A Grammar of Iranian Azerbaijani

A Grammar of
Iranian Azerbaijani
by
Sooman Noah Lee
A thesis submitted for the degree

Doctor of Philosopy
In Linguistics
Linguistics
COGS
University of Sussex
1996
Həyat üçün
Azərbaycan Xalqı üçün
For Life
For the Azerbaijani People
ii Contents
UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX
SOOMAN NOAH LEE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
A GRAMMAR OF IRANIAN AZERBAIJANI
SUMMARY
This thesis provides a description of the basic structures of Iranian Azerbaijani based on a
functional-typological approach to the study of languages, which is developed by T. Givón and
others.
In introducing the language, it is underlined that hitherto there has not been a systematic
description of Azerbaijani beyond the level of morphology. This grammar describes from the
phonology to the syntax of the language, which is used by about twenty million speakers in
northwestern Iran.
The overall structure of the grammatical description falls into three parts: phonology
(Chapter 2), morphology (Chapters 3-5), and syntax (Chapters 6-13). The arrangement shows
that the syntax is the major thrust of this thesis.
A brief phonological overview is found in Chapter 2, where the vowels and consonants are
introduced along with other phonological phenomena, including the vowel harmony rules and
their violations.
Chapter 3 describes the noun, Chapter 4 the verb, and Chapter 5 other word classes,
explaining the form and function of various morphemes. It is noted that Azerbaijani, being an
agglutinative language, has a rich morphology.
The syntax comprises these components: the structures and functions of simple clauses,
copular and verbal, are dealt with in Chapter 6; two syntactic models of Azerbaijani noun
phrases are described in Chapter 7; the grammatical categories of tense, aspect, modality, and
negation, which operate in both simple clauses and complex sentences, are dealt with in Chapter
8; the functions and syntax of five morphologically distinctive voices, transitivization and
causation are described in Chapter 9; three types of subordinate clauses—complement clauses
(Chapter 10), relative clauses (Chapter 11), adverbial clauses (Chapter 12)—are described along
with their pre-posed and post-posed positions. The end of Chapter 12 is on clausal
coordinations. Finally, Chapter 13 describes non-declarative speech acts, namely imperative and
interrogative.
iii Contents
CONTENTS
Summary......................................................................................................................... ii
Abbreviations ................................................................................................................ xi
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................1
1.1. The people ..................................................................................................1
1.2. The language ............................................................................................................2
1.3. Previous research......................................................................................................3
1.4. The data base ............................................................................................................4
1.5. Aims of this grammar .................................................................................5
1.6. Linguistic characteristics ..........................................................................................6
1.7. Azerbaijani alphabets and orthography ....................................................................9
2. Phonology..................................................................................................................12
2.1. The Azerbaijani phonemes .....................................................................................12
2.1.1. Consonants.............................................................................................12
2.1.2. Vowels ...................................................................................................15
2.2. The syllable structure and word..............................................................................16
2.3. Stress and intonation ..............................................................................................17
2.4. Phonological processes...........................................................................................18
2.4.1. Assimilation ...........................................................................................18
2.4.2. Dissimilation..........................................................................................19
2.4.3. Lenition ....................................................................................19
2.4.4. Epenthesis ..............................................................................................19
2.4.5. Deletion..................................................................................................20
2.4.6. Metathesis ..............................................................................................21
2.5. The vowel harmony................................................................................................22
3. Nouns ........................................................................................................................26
3.1. Syntactic characteristics .........................................................................................26
3.2. Morphological characteristics ................................................................................27
3.2.1. Inflectional morphology.........................................................................27
3.2.1.1. Gender...................................................................................27
3.2.1.2. Plural marker.........................................................................28
3.2.1.3. The case marking system ......................................................29
3.2.1.4. Use of cases...........................................................................31
3.2.1.4.1. The nominative case .............................................31
3.2.1.4.2. The genitive case ..................................................32
3.2.1.4.3. The accusative case ..............................................33
3.2.1.4.4. The dative case .....................................................33
3.2.1.4.5. The locative case ..................................................34
3.2.1.4.6. The ablative case ..................................................34
3.2.1.4.7. The comitative case ..............................................35
3.2.1.4.8. The vocative in Azerbaijani..................................36
3.2.1.4.9. Oblique phrases with case markers ......................37
3.2.1.5. The possessive suffixes .........................................................37
3.2.1.6. Articles and definiteness .......................................................38
3.2.2. Derivational morphology .......................................................................39
iv Contents
3.2.2.1. Lexical nominalization ..........................................................39

3.2.2.1.1. Processes for forming nouns from verbs ..............39
3.2.2.1.2. Devices for forming nouns from nouns and
adjectives ................................................................41
3.2.2.2. Compound nouns ..................................................................42
3.3. Order of elements in words with a nominal head ...................................................43
4. Verbs .........................................................................................................................44
4.1. The infinitive ..........................................................................................................44
4.2. Inflectional morphology .........................................................................................44
4.2.1. Morphology of copula ...........................................................................44
4.2.1.1. Personal endings set 1 ...........................................................45
4.2.2. Morphology of regular verbs .................................................................46
4.2.3. Tense-aspect ..........................................................................................50
4.2.4. Modality.................................................................................................51
4.2.5. Voice......................................................................................................52
4.2.6. Negation.................................................................................................52
4.2.7. Participles ..............................................................................................53
4.2.8. Inter-clausal suffixes..............................................................................54
4.3. Derivational morphology........................................................................................55
4.3.1. Verbs derived from nouns......................................................................55
4.3.2. Verbs derived from adjectives ...............................................................55
4.3.3. Verbs derived from numeral ..................................................................55
4.3.4. Verbs derived from verbs: the voice markers ........................................55
4.3.4.1. Causative-transitive suffixes .................................................55
4.3.4.2. Passive suffixes .....................................................................56
4.3.4.3. Reflexive suffixes..................................................................57
4.3.4.4. Reciprocal suffix ...................................................................57
4.3.5. Compound verbs....................................................................................57
4.3.5.1. Copulative compounds..........................................................57
4.3.5.2. Use of auxiliary verbs ...........................................................58
4.3.5.3. Phrasal verbs .........................................................................58
4.4. Order of elements in the verb .................................................................................59
5. Other word classes.....................................................................................................60

5.1. Pronouns.................................................................................................................60
5.1.1. Personal pronouns..................................................................................60
5.1.2. Reflexive pronouns................................................................................62
5.1.3. Reciprocal pronouns ..............................................................................63
5.1.4. Demonstrative pronouns ........................................................................63
5.1.5. Indefinite pronouns ................................................................................65
5.1.6. Interrogative pronouns ...........................................................................66
5.1.7. Relative pronouns ..................................................................................67
5.2. Adjectives...............................................................................................................67
5.2.1. Semantic characteristics.........................................................................67
v Contents
5.2.1.1. Prototypical adjectives ..........................................................68

5.2.1.2. Less prototypical adjectives ..................................................69
5.2.2. Syntactic characteristics.........................................................................69
5.2.3. Morphological characteristics................................................................70
5.2.3.1. Grammatical morphology......................................................70
5.2.3.2. Derivational morphology ......................................................70
5.2.3.2.1. Noun to adjective..................................................70
5.2.3.2.2. Verb to adjective...................................................71
5.3. Numerals ................................................................................................................71
5.3.1. Cardinal numbers...................................................................................71
5.3.2. Ordinal numbers ....................................................................................73
5.3.3. Fractions.................................................................................................74
5.3.4. Collective numbers ................................................................................75
5.4. Classifiers ...............................................................................................................75
5.5. Quantifiers ..............................................................................................................76
5.6. Adverbs ..................................................................................................................77
5.6.1. Morphological characteristics................................................................78
5.6.1.1. Derived adverbs ....................................................................78
5.6.1.2. Compound adverbs .............................................................................78
5.6.2. Semantic classifications of adverbs..........................................79
5.6.2.1. Manner adverbs.....................................................................79
5.6.2.2. Time adverbs.........................................................................79
5.6.2.3. Place adverbs.........................................................................80
5.6.2.4. Quantity adverbs ...................................................................81
5.6.2.5. Epistemic-evaluative adverbs................................................81
5.7. Postpositions...........................................................................................................81
5.7.1. Postpositions with the nominative case .................................................82
5.7.2. Postpositions with the nominative, genitive, or dative case...................82
5.7.3. Postpositions with the dative case..........................................................83
5.7.4. Postpositions with the ablative case.......................................................84
5.7.5. Nominal postpositions ...........................................................................85
5.8. Connectives ............................................................................................................86
5.8.1. Conjunctions ..........................................................................................86
5.8.2. Subordinators.........................................................................................87
5.9. Particles ..................................................................................................................88
5.10. Interjections ..........................................................................................................89
6. Simple clauses ...........................................................................................................91

6.1. Preamble.................................................................................................................91
6.1.1. Semantic roles........................................................................................91
6.1.2. Grammatical roles..................................................................................93
6.1.2.1. The grammatical subject .......................................................94
6.1.2.2. The grammatical direct object...............................................94
6.1.2.3. The oblique object.................................................................94
6.1.2.4. Nominal and adjectival predicates ........................................95
6.2. Basic word-order in simple clauses ........................................................................95
6.3. Copular clauses.......................................................................................................97
6.3.1. Equational clauses .................................................................................98
6.3.2. Existential clauses..................................................................................99
vi Contents
6.3.3. Locative clauses ...................................................................................101

6.3.4. Possessive clauses................................................................................103
6.3.5. Adjectival clauses ................................................................................105
6.4. Verbal clauses.......................................................................................................105
6.4.1. Simple intransitive verbs......................................................................106
6.4.2. Intransitive verbs with an oblique-object.............................................108
6.4.2.1. Intransitive verbs with a locative oblique-object.................108
6.4.2.2. Intransitive verbs with recipient or patient oblique-
object ..................................................................................108
6.4.2.3. Intransitive verbs with impersonal construction..................109
6.4.2.4. Intransitive verbs with predicate nominals..........................110
6.4.3. Transitive verbs....................................................................................111
6.4.3.1. Prototypical transitive verbs................................................111
6.4.3.2. Transitive verbs with experiencer subjects .........................112
6.4.3.3. Transitive verbs with recipient direct-objects .....................112
6.4.3.4. Transitive verbs with cognate objects .................................112
6.4.3.5. Transitive verbs with predicate nominals............................113
6.4.4. Ditransitive verbs.................................................................................113
6.4.4.1. The ditransitive prototype: Locative oblique-object............113
6.4.4.2. Verbs with recipient-benefactive oblique-object.................115
6.4.4.3. Verbs with an instrumental oblique-object .........................115
6.4.5. Verbs with sentential complements .....................................................115
6.4.5.1. Perception-cognition-utterance verbs..................................115
6.4.5.2. Modality verbs.....................................................................117
6.4.5.3. Manipulative verbs..............................................................118
6.5. Incorporation in compound verbs.........................................................................118
6.5.1. Noun incorporation..............................................................................118
6.5.2. Adjective incorporation .......................................................................120
6.6 Adverbs in simple clauses .....................................................................................120
6.6.1. Clause-initial position of adverbs ........................................................120
6.6.2. Post-subject position of adverbs ..........................................................121
6.5.3. Pre-verbal position of adverbs .............................................................121
6.5.4. Altaic-movement..................................................................................121
6.7 Agreement in simple clauses .................................................................................122
7. Noun phrases ...........................................................................................................124

7.1. Ordering of elements within the noun phrase.......................................................124
7.2. Determiners ..........................................................................................................125
7.3. Quantifiers, numerals, and classifiers...................................................................126
7.3.1. Partitive definite quantifiers.................................................................126
7.3.2. Indefinite quantifiers............................................................................127
7.3.3. Numerals and classifiers ......................................................................127
7.4. Adjectives.............................................................................................................127
7.5. Compounding: Nouns as modifiers ......................................................................129
7.5.1. Compounding with the possessive suffix ............................................129
7.5.2. Compounding without the possessive suffix .......................................130
7.6. Possessive NP: Possessive constructions .............................................................131
7.6.1. The structure of possessive construction .............................................131
vii Contents
7.6.2. Relationship between elements within the possessive

construction ......................................................................................133
7.6.3. Nominal agreement in the possessive construction .............................133
7.6.4. Possessive constructions arising through nominalization ....................135
7.7. Relative clauses ....................................................................................................136
7.8. Post-nominal modifiers.........................................................................................136
7.9. Modifiers used as anaphoric pronouns .................................................................138
7.10. Split NPs, Double-head NPs ..............................................................................138
7.11. Coordination of noun phrases.............................................................................140
7.11.1. Conjunction........................................................................................140
7.11.2. Presection...........................................................................................142
7.11.3. Disjunction.........................................................................................142
7.11.4. Rejection ............................................................................................143
7.11.5. The relative order of conjoined NPs ..................................................143
7.11.6. Case-marking of conjoined NPs ........................................................144
8. Tense, aspect, modality, and negation.....................................................................145

8.1. Tense ....................................................................................................................145
8.1.1. Present .................................................................................................145
8.1.2. Past.......................................................................................................146
8.1.3. Future ...................................................................................................147
8.1.4. Perfect..................................................................................................148
8.1.4.1. Anteriority...........................................................................149
8.1.4.2. Perfectivity ..........................................................................150
8.1.4.3. Current relevance ................................................................150
8.1.4.4. Counter-sequentiality ..........................................................151
8.1.5. Tense for generic statements/timeless action.......................................152
8.1.6. Tense in the subordinate clause ...........................................................152
8.2. Aspect...................................................................................................................153
8.2.1. Perfective versus imperfective .............................................................153
8.2.2. Terminative ..........................................................................................153
8.2.3. Progressive...........................................................................................154
8.2.4. Habitual................................................................................................156
8.2.5. Iterative ................................................................................................158
8.2.6. Inchoative.............................................................................................159
8.3. Modality ...............................................................................................................160
8.3.1. Realis versus irrealis ............................................................................160
8.3.2. The grammatical distribution of modality............................................160
8.3.2.1. Tense-aspect........................................................................160
8.3.2.2. Modal adverbs and adjectives .............................................161
8.3.2.3. Modal suffixes and verbs ....................................................162
8.3.2.4. Irrealis and non-declarative speech-acts..............................162
8.3.2.5. Modality in complement clauses .........................................163
8.3.2.6. Modality in adverbial clauses..............................................164
8.3.3. Epistemic modality ..............................................................................165
8.3.3.1. Necessity .............................................................................165
8.3.3.2. Possibility............................................................................166
8.3.4. Epistemological modality ....................................................................166
8.3.4.1. Evaluative............................................................................167
viii Contents
8.3.4.2. Evidential ............................................................................167

8.3.5. Deontic modality..................................................................................168
8.3.5.1. Obligation............................................................................168
8.3.5.2. Permission...........................................................................168
8.3.5.3. Volitive................................................................................169
8.4. Negation ...............................................................................................................170
8.4.1. Standard negation in simple clauses ....................................................170
8.4.1.1. Copular negation .................................................................170
8.4.1.2. Verbal negation ...................................................................171
8.4.2. Negative polarity items ........................................................................172
8.4.2.1. Negative nouns....................................................................172
8.4.2.2. Negative quantifiers ............................................................173
8.4.2.3. Negative adjectives .............................................................173
8.4.2.4. Negative adverbs.................................................................174
8.4.2.5. Negative/denial particles .....................................................174
8.4.3. The scope of negation..........................................................................175
9. Voice and transitivity...............................................................................................177

9.1. Functional dimensions of voice ............................................................................177
9.1.1. Transitivity...........................................................................................177
9.1.2. Relative topicality ................................................................................179
9.2. The syntax of ditransitive clauses.........................................................................180
9.2.1. The passive voice and agent suppression.............................................180
9.2.2. The antipassive voice with patient suppression ...................................182
9.3. Transitivization.....................................................................................................184
9.3.1. Transitivization of intransitive verbs ...................................................184
9.3.2. Causativization of transitive verbs.......................................................185
9.3.3. Subject-patient suppression in causative clauses .................................186
9.3.3.1. Deletion of subject-patient ..................................................186
9.3.3.2. Object incorporation............................................................187
9.3.4. Production of ditransitive verbs ...........................................................187
9.4. Reciprocal constructions ......................................................................................188
9.4.1. Light and heavy reciprocal markings...................................................188
9.4.2. Collective actions.................................................................................190
9.5. Reflexive constructions ........................................................................................190
9.5.1. Light and heavy reflexive markings.....................................................190
9.5.2. Reflexive and reciprocal verbs.............................................................192
10. Complement clauses..............................................................................................193

10.1. Types of complement clause ..............................................................................193
10.1.1. Syntactic complement types...............................................................193
10.1.1.1. Pre-verbal complements ....................................................193
10.1.1.2. Post-verbal complements ..................................................194
10.1.1.3. Paratactic complements.....................................................196
10.1.2. Semantic complement types...............................................................197
10.2. Modality verbs....................................................................................................197
10.3. Aspectual verbs ..................................................................................................199
10.4. Manipulative verbs .............................................................................................199
10.5. Verbs of perception and cognition .....................................................................201
ix Contents
10.6. Utterance verbs...................................................................................................204

10.7. Question complements .......................................................................................206
10.8. Sentential subjects ..............................................................................................206
11. Relative clauses .....................................................................................................208

11.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses ..................................................208
11.2. The basic syntax of relative clauses ...................................................................209
11.2.1. Embedding inside a noun phrase .......................................................209
11.2.2. Deletion under coreference and case-role recoverability...................210
11.3. Structure and function of pre-nominal relative clauses ......................................212
11.3.1. Subject pre-nominal relative clauses..................................................212
11.3.2. Object pre-nominal relative clauses...................................................215
11.4. Structure and function of post-nominal relative clauses.....................................217
11.4.1. Extraposition of post-nominal relative clauses ..................................217
11.4.2. Case-roles of the coreferential noun phrase.......................................219
11.5. Logic behind the choice of type .........................................................................220
11.6 Relativization of adverbial roles: time/place – relativization ..............................221
11.6.1. Pre-nominal relativization of adverbial roles.....................................222
11.6.2. Post-nominal relativization of adverbial roles ...................................222
11.7. Possessive relative clauses .................................................................................223
11.7.1. Pre-nominal possessive relative clauses ............................................223
11.7.2. Post-nominal possessive relative clauses...........................................223
11.8. Headless relative clauses ....................................................................................224
11.9. Clause internal relativized noun phrases and the infinitive ................................225
11.10. Recursive embedding of relative clauses..........................................................226
12. Inter-clausal connections .......................................................................................228

12.1. Adverbial clauses ...............................................................................................228
12.1.1. Structural types of adverbial clauses..................................................228
12.1.2. Temporal clauses ...............................................................................230
12.1.3. Locative clauses.................................................................................236
12.1.4. Manner clauses ..................................................................................236
12.1.5. Reason and result clauses ..................................................................237
12.1.6. Purpose clauses..................................................................................239
12.1.7. Conditional clauses ............................................................................241
12.1.7.1. Simple irrealis conditions..................................................241
12.1.7.2. Conditional and temporal clauses .....................................243
12.1.7.3. Negative conditionals........................................................244
12.1.7.4. Counterfactual conditionals ..............................................245
12.1.7.5. Optative conditionals ........................................................246
12.1.8. Concessive clauses.............................................................................247
12.1.9. Correlative degree clauses .................................................................248
12.2. Coordinate clauses..............................................................................................249
12.2.1. Paraphrase..........................................................................................249
12.2.2. Coupling ............................................................................................250
12.2.3. Ellipsis ...............................................................................................252
12.2.4. Contrast..............................................................................................253
12.2.5. Disjunction.........................................................................................254
x Contents
13. Non-declarative speech acts ..................................................................................256

13.1. Imperative...........................................................................................................256
13.1.1. The canonical imperative sentence ....................................................257
13.1.2. Other forms of imperative sentences .................................................258
13.1.3. Prohibitives ........................................................................................260
13.2. Interrogative .......................................................................................................261
13.2.1. Yes-no questions................................................................................261
13.2.2. Alternative questions .........................................................................262
13.2.3. WH questions.....................................................................................263
13.2.4. Embedded WH-clauses......................................................................265
13.2.5. Non-interrogative use of questions ....................................................266
13.3. Minor sentence types..........................................................................................267
13.3.1. Exclamations......................................................................................267
13.3.2. Imprecatives and optatives.................................................................269
Bibliography................................................................................................................271
xi
ABBREVIATIONS
ABIL abilitative NECES necessitative

