Verbs using gəlmək (to come)

I have found just a few of these, but they are commonly used.

Verbs using vermək (to give)

Haven't found many of these, but they are interesting, especially məzə vermək and ürek-dirək vermək.

Verbs using etmək (to do or to make)

There seem to be a lot of verbs that use etmək with another word (usually a noun, sometimes an adjective) to make a verb phrase, much like faire is used in French. It is my understanding that eləmək is often used instead of etmək in conversation, but that in written Azerbaijani it is always etmək.

What follows is a listing of the verbs in Azerbaijani alphabetical order. In the square brackets is the meaning of the noun or adjective. 

verb + ış / iş / uş / üş = new verb

These suffixes added to a verb root make the action one that involves two or more people.

Adjectives + ar / ər = verbs

Have only found six of these.

Adjectives + al / əl = verbs

I have not found many verbs that are formed this way.

Nouns or adjectives + la / lə = verbs

Verbs that derive from nouns or adjectives with la or lə added:

Nouns or adjectives + laş / ləş = verbs

Another suffix that is commonly added to nouns and adjectives to make a verb is laş / ləş. Here is a list that İ have managed to compile. Please let me know if there are others.

Nouns or adjectives + lan/lən = verbs

The suffix -lan -lən can be added to some nouns (even adjectives) to create verbs. It adds the sense of "becoming" to the noun. Here are some examples that I have come across. Let me know of any others and I will add them to the list.

Sevgili Canan (Beloved Sweetheart)

Once again I am struggling to translate Nizami. Beautiful song and fun to play on the kamancha, but rife with difficult words.

Sevgili Canan

Mus.: Üseyir Hacıbəyov, Söz.: Nizami Gəncəvi

Hüsnün gözəl ayətləri,

Ey sevgili canan!

Olmuş bütün aləmdə

Sənin şəninə şayan.

Fascination's beautiful laws, oh beloved sweetheart!

In all the world to have been worthy of your happiness.

Gəl eylə nəvaziş,

Mənə ver busə ləbindən,

Çünki gözəlin

Busəsidir aşiqə ehsan.

Come and caress me, Give me a kiss from your sweet lips,

Because your beautiful lips are a blessing to your beloved.

Sordum ki, könül,

Hardadı, aldım du cavabı:

“Gəl sorma, tapılmaz,

Onu axtarsa da insan.”

I asked where was my heart, and this was my answer:

"Do not ask, the person who seeks it, it will not be found."

Rəhm eylə-deyib, sel kimi

Göz yaşımı tökdüm,

Gəl qanım ilə oynama,

Ey afəti-dövran.

Have mercy, my tears are flowing like a stream,

Don't plague me with pain oh beautiful one.

İnsafın əgər var isə,

Söylə bu Nizami

Sənlə necə rəftar eləsin,

Ey mahi-taban?

If you are merciful, tell Nizami

How must I act towards you, oh moonlight?

Gəl sevgili canan!

Come my beloved sweetheart!

Molla Nəsrəddin Lətifələri - Pişik Hanı? (Where's the Cat?)

I really enjoy Molla Nasraddine stories. Here is a simple one I found and have tried to translate.

DIR / T - to have somebody do something

The days are hot in Baku in July. It's hard to work up enough energy to post when the temperatures soar to 36 and beyond. Easier to lounge on the balcony with a good book, hoping for the relief of a light breeze and listening to the sounds from the street. One hawker goes by late every morning calling "moruq, çiyələk, marina." The first is raspberries, the second strawberries, and the third I have no idea. It sounds like marina, but perhaps I've got it wrong. Maybe it's Russian? (I've been told since that it is malina - Russian for moruq.) If I weren't so lazy I would go down and ask him to sell me some strawberries!* (See if I have got this right.)

Anyway, a short posting about these kind of verbs...

Sənsiz (Without You)

The music for this song is by the great Azerbaijani composer Üzeyir Hacıbəyov. The lyrics are by the 12th century poet Nizami Gəncəvi. I found two versions of the lyrics - one from Min Bir Mahnı and the other on English wikipedia. There were differences, so I compared them to Bülbül's clear and wonderful rendition of this song. I think the words below are correct according to Bülbül's version.


This is a very difficult song to try to translate. There are words that Dilmanc would not translate and others that I could not find in dictionaries. For instance, saət did not appear in any of my regular dictionaries, but I did find it in my 4 volume Azerbaijani-only dictionary. (See my Learning Resources post for more info on this.) It is, as I suspected, a variant of saat. And for sure, it sounds better when sung as saət. The 4th volume finally explained vəslinə as well. It is an archaic term for vüsal - a meeting with one's darling. On the basis of this research, I will attempt to translate, though some phrases are still fairly impenetrable for me.

Hər gecəm oldu kədər, qüssə, fəlakət sənsiz,
Hər nəfəs çəkdim hədər getdi, o saət sənsiz!

Without you, my every night is filled with sorrow, grief, and calamity.
Every breath I draw, each hour, I draw in vain, without you!

Sənin ol cəlb eləyən vəslinə and içdim, inan,
Hicrinə yandı könül, yox daha taqət sənsiz!

Believe me, I took an oath to your captivating presence,
Your pilgrimage has burnt my soul, I have no more strength without you!

Özgə bir yarı necə axtarım, ey nazlı sənəm,
Bilirəm sən də dedin: Yox yara hacət sənsiz!

Let me find my other half, oh my beautiful one,
I know you have said: I have nothing for my wounds without you!

Sən mənim qəlbimə hakim,
Sənə qul oldu könül,
Sən əzizsən, mən üçün,
Mən heçəm, afət, sənsiz.

You are the judge of my soul,
My heart is a slave to you,[very interesting line as Nizami's first and most beloved wife was a slave girl]
You are beloved to me,
Without you I am nothing, my beautiful love.

