oaks, a strange voice said,

“What are you doing? These tress are sacred. Cutting even one is a great crime. The punishment is death!”

From out of the trees, an old woman crooked like the oaks emerged. Her hair was long and white and it seemed like a light like moonlight was coming from her eyes. She was an old witch!

The woodcutter said, “Forgive me! I didn’t know these trees were sacred. I am young. I am twenty one years old. I don’t want to die!”

The old witch said, “True. You are very young and strong. Then I have a suggestion. If you  will marry me, you can live.”

Bob White said, “Okay! We shall marry. I want to live.”

The old witch said, “Good, in a year, return here. Say goodbye to your family. I will be waiting for you. But if you don’t come, woe to you!”

“I swear it. I shall come.”

To be continued

Malbata min 1

Niha diya min malnişîn e, lê wexta ku wê kar dikir, ew bi ciwanên re dixebit. Berê, ew li dibistaneke seretayî mamosteya werzîşê bû. Paşê, wê komeleyeke ji bo ciwanên xizan bi rê ve dibir. Par, ciwanên ji vî komeleyê merasimek li dar xistin û dîya min bibîranîn.

Bejna diya min kurt û qelew e. Porê wê spî bû lê belê ew her hefte gonî dike. Çavên wê kesk û qehweyî ne u her tim dibiriqin. Ew nikare baş xwarin bipêje lê xwarina wê ya bi tehm heye. Mesela, şîraniya mûz a wê gelekî xweş e. Niha ew heştê salî ye. Tenduristiya wê ne xerab e lê li xwe baş nanêre. Û carinan bê sedem dikeve. Ji bo jineke pîr, ketin pir xeternak e. Ji ber vê yekê, ez tatêl dikim ku heke xerab dikeve, dibe ku hestiyekî wê bişikênîne.

Xwişka min ji min deh salan mezintir e. Ew jî li dibistaneke seretayî mamoste ye. Xwendekarên wê bi astengin, lewma karê wê ji yê min zehmettir e. Hin xwendekarên wê felç in, ya din nikarin biaxivin, yan jî di mêjîyên wan  de pirsgirêk hene. Karê xwe gelekî baş dizane û bi dilovaniyê li xwendekarên xwe dinêre.

Xwişka min diya min dişibîne. Çavên wê jî kesk û qehweyî ne.  Ew ji diya min hindik dirêjtir e. Porê wê xwezayî xingalî ye lê her sibe şitî dike. Ew ji pir tiştan ditirse. Wekî mînak, ew ji balafirê ditirse, ji behrê ditirse. Xwişka min pir baş xwarin dipêje. Xwarina kevneşopî çêdike. Xwarinen ku dapîra wê çêdikir wan jî çêdike.

Kurdish Tip #6

Sometimes you get lucky and Kurdish shares similar looking words with Latin languages—it shares the same root after all. So you at least have might have a way to remember the words more easily.

•  Ciwan (pronounced if you write in English, jiwan) the word for young sounds a lot like juven, the Latin root that means “young” in words like juvenile. Languages without W often pronounce it as a V so that gives you “jivan” as the pronunciation, even closer.
•  Hestî for bone is like hueso in Spanish with an h, an e, and an s making up the main part of the word.
•  Stêrk for star, looks, of course like English, as does nû (new)

Kurdish Tip #7

More verbs. So I have found that Kurdish does not seem to like verbs that end in tin to be regular—whether it ends in ftin, ştin, stin, or just tin. There seem to be six ways these tin verbs form roots for present tense. I know, I know. SIX ways! But at least there are patterns and it’s better than memorizing all the verbs separately. Because it’s a bit more involved, I have attached a chart of the verbs and their changes as an attachment here. Just click! It’s color coded.  TIN verbs

I try to keep it simple by thinking tin always changes to “soft sounds.” J, z, ş, v are all soft humming sounds. Êr is softer than art. And yes, there are exceptions! Again, noticing these patterns just makes your job a little bit easier.

English

Now my mother is retired but when she worked, she worked with young people as I do. At first, she was a PE teacher at an elementary school. Later, she managed an organization for poor young people. Last year, young people from this organization held a ceremony and honoured my mother.

My mother is short and plump. Her hair is white but every week she dyes it. Her eyes are brown and green and are always shining. She cannot cook well but she has some dishes that are quite tasty. For example, her banana pudding is pretty good. She is now eighty years old. Her health is not bad but she does not look after herself well. Sometimes she falls for no reason. For an old woman, falling can be dangerous, so I worry that if she falls badly, it’s possible that she breaks a bone.

My sister is ten years older than me. She also is a teacher at an elementary school. Her students have disabilities so her job is harder than mine. Some of her students are paralyzed, some cannot speak and some have problems with their brains. She does her job well and looks after her students with compassion.