ABL ablative NEG negative
ACC accusative NMLZ nominalizer
ADJ adjective NOM nominative, nominal
ADV adverb NP noun phrase
ADVLZ adverbializer NUM number
AGT agent O object
ANA anaphoric OBL oblique
AOR aorist/indefinite future OPT optative
AP adjective phrase ORD ordinal
ASP aspect PA past
ASSOC associative PASS passive
BEN benefactive PAT patient
C consonant PERS person
CAUS causative PF perfect(ive)
CL clause PH phrase
CLAS classifier PL plural
COM comitative PO/POSS possessive
COND conditional POSSD possessed
CONSTR construction POSSR possessor
COP copula POSTP postposition
CS coordinative suffix PR present
DAT dative PRED predicate
DEF definite PROG progressive
DERIV derivation(al morpheme) PTC participle
DET determiner PURP purpose, purposive
DO direct object QUANT quantifier
EXIST existential RC relative clause
FUT future REC recipient
GEN genitive RCPR reciprocal
HAB habitual RFLX reflexive
HON honorific S/SUBJ subject
HRS hearsay SG singular
IMP imperative SJNCT subjunctive
INDF indefinite SS subordinative suffix
INF infinitive SUB subordinator
INFR inferential V vowel in phonology; verb
INST instrument(al) in morphology and syntax
INTENT intentional VP verb phrase
INTERR interrogative 1P first person plural
IO indirect object 1S first person singular
ITER iterative 2H second person honorific
Lit. literal(ly) 2P second person plural
LOC locative 2S second person singular
MAN manner 3P third person plural
MOD modality 3S third person singular
N noun * ungrammatical
1 1. Introduction
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1. The people
The Azerbaijani language is spoken by the Azerbaijani people. They are known by several
names depending on the location and context, such as ‘Azeri (Azəri in Azerbaijani)’, ‘Azeri
Turk (Azəri Türk)’, ‘Turk (Türk)1’, as well as ‘Azerbaijani (Azərbaycanlı)’. These names can
be used interchangeably; however, ‘Azerbaijani’ is considered the most proper. The noun
‘Azerbaijani [AzERbAj'dZAni]’, in effect, has two meanings: ‘the Azerbaijani people’ and ‘the
language spoken by the people’, though sometimes the language is called ‘the Azerbaijani
language (Azərbaycan dili or Azərbaycanca)’. The word is mostly used to denote the language
in this grammar.
The Azerbaijani people live in three different countries: in the northwestern provinces of the
Islamic Republic of Iran (twenty million), northern Iraq (one million), and in the Republic of
Azerbaijan (seven million). There are also Azerbaijani communities in the Caucasian republics
of Georgia, Armenia, and Dagestan. Those in Iran are called Iranian or South Azerbaijani, those
in the Republic of Azerbaijan North Azerbaijani, and those in Iraq Iraqi Azerbaijani. The
Azerbaijani heartland is located to the east of Mt Ararat towards the Caspian Sea, in the
crossroads of ancient trade and conquest. It consequently has witnessed countless linguistic and
ethnic changes. The Azerbaijani have a cultural heritage of animism, Zoroastrianism,
Christianity and Islam (mostly of the Shi’a order). The historical development and formation of
the Azerbaijani people and their language as we encounter it today is a complicated subject
which would go beyond the scope of this study and merit a voluminous monograph in its own
right. The Azerbaijani people today are a Turkic-language-speaking group whose history
includes several centuries or even millennia of close contacts with Persians, Arabs, Greeks,
Mongols, Russians and others, each of whom has left traces in the language and people.2
The dialect described in this grammar is spoken in Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijani
Province in northwestern Iran. Alongside the national language of Persian, Azerbaijani is
extensively used in daily living. There are radio and TV programmes broadcast in the Urmia
dialect several hours every day. The data was collected in Urmia. Some consideration was given
to the dialect of Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijani Province. The two dialects are largely
identical except for some phonological differences.
1.2. The language
Azerbaijani belongs to the southeastern or Oghuz group of the Turkic language family, with
other members of the group being Turkish, Gagauz, Turkmen and Qashqai. The classification
1‘Turk’ is an Iranian name for the Azerbaijani people and ‘Turki’ for the language.
2One important element, for example, is Mongolian, for the Mongols occupied the Azerbaijani
heartland for more than a century. See Caferoğlu (1954) and Abdullayev (1992).
2 1. Introduction
of the Turkic languages is complicated, differing from scholar to scholar.3 But Azerbaijani has
been consistently classified as belonging to the Oghuz group. The topic of genetic relationships
of the Turkic family with other languages of the world is still subject to debate. It is generally
accepted that the Turkic family together with the Mongolian and Tungusic families, and
possibly with Korean and Japanese, forms a larger Altaic family. The Altaic phylum forms a
geographically unbroken chain of languages, beginning from Japan, Korea, Manchuria, Central
Asia, the Caucasus, northern Iran, through Turkey. It is interesting to see that recent findings
concerning the correlation between the geographical distribution of human genes and linguistic
relations support the classifications proposed by many philologists in the past; as Ruhlen
(1994:32) puts it: "Human geneticists have found biological clusters in the human population
that are the same as or similar to the linguistic families identified by linguists."
Azerbaijani shares the basic typological features of the Turkic and Altaic languages:
agglutinating morphology with extensive suffixation, vowel harmony, lack of grammatical
gender, basic SOV word order in the simple clause, and the placement of modifier before the
head noun in the noun phrase. Iranian Azerbaijani, however, has adopted a considerable number
of Persian, i.e. Indo-European, features under the influence of the national language. This will
be further described in 1.6.
The classification of various Azerbaijani dialects has not yet been standardized. 4 In a
textbook approach Həsənov et al. (1989:5-7) identifies four dialects: (1) the East dialect group –
Quba, Baku, Şamaxı, Muğan and Lənkəran. (2) the West dialect group – Qazax, Qarabağ,
Gəncə, Ayrım. (3) the North dialect group – Şəki, Zaqatala-Qax. (4) the South dialect group –
Naxçıvan, Ordubad, Təbriz, Yerevan. The dialect of Urmia should be classified belonging to
(4). The Iraqi Azerbaijani of the Kirkuk region may be added as a fifth group. Furthermore,
reflecting the reality that the people have lived in three different countries for more than a
century, each with a different cultural-linguistic environment, one can roundly5 classify the
language in three groups: the North dialect group, the South dialect group, and the Iraqi dialect
group. In this grammar, the ‘South’ and ‘Iranian’ have been used interchangeably to denote the
target language of this study.
1.3. Previous research
There are a number of linguistic works on Azerbaijani, mostly on the North dialect. On the
other hand, there are just a few linguistic descriptions carried out on the South dialect. The
published works on South Azerbaijani are about evenly done by Azerbaijani linguists of Iran
and the Republic of Azerbaijan and by western linguists. However, there is not any reference
grammar which systematically describes Iranian Azerbaijani beyond the area of morphology.
Nevertheless, the present study stands upon the foundations of all the previous research, to
which I am indebted.
Among the Azerbaijani linguists, Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971) is the most systematic
description of the phonology and morphology of the Schahpur (currently Salmas, north of
Urmia) dialect. His analysis of the phonology and the tense-aspect-mood system is substantial.
It is regrettable that he stopped short of syntactic description. His evaluation of works on Iranian
3For example, see Ramstedt (1985:279ff), Benzing and Menges (1959:1ff), Menges (1968:59ff),
Poppe (1968:34ff), Banguoğlu (1986:12ff).
4Refer to Şirəliyev (1968), Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:9f), Caferoğlu and Doerfer (1959:281).
5A detailed classification of dialects will take a huge effort, for some people even maintain that there
are more than twenty Azerbaijani dialects in Iran alone.
3 1. Introduction
Azerbaijani up to his time is a good summary. Concerning the Azerbaijani grammars written in
the Persian language, he makes two comments: These are grammars of the written language or
the North dialect; they followed the model of traditional Arabo-Persian grammar (pp. 12f). The
Turkish linguist Ergin (1971) wrote Azeri Türkçesi, which in fact is a grammatical annotation
on the poetry of Tabrizian poet Shahriyar. Cəfərov (1990), a rare work on the South by a
northern scholar, is a grammatical sketch and stylistic analysis on the literary works of a few
Southern authors. Two recent grammars published in Iran in Persian Azerbaijani script,
Həsənov et al. (13706) and Zahtabi (1370), are still not the result of genuine linguistic research;
Həsənov et al. (1370) is a transliterated version of Həsənov et al. (1989), which was published
in Baku in the Cyrillic Azerbaijani script.
A few western linguists over nearly a century have published a few materials on Iranian
Azerbaijani in German, English and French. Foy (1903, 1904) contains grammatical sketches
and texts; Ritter (1921, 1939) is in the same vein. Monteil (1956) describes in French the
morphological features of the dialect spoken in Zanjan, northwest of Tehran, with classified
lexical lists. Caferoğlu and Doerfer (1959) is a short grammatical sketch on the language, which
was written as the Azerbaijani component of the comparative Turcological compendium
Philologiae Turcicae Fundamenta. Fraenkel (1962b), an unpublished PhD dissertation, is the
first descriptive grammar of any kind. Despite its pioneering merit, it has two shortcomings:
The analysis is based on a fairly limited amount of data, and is written within the framework of
first generation transformational-generative grammar. As a result, it is highly formalized, with
numerous formulas and terms, forbidding to most modern readers, unless they are determined to
first master the archaic model. Then comes Householder and Lotfi (1965), a voluminous
pedagogical grammar-cum-coursebook geared to English-speaking language learners. Although
it contains a substantial amount of phonological and grammatical analyses scattered throughout
the lessons, it was not meant to stand as a descriptive reference grammar. As Amirpur-
Ahrandjani (1971:15-17) puts it, Householder and Lotfi often mixed the South dialect with the
North one, thus creating confusion for language learners of both the South and North dialects.
In summary, Doerfer’s remarks may be quoted:
Of the Turkish languages of Persia, Azerbaijani is the most important numerically. Foy
(1903-04) may be regarded as the proper founder of Irano-Azerbaijanistics. One may
affirm that Turcology, until today, has not gone very far beyond his discoveries...
Consequently, a complete (structural and comparative) study of the Irano-Azerbaijani
dialects remains a desideratum.7
1.4. The data base
The data upon which the present grammar is based were gathered by myself over the past five
years in Urmia, northwest Iran, and from Azerbaijani speakers in Europe. The core of them
were collected during an eight-week field trip to Urmia from March to May in 1993, which was
generously sponsored by the University of Urmia. This trip was essential to my research, and I
take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the officers of the university, from the
Chancellor, Dr Razavi Rohani, to other professors and officers. Several people helped me
record folklore materials and conversations. Azerbaijani programmes of the Urmia Radio
6Outof the three calendar systems (Shamsi, Qamari, Miladi) which Iran uses, the Shamsi (the Iranian
solar) calendar is used for dating publications. The counting of the calendar begins from the
Hejira (622 A.D.): thus 1370 is around 1992 A.D.
7Doerfer (1970:217f).
4 1. Introduction
offered a goldmine of natural language materials. I was able to listen to and record programmes
full of spontaneous dialogues and discussions as well as folk music. A total of 1,320 minutes of
folklore, conversations and radio programmes were recorded. The majority of speakers in the
recorded materials are educated speakers, though care has been given to observe the usage of
language among less educated speakers. Out of this collection I transcribed 23 texts ranging in
length from 10 to 700 clauses. Narratives predominate in the texts, but also included are
procedural and expository discourses, as well as conversations.
The majority of examples cited in this grammar are taken from the text collection.
Occasionally elicited examples are used, especially to get the full morphemic variations in
specific grammatical units. In presenting the examples I have followed the conventional practice
of using three lines for anything beyond a single morpheme. The first line is the utterance. The
second line gives morpheme-by-morpheme glosses. As Azerbaijani is agglutinating, morpheme
glosses are mostly succinct. The third line gives a free translation in English.
1.5. Aims of this grammar
The principal aim of this grammar is to provide a description of the basic structures of Iranian
Azerbaijani based on a functional-typological approach to the study of languages.8
Here are some basic assumptions of this approach, as outlined by Givón (1984:29-45, 1993:1-
41). The first assumption is the biological analogy that there is a close parallelism between
language and organism. Givón suggests a biological analogy, saying, "In a broad way, the study
of syntax is rather similar to the study of anatomy-cum-physiology" (Givón 1984:30). As
various anatomical structures perform distinct physiological functions within the organism, so
do the various structures of human language perform their communicative functions. The task
of grammar is to describe the structures and functions in a complete way. This assumption may
be summed up with an old Turkic maxim:
(1) Bir lisan, bir insan; iki lisan, iki insan.

one language one person two language two person
‘One language, one person; two languages, two people’.
The second assumption is that language involves three functional realms in the realization of
communication:
(a) Word (meaning)

(b) Clause (information)
(c) Discourse (coherence)
Words code concepts that have meaning. The coding process primarily employs the use of
sounds. Clauses code semantic propositions that combine concepts into information.
Information is about relations, qualities, states or events in which entities in a given clause
partake. In the functional realm of discourse, individual propositions are related to each other,
forming coherent communicative text. The coding of (a) the propositional information in the
clause and (b) discourse coherence of the clause placed in its discourse context is realized by
grammar/syntax. In describing the grammar of any language, it is useful to follow a two-step
progression: (a) the grammar of simple clauses; (b) the grammar of complex clauses.
8I follow the basic outline and approach of Givón (1984 and 1990, 1993) and Carlson (1994).
5 1. Introduction
The syntactic structure is composed of four coding devices:
(a) Inflectional morphology

(b) Word order
(c) Intonation patterns
(d) Constraints
The first three are concrete elements, the last one is more abstract. Speakers use all the devices
to achieve the linguistic purpose of good communication.
The third assumption is that the notional-functional approach to grammar facilitates a
systematic inquiry into syntactic typology and cross-linguistic comparision. It is generally
accepted that the proposition is universal. Thus, it is hoped that this grammar may be of some
adequacy for typological studies.
Analogous to knowing a person, learning a language is a lifetime experience. The present
grammar is an attempt to describe Iranian Azerbaijani, as I have experienced it up to now, for
the benefit of linguists and language learners.
1.6. Linguistic characteristics
Iranian Azerbaijani is used largely for oral communication, without a standardized dialect or a
generally accepted orthography. Over centuries it has been under the strong influence of
Persian, the national language. As a result of this close language contact, the spoken language
as it is used in Iran today takes a form close to Persian in many respects, thus distancing itself
from the North9 and Iraqi dialects. In fact, it could even be asked whether Iranian Azerbaijani
is a Turkified Persian or a Persified Turkic. This topic is outside of the present study.
There are socio-cultural factors to be considered in the way the language contacts occurred.
Thomason and Kaufman (1988:74-76) propose the ‘borrowing scale’ as below:
Category (1): Casual contact: lexical borrowing only

Category (2): Slightly more intense contact: slight structural borrowing
Category (3): More intense contact: slightly more structural borrowing
Category (4): Strong cultural pressure: moderate structural borrowing
Category (5): Very strong cultural pressure: heavy structural borrowing
If we place Iranian Azerbaijani, particularly the dialect of those living in Urmia, on this scale,
it may sit around category (4). This may be interesting to comparative Turcologists and other
linguists. Here are brief accounts of the evidence for the language contact and borrowings.
A. Lexicon
Extensive borrowings from Persian: Technical terms for science, technology, religion and
administration are mostly Persian loanwords which in turn are often borrowings from Arabic.
Occasionally kinship terms are borrowed. Educated speakers exhibit a tendency to replace
natural indigenous words with Persian counterparts. For example,
9For a lexical comparison between the North and South dialects, see Azarsina and Memedova
(1993:20f). Cəfərov (1990) attempts an overall linguistic comparision between the two major
dialects.
6 1. Introduction
(2) Az.: a. çöndərmək ‘to change’ → Pe.: tabdil eləmək ‘to do change’
b. gözləmək ’to wait’ → müntəzir olmax ’to be waiting’
c. ginə ‘again’ → dubarə or təkrar ‘again’
Indeed all these words have already become a part of Azerbaijani lexicon. It is generally
claimed that the Oghuz group languages of the Turkic family have extensively borrowed Arabic
and Persian words. Iranian Azerbaijani, among them, may possess the largest quantity of
loanwords.
B. Phonology
Two features are conspicuous. First, violation of vowel harmony, one of the cardinal features
of Turkic phonology, is more advanced than in the North dialect or other Turkic languages.
Persian, like most other Indo-European languages, does not have a vowel harmony system. For
example,
(3) a. onu → oni ‘him (OBJ)’

b. oldu → oldi ‘he /she /it became’
Second, the front rounded vowels (ö, ü) tend to be defronted or to lose their roundedness.
Persian does not have front rounded vowels. There are six vowels in Persian contrasted with
nine in Azerbaijani. As a result, the vowel system in the Urmia dialect is closer to that of
Persian.
C. Morphosyntax
There is a strong tendency to make the basic word order simulate the Persian word order. The
Persian subordinator ki ‘that’ is extensively employed to construct finite complements in post-
verbal position in contrast to the usual Turkic participial clause structures in pre-verbal position.
Various other subordinators are also employed to construct finite adverbial clauses in contrast to
the usual Turkic participial adverbial clauses in pre-verbal position. The two ways of forming
relative clauses show the same ambivalent modes of subordination. All the subordinators that
introduce finite subordinate clauses are of Persian origin.
In natural speech, short Persian noun phrases and adverbial clauses are often borrowed as a
whole. For example, instead of the noun phrase in a possessive construction as in (4a.), the
Persian noun phrase (4b.) is often used.
(4) Az.: a. danişqah-ın reis-i

university-GEN chancellor-3S.PO
Pe.: b. reis-i danışqah

chancellor-of university
‘the chancellor of university’
All three structures in example (5) are used to express ‘for this reason (that)’. (5b.) shows an
intermediate stage with the Azerbaijani word bu inserted in the otherwise completely Persian
phrase.
7 1. Introduction
(5) Pe.: a. beraye in ki

for this that
Pe./Az.: b. beraye bu ki (bu is Azerbaijani )

for this that
Az.: c. bu-nun üçün

this-GEN for
‘for this reason’
Persian influence is so deep that an advanced stage of creolization seems to be taking place,
particularly among highly educated Azerbaijani speakers. One might be tempted to hypothesize
that Iranian Azerbaijani is similar to a bridge between the Altaic/Turkic languages and Indo-
European, i.e. Persian, languages. However, Iranian Azerbaijani is still firmly in the side of the
Turkic language family and it is appropriate to classify it in the same language together with the
North dialect group. As an Urmia aşıq ‘minstrel’ told me: Farsi şəkərdi, Turki hünərdi ‘Persian
is sugar, Azerbaijani is art’: two neighbour languages are equally sweet.
1.7. Azerbaijani alphabets and orthography
Azerbaijani is written currently in three different alphabets: the Persian alphabet in the South,
the Cyrillic and Latin alphabets in the North.10 As the Arabic-based Persian alphabet, which
has been used for the past centuries or millenium among the Azerbaijani people, has got only
three characters to represent vowels, whereas there are nine Azerbaijani vowels11, the Persian
alphabet is inadequate for writing Azerbaijani in an orthographically efficient manner. Several
scholars and literary people have tried, particularly for the last century, to improve the writing
system by modifying the vowel graphemes, but up to now no standardized alphabet has
emerged. Most of the suggested systems largely follow the Arabic (and Persian) orthographic
convention of lacking vowel representation. This short-coming partly accounts for the relatively
high rate of illiteracy among groups using Arabic-based alphabets, where Azerbaijani is no
exception.
In recent years, a group of Azerbaijani linguists have suggested a remarkably improved
Arabo-Persian Azerbaijani alphabet. It is based on the scientific orthographic principle of one
letter/grapheme representing one phoneme, something like the Arabic-based Uighur alphabet12
which resulted in a high literacy rate. The suggested alphabet basically follows the Persian
alphabet, but adds a few letters which are modified from existing letters. This new alphabet is
illustrated in the following table and also a sample text is given at the end of this chapter.
In the North, there has been a different course of alphabetical development. In December
1991, the Azerbaijani parliament in Baku passed a bill to change from the Cyrillic to a Latin
alphabet. This Latin alphabet closely follows the Turkish alphabet. The following table shows
10The history of alphabets used in Azerbaijani is described in Abdullayev (1992:25-68) and Şimşir
(1991). Abdullayev registers ten alphabets that were used by Turkic peoples: Orkhon-Yenisey,
Uyghur, Sogdian, Manichaeian, Brahmi, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Cyrillic, Albanian.
11Traditionally, the Arabic letter ‘‫ ’ع‬was used for the Azerbaijani vowels a, ə, ‘‫ ’و‬for u, ü, o, ö, and
‘‫ ’ى‬for i, ı, e.
12Tenishev (1981: 478ff.).
8 1. Introduction
the Latin Azerbaijani alphabet (Əlifbası), together with the equivalents in the Cyrillic, Arabo-
Persian, and International Phonetic Alphabets:
Table 1.1. Azerbaijani alphabets
Form Cyrillic Name IPA Arabo-Persian

