1. Welcome to Sorani
🟢 سەرەتایی · وانەی ١ لە ٢٣
ئەم پەڕەیە ئێستا بە ئینگلیزییە.
What is Sorani?
Kurdish is an Indo-European language in its own right: a macrolanguage made up of several closely related varieties, with its own history, literature and standard written forms. As an Indo-European language it is a distant relative of most languages of Europe and South Asia, English included, and it shares some vocabulary with its neighbours, but it is a distinct language. The two varieties with the most speakers are:
- Central Kurdish, usually called Sorani (سۆرانی), spoken by about 6 to 8 million people in Başûr, Southern Kurdistan (the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: Hewlêr / هەولێر Erbil, Silêmanî / سلێمانی Sulaymaniyah, Kerkûk) and in Rojhilat, Eastern Kurdistan (in Iran: Sine / Sanandaj, Mehabad);
- Northern Kurdish, usually called Kurmanji, which has its own course in this series.
Kurdish is an official language of Iraq and of the Kurdistan Region, where Sorani is the main written standard. It is used in schools, universities, newspapers, television and government, which makes it one of the best-documented Kurdish varieties.
The writing system in one minute
Sorani is written in an Arabic-based alphabet from right to left. It differs from the Arabic script in three ways that make it much easier for a learner:
- Most vowels are written. Arabic leaves short vowels out; Sorani writes ا ە ێ ۆ و ی as full letters. Only one short vowel, a quick i sound, is left unwritten (lesson 3).
- It has letters Arabic lacks: ڕ ڵ ێ ۆ پ چ ژ گ ڤ.
- There is one form per word. You never need to guess vowels from context the way readers of Arabic or Persian do.
Every Sorani word in this course is also given in a Latin transliteration and in IPA, so you can start reading before you know the alphabet.
Your first words
| # | Kurdish | Latin | IPA | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | سڵاو! | sillaw! | /s(ɯ)ɫaːw/ | Hello! |
| 2 | چۆنی؟ | çonî? | /tʃoːniː/ | How are you? |
| 3 | باشم، سوپاس. | başim, supas. | /baːʃ(ɯ)m supaːs/ | I'm fine, thanks. |
| 4 | ناوت چییە؟ | nawt çîye? | /naːwt tʃiːjæ/ | What is your name? |
| 5 | ناوم ئاراسە. | nawm arase. | /naːwm ʔaːɾaːsæ/ | My name is Aras. |
| 6 | بەخێربێیت! | bexêrbêyt! | /bæxeːɾbeːjt/ | Welcome! |
Read the IPA column slowly: ː makes the vowel before it long, and (ɯ) is a short vowel that is spoken but not written. You will understand why after lessons 2 and 3.
What makes Sorani grammar interesting
You will meet these ideas step by step. Here is a preview so nothing comes as a surprise:
| idea | example | lesson |
|---|---|---|
| “the” is an ending, not a word | پیاو a man → پیاوەکە the man | 7 |
| little personal endings (clitics) do the work of my, your, … | کتێبەکەم my book | 11 |
| the verb comes last in the sentence | من نان دەخۆم I bread eat = I eat bread | 10 |
| in the past tense, transitive verbs mark the doer with a clitic instead of an ending (ergativity) | هاتم I came but کردم I did | 13 to 14 |
| there is no grammatical gender and no case endings on nouns | ئەو = he / she / it | 6 |
How this course works
- Lessons 1 to 10 (🟢) teach reading, pronunciation and the core grammar of simple sentences.
- Lessons 11 to 17 (🟡) add possession, the past tense and longer sentences.
- Lessons 18 to 23 (🔴) complete the verb system and the written standard.
- The reference section has every verb of the course fully conjugated and every noun with all its endings.
Summary
- Sorani is Central Kurdish, written right to left in an Arabic-based alphabet that writes almost all vowels.
- You already know six useful phrases: سڵاو، چۆنی؟، باشم، سوپاس، ناوت چییە؟، بەخێربێیت.
- Next you will learn the 34 letters.