My sister looks like my mother. Her eyes are also green brown. She is a little taller than my mother. Her hair is naturally curly but she straightens it every morning. She is scared of a lot of things. For example, she is scared of planes and scared of the sea. My sister cooks good food. She makes traditional food. The food she makes is the same as her grandmother used to make.

Rojeke Min (A day in my life)

Her roj ez serê sibehê pir zû radibim. Saet di şeş kêm dehan de hişyar bibim û sere xwe dişom. Piştre, ez taştê dixwim. Jina min herroj bi min re radibe û ji min re hêk çêdike.

Piştre taştê ez bi lez û bez ji malê derdikevim û li serwîsê dibistanê siwar dibim. Heta saet çar û nîvan li dibistanê dimînim. Evaran saet di penç û nîvan de digihêjim male. Heta em şîv dixwin, ez li ser nivîsên xwe dixebitim. Carinan ez şîv amade dikim, carinan jina min çêdike. Çêkirina xwarin bala min dikişîne û Delal xwarina min diecîbine. Piştrê şîv, ez an bi Delalê li filmeke mêze dikim anjî pirtûkeke dixwînim. Hin caran mêvanek tê serdana me. Saet di dehan de radikevim lê…çawa bibêjim? Xew ji me pir hez nake. Heta saet yazdehan nakevim xewê.

KURDISH TIP 3

So one of the tricky things in learning Kurdish at first are the verbs. You look in the dictionary and it says “to speak” is gotin. Then you see that “I speak” is “ez dibêjim.” WHAT THE HELL? You learn that the present tense of a verb–the verbs you use to talk about daily life–may not match the word you find in a dictionary. It’s like learning English and looking up the verb “to go” and finding the word “went” in a sentence. How would you know one goes with the other?

Some dictionaries have the present tense root after the verb. You look up “gotin” and you find the root (kok) “–bêj–” so you know what to do. But many dictionaries DON’T have this because they are written by insane people. My text book just has a long list of verbs with the roots that I am apparently supposed to memorize. Not happening. But I have found a hack–patterns. There IS a system. I will share it little by little–all at once might be overwhelming.

Pattern 1   and/end becomes î

First of all, if a dictionary verb has an and or end in it–this becomes the sound în in the present tense. The dictionary verb for “read” is xwendin. “I read” is ez dixwîne. In the reading above I used the following verbs.

• bala min kişandin (kişandin is pull. This means “pulls my interest” and is idiomatic. It translates as “it interests me/I like it)

present tense: bala min dikişîne

• ecibandin–to like

present tense: ez ecibînim.

Others include

standin (to get/seize) becomes ez stînim ( I get/I seize)

şandin (to send) becomes ez şînim (I send, you send)

qedandin (to finish something)  becomes ez qedînim (I finish something)

şewitandin (to burn/roast something) becomes —————? Your turn!

English Translation

Every day I get up early in the morning. I wake up at ten till six and take a shower. Afterwards, I eat breakfast. My wife wakes up with me every morning and makes eggs for me.

After breakfast, I hurry from the house and get on the service bus for school. I stay at the school until 4:30. I arrive home at 5:30 in the evening. Until we eat dinner, I work on my writing. Sometimes I make dinner, sometimes my wife makes dinner. Cooking interests me and Delal likes my food. After dinner, I either watch a film with Delal or read a book. Occasionally, a guest comes for a visit. At around ten o’clock I go to bed but…how shall I say it. Sleep does not like me. I don’t fall asleep until eleven.

**Answer: ez şewitînim, I burn/roast something

Ez Kurdî Hîn Bibim

Rojbaş! Ez dixwazim blogeke bi Kurdî dest pê bikim. Ez biyan im ku niha Kurdî hîn bibim. Ez difikirim ku ji bo pêşvebirina Kurdîya min, nivîsîna blogekê dê bi kêr were. Ez dizanim ku ez ê çewtî zêde zêde bikim, lê belê ji ber ku amanca min PRAKTÎK e, ne giring e!! Kurdî pir dijwar e, pir zor e, herê, lê min biryar da ku EZ Ê HÎN BIBIM!! Zor spas.

Hello! I want to start a blog in Kurdish. I am a foreigner who is not learning Kurdish. I think that for developing my Kurdish a blog will be very useful. I know that I am making a lot of mistake but since my purpose is PRACTICE, it is not important. Kurdish is very complex and difficult, yes, but I have decided–I WILL LEARN IT. Thanks a lot.

TIPS FOR LEARNING KURDISH

I will post something in Kurmanji and English every time and also have a little tip or thoughts about Kurdish at the end which I hope will help anyone else learning. OR, if someone out there can help me–thoughts are welcome!

Ku

This is something that makes Kurdish easy. Ku is just like “that” in English (or “que” in Spanish, which it sounds more like.) Same order. Same usage.

Ez difikirim ku — I think that

Min biryar da ku — I have decided that

Ez bawer dikim ku — I believe that

Ez hêvî ji dil û can dikim ku — I hope with my heart and soul that