kazakhtili қазақ тілі

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Ablative case — from, out of (-дан/-ден/-тан/-тен/-нан/-нен)

Beginner

The mirror image of the dative: movement away. Алматыдан — from Almaty, жұмыстан — from work. It also handles "than" in comparisons.

Explanation

The rule

Three consonant variants this time:

After a vowel or voiced sound → -дан/-ден: қаладан (from the city), үйден (from home)
After a voiceless consonant → -тан/-тен: жұмыстан (from work), мектептен (from school)
After the nasals м, н, ң → -нан/-нен: дүкеннен (from the shop), орманнан (from the forest)

The pronouns are irregular again: мен → менен (from me), сен → сенен, ол → одан.

Explanation

"Than" for free

Kazakh builds comparisons with the ablative — the thing you compare against takes -дан/-ден:

Алматы Астанадан үлкен. — Almaty is bigger than Astana (literally "big from Astana").
Шай кофеден арзан. — Tea is cheaper than coffee.

No extra word for "than" needed — the case does the work.

Examples

Hear the ablative

  • үйден
    from home
    үй + -ден
  • қаладан
    from the city
    қала + -дан
  • мектептен
    from school
    voiceless п → -тен
  • жұмыстан
    from work
    voiceless с → -тан
  • дүкеннен
    from the shop
    н → -нен
  • Алматыдан
    from Almaty
  • Мен жұмыстан келдім.
    I came from work.
  • Шай кофеден арзан.
    Tea is cheaper than coffee.
    ablative = "than"
Practice

Practice

8 sentences · multiple choice · English → Kazakh

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