(Latin) equivalent symbol equivalent
1 Aa Аa a [a] ‫ا‬,3
2 Bb Бб be [b] ‫ب‬
3 Cc Ҹҹ ce [d] ‫ج‬
4 Çç Чч çe [t ] ‫چ‬
5 Dd Дд de [d] ‫د‬
6 Ee Ее e [e] (Kasra) ِ
7 Əə Əə ə [] (Fatha) َ
8 Ff Фф fe [f] ‫ف‬
9 Gg Ҝҝ ge [ ] ‫گ‬
10 Ğğ Ғғ ğe [] ‫غ‬
11 Hh Һһ he [h] ‫ح‬, ¨
12 Iı Ыы ı [] (©)*
13 Đi Ии i [i] ‫ئ‬
14 Jj Жж je [] ‫ژ‬
15 Kk Кк ke [k] ¬
16 Ll Лл el [l] ‫ل‬
17 Mm Мм em [m] ‫م‬
18 Nn Нн en [n] ‫ن‬
19 Oo Оо ο [o] ‫ و‬,‫او‬
20 Öö Өө ö [ø] (‫ و‬,‫*)او‬
21 Pp Пп pe [p] ‫پ‬
22 Qq Гг qe [q] ‫ق‬
23 Rr Рр er [] ‫ر‬
24 Ss Сс se [s] ‫س‬,‫ ص‬,‫ث‬
25 Şş Шш şe [ ] ‫ش‬
26 Tt Тт te [t] ‫ط‬,‫ت‬
27 Uu Уу u [u] (‫ أ‬,‫)اأ‬
28 Üü Үү ü [y] (‫ و‬,‫*)او‬
29 Vv Вв ve [v] ‫و‬
30 Xx Хх xe [x] ‫خ‬
31 Yy Jj ye [j] ‫ى‬
32 Zz Зз ze [z] ‫ز‬,‫ ذ‬,‫ ض‬,‫ظ‬
33 ’ ’ apostrof ["] ‫ع‬
* In this PDF version of the thesis, the letters in the parantheses are not in correct forms. The
present table is written in the Times New Roman font which does not include all the
letters/graphemes of the proposed Azerbaijani Arabo-Persian alphabet.
In this grammar the Latin Azerbaijani alphabet has been adopted to write the citations.
Typographically Azerbaijani words and texts are written in italics, e.g. Đnsan haradan gəlib,
hara gedir? This is a sample Azerbaijani text in the (a) Latin, (b) Cyrillic, and (c) newly-
suggested Arabo-Persian alphabets:
9 1. Introduction
(a) Həsən ha gözlədi qardaşlari gəlib çıxmadi. Axırda qoşun götürdi olari axtarmağa çıxdi.
Anasi oni yanına çağırıb dedi: "Oğlum, gedirsən, uğur olsun. Ancax mənim sözlərimə qulax as,
əvvəl paslı qılınci beliyən bağla."
(b) Һəсəн һа ҝөзлəди гардашлари ҝəлиб чыхмади. Ахырда гошун ҝөтүрди олари
ахтармаға чыхди. Анаси они јанына чағырыб деди: "Оғлум, ҝедирсəн, уғур олсун. Анҹах
мəним сөзлəримə гулах ас, əввəл паслы гылынҹи белијəн бағла."
(c)
10 2. Phonology
Chapter 2
Phonology
This chapter provides a brief description of the phonology of Iranian Azerbaijani. Although
the actual complexity of the Azerbaijani sound system duly merits an extensive description, here
it is scaled down to the very essentials with the aim that the following grammatical description
will be understandable. This chapter comprises five sections: the phonemes, syllable structure
and word, stress and intonation, phonological processes, and the vowel harmony.
2.1. The Azerbaijani phonemes
There are 32 segmental phonemes in Azerbaijani: twenty-three consonants and nine vowels,
which are all produced with egressive lung air. The symbols used here to represent the
phonemes are those of the International Phonetic Association, and their corresponding
orthographic characters (graphemes), if different, are shown next to the phonemes in the
parentheses. The examples in this grammar are written with the orthographic characters rather
than the phonetic/phonemic symbols.
2.1.1. Consonants
The twenty-three consonant phonemes are presented in the following table, followed by their
use in three different positions, if possible, with the corresponding orthographic representations
and glosses. The glottal stop is in parentheses, indicating it is not treated as a regular phoneme.
Table 2.1. Azerbaijani consonant phonemes

Labial Alveolar Alveo- Velar Uvular Glottal
Palatal
Stop Vl. p t k q (")(’)
Vd. b d g
Affricate Vl. t (ç)
Vd. d(c)
Fricative Vl. f s (ş) x h
Vd. v z (j) (ğ)
Nasal m n
Lateral l
Flap (r)
Glide j(y)
(1) /p/ /p#k/ pak ‘clean’, /tp/ təpə ‘hill’, /ip/ ip ‘rope’

/b/ /b#x/ bax ‘look!’, /s#b#h/ sabah ‘tomorrow’, /q#b/ qab ‘case’
/t/ /t#m/ tam ‘absolute’, /#t#/ ata ‘father’, /it/ it ‘dog’
/d/ /d#m/ dam ‘roof’, /#d#/ ada ‘island’, /j#d/ yad ‘memory’
11 2. Phonology
/k/ /kim/ kim ‘who?’, /iki/ iki ‘two’, /dlik/ dəlik ‘hole’
/g/ /gmi/ gəmi ‘ship’, /igid/ igid ‘hero’, /ng/ rəng ‘colour’
/q/ /qz/ qız ‘girl’, / qq/ şəqqə ‘lump’, /doqquz/ doqquz ‘nine’
/t /(ç) /t #/ çarə ‘cure’, /#t -/ aç- ‘open’, /it / iç ‘inside’
/d/(c) /d#v#n/ cavan ‘young’, /#d-/ ac- ‘get.hungry’, /ud / uc ‘tip’
/f/ /fil/ fil ‘elephant’, /nf/ nəfər ‘person’, /kef/ kef ‘mood’’
/v/ /v#xt/ vaxt ‘time’, /ovud/ ovuc ‘palm’, /ev/ ev ‘house’
/s/ /sh/ səhər ‘morning’, /s/ əsər ‘(artistic) work’, /ss/ səs ‘voice’
/z/ /zh/ zəhər ‘poison’, /id#z/ icazə ‘permission’, /øz/ öz ‘self’
/ /(ş) / i / şiş ‘skewer’, /# #/ aşağı ‘down’
//(j) /#l/ jalə ‘dew’, /d#h#/ əjdaha ‘dragon’
/x/ /xo / xoş ‘pleasant’, /yuxu/ yuxu ‘dream’, /yox/ yox ‘no’
//(ğ) /ib/ ğərib* ‘strange, /##/ ağa ‘sir’, /j#/ yağ ‘oil’
(*ğ usually does not occur initially; but educated speakers
often pronounce it as it occurs in Persian.)
/h/ /hj#t/ həyat ‘life’, /#h#t/ rahat ‘rest’, /s#b#h/ sabah
‘tomorrow’
/m/ /m#l/ mal ‘animal’, /z#m#n/ zaman ‘time’, /d#m/ dam ‘roof’
/n/ /n#l/ nal ‘horseshoe’, /onun/ onun ‘his’
/l/ /lzzt/ ləzzət ‘taste’, /dlik/ dəlik ‘hole’, /dil/ dil ‘tongue’
//(r) /ng/ rəng ‘colour’, /dii/ diri ‘alive’, /v#/ var ‘existent’
/j/(y) /je/ yer ‘place’, /#j#x/ ayax ‘foot’, /ij/ iy ‘smell’
The overall distribution of consonants shows a remarkable symmetry on the parameter of

voicing. Each one of these consonants has two or more allophones according to the various
environments in which it occurs, as can be confirmed in Householder and Lotfi (1965) and
Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:22-43) 13 . Among many characteristic features of Azerbaijani
consonants the following aspects may be noteworthy.
(i) The consonant /k/ requires special attention, for it is related to three phones: (a) the
aspirated [kh] (in free variation with the unaspirated [k]), (b) the palatalized [kj] and (c) the
alveolo-palatal fricative [%]. Only the phones [kj] and [%] occur in indigenous Azerbaijani
words: [kj] is the regular /k/ sound in Azerbaijani; it is realized as [%] in word-final position,
thus:
(2) /k/ → ┌ [%] / __# (word finally)

└ [kj] / elsewhere
The relationship between /k/ and [kh]/[k]is a subtle one. First of all, the aspirated velar stop
[kh] occurs only in loanwords such as ‘Coca-cola’ [khokh#khol#] or ‘computer’ [khompute].
However, often this alien [kh] changes into [kj] when the loanword becomes fully
Azerbaijanized or regularized. For example, the Persian word kahu [kh#hu] ‘lettuce’ becomes
[kj#hi] or even [t #hi] in Iranian Azerbaijani. On the other hand, [t ] of /t / itself tends to
further front-shift to [ts], e.g. Persian çun [t un] ‘because’ becomes çün [tsyn] in Azerbaijani. In
the same vein, /g/ is typically pronounced [gj] but there is a tendency to pronounce it as [d],
e.g. Persian gilas [ il#s] ‘cherry’ is either [ jil#s] or [dil#s] in Azerbaijani; while [d] of /d/
tends to shift to the further fronted affricate [dz], e.g. Persian cucə (or "juje") [dud]
13Besides these descriptions, Ergin (1971:89-219) provides an extensive description of the phonetic
and phonological features of Iranian Azerbaijani.
12 2. Phonology
‘chicken’ becomes cücə [dzydz] in Azerbaijani. These consonantal movements actually lead
us into a broader picture of front shifting, which we may call the ‘Azerbaijani consonant shift’.
It may be expressed with this table:
Table 2.2. The Azerbaijani consonant shift
Alveolar Alveo- Palato- Velar
Palatal Velar
ts ← t ← kj  ← k/kh
dz ← d ← j ←
(ii) The glottal stop/plosive ["] occurs in two occasions: (a) word-initially before a vowel,
when the syllable is pragmatically emphasized, e.g. ət ["t] ‘meat’, at ["#t] ‘horse’; (b) in
unmarked natural speech, the glottal stop often occurs among the speech of educated people
who intend to pronounce some Persian or Arabic words as they are pronounced in Persian or
Arabic. Those words include the Arabic letter ‘ayn(‫ )ع‬or the diacritical mark hamze (‫)ء‬. As a
literary tradition, these graphemes are written exactly as they appear in the original, when
Azerbaijani is written in the Arabo-Persian script. They are represented by an apostrophe (’),
when it is written in the Cyrillic or Latin script, except for the word-initial position where the
apostrophe sign is simply dropped. After all, the glottal stop, not occurring in genuine
Azerbaijani words, is not treated as a phoneme in Azerbaijani.
(3) sa’at [s#"#t] ‘time’

cama’at [d#m#"#t] ‘community, crowd’
mə’lum [m"lum] ‘clear’
əlac [l#d] ‘medicine’ (originally ’əlac ["l#d])
In natural speech, the glottal stop ultimately disappears, leaving an effect of lengthening the
preceding vowel, when it appears in word-medial position. But before it disappears, it is often
weakened to the fricative stop [h], as with:
(4) sa’at [s#"#t] > [s#h#t] > [s#&#t] ‘time’

cama’at [d#m#"#t] >[d#m#h#t] > [d#m#&#t] ‘community’
Thus, the weakening (or lenition) process may be expressed as14:
(5) Stop ["] > Fricative [h]> Zero [Ø]
2.1.2. Vowels
The nine vowel phonemes are presented in the following table:
14Lass (1984:177) explains the lenition processes as:

Stop » Fricative » Approximant » Zero
Voiceless » Voiced
13 2. Phonology
Front Back
–round +round –round +round
High i y(ü) (ı) u
Mid e
Low (ə) ø(ö) #(a) o
(6) /i/ /it/ it ‘dog’, /iti/ iti ‘sharp’

/e/ /et/ et- ‘do’, /bel/ belə ‘like this’
//(ə) /t/ ət ‘meat’, /tz/ təzə ‘new’
/y/(ü) /yzym/ üzüm ‘grape’, /jyz/ yüz ‘hundred’
/ø/(ö) /øzym/ özüm ‘myself’, /søz/ söz ‘word’
//(ı) /qz/ qız ‘girl’, /h#z/ hazır ‘ready’
/#/(a) /#n#/ ana ‘mother’, /x#l#/ xala ‘aunt’
/u/ /uzun/ uzun ‘long’, /buz/ buz ‘ice’
/o/ /on/ on ‘ten’, /bol/ bol ‘plenty’
The Azerbaijani vowel system is characterized by a symmetrical system, arranged on the three
features [±high], [±back], [±round]. The vowels may be classified into pairs according to these
features. Noticeably, only e is odd but e works closely with the regular ə in a wider vowel
system such as the vowel harmony. Thus vowels may be classified into classes, such as:
(7) [+high] vowels: i, ı, ü, u (high vowels)

[–high] vowels: ə, a, ö, o (low vowels)
[+back] vowels: ı, a, u, o (back vowels)
[–back] vowels: i, e, ə, ü, ö (front vowels)
[+round] vowels: ü, u, ö, o (rounded vowels)
[–round] vowels: i, ı, e, ə, a (unrounded vowels)
┌–high ┐ vowels: ə, a (low unrounded vowels)
└–round ┘
It may be notable that ı never occurs word-initally, and e, o and ö never occur word-finally
except for o ‘he, she, it’. e is most commonly confined to the word-initial syllable. ü and u also
never occur (phonological) word-finally because of the violation of the vowel harmony rules
(see 2.5. below). Overall, there seems to be a slightly noticeable tendency in Iranian Azerbaijani
to simplify the sound value of the vowels to conform to the Persian vowel system – Persian has
six vowels (i, e, ə[], a, u, o)15. Particularly the front rounded vowels ü and ö tend to lose their
roundedness.
Vowels in indigenous Azerbaijani words are all short16, but there are four long vowels used
in Arabic and Persian loanwords: a, ə, i, u, as with ali [#:li] ‘high’, mə’lum [m:lum] ‘clear’,
rahim [#hi:m] ‘merciful’, ümumi [ymu:mi:] ‘general’.
15Most Altaic-Turkic languges have eight or more vowels. Only highly Persified Uzbek has six
vowels.
16For example, in contrast with the Turkish iğne [i:n] ‘needle’ with a long vowel [i:], the Azerbaijani
cognate iynə [ijn] has a short vowel [i] followed by a slight friction of [j].
14 2. Phonology
2.2. The syllable structure and word
There are six syllable patterns: V, VC, VCC, CV, CVC, CVCC. Here are some examples:
(8) V o ‘he’, a-(yax) ‘foot’

VC on ‘ten’, ar-(vad) ‘woman’
VCC arx ‘ditch’, əhd ‘testament’
CV bu ‘this’, da-(ha) ‘more’
CVC gün ‘day’, gəl-(mək) ‘come’
CVCC qurd ‘wolf’, rəng-(ləmək) ‘colour, paint’
Iranian Azerbaijani seems to accommodate most consonant clusters that are found in Persian,
such as şn in cəşn ‘celebration’, lb in qəlb ‘heart’, qf in səqf ‘ceiling’, ks in əks ‘picture’, etc., as
well as those found in examples above and below. But, there is a clear tendency to get rid of the
consonant cluster17, where usually the opening consonant of the cluster drops and the second
one is devoiced. Thus we may conclude that CVC and CV are more canonical syllable patterns
in Azerbaijani. Here are some examples:
(9) qurd (CVCC) → qut (CVC) ‘wolf’

hirs (CVCC) → his (CVC) ‘anger’
rəng (CVCC) → rəh (CVC) ‘colour’
kənd (CVCC) → kət (CVC) ‘village’
alt (VCC) → at (VC) ‘underneath’
sürt.mək (CVCC.CVC) → süt.mək (CVC.CVC) ‘rub’
qýýı.zart.max (CV.CVCC.CVC) → qı.zat.max (CV.CVC.CVC) ‘roast’
However, when suffixes with an initial vowel are added to these words, the deleted consonant
revives or the original cluster remains, as in:
(10) qurd+un ‘GEN’ → qur.dun (CVC.CVC) ‘of a wolf’

hirs+i ‘3S.PO’ → hir.si (CVC.CV) ‘his anger’
sürt-+ül ‘PASS’-mək → sür.tül.mək (CVC.CVC.CVC) ‘be rubbed’
All words are composed of the six syllable patterns, singly or in combination. Azerbaijani
being an agglutinative language, a word can become very long, particularly in the verb; but
practically most words are composed of two to four syllables and words of five or more
syllables are rare.
2.3. Stress and intonation
Stress is phonemic, with contrastive word stress, as the following minimal pairs show:
(11) al'ma ‘apple!’ vs. 'alma ‘Don’t buy!’

gə'lin ‘bride’ 'gəlin ‘Come!’
17 This tendency is common among all Altaic/Turkic languages: Menges notes, “Altajic has a
profound aversion to consonant clusters, considering more than two consonants an intolerable
cluster.” (1968:74)
15 2. Phonology
ca'nım ‘my soul’ 'canım ‘dear!’

ata'sız ‘without a father’ a'tasız ‘you are a father.’
a'tam ‘my father’ 'atam ‘I am a horse.’
However, occasionally conflicting homophones are unavoidable, when there is no contrast in

the sound and stress patterns, as in the following pairs: (Morpheme boundaries are shown by the
hyphen.)
(12) a'ta-n ‘your father’ vs. a't-an ‘throwing (one)’

a'da-m ‘my island’ a'dam ‘man’
gə'l-ir ‘he is coming’ gə'lir ‘income’
In most lexical or phonological words the primary stress falls on the final syllable, normally
with a high pitch, as in:
(13) oğ'lan ‘boy’ qo'nax ‘guest’

göy'çək ‘pretty’ qaranqu'lux ‘darkness’
inəyi'miz ‘our cow’ gələcək'lər ‘they will come’
In some phonological words with enclitic suffixes the primary stress falls on the syllable
immediately before the suffix: e.g. the comitative case suffix y/inən ‘with’; the present copular
endings (4.2.1.2.) such as -sAn (SG) -sIz (PL) ‘your are’, -dIr ‘he/she/it is’; the second person
imperative marker -(y)In; the particle da/də ‘also’; the subordinator ki ‘that’, etc.
(14) a. ana-'sı-ynan
mother-3S.PO-with
‘with his mother’
b. Uşax de'yil-sən.
child not-be.2S.PR
‘You are not a child.’
c. 'Mən də vs. Mən-'də

I also I-LOC
‘I also’ ‘in me’
In general, there are two utterance (or syntactically sentence)-final intonation patterns: (a) the
falling intonation – for all sentence types except for the yes-no question; (b) the rising
intonation – for the yes-no question (see 13.2.1.). In utterances with several phonological
words, only the utterance-final word realizes the utterance-final intonation pattern and all the
other words usually have a rising intonation word-finally.
2.4. Phonological processes
In this section, six types of phonological processes are described: assimilation, dissimilation,
lenition, epenthesis, deletion, metathesis. The process of vowel harmony is described separately
in the following section.
16 2. Phonology
2.4.1. Assimilation
Assimilation processes are the commonest phonological process "in which one segment
becomes more similar to another segment in the same word or phrase" (Trask 1996:36). Among
many patterns of assimilations, the two commonest patterns are described here: progressive and
regressive assimilations, where consonants affect consonants.
(15) a. Progressive assimilation:

a1. d → n / n__ səndən → sənnən ‘from you’
başından → başınnan ‘from your head’
a2. l → n / n__ cavanlar → cavannar ‘youngsters’

yaxınlıx → yaxınnıx ‘proximity’
a3. l → d / t__ atlanmax → atdanmax ‘jump’

kətlər → kətdər ‘villages’
a4. m → b / p__ tapmax → tapbax ‘find’

çapmağına → çapbağına ‘to his galloping’
b. Regressive assimilation:
b1. r → l / __l gələrlər → gələllər ‘they will come’
şairlik → şaillik ‘the quality of a poet’
b2. t → s / __s getsin → gessin ‘let him come!’

tutsa → tussa ‘if he takes’
b3. n → m / __b on + bir → ombir ‘eleven’

olardan + biri → olardam biri ‘one of them’
2.4.2. Dissimilation
Dissimilation processes are much rarer than assimilations. The negative marker -mA (-ma/mə)
is dissimilated, disturbing the vowel harmony rules: it becomes -mI in the future and optative
forms of the verb. This may be owing to a motivation to make the negative marker "more
distinct from other sounds in the environment" (Katamba 1989:94) in order that the negation
gets across. Here are examples: (see 4.2.6. for further explanation)
(16) gəl-mə-yəcək → gəl-mi-yəcək ‘he will not come.’

