Uyghur and English/Contrastive Grammar

This wiki-page is created to document instances of grammar difference between some sentences in Uyghur and English.

Sentence Structure

General English sentences would follow S + V + obj, whereas in Uyghur, it would be S + obj + V.

Noun

Uyghur has 10 different cases for each specific noun whereas English does not have any.

Pronoun

In Uyghur, notice that:

• Second-Person Pronouns are categorized based on the formality
• The Third-Person Pronoun are not categorized according to gender or number.

In English, both of these cases are the opposite.

Verb to be

In English, the verb "to be" is used; whereas in Uyghur, it is often omitted.

Verbs

The verbs are categorized according to the pronouns. Since the Pronouns are already different between the two languages, this leads to many cases that leads to a difference in the tags for the verb in each tense.

Copulas

The Copulas for Uyghur have different cases just as verbs do, whereas in English, no such cases exist for copulas.

Examples

These examples should illustrates all the grammatical differences mentioned above.

Examples:

• (uig) .خۇدا يورۇقلۇقنىڭ ياخشى ئىكەنلىكىنى كۆردى → (eng) God saw the brightness's state of being good.

  (uig) خۇدا<n><nom> + يورۇقلۇق<n><gen>+ ياخشى<adj>+ ئىكەن<cop><p3><acc><dn>+ كۆردى<v><ifi><p3> → (eng) God <np><al><sg>+ saw<vblex><past>+ the<det>+ brightness's<n><sg><gen>+ state of being<n>+ good<adj>

• (uig) .خۇدانىڭ ئەمرى بىلەن شۇنداق بولدى → (eng) With God's command it was done like that.

  (uig) خۇدا<n><gen> + ئەمرى<n><nom>+ بىلەن <pr>+ شۇنداق<cnjsub>+ بول<v><ifi><p3> → (eng) With<pr>+ God's<n><gen><p3>+ command<n>+ that<rel>+ it<n><p3>+ was<v><ifi>+ do<v><pii>

• (uig) خۇدا بۇلارنىڭ ياخشى ئىكەنلىكىنى كۆردى. → (eng) God saw that these were good.

  (uig) خۇدا<n><nom> + بۇ<n><pl><gen>+ ياخشى<adj>+ ئىكەن<cop><p3><acc><dn>+ كۆردى<v><ifi><p3> → (eng) God <n><p3>+ saw<v><ifi>+ that<rel>+ these<prn><pl>+ was<v><ifi><pl>+ good<adj>

• (uig) ئۆيىمدە جىق چاشقان بار. → (eng) There are many mice in my house.

  (uig) ئۆي<n><pos><sg><loc> + جىق<adj>+ چاشقان <n><nom>+ بار<adj> → (eng) There <prn>+ be<cop><pl>+ many<adj>+ mouse<n><pl>+ in<pr>+ my<adj><pos><p1>+house<n>

• (uig) ئيەنە كېچە ۋە كۈندۈز ئۆتتى بۇ ئۈچىنچى كۈن بولدى. → (eng) Night and Day passed again this third day was done.

  (uig) يەنە<adv> + كېچە<n><nom>+ ۋە <cnjcoo>+ كۈندۈز<n><nom> + ئۈچىنچى<adj>+ كۈن<n><nom> + بول<v><ifi><p3> → (eng) Night <n><sg> + and<cnjsoo> + day <n><sg>+ passed<v><ifi> + again <adv> + this <det.dem> + third <adj> + day <n><p3><sg> + was <v><ifi><sg> + done <v><pp>.