Sən Nizamidən əgər arxayın olsan da, gülüm,
Gecə-gündüz arayib olmadı rahat, sənsiz.

From Nizami you can be sure, my love,
Day and night search but are not at ease, without you.

Laçın (xalq mahnısı)

I only know this song because I play it on the kamancha, but I don't have a recording of it being sung. It is a beautiful and melancholy tune. I decided to look for the words. It seems to me that the words are sad as well.

First stop was a lovely little book I found in a used bookstore -  Min Bir Mahnı. However, some of the words didn't make sense, so I looked on az.wikisource.org and found these lyrics, which I have attempted to translate. The wiki lyrics had the word göncə, which I assume should have been qönçə.

As usual with trying to translate folk songs, I have run into difficulties. Not sure what "barı" refers to. Fruit? Wish? Anyway, here is my translation. All help appreciated!

Araz axar su ilə,
Dəstə-dəstə gül ilə,
Mən yarımı sevirəm
Şirin-şirin dil ilə

The Araz flows with water,
With bunches of flowers,
I love my dear love
With sweet language

Ay Laçın, can Laçın,
Mən sənə qurban Laçın...

Oh Lachin, dear Lachin
I would be a sacrifice for you...

Bağçaların barı gül,
Yarı qönçə, yarı gül,
Gec açıldın, tez soldun,
Açmayaydın barı gül,

The gardens have fruit flowers,
Half bud, half flower,
You were opened late, you faded quickly,
Would that you had not opened!

Ay Laçın, can Laçın,
Mən sənə qurban Laçın...

Oh Lachin, dear Lachin
I would be a sacrifice for you...

Yeri-yeri küsən yar,
Yeni eşqə düşən yar,
Elçiləri qırılmış...
Özü elçi düşən yar!

Here my love is discontented,
My dear one who has just fallen in love,
The envoys have been cut down...
The go-between has fallen himself my love!

Ay Laçın, can Laçın,
Mən sənə qurban Laçın...

Oh Lachin, dear Lachin
I would be a sacrifice for you...

Bakı bahalıqda Avropanı geridə qoyur

An interesting report in the news today about Baku. It has been ranked the 36th most expensive city in the world. The headline, from BBC online (Azeri), reads "Baku leaves behind Europe in expensiveness."

I'll attempt a translation of an excerpt:

"Tanınmış araşdırmalar mərkəzi Merserin 2010-2011-ci il üçün tərtib etdiyi Yaşamaq qiyməti indeksində yer alan 214 şəhərlik siyahıda Azərbaycan paytaxtı 36-cı mövqedədir."

The well-known investigative center Merser's 2010-2011 Cost of Living Index has placed the Azerbaijan capital at 36 in the list of 214 cities.

Mənim sualım var...

Mən fikirləşirəm ki, bir kəs bu suala cavab verə bilər. Mən "gooseberries"-i çox sevirəm. Mən yaxşı sous toyuq üçün bişirləşirəm. Çox dadlıdır. Amma, heç kim Azərbaycanca sözü bilmir. Mən çoxlu lüğətlərində axtarmışdım. Nəhayət, mən "motmutu" tapmışam. Düzdür?

Bu gün başqa satıcı mənə dedi ki, o quş üzümüdür.

Learning resources

I had a comment today asking about resources for learning Azerbaijani. Here are some of the dictionaries, books, and CDs that I have found useful. Search used bookstores and regular bookstores. Some resources can be downloaded.

Gerunds with possessive pronouns

Gerunds can take possessive pronouns as follows:

Mənim getməyim - my going
Sənin getməyin - your going
Onun getməsi - his going
Bizim getməyimiz - our going
Sizin getməyiniz - your going
Onların getməkləri / getməyi - their going

Using infinitives as gerunds (-ing nouns)

Where we would use a verb plus infinitive in English, in Azerbaijani it is common to use a verb plus a gerund which is derived from an infinitive. Confusing? Yeah. Let's look at an example:

To say "One needs a lot of time to learn Azerbaijani," you use a gerund rather than the infinitive "to learn".

Azərbaycancanı öyrənməyə çox vaxt lazımdır. The bold word looks like an infinitive but is not. It is a gerund in the dative (to) case - to the learning. The infinitive öyrənmək has been turned into a gerund - k changes to y with the -ə ending. So, the sentence literally means Toward learning Azerbaijani [object / accusative case], much time is needed. 

Using infinitives in sentences with istəmək and lazımdır

Two very useful constructions in Azerbaijani are istəmək (to want) plus an infinitive and lazımdır (to be necessary) with an infinitive. You can say a lot with these two and they work just as they do in English, so you can translate directly and it works. As we will discover, in Azerbaijani infinitives are often not used in sentences as we use them in English. Instead, they are turned into nouns (to be precise, gerunds). But more on that later... it is complicated. For now, enjoy learning something useful and easy:

İstəmək + infinitive (to want to...)

Works like English, except the infinitive comes before the main verb.

I want to see you. - Mən səni görmək istəyirəm.
I want to speak to you. - Mən sizinlə danışmaq istəyirəm.
I want to break a twenty. - Mən iyirmi manat xırdalanmaq istəyirəm.
I want to buy a ticket. - Mən bileti almaq istəyiram.

Lazımdır + infinitive (it is necessary to...; it needs to...)

Again like English, but the infinitive comes first.

It needs to be done. - Bunu etmək lazımdır.
It is necessary to go early. - Tez getmək lazımdır.
What book needs to be read? - Hansı kitabı oxumaq lazımdır?
To take part in the discussion it is first necessary to be calm. - Söhbətin alınması üçün ilk növbədə sakit olmaq lazımdır.
It is necessary to come to a decision. - Bir qərarə gəlmək lazımdır.