gəl-mə-yə → gəl-mi-yə ‘I wish he will not come.’
yorul-ma-yasız → yorul-mi-yasız ‘take it easy’
2.4.3. Lenition
Besides the lenition of the glottal stop, as explained in 2.1.1., other types of lenition (or
‘weakening in phonological strength’) are also observed in Azerbaijani: that is, (i) stops become
17 2. Phonology
approximants, or (ii) voiceless consonants become voiced consonants, in intervocalic position,

as the following examples show.
(17) a. k/g → y / V__V üzük + -üm ‘1S.PO’ → üzüyüm ‘my ring’

dəlik + -ə ‘DAT’ → dəliyə ‘to the hole’
əgər → əyər ‘if’, → əyə (r deletion, see 2.4.5.)
igirmi → iyirmi ‘twenty’
b. x → ğ / V__V almax + -ım ‘1S.PO’ → almağım ‘my taking’

otarmax + -a ‘DAT’ → otarmağa ‘to feed’
uşax + -ın ‘GEN’ uşağın ‘of a child’
c. t → d / V__V get- + -ir ‘3S.PR’ → gedir ‘he is going’

çıxart- + -ıb ‘CS’ → çıxardıb ‘take out and’
2.4.4. Epenthesis
There are two epenthetic consonants (i) /j/ and (ii) /n/, inserted between vowels, and (iii) one
epenthetic vowel /i/, inserted before a word-initial consonant cluster.
(i) /j/ (i.e. y) appears in nouns, pronouns, and verbs, when morphemes are added to one
another: (a) In verbs, /j/ appears between the verb stem ending with a vowel and the tense-
aspect markers, such as the present -(y)Ir, the aorist -(y)Ar, the future -(y)AcAX, or the optative -
(y)A; (b) In nouns, /j/ appears in the dative case marking after the nouns ending with a vowel
and, exceptionally, in all the cases with su ‘water’ (3.2.1.3.), as the following examples show:
(See 3.2.1.3. for the case marking system)
(18) a. Ø → y / V[VERB]__ V oxu-y-ur ‘she is singing’ (PR)

oxu-y-ar ‘she would sing’ (AOR)
oxu-y-acax ‘she will sing’ (FUT)
oxu-y-a ‘I wish she will sing’ (OPT)
b. Ø → y / V__A [DAT] Fatma-y-a ‘to Fatma’ (DAT)

dərzi-y-ə ‘to the tailor’ (DAT)
su-y-a ‘to water’ (DAT)
su-y-un ‘of water’ (GEN) – exception
su-y-i ‘water’ (ACC) – exception
(ii) /n/ appears in three modes in the case-marking system of nouns and pronouns bu ‘this’
and o ‘he/she/it/that’ which end with a vowel: (a) between nouns, except for su ‘water’, and the
genitive/accusative case; (b) between nouns with the possessive suffix, specifically the third
person suffixes -(s)I (SG) and -lArI (PL), and the dative/ablative case; (c) between the pronouns
and all the case suffixes, as the following shows:
(19) a. Ø → n / V__I [GEN/ACC]

Fatma-n-ın ‘Fatma’s’ (GEN)
Fatma-n-i ‘Fatma’ (ACC)
18 2. Phonology
dərzi-n-in ‘tailor’s’ (GEN)

dərzi-n-i ‘tailor’ (ACC)
b. Ø → n / V[POSS]__A/dAn [DAT/ABL]
ata-sı-n-a ‘to his father’ (DAT)
ata-sı-n-dan ‘from his father’ (ABL)
c. Ø → n / o, bu [PRN]__ V
o-n-a ‘to him/her/it’ (DAT)
bu-n-a ‘to this’ (DAT)
o-n-i ‘him/her/it’ (ACC)
(iii) /i/ appears either (a) before a word-initial consonant cluster in borrowed foreign words,
specifically when the cluster opens with /s/, or (b) in the middle of a word-final consonant
cluster. Thus /i/ splits the cluster into two syllables to conform to the phonotactic rules of
Azerbaijani18, as the following loanwords show:
(20) spiç.ka (CCVC.CV) → is.piç.ka (VC.CVC.CV) ‘match’ (from Russian)

stə.kan (CCV.CVC) → is.tə.kan (VC.CV.CVC) ‘teacup’ ( " " )
əsl (VCC) → ə.sil (V.CVC) ‘original’ (from Arabic)
nəsl (CVCC) → nə.sil (CV.CVC) ‘generation’ ( " " )
2.4.5. Deletion
In addition to the deletion of the opening consonant in consonant clusters, such as r, n and l
(in 2.2.), the three most frequent patterns of deletion are described below: (a) word-final r ; (b)
deletions in noun+noun compounds; (c) the deletion of a in locative words with the suffix -ra,
when the word is extended by case suffix, as in:
(21) a. r deletion:
olar → ola ‘it will become’ (-ar: the aorist third person singular)
pisdir → pisdi ‘it’s bad’ (-dir: the present third person singular of i- copula)
b. Deletion in compound nouns:
cümə+axşamı → cüm(ə)axşamı → cümaxşamı ‘Friday evening’19
Həsən+ağa ‘big.brother’ → Həsən(ağ)a → Həsəna ‘Brother Hasan’
əmi ‘uncle’+ qız-i ‘his daughter’ → əm(i)qızi → əmqızi ‘cousin’
c. a deletion in the -ra locative words:
bu-ra+-da → bur(a)da → burda ‘in here’
o-ra+-dan → or(a)dan → ordan ‘from there’
ha-ra+-(y)a → har(ay)a → hara ‘to where’
On rare occasions, -ir in the verb-stem final position is deleted, as in:
18Cf. Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:53-63) on Azerbaijani phonotactics.

19This example and a few others taken from Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:74)
19 2. Phonology
(22) gətir-di → gət(ir)-di → gət-di

bring-3S.PA
‘He brought’
2.4.6. Metathesis
Metatheses (or ‘transpositions of sounds’) often occur systematically in Azerbaijani words

with more than two syllables. Sometimes the two mirrored alternatives are put in use side by
side in the current use of the language. These metatheses mostly result from some sort of
historical development and may be affirmed more extensively by means of historical and cross-
dialectal/linguistic comparisons, particularly with other Oghuz Turkic languages such as
Turkish, Turkmen, and Uzbek. Here, some frequently occurring metatheses are introduced.
The most frequent pattern is that Iranian Azerbaijani prefers raising the r sound up to the coda
slot of the word-initial syllable. Only consonants change their positions; three sub-patterns are
registered. Dictionaries20 list both forms but Iranian Azerbaijani prefers the metathesized form
as in the following examples:
(23) a. top.rax vs. tor.pax ‘land’ (C1C.2C3C4 → C1C3.C2C4)

yap.rax yar.pax ‘leaf’ (the same as above)
kib.rit kir.bit ‘match’ (the same as above)
b. öy.rən.mək ör.gən.mək ‘learn’ (C1.C2C3... → C2.C1C3...)
c. gös.tər.mək gör.sət.mək ‘show’ (C1C2.C3C4... → C1C4.C2C3...)
Sometimes the form of preference is reversed, as in the example (a.) below. Example (sb.)
shows another pattern. Again Iranian Azerbaijani prefers the latter form.
(24) a. kir.pik vs. kip.rik ‘eyelash’

b. ək.sik vs. əs.kik ‘lacking’
ök.sür.mək ös.kür.mək ‘cough’
2.5. The vowel harmony
Vowel harmony is a kind of progressive assimilation process occurring at the level of

phonological word. The basic rule is that within a given phonological word all vowels belong to
the same vowel class; the vowel in the first syllable sets the vowel class and rule for the
following vowels to follow. Vowel harmony occurs with vowels within a given lexical word but
more distinctively with the vowels in added suffixes. Vowels in indigenous Azerbaijani/Turkic
words are mostly structured harmoniously, while with loanwords this is often not the case.
Iranian Azerbaijani largely follows the two canonical vowel harmony rules, but there are
substantial violations of harmony, much owing to the influence of Persian, which has no such
system.
In Azerbaijani, there are two canonical vowel harmony rules: (i) the "high" vowel harmony
rule, and (ii) the "back" vowel harmony rule. The "high" vowel harmony is more prominent, and
in general the stem of indigenous Azerbaijani words are formed complying with this rule. In
20Azərbaycanca-Farsca Sözlük (1369), Azərbaycan Dilinin Đzahlı Lüğëtii (1964, 1980, 1983, 1987).
20 2. Phonology
addition, there is a major violation rule which is associated with the "high" harmony rule. There
are other instances of violating the vowel harmony rules, as described in (iii) below.
(i) The "high" vowel harmony rule is a four-way process involving the four high vowels i, ı, ü,
u. All vowels are changed to high vowels, being divided into four classes according to the four
possible permutations of the two parameters [±back] [±round], thus:
(25) The "high" vowel harmony system:
V V
[+high] → ┌ α back ┐ / ┌ α back ┐ C__
└ β round ┘ └ β round ┘
i.e. ┌i, e, ə → i [–back] [–round] [+high]

│ı, a → ı [+back] [–round] [+high]
│ü, ö → ü [–back] [+round] [+high]
└u, o → u [+back] [+round] [+high]
Henceforth in this grammar, this "high" vowel harmony is registered with the symbol I, i.e.
I=i ~ ı ~ ü ~ u. For example, the genitive case suffix is represented by -(n)In, i.e. -(n)in~ -(n)ın~
-(n)ün~ -(n)un.
The "high" vowel harmony rule is employed in (a) the present/progressive suffix (PR/PROG)
-(y)Ir; (b) the past suffix (PA) -dI; (c) the third person present copular suffixes (COP): -dI(r)
(3S), -dIrlA(r) (3P); (d) the genitive suffix (GEN) -(n)In; (e) the accusative suffix (ACC) -(n)I;
(f) the comitative suffix (COM) -InAn; (g) the possessive suffixes (POSS): -(I)m (1S), -(I)n
(2S), -(s)I (3S), -(I)mIz (1P), -(I)z (2P), -ları/ləri (3P); (h) the past participle (PA.PTC) -dIX; (i)
the coordinative (CS) -(y)Ib; (j) the perfect suffix (PF) -(y)Ib/mIş, etc.
On the other hand, there is a major violation of "high" vowel harmony occurring at the end of
the phonological word: that is, the four class-leader vowels are altogether unified by i~ı in the
word-final position. First of all, there is the phenomenon of delabialization, that the [+round]
vowels ü and u are unrounded. There is a slight tendency to classify the four vowels into two
groups according to the parameter [±back]; thus the [+back] vowels ı, u → ı, and the [–back]
vowels i, ü → i. However, in natural speech i and ı are rather in free variation often depending
on dialects; in Urmia ı is more usual than i.
Consider the vowels in the following examples:
(26) a. oxu-yur (Verb-3S.PR) ‘he is singing’

gülüş-ürlər (Verb-3P.PR) ‘they are laughing together’
gəl-ir-din (Verb-PROG-2S.PA) ‘you were coming’
b. yaxşı-dır (Adjective-be.3S.PR) ‘he is fine’

or yaxşı-di (as pronounced in actual use)
gözəl-dirlər (Adjective-be.3P.PR) ‘they are beautiful’
c. Bakı-nın (GEN) ‘of Baku’

Təbriz-in (GEN) ‘of Tabriz’
quyu-nu (ACC) ‘the well’(OBJ)
körpü-nü (ACC) ‘the bridge’(OBJ)
21 2. Phonology
baş-ınan (COM) ‘with the head’

göz-ünən (COM) ‘with the eye’
d. al-dığ-ı-ni (Verb-PA.PTC-3S.PO-ACC) ‘that he bought’(OBJ)

söz-lər-i-ni (Noun-PL-3S.PO-ACC) ‘his words’(OBJ)
götür-üb (Verb-CS/3S.PF) ‘take and’ or ‘he has taken’
e. uşax-lar-ın ağla-mağ-i
child-PL-GEN cry-INF-3S.PO
‘the crying of children’
Violation of the vowel harmony is observable: yaxşı-di instead of the underlying harmonized
form yaxşı-dır in (b.) above; al-dığ-ı-ni instead of the completely harmonized al-dığ-ı-nı in (d.)
above; ağla-mağ-i instead of harmonized al-mağ-ı in (e.).
(ii) The "back" vowel harmony rule is a two-way process organized by the two low unrounded
vowels ə, a. All vowels are changed to unrounded low vowels, being divided into two classes
according to the two possible permutations of the parameter [±back], thus
(27) The "back" vowel harmony system:
V V
┌–round ┐ → [α back] / [α back] C__
└–high ┘
i.e. ┌ə, e, i, ü, ö → ə [–back] [–round][–high]

└a, ı, u, o → a [+back] [–round] [–high]
Henceforth in this grammar, this "back" vowel harmony is registered with the symbol A, i.e.
A=a ~ ə. For example, the aorist tense-aspect suffix is represented by -(y)Ar, i.e. -(y)ar~-(y)ər.
The "back" vowel harmony rule is employed in (a) the future suffix (FUT) –(y)AcAX; (b) the
aorist/habitual suffix (AOR/HAB) -(y)Ar; (c) the optative-subjunctive suffix (OPT) -(y)A; (d)
the negative marker (NEG) -mA; (e) the first and second person singular copular suffix (COP) -
(y)Am (1S), -sAn (2S); (f) the dative case suffix (DAT) –(y)A; (g) the locative case suffix (LOC)
-dA; (h) the ablative case suffix (ABL) -dAn, etc.
Consider the vowels in the following examples:
(28) a. oxu-yacax (Verb-3S.FUT) ‘he will sing’

al-aram (Verb-1S.AOR) ‘I am going to buy’
götür-ə (Verb-3S.OPT) ‘I wish he will take’
gəl-mə-dən (Verb-NEG-ABL) ‘without coming
b. yaxşı-yam (Adjective-be.1S.PR) ‘I am fine’

gözəl-sən (Adjective-be.2S.PR) ‘you are beautiful’
c. Bakı-ya (DAT) ‘to Baku’

Təbriz-ə (DAT) ‘to Tabriz’
quyu-da (LOC) ‘in the well’
körpü-də (LOC) ‘in the bridge’
22 2. Phonology
baş-dan (ABL) ‘from the head’

göz-dən (ABL) ‘from the eye’
(iii) There are at least three more instances violating the two canonical vowel harmony rules:
(a) in loanwords, reflecting their original sound patterns; (b) the negative marker -mA, as
described in 2.4.2. above; (c) in natural speech, some suffixes, both inflectional and
derivational, with the velar fricative x in the coda slot tend to velarize the nuclear vowel, i.e.
assimilating the vowel to a back vowel, as Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:72f.) also describes.
(However, this pattern of violation is, in general, not reflected in the examples of this grammar,
because this pattern does not seem to have become completely established.) Here are some
examples:
(29) a. Vowel harmony violations in loanwords:

bina ‘building’
dərvaza ‘gate’
vilayət ‘province’
livan ‘mug’
ərbab ‘master’
rabitə ‘relation’
dubarə ‘again’
piruz ‘success’
b. Suffixes violating the vowel harmony rules:

{-max} ye-max ‘eat’, eşit-max ‘hear’
{-dıx} ye-dıx ‘we ate’, istə-dığ-ın ‘what you wanted’
{-lıx} yəkə-lıx ‘bigness’, pislıx ‘bad’
{-Acax} ged-əcax ‘he will go’, gəl-əcax ‘he will come’
{-ıx} gəlir-ıx ‘we are coming, gedir-ıx ‘we are going’
{-ax} ged-ax ‘let’s go’, diy-ax ‘let’s say’
In connection with the vowel harmony one important set of consonant harmony deserves to be
mentioned. The velar fricative x and the the alveolo-palatal fricative [%] (written k
orthographically) form a set of harmony in the word-final position conditioned by the [±back]
feature of the preceding vowel: (a) a back vowel requires x; (b) a front vowel requires the
fronted alveolo-palatal fricative [%] (k). This harmony set is actually in parallel with the two
consonant lenitions (cf. 2.4.3. above) that x and k change into ğ and y in the intervocalic
position, when they are followed by suffixes. It is true that there is a tendency to velarize the
word-final syllable with certain morphemes in the natural speech of Urmia; however, this
pattern with the velar consonant harmony is selected for writing examples in this grammar,
paying broad attention to other dialects of Iranian Azerbaijani. This velar consonant harmony
may be represented by the symbol X, i.e. X=x ~ k ~ ğ ~ y. Thus, the rule and examples are:
(30) a. The velar consonant harmony:

X = ┌x / V[+back] __#
│k / V[–back] __#
│ğ / V[+back] __V[+back]
└y / V[–back] __V[–back]
23 2. Phonology
b. torpax ‘land’ vs. kömək ‘help

başmax ‘shoe’ eşşək ‘donkey’
sandıx ‘box’ kiçik ‘small’
soyux ‘cold’ böyük ‘big’
c. torpağ-ımız > land-1P.PO > ‘our land’

sandığ-ın > box-GEN > ‘of box’
köməy-iz > help-2P.PO > ‘your help’
eşşəy-im > donkey-1S.PO > ‘my donkey’
24 3. Nouns
Chapter 3
Nouns
This chapter mainly describes the morphology of nouns. However, before going into the
morphology, the syntactic characteristics of nouns are briefly discussed.
3.1. Syntactic characteristics
Nouns take characteristic syntactic positions in the clause or in the phrase and bear
grammatical roles in the clause. The grammatical roles that nouns bear in the clause are, in
general, subject, direct object, oblique, and predicate. Their syntactic positions in the clause are
conditioned by their grammatical roles and syntactic rules, as the examples below show:
(1) a. Subject, direct object:

uşax çörəy-i ye-di
boy bread-ACC eat-3S.PA
‘A/the boy ate the bread.’
b. Subject, oblique:
uşax mədrəsə-yə get-di.
boy school-DAT go-3S.PA
‘A/the boy went to school.’
c. Predicate:
bu bir kitab-dır.
this one book-be.3S.PR
‘This is a book.’
Inside noun phrases, a noun takes the position of head of the noun phrase, as in (2):
(2) a. Modified by an adjective:

böyük bir ağac
big one tree
‘a big tree’
b. Modified by a numeral:
beş kişi
five man
‘five men’
c. Modified by a possessor:
Nuh-un gəmi-si
Noah-GEN ship-3S.PO
‘Noah’s ark’
25 3. Nouns
d. Modified by a relative clause:

d.1. Prenominal relative clause:
dünən bura gəl-ən adam
[yesterday here come-PR.PTC]RC man
‘the man who came here yesterday’
d.2. Postnominal relative clause:

o adam ki, dünən bura gəl-di,
the man [SUB yesterday here come-3S.PA]RC
‘the man who came here yesterday’
A noun can modify another noun inside the noun phrase:
(3) Modifier noun:

a. alma ağac-i
apple tree-3S.PO
‘an apple tree’
b. yük maşın-i
load vehicle-3S.PO
‘a lorry’
3.2. Morphological characteristics
In this section we will examine the various types of bound morphemes — both inflectional
and derivational morphemes. Azerbaijani nouns are typically suffixed. However, there are a
small number of prefixes which are borrowed mostly from Persian.
3.2.1. Inflectional morphology

3.2.1.1. Gender
Azerbaijani, like all other Turkic languages, is devoid of grammatical gender. But there are
ways to express gender lexically, if required.21
There are distinct names for the male and female of some domestic animals: toyux ‘hen’,
xoruz ‘cock’; inək ‘cow’, öküz ‘bull’; qoyun ‘ewe’, qoç ‘ram’. Among the pairs of names the
female, i.e. economically more important, ones are unmarked and thus used as generic terms.
When there isn’t such a lexical distinction but the gender distinction is needed, dişi ‘female’ or
erkək ‘male’ is added before the animal name: dişi şir ‘lioness’, (erkək) şir ‘(male) lion’. In the
case of wild animals, male ones are used as generic terms.
For kinship terms, there are many pairs of male and female terms, as in:
(4) Male and female kinship terms:

ata ‘father’ ana ‘mother’
qardaş ‘brother’ bacı ‘sister’
21For ‘gender’, I follow the descriptive format of Lewis (1968:25).

