In this lesson, we will take a close look at the Uzbek alphabet letters Ss, Oo, and O‘o‘, learn to distinguish them by ear, and use them in words. You will also practice pronunciation and reading through real-life dialogues on the topic of introductions, to make them automatic.
As always, everything is accompanied by audio recorded by native Uzbek speakers, so you can hear correct pronunciation from the very beginning.
Letters Ss, Oo and O’o’, words and sentences with them
Exercise 1. Listen and repeat.
| Картинки и слова/ Pictures and words | Буквы (латиница)/ Letters (Latin) | Буквы (кириллица)/ Letters (Cyrillic) | Примеры/ Examples |
 soat | Ss | Cc | salom, sinf, sen, sakkiz |
 ona | Oo | Oo | olti, xona, choy |
 go'sht | O'o' | Ў ў | o'n, to'rt. to'qqiz, xo'p |
Oo and O’o’ are different vowel letters; they represent different sounds, and words containing them can have different meanings even when the other letters are the same.
Oo is often (but not always!) pronounced like the vowel in the English words hot, call. O’o’ produces a sound similar, to some extent, to that in row, fur, or between the Russian “o” and “u.” To print the letter O’o’, one of several types of apostrophes is placed next to Oo, and in handwriting, we use a tilde.
In Uzbek Cyrillic, Oo was written as Оо, and O’o’ as Ўў.
As for the consonant letter Ss, when pronounced on its own or in the alphabet, you can say “es” or “se.” In Cyrillic, it was written as Сс.
soat — clock (wall clock, desk clock, wristwatch)
ona — mother
go’sht — meat
Exercise 2. Listen and repeat.
Salom, Sardor!
Assalomu alaykum, Odilman.
To’rtta choy, iltimos.
Exercise 3. Listen and write the words in the correct column.
o’qituvchi, xona, yo’q, assalomu alaykum, olti, sinf
| 1 soat | 2 ona | 3 go'sht |
| o'qituvchi, |
Listen again and check. Finally, listen and repeat the words.
Dialogues when introducing yourself in Uzbek
Exercise 4. Practice dialogues using the following structure.
Exercise 5. You need to find two famous people. Actually, you are famous yourself. Use the following phrases:
Kechirasiz, … misiz?
Salom./ Assalomu alaykum. …man.
Ha, men ….man./ Yo’q, men … emasman. Uzr.
Tanishganimdan xursandman.
Siz Nasiba Abdullayevasiz
Sherali Joʻrayevni va Rayhonni toping.
Siz Sherali Joʻrayevsiz
Shahriyorni va Nasiba Abdullayevani toping.
Have you started to better understand Uzbek letters and sounds?
Are you already using the words and phrases from this lesson with confidence?
Share in the comments how you memorized the letters Ss, Oo, and O‘o‘, and how you’re progressing in my Uzbek language lessons!
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- Next lesson: Lesson 7. Days of the week, “goodbye” in Uzbek
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Answers to exercises
Show answers
Exercise 3. 1: assalomu alaykum, sinf 2: olti, xona 3: yo’q