5. Writing and reading
🟢 Beginner · Lesson 5 of 23
Direction and joining
Write right to left. Within a word, letters are joined except after the nine non-joining letters (ا د ر ڕ ز ژ و ۆ ە). Between words there is a space.
Two invisible characters matter in typed Sorani:
| character | use | example |
|---|---|---|
| ZWNJ (zero-width non-joiner, U+200C) | not part of standard spelling. You will meet it in older text, but compounds are written solid (پێشنیاز suggestion), and forms such as سپییە or من‌و تۆ are errors | سپییە → سپییە |
| ordinary space | separates words | من دەچم |
Older texts sometimes used ه + ZWNJ to imitate ە, because early keyboards had no ە key: you will see به‌ڕێوه‌به‌ر where the standard is بەڕێوەبەر. zimankit’s normaliser repairs such text automatically (lesson 23).
What is written as one word
Sorani writes many grammatical pieces attached to the word they belong to:
| attached | example | parts |
|---|---|---|
| verb prefixes and endings | دەچم I go | دە + چ + م |
| “the”, “a”, plural | کتێبەکان the books | کتێب + ەکان |
| personal endings | کتێبەکەم my book | کتێب + ەکە + م |
| “too, also” | منیش me too | من + یش |
| the second half of circumpositions | لە ماڵدا in the house | ماڵ + دا |
Prepositions such as لە in, from, بە with, by, بۆ for, to are usually written separately in the modern standard (لە ماڵ), although you will often see them attached (لەماڵ) in older texts and on the web.
Numbers
Sorani uses the Eastern Arabic digits, written left to right inside right-to-left text:
| digit | ٠ | ١ | ٢ | ٣ | ٤ | ٥ | ٦ | ٧ | ٨ | ٩ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| value | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| # | Kurdish | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | یەک، دوو، سێ، چوار، پێنج | yek, dû, sê, çwar, pênc | one, two, three, four, five |
| 2 | شەش، حەوت، هەشت، نۆ، دە | şeş, ḧewt, heşt, no, de | six, seven, eight, nine, ten |
| 3 | ساڵی ٢٠٢٦ | sallî ٢٠٢٦ | the year 2026 |
Numbers 11 to 19 are one word (یازدە, نۆزدە). The others are written apart: بیست و یەک 21, دوو سەد 200, یەک هەزار 1000. A number + noun that makes a new word is solid: دووشەممە Monday, یەکشاخ one-horned.
Punctuation
| Sorani | English | name |
|---|---|---|
| ، | , | comma (turned) |
| ؛ | ; | semicolon |
| ؟ | ? | question mark (mirrored) |
| . ! : « » | . ! : ” ” | same shapes |
Latin transliteration
Kurds in Başûr occasionally write Sorani in Latin letters, usually with the Hawar letters of Kurmanji. zimankit’s transliterator (to_latin) follows that convention, with extra marks for sounds Hawar’s 31 letters do not separate (ḧ, ẍ, ’, rr, ll), and writes the hidden i:
| # | Kurdish | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ئەمڕۆ هەوا خۆشە. | emrro hewa xoşe. | The weather is nice today. |
| 2 | من کوردم و لە هەولێر دەژیم. | min kurdim u le hewlêr dejîm. | I am Kurdish and I live in Erbil. |
| 3 | ئەم کتێبە زۆر باشە. | em kitêbe zor başe. | This book is very good. |
Reading practice
Read each sentence aloud. Then check yourself against the Latin and IPA columns:
| # | Kurdish | Latin | IPA | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | باوکم مامۆستایە. | bawkim mamostaye. | /baːwk(ɯ)m maːmoːstaːjæ/ | My father is a teacher. |
| 2 | ژنەکە نان دەکڕێت. | jineke nan dekrrêt. | /ʒ(ɯ)nækæ naːn dækreːt/ | The woman is buying bread. |
| 3 | پیاوەکان لە شار دەژین. | pyawekan le şar dejîn. | /pjaːwækaːn læ ʃaːɾ dæʒiːn/ | The men live in the city. |
Summary
- Right to left; prefixes, endings and clitics are written attached to their word.
- Prepositions are usually separate words: لە ماڵ.
- Digits ٠·٩; punctuation ، ؛ ؟.
- Every Sorani word can be written in Latin letters; zimankit does it for you.