26 3. Nouns
əmi ‘paternal uncle’ bibi ‘paternal aunt’

dayı ‘maternal uncle’ xala ‘maternal aunt’22
With nouns denoting human beings or professions, the semantic notion of male sex is taken as
being unmarked and generic. To denote female sex, qız ‘girl’, arvad23 ‘woman’, or xanım
‘lady’ is added before the generic term. For example: vərzişkar ‘sportsman’, qız vərzişkar
‘sportswoman’; ranəndə ‘(man) driver’, arvad ranəndə ‘woman driver’ or xanım ranəndə ‘lady
driver’; düktür ‘doctor’, xanım düktür ‘lady doctor’.
Some nouns, such as danişcu ‘(university) student’, do not connote a presumed gender. Thus
descriptive nouns are added to specify gender, as in: oğlan danişcu ‘boy student’, qız danişcu
‘girl student’.
Arabic loanwords with the feminine gender marker -ə are used to indicate femininity, as in:
şair ‘poet’, şairə ‘poetess’; katib ‘secretary’, katibə ‘female secretary’. The number of these
loanwords is limited.
3.2.1.2. Plural marker
The plural marker of Azerbaijani is a noun suffix -lAr, which is added to the unmarked
singular form of a noun: -lar after a back vowel and -lər after a front vowel, following the ‘low’
vowel harmony system,24 as in:
(5) ev ‘a house’ ev-lər ‘houses’

uşax ‘a child’ uşax-lar ‘children’
An unmodified singular noun, besides being used to refer to individuals, may be used
generically. Plural marking is not necessarily obligatory, when more than one item is implied, as
in the following example:
(6) Oraya çoxlu adam gəl-di.

there a.lot.of man come-3S.PA
‘There came a lot of people.’
That is, the agreement of number within noun phrase and clause is loosely observed, singular
forms often being used with plural meaning. After numerals nouns take the singular form: bir
22For more kinship terms, see Householder and Lotfi (1965:33f.).

23In the North qadın ‘woman’ is preferred.
24 In rapid and natural speech, there appears a consonant harmony realized by three pairs of
allomorphs, as the following:
a. -lər~-lar, after all sounds but d, t or n; as in:
ev ‘a house’ evlər ‘houses’
uşax ‘a child’ uşaxlar ‘children’
b. -dər~-dar, after word-final d or t; as in:
kət ‘a village’ kətdər ‘villages’
at ‘horse' atdar ‘horses’
c. -nər~-nar, after word-final n; as in:
min ‘thousand' minnər ‘thousands'
keman ‘bow’ kemannar ‘bows'
27 3. Nouns
nəfər ‘one person’, iki nəfər ‘two people’. The plural marker may also be added directly to the
numeral: onikilər ‘the Twelve’.
Arabic loanwords in the singular and plural forms are used with the original sense of
singularity or plurality but grammatically treated as singulars: singular kəlmə ‘a word, a lexical
entry’; plural kəlam ‘a saying, a discourse, a cohesive string of words’, as in:
(7) a. Bala bir kəlmə de-di.

baby one word say-3S.PA
‘The baby uttered a word.’
b. O peygəmbər-dən bir kəlam var.

that prophet-ABL one saying existent
‘There is a saying from the prophet.’
3.2.1.3. The case marking system
Azerbaijani is a nominative-accusative language. There are seven cases. The nominative case
does not take a suffix and the other cases which take suffixes are: genitive (GEN), dative
(DAT), accusative (ACC), comitative (COM), locative (LOC), ablative (ABL). The case
markers are suffixed to a noun in order to syntactically code various semantic case-roles.
The status of the comitative case marker is not completely settled among Turkic languages as
a whole, any more than in Azerbaijani. It is often categorized as a postposition.25 The main
reason for denying its case status is that it does not carry an accent, whereas all the others do.
Otherwise, it has all the properties of a case marker. In this grammar the comitative suffix is
treated as a case marker.
The base forms of the case markers are summarized in the following table:
25 For example, for the Turkish equivalent ile/-le, Lewis (1967:86) and Underhill (1976:159)
categorize it as postposition, whereas Kornfilt (1987:635) classifies it as the instrumental case;
Sjoberg (1963:59) terms the Uzbek -b(i)lan a postposition; Tekin (1968:136f.) classifies the
Orkhon Turkic -n as the instrumental case and -lig as the comitative case. Azerbaijani
grammars in most cases categorize it as a postposition, but Amirpur-Ahrandjani (1971:110)
registers it as the instrumental-comitative case (Das werkzeug- bzw. begleitanzeigende
Beziehungssuffix).
28 3. Nouns
Table 3.1. Case suffixes
Last vowel e, ə or i ö or ü a or ı o or u Base

of NOM SG: | | | Morpheme
SG GEN -(n)in |-(n)ün |-(n)ın |-(n)un |-(n)In
ACC -(n)i |-(n)ü/i |-(n)ı/i |-(n)u/i |-(n)I
COM -y/inən |-y/ünən |-y/ınan |-y/unan |-y/InAn26
DAT -(y)ə | -(y)a |-(y)A
LOC -(n)də | -(n)da |-(n)dA
ABL -(n)dən | -(n)dan |-(n)dAn
PL GEN -lərin | -ların |-lArIn
ACC -ləri | -lari |-lAri
COM -lərinən | -larınan |-lArInAn
DAT -lərə | -lara |-lArA
LOC -lərdə | -larda |-lArdA
ABL -lərdən | lardan |-lArdAn
The following table gives examples:
Table 3.2. Examples of case suffixes
mivə ‘fruit’ göz ‘eye’ alma ‘apple’ muz ‘banana’

Last vowel e, ə or i ö or ü a or ı o or u
of NOM SG: | | |
SG GEN mivə-nin göz-ün alma-nın muz-un
ACC mivə-ni göz-i alma-ni muz-i
COM mivə-ynən göz-ünən alma-ynan muz-unan
DAT mivə-yə göz-ə alma-ya muz-a
LOC mivə-də göz-də alma-da muz-da
ABL mivə-dən göz-dən alma-dan muz-dan
PL GEN mivə-lər-in göz-lər-in alma-lar-ın muz-lar-ın
ACC mivə-lər-i göz-lər-i alma-lar-i muz-lar-i
COM mivə-lər-inən göz-lər-inən alma-lar-ınan muz-lar-ınan
DAT mivə-lər-ə göz-lər-ə alma-lar-a muz-lar-a
LOC mivə-lər-də göz-lər-də alma-lar-da muz-lar-da
ABL mivə-lər-dən göz-lər-dən alma-lar-dan muz-lar-dan
The forms alternate according to the vowel harmony rules: the genitive and accusative cases
with the "high" vowel harmony rule; the other cases with the "back" vowel harmony rule (Cf.
2.5. "the vowel harmony"). An epenthetic consonant n is inserted after a root-final vowel for the
genitive, accusative, locative and ablative cases. An epenthetic consonant y is inserted after a
root-final vowel for the dative case.27 There are at least two exceptions: su ‘water’ and mənbə
26The Northern written equivalent of -y/InAn is -(y)lA i.e. -(y)la, -(y)lə.

27In Urmia dialect, there is a tendency to usemore of the epenthetic y. When the dative suffix is used
in the possessive construction whose possessor is second person singular, (i) y rather than n is
used as an epenthesis and (ii) dative suffix changes its form, as in: baş-ın-a ‘head-2S.PO-DAT
29 3. Nouns
‘spring, source’. It uses y for the singular genitive case as well as for the dative, thus: sing. su
(NOM), suyun (GEN), suyi (ACC), suynan (COM), suya (DAT), suda (LOC), sudan (ABL),
pl. sular, suların, sulari, sularınan, sulara, sularda, sulardan. The comitative singular takes a
slightly different sound adjustment: The epenthetic y is inserted after a root-final vowel; after a
root-final consonant the ‘high’ vowel harmony is applied.
In the possessive (genitive) construction, the accusative suffix -I is omitted but marked only
by the epenthetic n28, as in the following example: (See 7.6. for "possessive construction".)
(8) Accusative suffix in the possessive construction:

a. O-nun ağac-ı-n gör-düm.
3S-GEN tree-3S.PO-ACC see-1S.PA
‘I saw his tree.’
b. Əjdaha pəhləvan-lar-ım-ın hamı-sı-n ye-yib.

dragon warrior-PL-1S.PO-GEN all-3S.PO-ACC eat-3S.PF
‘The dragon has eaten all of my warriors.’
In the above example, the grammatical role of the noun phrase o-nun ağac-ı-n ‘his tree’, which
is in a possessive construction, is direct object. The accusative suffix, viz -ni, is only suggested
by the epenthetic n.
All the case markers receive the primary stress, except for the comitative case which gets the
primary stress in the syllable before the case marker, as alma'lar-ınan.
3.2.1.4. Use of cases
The case markers syntactically code various semantic roles and grammatical relations which a
given noun holds in noun phrases and clauses. The case markers are employed to code more
than seven semantic roles. This means often that one case marker codes more than one semantic
role.29 Some case markers also construct oblique phrases with or without possessive suffixes
(see 3.2.1.5.).
3.2.1.4.1. The nominative case (NOM): - Ø
This is the most basic and frequently used case of a noun. The nominative case has the
following functions: (a) the subject of both an intransitive verb and a transitive verb; (b)
vocative, when a person or an object is addressed; (c) indefinite object, when an object is not
specific; (d) nominal predicate of a copular clause. These functions are illustrated in the
following examples:
→ başıyan ‘to your head’. Sometimes this applies to the accusative: baş-ın-i ‘head-2S.PO-ACC
→ başıyın ‘your head (OBJ)’.
28Ergin points out a diachronic development of this accusative marking, but wrongly notes, “This
suffix which is not found in today’s speech was widely used in Dede Korkut.” But concedes,
“Anyhow this suffix has continued until recent times among all Western Turkic languages.”
(1991:449)
29For case syncretism, see Croft (1991:158).
30 3. Nouns
(9) a. The subject of an intransitive or transitive verb:

a1. Dünən bir kişi bura gəl-di.
yesterday one man.NOM here come-3S.PA
‘Yesterday a man came here.’
a2. Oğlan qız-a alma-ni ver-di.

boy.NOM girl-DAT apple-ACC give-3S.PA
‘The boy gave the apple to the girl.’
b. Vocative:
Oğlan! ‘Boy!’
Ağa! ‘Sir!’
c. Indefinite object:
Yol-da bir maşın gör-düm.
road-LOC one car.NOM see-1S.PR
‘I saw a car on the road.’
d. Nominal predicate of a copular clause:

Onun ad-ı Məməd-dir.
his name-3S.PO Memed.NOM-be.3S.PR
‘His name is Memed.’
3.2.1.4.2. The genitive case (GEN): -(y)In
The genitive case codes possession of an entity. It is used (a) to indicate the possessor in a
possessive construction (see 7.6.); and (b) as nominal predicate of a copular clause which
predicates the ownership of an object which is the subject of the clause, as the following
example shows:
(10) a. Possessor in possessive construction:

Məməd-in at-ı təz qaç-di.
Memed-GEN horse-3S.PO quickly run-3S.PA
‘Memed’s horse ran quickly.’
b. Nominal predicate of a copular clause:

O at, Məməd-in-dir ya yox?
that horse Memed-GEN-be.3S.PR or not?
‘Is the horse Memed’s or not?’
O alma mənim(-dir).
the apple 1S.GEN-be.3S.PR
‘The apple is mine.’
31 3. Nouns
3.2.1.4.3. The accusative case (ACC): -(n)I
The accusative case is used to mark that the object in the clause is definite. An object is
definite, if it refers to an entity which is already identified, if it is specified by a demonstrative
adjective or possessive suffix, or if it is a proper noun.
(11) Bu kitab-i o-nnan al-dım.

this book-ACC he-ABL buy-1S.PA
‘I bought this book from him.’
Məməd ana-sı-ni çox sev-ir.

Memed mother-3S.PO-ACC much love-3S.PR
‘Memed loves his mother very much.’
Sən Təbriz-i gör-dün?

you Tabriz-ACC see-2S.PA
‘Did you see Tabriz?’
3.2.1.4.4. The dative case (DAT): -(y)A
The dative case codes several semantic roles: (a) the beneficiary of an action, usually called
the ‘indirect object’; (b) the goal or direction of motion, often called the ‘allative’ case; (c)
price; (d) purpose and inchoative, when the dative suffix is attached to verbal infinitives (Cf.
12.1.6. on "purpose", 8.2.6. on "inchoative"). Here are some examples.
(12) a. Beneficiary of an action:

Fatma-ya məktub-i ver-di.
Fatma-DAT letter-ACC give-3S.PA
‘He gave the letter to Fatma.’
b. The goal or direction of motion:

Urumiya-ya get-dilər.
Urmia-DAT go-3P.PA
‘They went to Urmia.’
c. Price:
Q: Kitab-i neçə tümən-ə al-dın?
book-ACC how.many tuman-DAT buy-2S.PA
‘How many tuman did you pay for the book?’
A: On tümən-ə.
ten tuman-DAT
‘Ten tuman.’
d. Purpose:
Balıq tut-mağ-a ged-irəm.
fish catch-INF-DAT go-1S.PR
‘I am going to catch fish.’
32 3. Nouns
e. Inchoative:
Qoyun kəs-məy-ə başla-di.
sheep cut-INF-DAT begin-3S.PA
‘He started to slaughter a sheep.’
3.2.1.4.5. The locative case (LOC): -dA
The locative case is used to express (a) the place in, on or at which something exists or
occurs; (b) the time at which something happens; or (c) a fraction.
(13) a. Place:
Ev-i Ardabil-də i-di.
house-3S.PO Ardabil-LOC be-3S.PA
‘His house was in Ardabil.’
b. Time:
Saat altı-da ev-dən çıx-dı.
hour six-LOC house-ABL come.out-3S.PA
‘He came out of the house at six o’clock.’
c. Fraction:
Cəmaat-ın dörd-də bir-i mariz ol-dı.
people-GEN four-LOC one-3S.PO sick become-3S.PA
‘One fourth of the people got sick.’
A locative phrase onda (o-nda ‘that-LOC) is used as a temporal adverb meaning ‘then, that
time’, as in:
(14) O-nda padşah çox qızış-dı.

that-LOC king much get.agry-3S.PA
‘Then the king became very angry.’
3.2.1.4.6. The ablative case (ABL): -dAn
The ablative case typically indicates the source of a movement. This case is highly
polysemous. It indicates (a) the place from or through which, or the person from whom an
action proceeds; (b) the time which has passed from a specific point; (c) cause; (d) standard of
comparison; (e) material from which something is made; (f) partitive, i.e. the case indicates that
a part of a whole entity is affected by an action; (g) point of contact, i.e. to show the point/part
taken, held, struck, etc.; (h) the grammatical role of direct object, with a limited number of
verbs, such as nifrət et- ‘detest’; (i) in idioms. In addition, the ablative case is used in some
idiomatic expressions. Some examples follow:
(15) a. The place from, by, through which,

or the person from whom an action proceeds:
33 3. Nouns
Kitab-lar Bakı-dan gəl-dilər.

book-PL Baku-ABL come-3P.PA
‘The books came from Baku.’
Bir xanım gəl-ib yan-ımız-dan keç-di.

a woman come-CS side-1P.PO-ABL pass-3S.PA
‘A woman came and passed by our side.’
Dərvaza-dan içəri gir-miş-di.

gate-ABL inside enter-PF-3S.PA
‘He has entered inside through the gate.’
Alma-nı Məməd-dən al-dım.

apple-ACC Memed-ABL buy-1S.PA
‘I bought the apples from Memed.’
b. Time:
Çox-dan-dır yox-san.
much-ABL-be.3S.PR absent-be.2S.PR
‘It has been long since you are absent.’
c. Cause:
Şah qorxu-dan taxt-in alt-ı-na gir-di.
king fear-ABL throne-GEN underneath-3S.PO-DAT enter-3S.PA
‘The king entered under the throne because of fear.’
d. Standard of comparison:
Təbriz Urumiya-dan böyük-dür.
Tabriz Urmia-ABL big-be.3S.PR
‘Tabriz is bigger than Urmia.’
e. Material:
O parça kətan-dan i-di.
that cloth linen-ABL be-3S.PA
‘The cloth was made of linen.’
f. The partitive use:

Çoxlı camaat bu su-dan istifadə ed-ir.
numerous people this water-ABL use use-3S.PR
‘A lot of people benefit from this water.’
g. Point of contact:
Uşax ata-sı-nın qol-u-ndan yapış-mış-di.
child father-GEN arm-3S.PO-ABL grab-PF-3S.PA
‘The child had grabbed his father by the arm.’
g. Direct object:
Adətən adam-lar ilan-dan nifrət ed-ir-lər.
34 3. Nouns
Usually man-PL snake-ABL detest do-PR-3P

‘Usually people detest snakes.’
i. In idioms:
Rıza hal-dan get-di. (haldan get- ‘faint’)
Reza strength-ABL go-3S.PA
‘Reza fainted.’
3.2.1.4.7. The comitative case (COM): -y/InAn
The comitative case form codes two semantic roles: (a) comitative, i.e. it indicates an
individual in whose company something is done – favourably or adversely; (b) instrumental, i.e.
it expresses the means by which something is done. (c) It is also used to express coordination of
noun phrases. Here are some examples:
(16) a. Comitative:
Dost-u-ynan Təhran-da gəz-di.
friend-3S.PO-COM Tehran-LOC walk.about-3S.PA
‘He walked about in Tehran with his friend.’
Bir quzu-ni qurtar-maq üçün qurd-lar-ınan savaş-ır.

one sheep-ACC save-INF for wolf-PL-COM fight-3S.PR
‘He fights against wolves to save a sheep.’
b. Instrumental:
b1. Arvad bıçağ-ınan qarpız-i kəs-di.
woman knife-COM watermelon-ACC cut-3S.PA
‘The woman cut the watermelon with a knife.’
b2. Havapəyma-ynan Bakı-ya get-di.

airplane-COM Baku-DAT go-3S.PA
‘He went to Baku by airplane.’
c. Conjunction:
Sora Fatma-ynan qari get-dilər.
after Fatma-COM old.woman go-3PL.PA
‘Afterward Fatma and the old woman went.’
3.2.1.4.8. The vocative in Azerbaijani
Azerbaijani does not have a morphological vocative case marker. To address a person or an
entity, the unmarked nominative case is employed, as was discussed in 3.2.1.4.1. However,
there are a few other ways to address a person.
35 3. Nouns
a. In affectionate speech the Persian noun can ‘soul’ is attached to nouns or names. It may be
rendered as ‘dear’, as in:
(17) Həsən-can! ‘Dear Hasan!’

Ağa-can! ‘Dear sir!’
Ana-can! ‘Dear mum!’
Can-ım! ‘My dear!’
b. Honorific vocatives, used for example to address a well-known poet or God, are often
marked with the Persian vocative suffix -(y)a. The syllable before this suffix gets the primary
accent. An Arabic alternative (below c.) is also used, though this Persian mode is more
frequently used. Some examples are:
(18) Şəhri'yar-a! ‘O Shehriyar!’ (a famous Azerbaijani poet)

Pərvərdi'gar-a! ‘O God!’
Xo'da-ya! ‘O God!’
c. As an alternative to the Persian suffix (above b.) the Arabic honorific vocative particle ya,
which precedes the name addressed, can be used, as in:
(19) Ya Şəhri'yar! ‘O Shehriyar!’

Ya Rəbb! ‘O Lord!’
d. The second person pronouns may be used to call a person or persons, as in: Sən! ‘You!’
(for example, a judge to a criminal in the court); Siz! ‘Sir!’ (to a police officer, for example).
e. For a formal and honorific addressing, a title is often attached to the name, or the title itself
alone may be used. In a formal and official situation a title or titles may be attached before the
name after the Persian style. The following are typical examples:
(20) Rasul ağa! ‘Mr Rasul!’ (Rasula! in a rapid speech)

Maral xala! ‘Aunt Maral!’
Qəynata! ‘Father(-in-law)!’
Ağa! ‘Master!, Sir!’ (e.g. a wife to her husband)
Xanım Doktor! ‘Doctor!’ (to a lady doctor)
Ağa-i Professor Doktor Xanzadə! ‘Mr Prof Dr Xanzade!’
f. Interjections ey ‘hey!’ and ay ‘Oh!’ are also used to attract attention of an addressee. (See
5.10.)
3.2.1.4.9. Oblique phrases with case markers
Many of above-mentioned semantic roles in connection with case markers syntactically

appear as oblique phrases. These oblique phrases are constructed, often but not always, by
means of the possessive construction with or without the genitive (possessor) noun phrase (See
7.6. for "possessive constructions"). Most typically the locative suffix constructs locative
phrases with or without the possessive suffixes (3.2.1.5.). The following are some examples:
36 3. Nouns
(21) a. Locative phrase with the locative suffix:

(o-nun) yan-ı-nda
(he-GEN) side-3S.PO-LOC
‘in his side’ or ‘next to him’
b. Temporal phrase with the locative suffix:

o an-da
that moment-LOC
‘at that moment’
In the above (a.), the genitive noun phrase o-nun within the possessive construction can be
deleted, the remaining part yan-ı-nda which includes a possessive suffix competently functions
as a locative phrase. The structure of (b.) is not a possessive construction but it still functions as
temporal phrase.
3.2.1.5. The possessive suffixes (PO)
The possessive suffixes code the possession of an object by the possessor. In combination
with a nominal possessor in the genitive (3.2.1.4.2.) or a possessive pronoun (5.1.1.), these
possessive suffixes syntactically build the possessive construction. The forms use the "high"
vowel harmony system except for the third-person plural suffix, which follows the "back" vowel
harmony system. These suffixes are all accented. The forms of the possessive suffixes are
shown in Table 3.3., with examples in Table 3.4. below.
Table 3.3. Possessive suffixes

After After Base
Person consonants vowels Gloss Morpheme
SG 1 -Im -m ‘my’ -(I)m
2 -In -n ‘your’ -(I)n30
3 -I -sI ‘his/her/its’ -(s)I
PL 1 -ImIz -mIz ‘our’ -(I)mIz
2 -Iz -z ‘your’ -(I)z31
3 -lArI ‘their’ -lArI
Table 3.4. Examples of possessive suffixes
a. After Gloss b. After Gloss

consonants of a. vowels of b.
SG 1 ev-im my house ana-m my mother
2 ev-in your house ana-n your mother
3 ev-i his/her/its house ana-si his/her/its mother
PL 1 ev-imiz our house ana-mız our mother
2 ev-iz your house ana-z your mother
3 ev-ləri their house ana-lari their mother
30Depending on dialects, it sometimes takes the form -(I)v.

