kazakhtili қазақ тілі

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Dative case — to, towards (-ға/-ге/-қа/-ке)

Beginner

Movement towards something — "to school", "to Almaty", "to my friend" — is one ending in Kazakh. It is also the case that verbs like "give" and "say" point their target at.

Explanation

The rule

Add -ға/-ге after a vowel or voiced sound, -қа/-ке after a voiceless consonant:

қала → қалаға (to the city)
үй → үйге (home / to the house)
жұмыс → жұмысқа (to work)
мектеп → мектепке (to school)

Notice the neat symmetry with the locative: voiced pair ға/ге ↔ да/де, voiceless pair қа/ке ↔ та/те, always with vowel harmony.

Explanation

More than direction

The dative also marks the receiver of an action — where English says "to someone" or nothing at all:

Досыма кітап бердім. — I gave a book to my friend.
Маған айтыңызшы. — Please tell me.

The pronouns have irregular dative forms worth memorising: мен → маған (to me), сен → саған (to you), ол → оған (to him/her).

After a possessive ending the dative shortens: 1st/2nd person take bare -а/-е — досым → досыма (to my friend), досың → досыңа; 3rd person takes -на/-не — досы → досына.

Examples

Hear the dative

  • үйге
    home / to the house
    үй + -ге
  • қалаға
    to the city
    қала + -ға
  • мектепке
    to school
    voiceless п → -ке
  • жұмысқа
    to work
    voiceless с → -қа
  • Алматыға
    to Almaty
  • базарға
    to the bazaar
  • Мен мектепке барамын.
    I am going to school.
  • Маған айтыңызшы.
    Please tell me.
    мен → маған (irregular)
Practice

Practice

8 sentences · multiple choice · English → Kazakh

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