In Lesson 14 of our Uzbek self-study course with native speaker audio, you will learn about the Uzbek alphabet. How many letters are there in the Uzbek language? Latin or Cyrillic? How do the letters of the Uzbek Cyrillic and Latin alphabets correspond to each other? How can you distinguish similar sounds and pronounce the letters correctly? We will also cover popular abbreviations — qisqartmalar — such as IIV, O’zR, and DTM. Uzbek from scratch — clear and simple!
This lesson, like the others, includes audio from native Uzbek speakers.
“O‘zbek alifbosi” means “Uzbek alphabet,” where alifbo is a word of Arabic-Persian origin meaning alphabet, and -si is a third-person possessive suffix (literally: “his/her alphabet,” i.e., “Uzbek alphabet”). The term alfaviti, borrowed from Russian, is also used.
To begin, think about what these abbreviations mean in Uzbek: IIV and O’zR.
Of course!
IIV = Ichki ishlar vazirligi — that is, Ministry of Internal Affairs
O’zR = O’zbekiston Respublikasi — that is, Republic of Uzbekistan
Now answer a couple of questions:
Ismingiz nima? — What is your name?
Harflab ayting, iltimos. — Spell it, please. (harf = letter; -lab is a suffix that forms adverbs from nouns and adjectives)
O’zbek alifbosi (Uzbek alphabet)
In the modern Uzbek Latin alphabet, there are 30 units — 26 letters, 3 digraphs (sh, ch, ng), and an apostrophe (’).
There are 6 vowels and 23 consonants.
The Uzbek Cyrillic alphabet, still in use, consists of 35 units — 10 vowels, 23 consonants, and 2 signs.
Exercise 1. Listen and repeat the letters of the Uzbek alphabet.
Exercise 2. Listen and repeat the letters of the Uzbek alphabet.
Exercise 3. Hear the difference between the letters.
1 E I
2 G G’
3 H X
4 O O’
5 Y U
6 M N
7 K Q
8 O’ U
9 J G
10 B P
11 D T
12 V B
Exercise 4. Listen. Circle the letter from Exercise 3 that you hear.
Abbreviations (qisqartmalar) in the Uzbek Language
Abbreviations in the Uzbek language are formed in three ways:
- By using the initial letters:
IIV — Ministry of Internal Affairs
SI (sun’iy intellekt) — AI (Artificial Intelligence) - By combining the beginning of the first word (or the first few words) with the initials of the following ones:
O’zR — Republic of Uzbekistan
O’zLiDeP (Oʻzbekiston Liberal-demokratik partiyasi) — Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan - By shortening from initial parts of words:
Toshunivermag (Toshkent universal magazini) — Tashkent Universal Store
Exercise 5. Rasmlarga qarang. Ushbu qisqartmalarni qanday o‘qiysiz?
Look at the pictures. How do you pronounce these abbreviations? What do they mean? Listen and check your understanding of their meanings.
Exercise 6. Circle the odd one out in each line. Listen. Listen and repeat.
1 A O O’ B
2 Sh Ch S Ng
3 V X Y U
4 P R S E
5 I O U F
6 L M N Ng
7 Z X H ‘
8 E J U O’
Exercise 7. Name the abbreviations. What do they mean? Then listen and check yourself.
Now you know how many letters are in the Uzbek alphabet and the differences between the Cyrillic and Latin versions. You’ve also learned common Uzbek abbreviations (qisqartmalar). Did you like the lesson?Share in the comments what other words or abbreviations in Uzbek you’ve come across.
- Previous lesson: Lesson 13. Listening and speaking in Uzbek: -dan and -da, with audio
- Next lesson: Lesson 15. Classroom objects in Uzbek: Learning words, dialogues, and pronunciation
- All lessons
Answers to exercises
Show answers
Exercise 4.
1 I
2 G
3 X
4 O’
5 Y
6 N
7 Q
8 U
9 J
10 P
11 T
12 V
Exercise 5.
- IIBB = Ichki ishlar bosh boshqarmasi (Main Department of Internal Affairs)
- BMT = Birlashgan Millatlar Tashkiloti (United Nations Organization)
- DTM = Davlat test markazi (State Testing Center)
- OAK = Oliy attestatsiya komissiyasi (Higher Attestation Commission)
- DAN = Davlat avtomobil nazorati (State Automobile Inspection)
- YPX = Yo’l patrul xizmati (Road Patrol Service)
- OAV = ommaviy axborot vositalari (Mass Media)
- FVV = Favqulodda vaziyatlar vazirligi (Ministry of Emergency Situations)
Exercise 6.
1 B
2 S
3 U
4 E
5 F
6 Ng
7 ‘
8 J
Exercise 7.
DYHXX = Davlat yoʻl harakati xavfsizligi xizmati (State Road Traffic Safety Service)
XXR = Xitoy Xalq Respublikasi (People’s Republic of China)
EHM = elektron-hisoblash mashinasi (Electronic Computing Machine)
IIB = ichki ishlar bo’limi (Department of Internal Affairs)
SI = sun’iy intellekt (Artificial Intelligence)