31In Urmia, it is often -(I)yIz : ev-iyiz ‘your (2P) house’, ana-yız ‘your mother’.
37 3. Nouns
Case suffixes may be added after the possessive suffixes according to the vowel harmony
rules. As an exception, however, in the Urmia dialect the second-person singular possessive
(2S.PO) + dative (DAT) takes the form of -(I)yAn instead of the regular -(I)nA. For example,
bel-in-ə [waist-2S.PO-DAT] ‘to your waist’ becomes bel-iyən.32
3.2.1.6. Articles and definiteness
There is no lexical article in Azerbaijani. The "definite/indefinite" distinction is often

syntactically coded with the demonstratives bu ‘this’ and o ‘that/the’ for definiteness and with
the numeral bir ‘one’ for indefiniteness. Functionally o may be considered a definite article and
bir an indefinite article in Azerbaijani. A subject noun without any modifier in a sentence may
mean either generic or definite. The use of bu, o or bir is less frequent in comparison with
languages which have articles, such as English. Bir is used either to introduce a new participant
or to focus on the singleness of the entity in question. The following are some examples:
(22) a. bir padşah var i-di.

one king existent be-3S.PA
‘There was a king.’
b. bu padşah ‘this king'

c. o kişi ‘that man’ or ‘the man’
The third-person singular possessive suffix -(s)I may be added to adjectives first to
nominalize them, then to denote that the derived noun is definite. It may also be added to
indefinite pronouns to make them definite. In this case the suffix may be called "the definite
suffix". The following are some examples:
(23) a. yaxşı-si bu-dur.

good-3S.DEF this-be.3S.PR
‘The good thing is this.’
b. biri ‘one’ birisi ‘the one’

hamı ‘all’ hamısi ‘all of them’
3.2.2. Derivational morphology
According to structural features nouns may be divided into three types: (a) Simple nouns with
a single free morpheme. (b) Derived nouns, where one free morpheme is combined with one or
more bound morphemes. This process of ‘turning something into a noun’ is called
‘nominalization’33. (c) Compound nouns, where one nominal free morpheme modifies another
to produce a derived meaning.
32Thisform may be the result of two phonological processes: (a) bel-in-ə bel-iə-n (Metathesis,
2.4.6.) (b) bel-i-y-ə-n (Insertion of the epenthetic y, 2.4.4.).
33The analysis of nominalization here generally follows the organization of Comrie and Thompson
(1985:349).
38 3. Nouns
3.2.2.1. Lexical nominalization
Derivational affixes—mostly suffixes—are added to exisiting words or stems to obtain new

words. Some are added to verbs to change them into nouns, others to adjectives to change them
into nouns, and still others to one type of noun to change it into another. Lexical nominalization
may be discussed in two parts: (a) processes for forming nouns from verbs; (b) devices for
forming nouns from nouns and adjectives. These are discussed below with examples, but they
do not constitute a complete list of nominalizations.
3.2.2.1.1 Processes for forming nouns from verbs
The processes may be subcategorized as follows. The order largely approximates the degree
of productivity.
a. Action/state nominalization:
This process is ‘devices for creating action nouns from action verbs and state nouns from state
verbs, which mean the fact, the act, the quality, or occurrence of that verb’.
-Im : creates state nouns from the verb, as in:

doğ- ‘give birth’ → doğum ‘birth’
böl- ‘divide’ → bölüm ‘division, chapter’
-IX : creates action nouns meaning the act of the verb, as in:
daniş- ‘talk’ → danişıx ‘conversation’
döyüş- ‘fight’ → döyüşük ‘fighting’
-mA: creates action nouns meaning the act or occurrence of the verb, as in:
gəl- ‘come’ → gəlmə ‘coming’
get- ‘go’ → getmə ‘going’
-mAX: this is the suffix of the infinitive. It creates action nouns meaning the fact of the
verb, as in:
gəl- ‘come’ → gəlmək ‘come’ or ‘coming’
get- ‘go’ → getmək ‘go’ or ‘going’
b. Agentive nominalization:
The highly productive agentive nominalizer -An creates nouns meaning ‘one who "verbs"’.
Though it is termed ‘agentive’ by convention, the derived noun does not necessarily have an
‘agent’ relationship with the verb, as in:
-An: gəl- ‘come’ → gələn ‘comer, the one who comes/came’

eşit- ‘hear’ → eşidən ‘hearer, the one who hears’
The agentive nominalization is also used to modify another noun in a prenominal relative
clause, as in 3.1. above (or see 11.3.).
c. Instrumental nominalization:
This is a process for forming a noun denoting ‘an instrument for "verb-ing"’ from an action
verb, as in:
39 3. Nouns
-I : as in: ölç- ‘measure’ → ölçi ‘measure’

-ar : as in: aç- ‘open’ → açar ‘key’
-AX : as in: biç- ‘reap’ → biçax ‘knife’
-IX : as in: ört- ‘cover’ → örtük ‘lid, cover’
d. Manner nominalization:
This is a derivational process for forming nouns which mean ‘manner/way of "verb-ing"’
from verbs, as in:
-(y)Iş : yağ- ‘rain’ → yağış ‘rain’

yaşa- ‘live’ → yaşayış ‘life, manner of living’
e. Locative nominalization:
This is a process for forming from a verb a noun denoting ‘a place where "verb" happens’, as
in:
-gA : dön- ‘turn → döngə ‘bending place of a road’

-In : ək- ‘sow, plant’ → əkin ‘field’
f. Objective nominalization:
This is to create nouns which denote the result, or object of an action, as in:
-IX : dəl- ‘drill’ → dəlik ‘hole’ [result]

-k/gi : sev- ‘love’ → sevgi ‘love’ [‘cognate’]
iç- ‘drink’ → içki ‘(alchoholic) drink’ [object]
-mAX : the infinitive suffix is also used as an objective nominalizer, as in:
ye- ‘eat’ → yemək ‘food’ [object]
3.2.2.1.2. Devices for forming nouns from nouns and adjectives

a. Abstract nouns:
The highly productive derivational suffix -lIX makes abstract nouns out of more concrete
nouns or adjectives.
(24) -lIX : insan ‘human being’ → insanlıx ‘humanity’

padşah ‘king’ → padşahlıx ‘kingdom, the rule of a king’
gözəl ‘beautiful’ → gözəllik ‘beauty’
b. Agentive nouns:
Some derivational suffixes make animate nouns meaning ‘one who does "noun" or is
"adjective"’ or ‘one with the profession of "noun"’. In the context of South dialect, the highly
versatile and productive Persian derivational suffix -i is used here again, denoting ‘the
profession of the "noun"’.
(25) -çI : əkin ‘sowing’ → əkinçi ‘farmer’

qərə ‘black’ → qərəçi ‘Gypsy, black person’
-baz : sehr ‘magic → sehrbaz ‘magician’
-i : kəşavərz ‘farmer’ → kəşavərzi ‘agriculture’
zabanşünas ‘linguist’ → zabanşünasi ‘linguistics’
40 3. Nouns
c. Association:
Some derivational suffixes make nouns meaning ‘one associated with, belonging to, or a
member of the basic "nouns"’ which denote a person or community. The following are
examples:
(26) -daş : vətən ‘motherland’ → vətəndaş ‘compatriot’

-gil : Məməd ‘Memed’ → Məmədgil ‘the family of Memed’
-lI : Təbriz ‘Tabriz’ → Təbrizli ‘Tabrizian’
Đran ‘Iran’ → Đranlı ‘Iranian’
In Iranian Azerbaijani, a Persian suffix -i denoting "association"34 is sometimes used along

with the above Turkic -lI, as in:
(27) -i : Təbriz ‘Tabriz’ → Təbrizi ‘Tabrizian’

Xomeyn ‘Khomeyn’ → Xomeyni ‘Khomeynian’ (a town in Iran)
həm ‘same’, which originates from Persian, can be prefixed as an associative prefix to certain
basic nouns forming derived nouns which mean ‘one sharing the same "noun"’, as in:
(28) vətən ‘motherland’ → həmvətən ‘compatriot’

kar ‘work’ → həmkar ‘colleague’
d. Possession:
This device forms from an animate noun a possessed noun denoting that an entity is possessed
by a person or persons.
(29) -(n)Inki : Fatma ‘Fatma’ → Fatmanınki ‘the one belonging to Fatma’
e. Diminutives:
A few diminutive suffixes may be added to nouns to denote that the entity is small in size, as
in:
(30) -cAX : oyun ‘game’ → oyuncax ‘toy’

-çA : qələ ‘tower/castle’ → qələçə ‘small tower/castle’
bağ ‘garden’ → bağça ‘small garden’
-çA is a Persian diminutive suffix. It is relatively more productive than -cAX.
3.2.2.2. Compound nouns
Compound nouns are formed by either juxtaposing two nouns or compounding an adjective
and a noun.
34However, the Persian suffix -i is primarily deriving “abstract” nouns from nouns or adjectives.
(Lambton 1953:96).
41 3. Nouns
a. Noun + Noun:
(31) a. ayax ‘foot’ + qab ‘case’ → ayaqqabi ‘shoe'

əl ‘hand’ + ağac ‘tree’ → əlağaci ‘staff'
b. çay ‘tea’ + dan ‘case’ → çaydan ‘teapot’
kitab ‘book’ + xana ‘house’ → kitabxana ‘library’
There are two types in the noun+noun compounding: (a) one is with -(s)I, the third-person
singular possessive suffix, added to the second noun, (b) the other type is without the suffix.
The difference between the two types seems to reflect the cognition of relationship between the
two nouns; i.e. the relationship in (b) is conceived to be more close or coagulated than that in
(a).
b. Adjective + Noun:
(32) boş ‘empty’ + qab ‘case’ → boşqab ‘plate’

bala ‘high’ + xana ‘chamber’ → balaxana ‘upper room’
sarı ‘yellow’ + kök ‘root’ → sarıkök ‘yellow root’ (a kind of spice)
Compound nouns are written in the following three patterns. In general, the patterns to write
compound nouns seem to follow the notion of semantic closeness between the two elements.
a. One complete word, when the two words are semantically coagulated, as shown in the
above examples ayaqqabi ‘shoes’, çaydan ‘teapot’, etc.
b. Two words connected by a hyphen (-), when two words are a pair of correlated words or
repetition of related words, as in:
(33) al(ış) ‘taking’ + ver(iş) ‘giving’ → al(ış)-ver(iş) ‘shopping’

çör ‘stick’ + çöp ‘straw’→ çör-çöp ‘sticks and straw, rubbish’
əl ‘hand’ + ayax ‘foot’ → əl-ayax ‘hand and foot’
ox ‘arrow’ + kəman ‘bow’ → ox-kəman ‘arrow and bow’
c. Two separated words, when two words are semantically not or relatively less coagulated,
typically when a name joins with a common noun denoting a title, as in:
(34) Fatma ‘Fatma’ + xanım ‘lady’ → Fatma xanım ‘Madam Fatma’

Həsən ‘Hasan’ + ağa ‘lord’ → Həsən ağa ‘Mr Hasan’
göz ‘eye’ + yaş ‘moisture’ → göz yaş-i ‘tears'
Incidentally there are some compound nouns whose construction may pose ambiguities for
structural understanding. Take əyripalan ‘aeroplane’ as an example: its construction should be
from either a compounding of əyri ‘crooked’ + palan ‘saddle bag’, thus ‘a crooked saddle bag’
which is the way the word is perceived in the mind of many an Azerbaijani child, or a loanword
from English "aeroplane"; whichever construction it may be from, it is a compound noun.
3.3. Order of elements in words with a nominal head
The order of elements in words with a nominal head may be summarized as the following
schema, with examples:
42 3. Nouns
(35) N → Noun (DERIV) (PL) (POSS) (CASE)
a. Ərdəbil-li-lər-imiz-dən (Ərdəbilli ‘Ardabilian’)

Ardabil-DERIV-PL-1P.PO-ABL
‘from our Ardabilians’
b. Fatma-nınkı-lar-da (Fatmanınkı ‘the one belonging to Fatma’)

Fatma-DERIV-PL-DAT
‘in the ones belonging to Fatma’
c. əkin-çi-lər-iz-in (əkinçi ‘farmer’)

sow-DERIV-PL-2P.PO-GEN
‘of your farmers’
The above examples (a.) and (c.) have all the suffixes, while (b.) does not have the optional
possessive suffix. The semantic quality and syntactic role of the head noun within the clause
will regulate the choice of optional elements.
43 4. Verbs
Chapter 4
Verbs
This chapter discusses the morphology of verbs. The semantic and syntactic characteristics of
verbs will be discussed mostly in later chapters: Chapter 6 "simple clauses" and Chapter 8
"tense-aspect-modality (TAM)." This is so because the types of verbs define the types of
clauses, thus the discussion of verb class is better suited to the level of simple clauses. The
functions of TAM, on the other hand, operate at both sentence and discourse levels, thus the
detailed description of TAM functions is beyond the limit of morphology. Verbal morphology is
by far the most complex part of Azerbaijani grammar. This chapter describes the infinitive,
inflectional morphology and derivational morphology.
4.1. The infinitive (INF)
The infinitive form of verb in Azerbaijani is made by adding the infinitive suffix -mAX (i.e. -
mək~-max) to the verb-root: e.g. gəl-mək ‘come’. In natural speech, it does not appear in its
primary sense of "expressing the meaning of the verb in the abstract"35 but is used as a verbal
noun and serves as the head of a noun phrase. As a nominalized verb (3.2.2.1.1.) the infinitive is
fully declined.
All the morphemes, whether inflectional or derivational, are placed following the verb-root
according to their a priori constituent order (4.4.).
4.2. Inflectional morphology
Azerbaijani has a well-developed system of inflectional morphology. Verbs conjugate

according to the person and number of subject. These are encoded as suffixes, which are
traditionally called personal endings. Grammatical categories within the verb, such as tense-
aspect-modality and negation, occur before the personal endings. There is a distinction between
the morphology of copular verbs and that of regular verbs, thus the discussion is divided into
two sections.
4.2.1. Morphology of copula
Azerbaijani has a stative copular verb i-(mək) ‘be’, which takes two sets of personal endings
in connection with some tense and mood categories. The copula does not take the grammatical
category of aspect. The copula takes the personal ending set 1 after the suffixes of the past
tense. It takes the personal ending set 2 after the suffixes of the present tense and the inferential.
35Trask (1993:141). Throughout this study Trask has been extensively consulted for describing
linguistic terms.
44 4. Verbs
4.2.1.1. Personal endings set 1
(1) Sg. 1: -m Pl. 1: -X

2: -n 2: -z
3: -Ø 3: -lAr
It is placed after the predicate nominal (noun, pronoun) or predicate adjective, and is followed
by a tense marker (-dI), and finally a personal ending. Examples are:
a. The past tense (PA): -dI
(2) a. Noun as predicate:

dost i-di-m ‘I was a friend.’ dost i-di-k ‘We were friends.’
dost i-di-n ‘You were a friend.’ dost i-di-z ‘You were friends.’
dost i-di ‘He/she was a friend.’ dost i-di-lər ‘They were friends.’
b. Pronoun as predicate:
mən i-di-m ‘It was me.’ biz i-di-k ‘It was us.’
sən i-di-n ‘It was you.’ siz idi-z ‘It was you(pl).’
o i-di ‘It was him/her/it.’ olar i-di-lər ‘It was them.’
c. Adjective as predicate:
gözəl i-di-m ‘I was pretty.’ gözəl i-di-k ’We were pretty.’
gözəl i-di-n ‘You were pretty.’ gözəl i-di-z ‘You were pretty.’
gözəl i-di ‘He/she/it was pretty.’ gözəl i-di-lər ‘They were pretty.’
It may be notable that on all occasions the second person plural has two functions: (a) plural,
i.e. more than two people are addressed; (b) honorific, i.e. the speaker treats the addressee(s),
whether singular or plural, with deference.
(3) Sg. 1: -(y)Am Pl. 1: -(y)IX

2: -sAn 2: -sIz
3: -[dI(r)]/Ø 3: -[dI(r)]lAr36
The present copula construction is made by adding this personal ending set 2 directly to the
predicate nominal or adjective. One peculiar characteristic is that the copula present tense
optionally takes -dI(r) in the third person, while in the inferential it does not appear.
A morphophonemic alternation is noticed in the first person endings: an epenthetic y is
inserted, when the endings are preceded by word-final vowels, as with ana-yıx in the example
(5) below. The rule may be expressed as below, and it is exemplified in the example (5):
(4) V → yV / V___
a. The present tense (PR): - Ø
36This word-final r is often dropped in natural speech.

45 4. Verbs
(5) dost-am ‘I am a friend.’ ana-yıx ‘We are mothers.’

dost-san ‘You are a friend.’ ana-sız ‘You are mothers.’
dost-di ‘He/she is a friend.’ ana-dırlar ‘They are mothers.’
or dost-dur
b. The inferential (INFR): -y/ImIş

The inferential indicates that the speaker is drawing a conclusion based on certain evidence
without actually witnessing the event or state in question. In the inferential, tense is not clear,
for the reference of time is not certain. It may be expressed in English in this way: ‘I heard that’,
‘they say that’, ‘I infer that ... though I have not seen it’, or ‘reportedly it is that’.
This morpheme is morphologically a compound: the copula stem i- + the perfect tense/aspect
marker -mIş. i- is cliticized, being subject to the ‘high’ vowel harmony. I of -ImIş becomes y
after word-final vowels of preceding nominals, as the following rule and examples show:
(6) I → y / V___
(7) uşax-ımiş-am ‘They say I was a child.’

uşax-ımiş-san ‘Reportedly you are/were a child.’
ana-ymış ‘They say she is/was a mother.’
uşax-ımiş-ıx ‘As I hear and suppose, we were children.’
uşax-ımiş-sız ‘They say you were children.’
ana-ymış-lar ‘As I hear, they are mothers.’
4.2.2. Morphology of regular verbs

The formation of personal ending set 1 for regular verbs is the same as it is in the morphology
of copula (4.2.1.1.).
This set is employed after: the past tense marker -dI, and the conditional -sA in regular verbs.
Its use with the optative -(y)A is rather rare in Iranian Azerbaijani, where the personal endings
set 2 are more frequently employed.37 Here are some examples.
a. The past tense (PA): -dI
(8) gəl-di-m ‘I came.’ gəl-di-k ‘We came.’

gəl-di-n ‘You came.’ gəl-di-z ‘You came.’
gəl-di ‘He/she/it came.’ gəl-di-lər ‘They came.’
b. The conditional (COND): -sA
(9) al-sa-m ‘if I take’ al-sa-x ‘if we take’

al-sa-n ‘if you take’ al-sa-z ‘if you take’
al-sa ‘if he/she/it takes’ al-sa-lar ‘if they take’
37For North Azerbaijani, the use of set 1 after the optative is deemed standard. (Həsənov 1989:77)
e.g.: uç-a-m ‘I wish I could fly’; yaşa (-Ø) ‘I wish he/she/it would live’
46 4. Verbs
The formation of personal ending set for regular verbs is the same as it is in the morphology
of the copula (4.2.1.2.), except that [dI(r)] is not included for regular verbs; thus the third
person singular ending is -Ø, and the third person plural ending -lAr. This set is employed after:
(a) the present tense marker -(y)Ir; (b) the future tense marker -(y)AcAX; (c) the aorist marker -
(y)Ar; (d) the perfect tense marker -mIş/-(y)Ib; (e) the optative -(y)A; (f) the necessitive -
malı/məli.
a. The present tense (PR): -(y)Ir
(10) gəl-ir-əm ‘I am coming.’ gəl-ir-ik ‘We are coming.’

