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Postpositions

This lesson teaches you the suffixes and postpositions that are used instead of prepositions (which indicate location and motion). Then it will teach you how to express existence. 

-da

  • -da — at, in, on

  • added after a noun/pronoun to indicate its location:

    • universitetda - at the university

    • Toshkentda - in Tashkent

    • Stolda - on the table

    • avtobusda - on the bus/by bus

  • -da precedes personal predicate endings.

    • ex. Men maktabdaman - I am at school

  • Negations are formed with emas

    • ex. Biz maktabda emasmiz - We are not at school

  • To ask where? use the question word qayerda.

    • ex. Kitob qayerda? - Where is the book?

-ga

  • -ga is used for: to, into, for, towards

    • The suffix -ga is added to the noun

  • It indicates a motion to someplace or an action performed for somebody/something

    • Ex. Amerikaga - to America

    • Ex. sizga - to you/for you

Exceptions:

  • When the noun ends in -k, the suffix -ka is used instead

    • Ex. ehikka - to the door

  • When the noun ends in -q or -q', the suffix -qa is used

    • Ex. qishloq - qishloqqa - to the village

Postpositions

  • In English, words like behind, between, for, among, with, etc. are prepositions

  • In Uzbek, these are postpositions, coming after the noun/pronoun

  • True postpositions:

    • keyin - after/then

    • avval - before/first

    • orqali - through/across

 

2nd Type of Postpositions

  • The following postpositions behave differently:

    • ich - inside

    • ust - top

    • yon - side

    • orqa - back

    • tag - under

    • o'rta - middle

    • old - front

    • ora - among

  • The nouns/pronouns that these postpositions follow receive the genitive case -ning

  • The postpositions receive the appropriate possessive suffix (-(i)m, -(i)ngiz, -(i)miz)

  • Depending on the context, the case endings -da, -ga, or -dan are attached after the suffix.

    • uyning ichida - inside the house

    • bizning oramizda - among us

    • mening oldimda - in front of me

Expressing Existence

  • The words bor and yo'q are used to express existence. They are placed after the word that they refer to.

  • bor - there is

    • Ex. kitob bor - There is a book.

  • yo'q - there isn't/aren't

    • Ex. Kitob yo'q - There is no book.

  • To express the location, place that at the beginning of the sentence.

    • Ex. Stolda kitob bor. - There is no book on the table.

  • necha/nechta - how many

    • Alternatively, you can use -mi

    • Ex. Stolda kitob bormi? - How many books are on the table?

    • Ex. Stolda nechta kitob bor? - How many book are there on the table?

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