Kurdish phrasebook

Kurdish (Kurdî / کوردی) is the language of the Kurdish people who live in the region known as Kurdistan, which includes parts of four countries Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, as well as a small part of Armenia near the Turkish border.

Kurdish is an Indo-European language, part of an enormous language family that includes many languages of the Indian sub-continent and most of the languages of Europe. Its branch of that family includes the other modern languages Persian, Pushtu and Balochi, but none of those are mutually intelligible. Kurdish is completely unrelated to Turkish and Arabic, though it includes some loanwords from those languages.

This phrase book is for the Kurmanji dialect (Northern Kurdish) which covers most of the Bhadinan area of Iraqi Kurdistan and Kurdistan of southern Turkey. Sorani (Central Kurdish) is spoken in most of Iraqi Kurdistan and parts of Iranian Kurdistan, Pehlewani (Southern Kurdish) mostly in Iran. The dialects are not mutually intelligible.

The script of choice for written Kurdish differs according to the country — the Roman alphabet is in use in Turkey, Syria and Armenia while the Kurds of Iraq and Iran use the Arabic script.

Pronunciation guide

Phrase list

Basics

Hello.

Merheba.

Rojbaş.

(singular) Roja te bixêr.

(plural) Roja we bixêr.

(singular) Dema te xweş bit.

(plural) Dema we xweş bit.

How are you?

(singular) (Tu) çawa yî?

(plural) Hûn çawa ne?

Fine, thank you.

(singular) ((Ez) baş im,) (tu) sax bî.

(plural) ((Ez) baş im,) (hûn) sax bin.

What is your name?

Navê te çi ye?

My name is ______ .

Navê min ______ e/ye.

Nice to meet you.

Ez gelek kêfxweş bûm.

Please.

Zehmet nebe.

Thank you.

Spas. : Destxweş bî!

Thank you very much

Gelek spas!

You're welcome.

Spasxweş! : Ser çava!

Yes.

Erê.

No.

Na.

Excuse me. (getting attention)

Ca bala xwe bide min! : Ji min re binêre!

Excuse me. (begging pardon)

Li min bibore/bibihure!

I'm sorry.

Li min bibore/bibihure!

Goodbye!

(singular) Bi xatirê te! (from him who leaves)

(plural) Bi xatirê we! (from him who leaves)

Oxir bit! (to him who leaves)

Oxira xêrê bit! (to him who leaves)

(singular) Oxira te ya xêrê bit! (to him who leaves)

(plural) Oxira we ya xêrê bit! (to him who leaves)

(singular) (Tu) bi xêr biçî! (to him who leaves)

(plural) (Hûn) bi xêr biçin! (to him who leaves)

I don't speak Kurdish.

Ez (bi) kurdî nizanim.

Ez (bi) kirmancî nizanim.

Do you speak English?

(Ma) tu (bi) inglîzî dizanî?

Do you speak Kurdish?

(Ma) tu (bi) kurdî dizanî?

(Ma) tu (bi) kirmancî dizanî?

Who speaks English here? / Who here speaks English?

(Ma) li vê derê kî bi inglîzî dizanit?

(Ma) li vî cihî kî bi inglîzî dizanit?

(Ma) kî li vê derê bi inglîzî dizanit?

(Ma) kî li vî cihî bi inglîzî dizanit?

Help!

Hawar!

Look out!

Berê xwe bide!

Good morning.

Rojbaş! : Beyanîbaş!

Good evening.

Êvarbaş!

Good night.

Şevbaş! : Şevxweş!

Good night (to sleep)

Şevxweş!

I don't understand you.

Ez te fehm nakim.

Where is the toilet?

(Ma) tuwalet li kû ye?

(Ma) tuwalet li kî(j) derê ye?

(Ma) tuwalet li kî(j) cihî ye?

Right now.

Anihe.

I love you.

(Ez) hez ji te dikim. (pronounced: Es heş te tkim.)

(Ez) hez ji we dikim. (pronounced: Es hej we tkim.)

Do you have .... ?

-a/-ê/-ên/-êt te/we/hewe .... heye/hene/heyin? : Te/we/hewe ... heye/hene/heyin?

I am hungry.

Ez birçî me.

I am a foreigner.

Ez biyanî me. : Ez xerîb im. : Ez ne ji vir im.

Please notice

In the Kurdish language, the pronunciation of "x" is not like in English. It sounds like "r" in German. Simply a thick "h" which comes from deep within the throat.

Numbers

½

nîv

0

sifir

-1

kêm yek

1

yek

2

(di)du

2½

(di)du u nîv

3

(si)sê

4

çar

5

pênc

6

şeş

7

heft

8

heşt

9

neh

10

deh

11

yazde(h)

12

duwazde(h)

13

sêzde(h)

14

çarde(h)

15

panzde(h)

16

şazde(h)

17

hefde(h) (pronounced: hevde(h))

18

heşde(h) (pronounced: hejde(h))

19

nozde(h)

20

bîst

30

sih

40

çil

50

pênce(h)

60

şêst

70

heftê

80

heştê

90

nod

100

sed

200

dused

300

sêsed

400

çarsed

500

pênsed

600

şeşsed (pronounced: şessed)

700

heftsed

800

heştsed

900

nehsed

1000

hezar

2000

du hezar

Time

Days

Monday - Dushem

Tuesday - Seshem

Wednesday - Charsem

Thursday - Pencsem

Friday - Ini

Saturday - Semi

Sunday - Yeksem

Colors

red

sor

yellow

zer

green

kesk

black

reş

white

spî

blue

hişîn

Transportation

Bus and train

Bus : Pass Train : Kitar / Shamenafer

Directions

right: rast Left: cep Turn:bsurewe Go Straight: rast bro Street: sheqam Lane:kolan neighborhood: gerek city: shar Market : bazar

Money

Para or dinar

Eating

Xwardan