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particle, such as in relativization. 44 A thorough discussion of all of the functions of the
ezafe conjunctive particle is outside the focus of this paper.
The following table summarizes the ezafe forms. The different plural forms reflect
dialect differences. The forms -ên and -yên tend to be the standard for writing.
Table 5.
Forms of the ezafe conjunctive particle
masculine feminine plural
Ezafes for primary constructs -ê -a -êt or -ên
Ezafes for secondary constructs -yê -ya -yêt or -yên
In example (25), the feminine ezafe particle, -a, is attached to the end of the head noun
sêv, ‘apple.’ Its modifier is the adjective mezin, ‘big.’
(25) min sêv-a mezin xwar-Ø
1O apple-EZ.F big eat.PST-3SG
‘I ate the large apple.’
An example of a noun phrase (NP) modifying a noun is presented below in (26). Here an
NP consisting of a demonstrative wî, 3OM, and a noun welat, ‘country,’ modifies the word
mirov, ‘person.’ We know that mirov is the plural form, ‘people,’ because of the plural
ezafe particle. Notice too that when an NP is in the oblique state and ends in a noun, the
oblique marker goes on the final noun, in this case the word welat. The oblique marker
must match the gender and number of the noun to which it is attached, not that of the
head noun of the clause.
(26) mirov-ên wî welat-î (Thackston 2006:12)
person-EZ.PL 3OM country-OBL.M
‘the people of that country’
Example (24), repeated below in (27), shows the usage of singular and plural
ezafe conjunctive particles, each matching the gender and number of the word to which
they are connected. The first ezafe is on the word pertûk, ‘book.’ The ezafe is plural and
44 Regarding Northern Kurmanji, Haig writes, “Ezafe has retained many of the features of its
Old Iranian ancestor, including relativizer, demonstrative and nominalizer functions. The Northern Kurdish
ezafe has also extended its distribution from the nominal into the verbal domain” (Haig, 2011: 363). See
also MacKenzie (1961), Sweetnam (2005), and Thackston (2006).