Chechen/Lesson 2

Дарс 2: Довзийтахьа тхойшиъ!

Lesson 2: Let's get to know each other!

Дарсан хIума (Lesson Material)
In these lessons, we will learn the Chechen words for family members and also how to introduce them. We will also be able to express where we live and ask someone where he or she lives.

Доьзал (Family)
In Chechnya, like in most places in the world, family is an important aspect to daily life. Chechens are very close to their families. They might also be very curious about your family and background, especially if you are trying out your Chechen skills on them. Let's take a look at some vocabulary relating to family and friends.

We can see that forming family words can be actually quite simple in Chechen. Chechen is a literal and logical language, meaning to say "grandfather", we can just say "my mother's father". Try to see if you can find a pattern with the words given below. доьзал - family

адам - person

жима бер - baby

неца - aunt(sister of mother)

дд - ???

ваша - brother

йиша - sister

кIант - son

йоI - daughter

да - father

до -???

шича - cousin

доттагI - friend

майра - husband

зуда - wife

дада - grandfather (father's father)

ненан да - grandfather (mother's father)

де нана - grandmother (father's mother)

ненан нана - grandmother (mother's mother)

Vocabulary lists are available for Family related words! If you wish to expand your Chechen vocabulary, check out the extensive list of related words.

Довзар (Meeting)
Try out some phrases below with what you learned above!

''' Иза мила ву?  - Who is he?       Иза сан ваша ву. ' - He is my brother''

''' Иза мила ю?  - Who is she?       Иза сан йиша ю. ' - She is my sister''

''' Уьш муьлш бу?  - Who are they?       Уьш сан да-нана бу. ' - They are my parents''

''' Иза мила ву?  - Who is he?       Суна иза ца воьвза ' - I don't know him''

''' А иза мила ю?  - And who is she?       Суна иза ца йоьвза ' - I don't know her''

''' Хьо мичахь Iаш ву/ю?  - Where do you live?       Со Соьлжа-гIалахь Iаш ву/ю ' - I live in Grozny''

''' Иза мичахь Iаш ю?  - Where does she live?       Иза да-нана долчохь Iаш ю ' - She lives with her parents''

''' Хьан ваша мичахь Iаш ву?  - Where does your brother live?       Сан ваша Москвахь Iаш ву ' - My brother lives in Moscow''

Грамматика (Grammar)
In regards to Chechen grammar in this lesson, we are going to learn about grammatical cases and expand a bit more on the pronouns we learned in the last lesson. This all ties together, since we will be learning the genitive case endings for the personal pronouns. If you don't know what that means, you will in a few seconds!

Артикль (The Article)
Real quick, have you noticed something odd about the Chechen language yet? Let me ask you a question, how do you say 'the' or 'a'? Well, you can't! Like Russian, Chinese, and Finnish, as well as many other languages, Chechen doesn't have any indefinite nor definite articles. Therefore, ваша can mean: a brother, the brother or just brother. Don't worry, you will figure out where the articles are needed in translation with the context and enough practice.

Дожараш (Cases)
In plain English, well...we don't really have cases in modern day English. This might be a bit difficult to explain if you are not already familiar with other languages. I am sure you have heard of the subject and object. Cases define what function the noun has in the sentence and changes the word accordingly. In Chechen, there are 8 cases, meaning, 8 different ways a word can change its form by adding or changing letters at the end of the word.

The first case, ЦIерниг дожар, or the nominative case, is the easiest case to learn. Words in the nominative case are in its original dictionary form and act as the subject of the clause in the sentence. Just remember, normal sounds like nominative, and this is the case where the word is "normal", if that helps you remember it.

We don't need to spend a lot of time on the nominative case, so we can talk about the second case briefly, which is Доланиг дожар, or the genitive case. The genitive case represents ownership, similar to our English "mine, yours, his" from "I, you, he". Think of "genetics" to remember the genetive case. In Chechen, the genetive is actually pretty simple to put together. Just add н to the end of the word. If the word ends in a vowel, then add ан or ин. So for example:

ГIала - the city, ГIалан нах - the people of the city, the city's people

We will talk more about the genitive later, as there are some exceptions, like и can be added instead of а, but we'll talk about it later. Just understand what the genitive is at first.

The final case we will talk about today is the substantive case, Хотталург дожар. This case is a locative case in Chechen as it describes "where" something is located. Think of it as the English, in or at. Chechen uses this case to add an ending, ахь, ехь, ах, ех at the end of the word. So:

ГIала - the city, ГIалахь - in the city Мотт - a language Маттахь - in a language

As I said, there are some exceptions, but down the road, you will pick up on how words and vowels change in Chechen. For now, just remember what you learned:

ЦIерметдешнаш (Pronouns)
Let's look at pronouns a bit more. Last time we learned I, you, he, she, it and this time we will learn the genitive pronouns, my, your, his, her, its. Just like what you just read about the genitive case, the pronouns will take the ending н.

Therefore: сан ваша - my brother, иза сан ваша ву - he is my brother, иза хьан ваша а ву - he is also your brother

Нохчийн географи (Chechen Geography)
Chechnya is a small country buried in the mountains of the Northern Caucasus. It shares borders with Dagestan to the east, Georgia to the south, Ingushetia and North Ossetia to the west, and Russia to the north. Azerbaijan is very close to Chechnya as well. There are many mountains in the southern part close to the Georgian border, which are simply called the Caucasus Mountain Range.

The capital of Chechnya is Grozny, or Соьлжа-гIала (Solzh ghala). Grozny is located right in the center of Chechnya. Other major cities in Chechnya are Guderemes (Гудермес), Shali (Шали), Vedeno (Ведено), Argun (Устрада-гIала), and Urus Martan (Хьалхара-Марта). Major resources in Chechnya consist of zinc, oil, natural gas, and uranium, making it an essential area in the region.

There are three major rivers that run through the Chechen territory, the Terek, Sunzha, and Argun rivers. There are no seaports since Chechnya is a landlocked country, but there are highways, railroads, bus routes, and an international airport in Grozny.