gəl-ir-sən ‘You are coming’ gəl-ir-siz ‘You are coming.’
gəl-ir ‘He is coming’ gəl-ir-lər ‘They are coming.’
In the full form, the present tense marker takes the form of -yIr after a vowel at the end of the
verb stem, but alternatively it may take a short form -Ir, dropping the vowel at the end of the
stem and the epenthetic -y, as in:
(11) istə-yir-əm → ist(ə-y)ir-əm → ist-ir-əm. ‘I want.’

oxu-yur-san → ox(u-y)ur-san → ox-ur-san. ‘You are singing.’
The present tense suffix also expresses the progressive/durative aspect (PROG) (cf. 4.2.4.,
8.2.3.), besides the primary function of marking the present tense, especially when it is used in
combination with other tense-aspect-modality markers.
b. The future tense (FUT): -(y)AcAX
There are slight morphophonemic alternations in this form, according to the velar consonant
harmony (2.5). In the first person singular and plural endings, which have initial vowels (i.e. -
am or -əm; ıx or ik), the voiceless final consonants of the future tense marker, i.e. -(y)acax or -
(y)əcək, undergo voicing assimilation, as expressed in the following rules and examples:
(12) a. x → ğ /___ V
b. k → y / ___ V
(13) gəl-əcəy-əm ‘I will come.’ al-acağ-ıx ‘We will take.’

gəl-əcək-sən ‘You will come.’ al-acax-siz ‘You will take.’
gəl-əcək ‘He/she/it will come.’ al-acax-lar ‘They will take.’
The suffix also expresses the intentional modality (INTENT) (cf. 4.2.4., 8.3.5.3.), besides the
primary function of marking the definite future tense.
c. The aorist (AOR): -(y)Ar
The Azerbaijani aorist marker is sometimes called the indefinite future marker, for its primary
function appears to mark the indefinite future. However, the aorist has other functions as well,
such as marking generic statements or the habitual aspect (HAB). Hence a conventional and
neutral term ‘aorist’ is employed here. However, in this grammar the habitual aspectual use of
the aorist suffix is marked as habitual specifically when it is used in combination with -dI, the
past tense marker (cf. 4.2.3.).
47 4. Verbs
(14) gəl-ər-əm ‘I will come.’ al-ar-ıx ‘We will take.’

gəl-ər-sən ‘You will come.’ al-ar-sız ‘You will take.’
gəl-ər ‘He/she/it will come.’ al-ar-lar ‘They used to take.’
d. The perfect tense-aspect (PF): -mIş/-(y)Ib
The conjugation of the perfect makes use of suppletive forms. In the first persons, the perfect
tense-aspect marker is -mIş, but in the second and third persons, it is -(y)Ib.
(15) gəl-miş-əm ‘I have come’ al-miş-ıx ‘we have taken’

gəl-ib-sən ‘you have come’ al-ıb-sız ‘you have taken’
gəl-ib(dir) ‘he/she/it has come’ al-ıb-(dır)lar ‘they have taken’
-mIş is used in some dialects for the second person with phonological alternations: -ş of -mIş
assimilates to -s of -sAn or -sIz, and then one s is deleted. The resultant form -mI apparently
may look like a variation of the negative -mA, i.e. the variation -mI, but it should not be so
interpreted, because the following word-final suffix of the personal endings set 2 never takes the
negative marker in the immediately preceding slot. This process may be illustrated with the
following example:
(16) Sg. 2: gəl-miş + -sən → gəl-miş-sən → gəl-mi-sən

Pl. 2: gəl-miş + -siz → gəl-miş-siz → gəl-mi-siz
On the other hand, -(y)Ib is never used for the first persons, i.e., *gəlibəm; and -mIş does not
appear with the third person, i.e., *gəlmiş, for this would be identical to the inferential/reported-
speech (see g. below).
The perfect strides over the two domains of the perfect tense and the perfective aspect. When
it is used in combination with other tense markers such as the past -dI, it basically functions as
the perfective aspect marker (cf. 4.2.3.).
e. The optative-subjunctive (OPT): -(y)A

The personal endings marking the optative-subjunctive modality show some
morphophonemic alterations, thus the complete set of endings is:
(17) Sg. 1: -(y)Am Pl. 1: -(y)AX

2: -(y)AsAn 2: -(y)AsIz
3: -(y)A 3: -(y)AlAr
The optative typically expresses condition and wish. It is extensively used in subordinate
conditional clauses in connection with the particle əgər ‘if’ (see 12.1.7.). In the second person it
is more suggestive than conditional. The use of the subjunctive forms for optative and
imprecative sentences is further explained in Chapter 13 (13.3.2.).
In addition, the form of first person plural is identical to that of the imperative (4.2.2.3.). The
conjugation of the subjunctive is exemplified below.
(18) ged-ə-m ‘I would like to go,’ or ‘if I go’

ged-ə-sən ‘I hope you go,’ or ‘if you go’
ged-ə ‘I hope he goes,’ or ‘if he goes’
oxu-ya-x ‘I hope we would read,’ ‘Let’s read,’ or ‘if we read’
oxu-ya-sız ‘I hope you read,’ ‘You may read,’ or ‘if you read’
oxu-ya-lar ‘I hope they would read,’ or ‘if they read’
48 4. Verbs
f. The necessitative (NECES): -malı/məli

The necessitative mood takes -dI(r) in the third person singular.
(19) get-məli-yəm ‘I must go.’ get-məli-yik ‘We must go.’

get-məli-sən ‘You must go.’ get-məli-siz ‘You must go.’
get-məli-di(r) ‘He/she/it must go.’ get-məli-dilər ‘They must go.’
g. The inferential (INFR): -mIş

The inferential marker is physically identical to the first person form of the perfect tense-
aspect marker -mIş 38 but differs in function in that it does not denote any perfective
aspectuality. It is functionally identical to the inferential in the morphology of copula
(4.2.1.2.b.) but differs in form in that here the copular stem i- does not precede. Syntactically,
the inferential in this section suffixes regular verbs, as in:
(20) oxu-muş-am ‘I infer I read.’

get-miş-sən ‘Reportedly you went.’
get-miş ‘Reportedly he/she/it went.’
oxu-muş-ux ‘Reportedly we read.’
get-miş-siz ‘They say that you went.’
get-miş-lər ‘Reportedly they went.’
Though the conjugation is as above, in most cases this marker appears in the third person
singular.
For example:
(21) Sora həmin qız-ınan oğlan evlən-ər-miş.

afterward same girl-COM boy marry-HAB-3S.INFR
‘They say that afterward the same girl and boy would marry.’
Obviously in the first person and, a little less obviously, in the second person the inferential
form is identical to the perfect tense-aspect marker (see 4.2.2.2.d. above). In this case, in order
to increase the degree of uncertainty, the inferential marker may be reduplicated, as in:
(22) oxu-muş-muş-am ‘I am not sure, but reportedly I read.’

get-miş-miş-sən ‘I am not sure, but reportedly you went.’
4.2.2.3. Personal endings set 3: Imperative (IMP)

(23) Sg. 1: -(y)Im Pl. 1: -(y)AX
2: -Ø (-ginan) 2: -(y)In
2H: -(y)In
3: -sIn 3: -sInlAr
38Nevertheless, the close relationship between the perfect and the inferential is noted, also in Turkish:
“Historically and ontogenetically inferential forms seem to develop from forms expressing the
perfect.” (Slobin and Aksu 1982:188). Also Comrie (1976:108).
49 4. Verbs
The personal ending set 3 is used only in the imperative mood. The endings of this set are
added directly to the verb-root. The form of second person singular does not have any suffix, for
this is the basic form of imperative. -ginan appears in rare occassions in the Urmia dialect,
when the imperative force is combined with an affectionate flair. The second person honorific,
whether addressed to one person or many, takes the form of the second person plural.
Note the following morphophonemic alternation. Besides the ‘high’ vowel harmony, y is
inserted after root-final vowels of the verb, as the following examples show:
(24) ged-im ‘Let me go!’ ged-ək ‘Let’s go!’

get ‘Go!’ ged-in ‘Go!’ (to many people)
get-ginan ‘Go, dear’
(2H) ged-in ‘Would you go, please?’
get-sin ‘Let him go!’ get-sinlər ‘Let them go!’
The imperative form is used to express command, a type of manipulative speech-act. The
imperative form is also used as a subjunctive mood marker (SJNCT) in subordinate clauses
interchangeably with the optative-subjunctive mood marker proper (OPT) (4.2.2.2.e., cf.
8.3.2.5., 10.1.1.2., 12.1.6.) and in imprecative and optative sentences (cf. 13.3.2.). It is noted
that the form of the first person plural (-(y)AX) is the same in both. In fact, with the first and
third persons this imperative-subjunctive is more frequently used than the optative-subjunctive.
4.2.3. Tense-aspect
There are five or six suffixes that express tenses and aspects, singly or in combination, as
shown in the table 4.1. below. Although these suffixes are basically tense markers, they also
express aspects.
Table 4.1. Tense-aspect suffixes
Suffix Tense Aspect

1. -(y)Ir Present (PR) Progressive (PROG)
2. -dI Past (PA)
3. -(y)Ar Aorist (AOR) Habitual (HAB)
4. -(y)AcAX Future (FUT)
5. -mIş/-(y)Ib Perfect (PF) Perfective (PF)
The suffixes -dI and -(y)AcAX are not used as an aspect marker; however, -dI is most
extensively used in combination with other aspect markers, on the other hand, -(y)AcAX is
further employed as a modality marker (4.2.4., 8.3.5.3.a.). As a tense marker -(y)Ar is termed
‘aorist’, though, it usually indicates indefinite future (cf. 8.1.3. and 8.1.5.). Thus, it is noticeable
that there are relations between tense, aspect, and modality.
When the tense-aspect suffixes are used in combination, the suffix placed in the first indicates
aspect, followed by the tense marking suffix (cf. 4.4. "order of elements in the verb"). These are
some of the combinations of aspect-tense suffixes with examples:
50 4. Verbs
(25) a. Progressive+Past39 (PROG+PA): -(y)IrdI

Həsən şəhər-ə ged-ir-di.
Hasan town-DAT go-PROG-3S.PA
‘Hasan was going toward the town.’
b. Habitual+Past (HAB+PA): -(y)ArdI

Həsən şəhər-ə ged-ər-di.
Hasan town-DAT go-HAB-3S.PA
‘Hasan was used to going to town.’
c. Perfect+Past (PF+PA): -mIşdI

Həsən şəhər-ə get-miş-di.
Hasan town-DAT go-PF-3S.PA
‘Hasan had gone to the town.’
4.2.4. Modality
There are various forms used to express modalities. These are: non-modal declarative,
imperative (IMP), optative (OPT) -(y)A, necessitative (NECES) -malı/-məli, abilitative (ABIL) -
(y)A bil-, intentional (INTENT) -(y)AcAX, inferential (INFR) -y/ImIş, and conditionals (COND)
-sA.
Some of them are already exemplified in the previous sections (4.2.2.e, f). The use of these
modality markers in various modal expressions and in non-declarative speech acts is described
in later chapters: Chapter 8 "TAM", Chapter 12 "Inter-clausal connections", Chapter 13 "Non-
declarative speech acts".
4.2.5. Voice
The grammatical category of voice is morphologically marked in Azerbaijani. The manner of

marking is derivational; thus it is dealt with in derivational morphology (4.3.4.).
4.2.6. Negation: Negative (NEG): -mA

Impossibilitive (IMPOS): -(y)AmmA
Negative polarity of regular verbs is expressed by adding the negative suffix -mA (i.e. -ma/-
mə) to the non-marked positive verb-stem—i.e. the verb root plus derivational suffix(es)—
before other verbal suffixes40. There is another negative marker -(y)AmmA, (i.e. -(y)amma/-
(y)əmmə) which encodes ‘impossibility’; thus we may call it the impossibilitive negative suffix.
The application of these negation suffixes to the various tense-aspects is regular, in general. The
39Instead of the past tense marker (-dI) the stative past (the copula i- + past = idi) may be used in all
the tense-aspect combinations, when the stative past is written separately, as: gedir idi, gedər
idi, gedəcək idi, getmiş idi.
40The negation of the copula is constructed by using the negative copula dəyil. For futher discussion
on negation, see 8.4. ‘negation’.
51 4. Verbs
following are morphophonemic and morpho-syntactic restrictions on the application of the two
negative suffixes.
(a) The negative suffix is realized by three allomorphs, -mA/-mi/-m, in addition to those
according to the vowel harmony. The impossibilitive suffix follows suit in its second syllable, ie
-(y)AmmA/-(y)Ammi/-(y)Amm.
(i) -mA appears in all verb forms but the present, aorist, future and optative forms, as in:
(26) a. al-ma! ‘Don’t take!’ (IMP)

b. al-amma-yıblar. ‘They had been unable to take.’ (PF)
(ii) -mi appears in the future and optative forms, as in:
(27) a. al-mi-yacax ‘He will not take.’ (FUT)

b. al-ammi-yə ‘I wish he is unable to take.’ (OPT)
(iii) -m appears in the present and aorist, dropping the final A before the following suffix
vowel, as in:
(28) a. al-m-ıram ‘I am not taking.’ (PR)

b. al-m-az ‘He would not take.’ (AOR)
c. al-amm-aram ‘I would not be able to take.’ (AOR)
(b) -mA is an enclitic, i.e. it does not take an accent. Usually the accent comes immediately
before the negative suffix. -(y)AmmA takes an accent on the first syllable, as in:
(29) a. 'gəl-mə-di.
come-NEG-3S.PA
‘He didn’t come.’
b. gəl-'əmmə-di.
come-IMPOS-3S.PA
‘He couldn’t come.’
(c) Both suffixes are placed directly after the verb-stem (i.e. verb root+derivational
morpheme(s)) and before all other verbal suffixes, as in:
(30) a. gör-ün-mə-di-n.
see-PASS-NEG-PA-2S
‘You were not seen.’
b. ye-dirt-əmmə-di-lər.
eat-CAUS-IMPOS-PA-3P
‘They were not able to make (someone) eat.’
(d) In the aorist -(y)Ar, the negative takes a suppletive set of conjugation: -mAz instead of -
mAr in the second and third person, z may be omitted in the second person; -Ar may be omitted
in the first person singular. The impossibilitive marker follows the same pattern, as the
following paradigms shows.
52 4. Verbs
(31) Aorist negative and impossibilitive:
Sg. 1 al-m(-ar)-am al-amm(-ar)-am

2 al-ma(z)-san al-amma(z)-san
3 al-maz al-ammaz
Pl. 1 al-mar-ıx al-ammar-ıx
2 al-ma(z)-sız al-amma(z)-sız
3 al-maz-lar al-ammaz-lar
al-maz ‘He/she/it will not take.’
al-ammaz He/she/it will not be able to take.’
4.2.7. Participles (PTC)
The following four participles are formed by adding suffixes to the verb. Participles function
both as nominalizers (cf. 3.2.2.1.1.), which form nouns from verbs, and as adjectival modifiers
to the head noun in a relativized noun phrase (cf. 11.3.).
1. -(y)An Present participle (PR.PTC)

2. -dIX Past participle (PA.PTC)
3. -mIş Perfect participle (PF.PTC)
4. -(y)AcAX Future participle (FUT.PTC)
4.2.8. Inter-clausal suffixes
There are suffixes which help construct inter-clausal connections, either coordinative or
subordinative. Clauses constructed with these suffixes are non-finite. Further description on the
structure and function of inter-clausal connections, which employ these suffixes, will be made
in Chapter 12 "Inter-clausal connections".
a. Coordinative suffix (CS): -(y)Ib

There is only one coordinative suffix -(y)Ib. This suffix actually works both at the phrase
level and the clause level, i.e., combining two or more verbs within a single clause, or
combining clauses.
(32) a. Bala ye-yib yat-ar-di.

baby eat-CS sleep-HAB-3S.PA
‘The baby would (only) eat and sleep.’
b. Ev-ə qayıd-ıb arvad-ı-na de-di: ...

home-DAT return-CS wife-3S.PO-DAT say-3S.PA
‘He returned home and said to his wife...’
53 4. Verbs
b. Subordinative suffixes (SS):

Subordinative suffixes occur mostly in adverbial clauses. The following are some of them.
(33) a. -(y)AndA ‘when’:

Ev-ə gəl-əndə ana-si o-ni danla-di.
home-DAT come-SS.when mother-3S.PO 3S-ACC rebuke-3S.PA
‘When (she) came home, her mother rebuked her.’
b. -(y)A–-(y)A ‘while (...ing)’:

Uşax ağli-ya–ağli-ya ev-ə qəyit-di.
child cry-SS.while–cry-SS.while home-DAT return-3S.PA
‘The child returned home while crying.’
c. -(y)Arkən ‘when, while (being...)’:

Köşən-də otar-arkən az-ıb get-miş-di.
field-LOC feed-SS.while get.astray-CS go-PF-3S.PA
‘While feeding in the field, it got lost.’
d. -(y)IncA ‘as soon as’:

Qonşu-lar eşid-incə çox narahat ol-dular.
neighbour-PL listen-SS.as.soon.as much worried become-3P.PA
‘The neighbours, after hearing the news, became very sad.’
-(y)Arkən is seldom used in Iranian Azerbaijani; instead one will readily use a periphrastic
expression -(y)An vaxt ‘-ing time’, i.e. ‘when’. For example, the example (c.) above may be
recast as: Köşən-də otar-an vaxt az-ıb get-miş-di.
4.3. Derivational morphology
Verbs may also have derivational suffixes. In respect to word-formation characteristics, verbs
may be divided into three types: (a) simple verbs—each composed of a single verb-root; (b)
derived verbs—from nouns, adjectives, and numerals; (c) compound verbs, where one verb
modifies another to produce a derived meaning. In this section, verbal derivations and
compound verbs are surveyed.
4.3.1. Verbs derived from nouns
(34) Suffix + Input noun Gloss → Verb Gloss

-lA baş head başla- begin
-A yaş age yaşa- live
-ar ot grass otar- graze
-lAş əl hand əlləş- try hard
-lAn ev house evlən- marry
The suffix -IldA changes onomatopoeic words into verbs: zənk ‘ding-dong’ → zingildə-
‘jingle’; xor ‘snoring sound’ → xorulda- ‘snore’.
54 4. Verbs
4.3.2. Verbs derived from adjectives
(35) Suffix + Input adj. Gloss → Verb Gloss

-(A)lt qərə black qərəlt- blacken
-Ar ağ white ağar- become white
-lAş hazır ready hazırlaş- prepare oneself
4.3.3. Verbs derived from numeral
(36) Suffix + Input num. Gloss → Verb Gloss

-lAş bir one birləş- make one, unite
4.3.4. Verb-derived verbs: the voice markers
There are four kinds of deverbal derivations which code the grammatical category of voice:
causative-transitive, passive, reflexive, and reciprocal. Azerbaijani like other Turkic languages
has a characteristically distinctive morphological voice marking system. The voice marking
suffixes are added to the verb-stem singly or multiply, but not all individual verbs have all
verbal forms of voice. The syntactic, semantic and pragmatic characteristics of the voice system
will be discussed in Chapter 9 "Voice and transitivity".
4.3.4.1. Causative-transitive suffixes (CAUS): -dIr, -(I)t, -Ir, -art
a. -dIr. This is the most frequent causative suffix. But it is not added to polysyllabic verbs
ending with vowels or l or r. When verbs take double causative suffixes, they mostly take this
suffix as the second causative marker, though the slot is sometimes shared by -(I)t after -dIr
itself. This is also the preferred causative suffix when causative is marked in verbs with multiple
voice markings.
(37) öl- ‘die’ öldür- ‘kill’

gey- ‘wear’ geydir- ‘make wear’
əyləş- ‘sit down’ əyləşdir- ‘make someone be seated’
gey-in- ‘dress oneself gey-in-dir- ‘help one to dress’
oxu-t- ‘make read’ oxu-t-dur- ‘cause one to make read’
b. -t is used to transitivize polysyllabic verbs ending with vowels or l or r, and is also
employed as the second causative marker in the double causative verbs whose first marker is -
dIr.
(38) oxu- ‘read’ oxut- ‘make read’

düzəl- ‘be formed’ düzəlt- ‘produce’
çağır- ‘call’ çagırt- ‘make call’
öl-dür- ‘kill’ öl-dür-t- ‘cause to kill’
-It is used with some monosyllabic verbs whose stem ends mainly with k or x.
55 4. Verbs
(39) ax- ‘flow’ axıt- ‘cause to flow’

qorx- ‘fear qorxut- ‘frighten
c. -Ir is used mainly to transitivize some monosyllabic intransitive verbs.
(40) it- ‘get lost’ itir- ‘lose’

biş- ‘cook’(intr.) bişir- ‘cook’ (tr.)
d. -Art is used to transitivize just a few intransitive verbs.
(41) çıx- ‘go out’ çıxart- ‘take out’

qop- ‘break off’(intr.) qopart- ‘pluck, break off’ (tr.)
4.3.4.2. Passive suffixes (PASS): -Il, -(I)n
a. -Il. This is the normal passive suffix after all consonants except for l. When a verb with
multiple voice markings takes a passive marker, this is the passive suffix to take.
(42) yaz- ‘write’ yazıl- ‘be written’

