8. Ezafe: linking nouns to adjectives and owners
🟢 Beginner · Lesson 8 of 23
The linking ending
When a noun is followed by an adjective, an owner or another noun that describes it, Kurmanji adds a linking ending, the ezafe, to the noun. Its form depends on gender and number:
| after a consonant | after a vowel | example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine singular | -ê | -yê | bavê min my father |
| feminine singular | -a | -ya | mala min my house |
| plural (both genders) | -ên | -yên | hevalên min my friends |
The owner after the ezafe is in the oblique case: mala min (not ez), bavê wê “her father”.
| noun | meaning | gender | direct sg | ezafe sg | ezafe pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bav | father | m | bav باڤ | bavê باڤێ | bavên باڤێن |
| mirov | person, human, man | m | mirov مرۆڤ | mirovê مرۆڤێ | mirovên مرۆڤێن |
| bajar | city | m | bajar باژار | bajarê باژارێ | bajarên باژارێن |
| xanî | house (building) | m | xanî خانی | xaniyê خانیێ | xaniyên خانیێن |
| jin | woman; wife | f | jin ژن | jina ژنا | jinên ژنێن |
| mal | house, home | f | mal مال | mala مالا | malên مالێن |
| pirtûk | book | f | pirtûk پرتووک | pirtûka پرتووکا | pirtûkên پرتووکێن |
| çiya | mountain | m | çiya چیا | çiyayê چیایێ | çiyayên چیایێن |
| # | Kurdish | Arabic script | IPA | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mala min | مالا من | /maːlaː mɪn/ | my house |
| 2 | bavê te | باڤێ تە | /baːveː tɛ/ | your father |
| 3 | zimanê kurdî | زمانێ کوردی | /zɪmaːneː kʊɾdiː/ | the Kurdish language |
| 4 | pirtûka nû | پرتووکا نوو | /pɪɾtuːkaː nuː/ | the new book |
| 5 | bajarê mezin | باژارێ مەزن | /baːʒaːɾeː mɛzɯn/ | the big city |
| 6 | hevalên me | هەڤالێن مە | /hɛvaːleːn mɛ/ | our friends |
Indefinite ezafe: a good man
With a (-ek), the ezafe is -ekî for masculine and -eke for feminine nouns:
| noun | meaning | gender | indef. direct | indef. ezafe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mirov | person, human, man | m | mirovek مرۆڤەک | mirovekî مرۆڤەکی |
| bajar | city | m | bajarek باژارەک | bajarekî باژارەکی |
| jin | woman; wife | f | jinek ژنەک | jineke ژنەکە |
| pirtûk | book | f | pirtûkek پرتووکەک | pirtûkeke پرتووکەکە |
mirovekî baş “a good man”, pirtûkeke nû “a new book”.
Chains
Ezafes chain from left to right, each noun linking to the next: mala bavê min “my father’s house” (house-of father-of me), navê bajarê mezin “the name of the big city”.
Standalone ezafe: mine, his
Without a noun, the ezafe is a little word yê (m), ya (f), yên (pl): Ev pirtûk ya min e. “This book is mine.”
How zimankit reads these
The ending -ê is ambiguous (masculine ezafe, or feminine oblique, lesson 9). The analyzer uses the noun’s gender from its lexicon to decide:
| word | segmentation | morpheme tags | lemma | features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bavê | bav+ê | STEM+EZ.M|OBL.F | bav | definite=def, number=sg, gender=m, ezafe=yes |
| mala | mal+a | STEM+EZ.F | mal | definite=def, number=sg, ezafe=yes, gender=f |
| hevalên | heval+ên | STEM+EZ.PL | heval | definite=def, number=pl, ezafe=yes, gender=m |
| mirovekî | mirov+ekî | STEM+INDEF.OBL.M|INDEF.EZ.M | mirov | definite=ind, number=sg, gender=m, case=obl |
| pirtûkeke | pirtûk+eke | STEM+INDEF.EZ.F | pirtûk | definite=ind, number=sg, ezafe=yes, gender=f |
mirovekî gets the oblique reading first; in mirovekî baş it is an ezafe. The analyzer keeps both readings and leaves the choice to the context.
Practice
- my sister (xwişk f).
- the big village (gund m, mezin big).
- a beautiful city (bajar m, xweş nice).
Answers
- xwişka min
- gundê mezin
- bajarekî xweş
Summary
- Ezafe: -ê (m), -a (f), -ên (pl); after a vowel -yê, -ya, -yên.
- Indefinite: -ekî (m), -eke (f).
- The word after the ezafe is oblique: mala min.