Uzbek has six personal pronouns, and none of them has gender: u covers “he”, “she” and “it”. The grammar idea on this page is that you often do not say the pronoun at all, because the ending on the verb already shows who is acting. The rest is endings: “my book” is kitobim, not a separate word.
The six pronouns
| Uzbek | Sounds like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| men | MEN | I |
| sen | SEN | you (informal: close friends, children) |
| u | U | he, she, it |
| biz | BIZ | we |
| siz | SIZ | you (polite; the default with adults you do not know well) |
| ular | u-LAR | they |
| sizlar | siz-LAR | you all (plural; more than one person) |
| mening | me-NING | my, mine |
| sening | se-NING | your (informal) |
| uning | u-NING | his, her, its |
| bizning | biz-NING | our |
| sizning | siz-NING | your (polite) |
| ularning | u-lar-NING | their |
Possessive endings
| Uzbek | Sounds like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| kitobim | ki-to-BIM | my book |
| kitobing | ki-to-BING | your book (informal) |
| kitobi | ki-to-BI | his, her book |
| kitobimiz | ki-to-bi-MIZ | our book |
| kitobingiz | ki-to-bin-GIZ | your book (polite) |
| kitoblari | ki-tob-la-RI | their book, their books |
| mening kitobim | me-NING ki-to-BIM | my book (with the pronoun, for emphasis) |
| uning kitobi | u-NING ki-to-BI | his, her book |
This, that, and the case forms
| Uzbek | Sounds like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bu | BU | this |
| shu | SHU | this, this very one |
| u | U | that |
| bular | bu-LAR | these |
| menga | men-GA | to me, for me |
| meni | me-NI | me (the object: “he sees me”) |
| mendan | men-DAN | from me, than me |
| menda | men-DA | at me, with me (“I have”: Menda bor) |
How pronouns work
- No gender. U is “he”, “she” and “it”. Uning kitobi is “his book” or “her book”.
- The pronoun is often dropped. Boraman already means “I’ll go”, Ishlayman means “I work”. Say men for contrast or emphasis: Men boraman. (I’ll go, not someone else.)
- Siz is polite and can mean one person. Use siz with anyone older or new to you, and sen only with close friends, family your age and children. Sizlar is for several people.
- Endings go on the other pronouns the same way. Senga, seni, sendan, senda follow menga, meni, mendan, menda. U adds an n: unga, uni, undan, unda.
A short conversation
A: Kechirasiz, bu sizning kitobingizmi?
Excuse me, is this your book?
B: Yoʻq, bu mening kitobim emas. Bu uning kitobi.
No, this is not my book. It is his book.
A: Rahmat. Biz shu yerda ishlaymiz. Siz ham shu yerda ishlaysizmi?
Thanks. We work here. Do you work here too?
B: Ha, men ham shu yerda ishlayman.
Yes, I work here too.
For the family words that take these endings, see Uzbek family words. For greetings that use siz, see greetings.
Uzbekcha is an app for learning Uzbek, with lessons in English and audio on every word. It is on Android now and coming soon to iPhone. Get the app.
