—Kurmanji Kurdish— A Reference Grammar with Selected Readings

Di vê babetê de ez naxwazim tiştekî
bibêjim.
Tu dikarî hinekî behsa xwe û jiyana
xwe bikî?
Em kurd in û kurd gereke berî hemû
zimanan, bi zimanê xwe biaxivin,
bixwînin û binivîsin.
Berî her tiştî gereke ez nîşan bidim ku
ji mefhûma “kovara îslamî” ez çi tiştî
fehim dikim.
I don’t want to say anything in this
regard.
Can you speak a bit about yourself and
your life?
We are Kurds, and Kurds ought to
speak, read, and write in their own
language before all other languages.
Before anything else, it is necessary for
me to indicate what I understand by the
concept of an “Islamic journal.”
Gereke kovar xwe zencîr nekin. It is necessary that journals not fetter
themselves.
Wî pirr caran biryar dabû ku êdî li
xurînî cixarê nekişîne.
Doktor divê rêyekî nîşanî me bide û
derman binivîsine.
Many times he had decided not to smoke
cigarettes any more on an empty stomach.
The doctor must show us a way and
write a [prescription for a] remedy.
(4) after a number of conjunctions like berî ku ‘before’ (which is usually
followed by the subjunctive), çaxê ku ‘when’ (which is followed by the
subjunctive when it refers to the future), and mîna ku ‘as though.’ See §30.
Berî ku ez derkevim derveyê welêt, min
soranî nebihîstibû.
Çaxê ku firseta min çêbibe, ez ê bi şev
û rojan bo ziman û edebiyata kurdî
bişixulim.
Mîna ku di berê de naxoşiyek di
navîna wan de hebe…
Before I went outside the country, I had
not heard Sorani.
When I get the opportunity, I will work
day and night for Kurdish language and
literature.
As though there was some unpleasantness
between them before…
(5) in the protasis (the “if” clause) of a possible conditional with reference
to the present or the future:
Ger ev rast be, … If this is true, …
Ger ew bibin yek, ew dikarin her tiştî
bikin.
KURMANJI KURDISH
40
If they unite, they can do anything.