School curriculum· 25 min· 20 questions
Learn first: Syllables and stress
When a suffix is added to a word, sounds in the root or in the suffix sometimes drop out, change or appear. Such changes are called sound changes (phonetic phenomena). Some of them show in writing (burni, yuragi, toqqa), while others exist only in pronunciation (ketdi → [ketti]). The exam focuses mainly on changes that show in writing: adding a suffix and spelling the result correctly, spotting a misspelt form and naming the type of change. So you need to know each change together with its rule, its exceptions and its cause — then you can reason correctly even with an unfamiliar word.
Languages tend to make pronunciation easier. When a suffix joins a root, two sounds meet at the boundary, and if they are awkward to say together one of them changes. For example, instead of buruni the language chose the shorter form burni.
The main sound changes are:
When a sound change shows in writing, it becomes a spelling rule, and not knowing it leads to a spelling mistake
The key principle: write a word as the spelling dictionary gives it. The rules cannot be applied mechanically to every word — each change has its exceptions.
In some two-syllable words, when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added (the possessive forms -i, -im, -ing), the vowel of the second syllable drops:
burun + i → burni, og‘iz + i → og‘zi, bo‘yin + i → bo‘yni, qorin + i → qorni, ko‘ngil + i → ko‘ngli, shahar + i → shahri, o‘g‘il + i → o‘g‘li
The same happens with numerals and verbs:
In the last examples two changes work together: in sariq + ay the vowel drops and q alternates with g‘.
Elision does not happen in every two-syllable word: qalam + i → qalami, ilon + i → iloni, kitob + i → kitobi keep their vowel. Which words lose it is decided by the dictionary, not by a general rule; most often they are words for body parts and relatives (burun, og‘iz, bo‘yin, qorin, o‘g‘il, singil).
Add the singular possessive suffixes of all three persons to singil.
Final k and q of a word of more than one syllable become voiced before a suffix beginning with a vowel:
k → g: yurak + i → yuragi, tilak + im → tilagim, kurak + i → kuragi, elak + i → elagi
q → g‘: chiroq + i → chirog‘i, qishloq + im → qishlog‘im, qoshiq + i → qoshig‘i, buloq + i → bulog‘i
Why? Caught between two vowels, k and q turn into their voiced partners in speech, and spelling reflects this.
Exceptions:
When -ga is added to a word ending in g‘, the opposite happens: both sounds become voiceless and give qq: bog‘ + ga → boqqa, tog‘ + ga → toqqa.
Vowel alternation. When the suffix -v is added to a verb ending in i or a, the final vowel becomes rounded:
i → u: o‘qi + v → o‘quv, to‘qi + v → to‘quv; a → o: so‘ra + v → so‘rov, sina + v → sinov, qishla + v → qishlov
The reason is that v is a labial consonant and rounds the vowel before it.
Insertion.
Spelling of intensive forms: oppoq is written solid, ko‘m-ko‘k and qip-qizil with a hyphen
The first consonant of some suffixes adapts to the last sound of the root. This assimilation shows in writing too:
-ga / -ka / -qa: uy + ga → uyga, tilak + ga → tilakka, qishloq + ga → qishloqqa, tog‘ + ga → toqqa
-gan / -kan / -qan: kel + gan → kelgan, ek + gan → ekkan, yoq + gan → yoqqan
The rule is simple: after a root ending in k the suffix starts with k; after q it starts with q; after g‘ the g‘ itself turns into q. After other sounds the basic form -ga, -gan stays: barg + ga → bargga, bor + gan → borgan.
Which spelling is correct: tog‘ga or toqqa?
Some changes are not reflected in writing. They are sound changes too, but spelling keeps the original form (the morphological principle):
A change in pronunciation is not carried into writing: write ketdi, tuzsiz, do‘stlar
How do you tell them apart? Picture the original form of the word and of the suffix separately: ket + di. If the spelling rules have no special rule for this combination (as with tog‘ + ga → toqqa), the parts are written unchanged.
Add -im and -ga separately to qishloq.