Free material for Uzbek exists, but it is scattered, and some of what is described as free is only partly so. This page lists what is free according to each source’s own statement on 17 September 2026 (the free resources named in the quick answer were checked again on 21 October 2026), and says where free stops. We did not install or test any product.
We make Uzbekcha, which is on Android now and coming soon to iPhone. It is mentioned once, at the end. Check each product’s current listing before you decide.
Key points
- Free and complete: the Peace Corps manual (Cyrillic, text only) and the textbook’s audio and video.
- Free from us: a Latin-script phrasebook and how-to-say pages.
- Free practice with people: language exchange, not lessons.
- “Free to download” is not the same as free; only one Uzbek app listing says all content is free.
What is free, at a glance
| Resource | What is free | What is not, or not known |
|---|---|---|
| Peace Corps manual (1992) | The full PDF | Cyrillic script; no audio found |
| Uzbek: An Elementary Textbook | Audio and video for all lessons | The book itself is sold |
| Our phrasebook and how-to-say pages | Everything on them | They are phrase pages, not a course |
| Yep.uz self-study course | 43 lessons plus one, with audio, by its own description | Script not stated; written in English |
| LearnUzbek.org | Web lessons, podcasts and exercises | The downloadable complete course is sold |
| Teach Yourself Uzbek (teachyourselfuzbek.com) | A collection of Uzbek learning PDFs | A personal project; PDFs not checked one by one |
| Live Lingua | One Uzbek course and ebook from Peace Corps material | Script not stated on its page |
| HelloTalk | Language exchange, by its own description | Not lessons; extras not checked |
| Tandem | Free to download; Uzbek is a supported language | What is free inside was not checked |
| Learn Uzbek (Beginners), BNR Languages | All content, according to its listing | Not tested |
| Learn Uzbek: For Beginners | The first nine lessons of chapter 1, per its listing | The rest |
| Other Uzbek apps | The download | How much content is free is not stated |
The Peace Corps manual
Uzbek: Language Competencies for Peace Corps Volunteers in Uzbekistan, by Khayrulla Ismatulla and Larry Clark, was written in 1992 for volunteers going to Uzbekistan. ERIC, the US Department of Education’s archive, holds it as a free full-text PDF (record ED353829). It has 11 topic-based lessons with cultural notes. ERIC’s summary says: “An introductory section outlines major phonological and grammatical characteristics of the Uzbek language and features of the Cyrillic alphabet.”
Two things to know. It dates from before Uzbekistan’s Latin alphabet reform, so the Uzbek in it is in Cyrillic. And it is a text manual: ERIC hosts the PDF only, and we did not find audio.
It is good for a free, structured overview of grammar and everyday situations, especially if you already read Cyrillic. If you do not, learn the Latin alphabet first; our post on the Uzbek Latin alphabet covers all 29 letters.
Free audio and video for the Georgetown textbook
Uzbek: An Elementary Textbook by Nigora Azimova (Georgetown University Press, 2010) is a paid book. Its companion media is not: the publisher describes “authentic audio and video materials, available for free on GUPTextbooks.com”, covering all lessons.
Free listening material made for learners of Uzbek is hard to find, so this is worth knowing about, although it is designed to be used with the book. The book also includes a Cyrillic reader as an appendix.
Indiana University’s CeLCAR lists elementary and intermediate Uzbek textbooks too. They are sold through Georgetown University Press and are not free. We did not check whether CeLCAR’s other material includes free Uzbek items.
Free web courses and collections
These were added on 19 September 2026, from each site’s own description. We did not work through them.
Yep.uz publishes a free self-study course by Marina Kozlova: 43 lessons plus a supplementary one on respectful forms of address, as English-language lessons with audio. Its page says it is “designed for those who want to start learning Uzbek from scratch — or almost from scratch”, built around practical use more than grammar theory.
LearnUzbek.org has free web lessons on vocabulary, grammar and culture, with podcasts and practice exercises, and sells a separate downloadable course. Do not confuse it with learnuzbek.uz, a different site with free Latin-script lessons and an English and Russian switch.
Teach Yourself Uzbek (teachyourselfuzbek.com) is a personal site by Brian Greco, who studied Uzbek at Arizona State University’s Critical Language Institute. It gathers free PDFs for self-study and recommends books and dictionaries. The site does not say which script the PDFs use, and we did not open them, so check before you rely on one.
Live Lingua hosts one free Uzbek course and ebook sourced from Peace Corps material. That is very likely the 1992 manual described above; we did not open the file, so check the script before you start.
Paid, but worth knowing: Tashkent State University of Uzbek Language and Literature runs an Uzbek course for foreigners at A1 to B1, in person and online.
Our free phrasebook and how-to-say pages
These are ours, so weigh the recommendation accordingly. The phrasebook covers greetings, politeness, numbers, the bazaar, taxis and introducing yourself, in Latin script with a plain-English pronunciation guide and a short note on the grammar inside each phrase. The how-to-say pages take one phrase each, such as Rahmat (“thank you”) or Tushunmadim (“I don’t understand”), with variants and when to use them.
They are phrase pages, not a course. Two blog posts go further: is Uzbek hard to learn? explains how suffixes work, and the alphabet post covers reading.
Language exchange apps
HelloTalk has a page titled “Find Uzbek Language Partners - Free Language Exchange | HelloTalk”. You chat with native speakers and help them with your language in return, with built-in translation tools. Tandem includes Uzbek in its supported languages, so members can set it as a language they speak or learn. Neither has Uzbek lessons or a curriculum, and we did not verify how many Uzbek speakers use either.
Men oʻzbekcha oʻrganyapman (“I am learning Uzbek”) is a reasonable opening line.
Apps: free to download is not free
Every Uzbek app we found on the US App Store, apart from the older Learn Uzbek - EuroTalk app, which is a paid download, is free to download. That tells you little about what is free inside.
- Learn Uzbek (Beginners) by BNR Languages is the clearest. Its listing says: “All content is available for free.” It describes an offline beginner course with native audio recordings.
- Learn Uzbek: For Beginners (Ali Umer) says in its listing that only the first nine lessons of chapter 1 are free.
- uTalk’s general App Store description mentions free starter words in its languages and a way to unlock an extra topic by scoring full marks in the games.
- Ling, Mango Languages, Glossika, Talkpal and the others: their listings do not say how much Uzbek content is free, so we do not either.
For what each of these does, see the best apps to learn Uzbek.
Tutors
We could not verify free or trial lesson terms for Uzbek tutors on italki or Preply, so none are claimed here. Check the current terms on each site.
Where Uzbekcha fits
Uzbekcha is the app we make. It is on Android through Google Play as a paid subscription, with no free lessons, and coming soon to iPhone, so it is not listed among the free resources above. The phrasebook and how-to-say pages above are free.