öl-dür- ‘kill’ öl-dür-ül- ‘be killed’
b. -(I)n is used after vowels and l: -n after vowels and -In after l.
(43) bil- ‘know’ bilin- ‘be known’

daşı- ‘carry’ daşın- ‘be carried’
4.3.4.3. Reflexive suffixes (RFLX): -(y)(I)n, -Il41
a. -(y)(I)n. This is the normal reflexive-middle suffix: -yIn after monosyllabic vowel stems; -
In after consonants; -n after vowel in polysyllabic stems.
(44) yu- ‘wash’ yuyun- ‘wash onself’

gey- ‘wear’ geyin- ‘dress oneself’
dara- ‘comb’ daran- ‘comb oneself’
b. -Il is normally a passive marker but used in some verbs to produce reflexive-middle verbs
that have a reflexive-middle sense.
(45) aç- ‘open’ açıl- ‘(flower) come out’

əy- ‘bend’ əyil- ‘stoop’
çək- ‘pull‘ çəkil- ‘withdraw’
41It is evident that there is a close relationship between the passive and reflexive suffixes. Cf. “...there
must be a considerable functional overlap between passive-voice and reflexive constructions.
Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the prevalence of passives that arise diachronically
from reflexives.” (Givón 1990:628).
56 4. Verbs
4.3.4.4 Reciprocal suffix (RCPR): -(I)ş
-(I)ş is used to produce reciprocal or collective verbs.
(46) vur- ’hit’ vuruş- ‘fight each other’

gör- ‘see’ görüş- ‘meet’
gül- ‘laugh’ gülüş- ‘laugh together’
4.3.5. Compound Verbs
There are three kinds of verbal compounds: copulative compounds, use of auxiliary verbs,
and phrasal verbs.
4.3.5.1. Copulative compounds
Two verbs combine together with the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib to produce copulative
compound verbs. This may also be called serial verb construction. Conventionally the two verbs
are separated by a hyphen (-). Here are some examples:
(47) did- ‘tear’ + -ib + tök- ‘drip’ → didib-tök- ‘mangle’

dol- ‘be full’ +-ıb +daşı- ‘carry’ → dolub-daşı- ‘overflow’
süpür- ‘sweep’ + -üb + apar- ‘take away’ → süpürüb-apar- ‘sweep away’
süpür- ‘sweep’ + -üb + ye- ‘eat’ → süpürüb-ye- ‘devour’
ye- ‘eat’ + -yib + iç- ‘drink’ → yeyib-iç- ‘eat and drink’ i.e. ‘feast’
4.3.5.2. Use of auxiliary verbs
There are five auxiliary verbs in Azerbaijani. Among them, four are non-modal auxiliaries: ol-
‘become’, elə- ‘do’42, et- ‘do’, sal- ‘cast’. ol- produces intransitive verbs in combination with
adjectives and less frequently with nouns, sometimes phrasal verbs together with case markers.
elə- and et- share the same meaning. In Iranian Azerbaijani elə- is used much more frequently.
et- and elə- are added to nouns, less often to adjectives or numerals, to produce compound
verbs. Less frequently sal- produces transitive-causative verbs in combination with some
adjectives or nouns. A modal auxiliary verb bil- ‘know’ may be connected to another verb,
which itself takes a suffix -ə, to encode the abilitative modality, equivalent to English can.43
Compound verbs with auxiliary verbs are as shown below:
(48) a. Compound verb with auxiliary verb ol- ‘become’:

razı ‘pleased’ + ol- → razı ol- ‘be pleased’
42Sometimes in an elegant speech, eylə- is used instead of elə-.

43It seems there is a semantic relationship between ‘can’ (or ‘be able to’) and ‘know’: English can
also is etymologically a cognate with know. German können means both ‘know’ and ‘be able to’.
So is Korean “Verb-l-jul al-da” ‘Verb-Presumptive-ABILITY know-INF’ » ‘know (how) to
Verb’; e.g. bo-l-jul an-da ‘(I) know how to see (it)’ (an- is the present form of al-; bo- ‘see’).
(Lee 1989:56).
57 4. Verbs
daxil ‘inside’ + ol- → daxil ol- ‘enter’

ana-dan ‘mother-ABL’ + ol- → anadan ol- ‘be born’
b. Compound verb with auxiliary verb elə- ‘do, make’:

qəbul ‘accepting’ + elə- → qəbul elə- ‘accept’
bir ‘one’ + elə- → bir elə- ‘make one’
dərya ‘sea’ + elə- → dərya elə- ‘make a sea’
c. Compound verb with auxiliary verb et- ‘do’:

zahir ‘outside’ + et- → zahir et- ‘show’
təqdim ‘presentation’ + et- → təqdim et- ‘present’
d. Compound verb with auxiliary verb sal- ‘cast’:

razı ‘pleased’ + sal- → razı sal- ‘satisfy’
dava ‘fight’ + sal- → dava sal- ‘cause to fight’
e. Compound verb with auxiliary verb bil- ‘know’:

gəl- ‘come’ + -ə + bil- → gələ bil- ‘be able to come’
danış- ‘talk’ + -a + bil- → danişa bil- ‘be able to talk’
4.3.5.3. Phrasal verbs
One or more items—mostly nouns—are compounded together with a verb to produce

idiomatic phrasal verbs. Some nouns take case markers before compounding, but some others
do not, such as:
(49) baş ‘head’ + -a ‘DAT’ + düş- ‘fall’ → başa düş- ‘understand’

baş ‘head’ + -a ‘DAT’ + sal- ‘drop’ → başa sal- ‘make understand, explain’
yol ‘way’ + -a ‘DAT’ + düş- ‘fall’ → yola düş- ‘leave’
meydan ‘square’ + oxu- ‘read’ → meydan oxu- ‘challenge, call someone for fighting’
4.4. Order of elements in the verb
The typical order of elements in the verb may be summarized as the following schema:
(50) V → Verb-root (DERIV) (NEG) (ASP) (MOD) (TENSE) (PERS-NUM)
a. gör-ün-mi-yəcək-di-lər
see-DERIV[PASS]-NEG-INTENT-PA-3P
‘they intended not to be seen’
b. fikir-ləş-dir-il-miş-əm (fikirləş- ‘think’)

thinking-DERIV-DERIV[CAUS]-DERIV[PASS]-PF-1S
‘I have been made think’
58 4. Verbs
c. göz-lə-m-ir-di-z (gözlə- ‘wait’)

eye-DERIV-NEG-PROG-PA-2P
‘you were not waiting’
d. ged-ir-miş-lər
go-PROG-INFR-3P
‘reportedly they were going’
As noticeable from the above example (b.), more than one derivational suffix may be employed
in a verb phrase.
The relative orders of the derivational suffixes, the negative suffixes, the person-number
markers are fairly rigid; however, there is a slight degree of flexibility among the TAM markers.
In general, an aspect marker and a modality marker may seldom appear together in the same
verb, except with the referential modality marker -y/ImIş in the modality slot as in (d.) above.
On rare occasions, some unusual sequences such as PA[TENSE]-COND[MOD] (see 12.1.7.1.
(32)) and COND[MOD]-INFR[MOD] (see 12.1.7.1. (33)) may occur. This possibly indicates
that some TAM markers such as the conditional and inferential have rather complex syntactic
and semantic characteristics.
59 5. Other word classes
Chapter 5
Other word classes
This chapter describes the morphology of various word classes other than nouns and verbs:
pronouns, adjectives, numerals, classifiers, quantifiers, adverbs, postpositions, connectives,
particles, and interjections. As with the chapters on nouns and verbs, the form and meaning of
the word classes will be described in this chapter but their use in wider contexts will be
discussed in the chapters following.
5.1. Pronouns
Azerbaijani pronouns may be divided into seven distinct classes according to their lexical and
grammatical properties: personal, reflexive, reciprocal, demonstrative, indefinite, interrogative,
relative pronouns. The structure of pronouns is rather simple; there are seldom compound
pronouns. Like nouns, pronouns take case markers, as their grammatical relations in the clause
require.
5.1.1. Personal pronouns
Azerbaijani has the following six independent, stressed personal pronouns.
Table 5.1. Personal pronouns
Person Singular Plural

1 mən ‘I’ biz ‘we’
2 sən ‘you’ siz ‘you’
3 o ‘he/she/it’ olar44 ‘they’
There is no gender distinction in any person, even in the third person singular; thus o
expresses ‘he, she, it’. The form of first person singular mən is somehow heterogeneous,
disrupting the otherwise symmetric-pair formation.45 The second person plural siz is also used
as the honorific form. Its use is very close to the European "T/V" (after French tu and vous)
system46. Sən is used for someone close to the speaker, such as family members, relatives,
close friends, and for someone socially inferior to the speaker. Siz is used to address someone
unfamiliar or socially superior.
44A conventional spelling of onlar is used in North Azerbaijani.

45 InAltaic languages, the first person singular pronoun typically has b-; indeed some Turkic
languages follow the same vein (e.g. Turkish ben). However, in most Turkic languages it is mən
or min.
46Brown and Gilman (1960).
The plural marker -lAr may be attached to biz and siz: bizlər, sizlər. These double plural
pronouns actually denote a more limited number of people. Bizlər is used sometimes to express
an ‘exclusive first person’, as in:
(1) Bizlər-də qərib-ə hörmət ed-ərlər.

we-LOC foreigner-DAT respect do-3P.AOR
‘People respect foreigners among us.’
Sizlər may also imply that the speaker intends to narrow the distance from the hearer but still to
maintain formality or politeness. 47 In the following example (a.), the speaker complains
against the public education authorities, using sizlər.
(2) a. Uşaq mənim-dir, baba! Dəxl-i nə-dir sizlər-ə?48

child mine-be.3S.PR sir relation-3S.PO what-be.3S.PR you-DAT
‘The child is mine, sir. What is it to do with you?’
b. Allah-ın ad-ı-ynan salam ol-sun sizlər-ə, əziz-lər.

God-GEN name-3S.PO-with peace be-3S.SJNCT you-DAT dear-PL
‘Peace be with you in the name of God, dear friends.’
The following table shows the paradigm of personal pronouns with the case suffixes.
Table 5.2. Personal pronouns with the case suffixes
Case 1.Pers. 2. Pers 3.Pers

SG Nom. mən sən o
Gen. mənim sənin onun
Acc. məni səni oni
Com. məninən səninən onunan
Dat. mənə sənə ona
Loc. məndə səndə onda
Abl. məndən səndən ondan
PL Nom. biz siz olar
Gen. bizim sizin oların
Acc. bizi sizi olari
Com. bizinən sizinən olarınan
Dat. bizə sizə olara
Loc. bizdə sizdə olarda
Abl. bizdən sizdən olardan
In the third person singular, epenthetic n is inserted before the case suffix. In the third person
singular comitative case, allomorphs without i or u, thus mənnən, sənnən, onnan, are often used
in colloquial speech. These are identical with the ablative case. In this case, context will show
the difference.
47Partial quotes from Householder and Lotfi (1965:177) and Həsənov (1989:67).
48From a poem by M.Ə. Sabir.
The genitive forms of personal pronouns may be called the "possessive pronouns", due to
their syntactic distinctiveness of modifying the head nouns in the noun phrase. Table 5.3. shows
these possessive pronouns.
Table 5.3. Possessive pronouns

1 mənim ‘my’ bizim ‘our’
2 sənin ‘your’ sizin ‘your’
3 onun ‘his/her/its’ oların ‘their’
5.1.2. Reflexive pronouns
The possessive suffixes are added to the reflexive adjective öz ‘own, self’ to produce reflexive
pronouns, then case suffixes may be further added, as in the following:
Table 5.4. Reflexive pronouns

1 özüm ‘myself’ özümüz ‘ourselves’
2 özün ‘yourself’ özüz ‘yourselves’
3 özü/i ‘him/her/itself’ özləri ‘themselves’
(3) özü-ni ‘himself (ACC)’

özün-ə ‘to yourself’
özləri-ndə ‘in themselves’
özümüz-dən ‘from ourselves’
Reflexive pronouns are also used as emphatic pronouns, which emphasize the role of the
referent in the sentence and draw attention onto the person in focus. It may be rendered
‘(one)self’ or ‘(one’s) own’. Reflexive and emphatic pronouns can be used as an independent
reflexive pronoun öz or in combination with possessive suffixes. In the former occasion, the
meaning is generally reflexive.
(4) a. Emphatic pronoun:

mən özüm padşah ol-a–ol-a
I myself king be-ADVZ–be-ADVZ
‘While I myself am the king,’
b. Reflexive pronoun:
öz otağ-ı-na gəl-di.
own room-3S.PO-DAT come-3S.PA
‘He came to his own room.’
5.1.3. Reciprocal pronouns
Reciprocal pronoun bir-bir ‘each other, one another’ indicates a reciprocal relationship
among the plural entities of the subject in a sentence. It is formed by joining two indefinite
pronouns, with a hyphen (-) in between, by orthographic convention. A possessive suffix is
attached to the reciprocal pronoun to indicate the person of the referred subject. The third
person reciprocal pronoun can be formed by attaching either -ləri (plural possessive suffix) or -i
(singular possessive suffix); the meaning is about the same.
(5) bir-birimiz ‘each other of us’

bir-biriz ‘each other of you’
bir-birləri ‘each other of them’
bir-biri ‘each other’
olar bir-bir-ləri-nə de-dilər.

they each.other.of.them-DAT say-3P.PA
‘They said to each other.’
Bir-bir alone means ‘one by one’, as in:
(6) hamı alma-lar-i bir-bir yığ-ar-san.

all apple-PL-ACC one-(by)-one collect-AOR-2S
‘You shall collect all the apples one by one.’
5.1.4. Demonstrative pronouns
There are seven demonstrative pronouns:
Table 5.5. Demonstrative pronouns
bu ‘this (one)’ o ‘that (one)’

belə(si) ‘something like this’ elə(si) ‘something like that’
həmin ‘this same one’ həman49 ‘that same one’
obiri(si) ‘the other one’
bu and o are the basic demonstrative pronouns; belə and elə are derived from them. The form of
o is the same as the personal pronoun o. Indeed, o is multi-functional; as (1) the third person
singular personal pronoun ‘he, she, it’, (2) a functional definite article, (3) a deictic
demonstrative pronoun. bu, belə, həmin indicate the referred object is relatively close to the
speaker; o, elə, haman indicate relatively distant. All the demonstrative pronouns indicate
deictic definite reference.
All the demonstrative pronouns can be used as determiners, where those with the definite
suffix -(s)I drop it. (For the definite suffix, see 3.2.1.6.) With the definite suffix they are used
only as pronouns.
49Or haman, which is the standard spelling in the North.

obiri is a compound of o+biri. It may also be written as two separate words, as o biri. It
presupposes two objects or participants: the first object may be encoded with o, bu, or an
indefinite pronoun biri/heçbiri and the other object with obiri(si), as in:
(7) a. o da obirisi kimin

he also the.other.one like
‘he also like his other one’
b. Heçbiri obirisi-ni yıx-a bil-mə-di.

no.one the.other-ACC defeat-be.able-NEG-3S.PA
‘No one (of the two) was able to defeat the other.’
obiri in (a.) above is used as a determiner. When two or more objects participate as indefinite
referents, biri is used for each group, as in:
(8) Biri ağ, biri qərə, biri də sari i-di.

one white one black one also yellow be-3S.PA
‘One was white, another black, and then the third was yellow.’
bu and o may function as nouns, thus can take the plural marker and the case suffixes. Some
examples:
(9) bu-lar ‘these’ (this-PL)

o-lar ‘those’ (that-PL)
bu-nun ‘of this’ (this-GEN)
o-na ‘to that’ (that-DAT)
bu-lar-dan ‘from these’ (this-PL-ABL)
o-nda ‘in that’ (that-LOC)
belə and elə are actually used as adverbs, determiners and pronouns. When used as
demonstrative pronouns, they appear often with the third person possessive suffixes (here -si for
singular, -ləri for plural) attached to make them definite or specific. Then the case suffixes can
also be added. Some examples are shown below:
(10) belə-si ‘something like this’ (NOM)

belə-si-nə ‘to something like this’ (-DAT)
elə-ləri-nin ‘of things like those’ (-GEN)
elə-si-ndən ‘from something like that’ (-COM)
həmin and həman do not take any suffix. Their use is shown below:
(11) a. Qız-ı həmin həkim-inən bir yer-də gəl-ir.

girl-3S.PO same doctor-COM one place-LOC come-3S.PR
His daughter is coming together with the same doctor.’
b. Həman quşə-yə ged-ib, tük-ü-ni yandır-di.

same corner-DAT go.CS hair-3S.PO-ACC burn-3S.PA
‘He went to the same corner and burnt its feather.’
When both bu and o are used contrastively in a sentence, like ‘this and that’, ‘here and there’,
the o-phrase comes first, then to be followed by bu-phrase, thus facilitating a zooming-in effect
in the discourse, as in:
(12) Bir o baş-a, bir bu baş-a at çap-di.

once that head-DAT once this head-DAT horse gallop-3S.PA
‘He drove the horse galloping that way for a while and this way.’
belə and elə follow the same vein, thus: elə-belə ‘that.way-this.way’/‘so so’, instead of belə-
elə, is a way to respond to a casual greeting question, "How are you?".
bu and o are used also as discourse deictics. Both, as anaphors, basically refer to antecedents
which precede them: bu is used for foregrounded information or for an entity relatively closer to
the speaker; o is for relatively backgrounded information or more distant from the speaker (in
the sense of locational, temporal, discourse, or social deixis). But the two pronouns are also
used as cataphors referring to antecedents which follow them, especially when they are used in
a cleft sentence, as in the example (b.) below. The parameters of distance and grounding are
again applied in the cataphoric use.
(13) a. Anaphoric use of a demonstrative pronoun:
O get-di.
that go-3S.PA
That one went.’ (The one who was mentioned before.)
b. Cataphoric use of a demonstrative pronoun:

Bu, qələt bir fikir-dir ki, de-yək ...
this wrong one idea-be.3S.PR SUB say-1P.OPT
This is a wrong idea that we should say...’
In the sense of temporal deixis, o indicates ‘a time relatively distant from the present time
(whether in the future or past)’. For example, bu gün is ‘today’<‘this day’; but o gün ‘that day’
may mean ‘the day in the future’ or ‘the day in the past’. o appears to side more with the
cataphoric, future sense. Another example, bu dünya ‘this world (now)’, o dünya ‘that world,
i.e. the world to come’.
5.1.5. Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite or non-referring pronouns are formed either by adding the third person singular
possessive suffix -(s)I to the numeral bir ‘one’, or by compounding two lexical words. The
following list shows some of indefinite pronouns, and their formations in brackets.
(14) biri [bir-i] ‘one person, someone; one thing, something’

hamı [ham-ı] ‘all’
kimsə [kim-sə] ‘someone, anyone’
hərə [hər-ə] ‘each one’
hər biri [hər bir-i] ‘each one, everyone’
hər kəs [hər-kəs] ‘everyone’
heç biri [heç-biri] ‘no one, nobody’
heç kəs [heç-kəs] ‘no one, nobody’
heç kim [heç-kim] ‘no one, nobody’

heç nə [heç-nə] ‘nothing’
filankəs [filan-kəs] ‘someone, such-and-such person’
hər ‘every’ and heç ‘nothing’—both of Persian origin—are productively prefixed to items of
Turkic origin. The structure of compounding is shown within square brackets [ ]. Some of the
indefinite pronouns may be classified in contrastive pairs according to structural as well as
semantic features: items with hər and heç contrast in polarity: e.g. hər kəs ‘everyone’ vs. heç
kəs ‘no one’. By orthographic convention some are written as one word, as filankəs and hərə,
while others as two separate words. biri and demonstrative pronoun obiri ‘the other one’
contrast in deictic position.
All the indefinite pronouns can not take the plural marker, but can take the case suffixes: e.g.,
*hamı-lar (PL) is ungrammatical, but hamı-dan (ABL) ‘from all’ is grammatical.
5.1.6. Interrogative pronouns
There are four or five basic interrogative pronouns which decline like a noun; plural,
possessive, case suffixes:
(15) nə ‘what?’
nəmənə ‘what?’ (a synonym of nə)
kim ‘who?’
hara ‘where?’
hansı ‘which, which one’
nə-lər ‘what(pl)?’ < ‘what-PL’
nə-lər-imiz ‘what(pl) of ours?’ < ‘what-PL-1P.PO’
nə-lər-imiz-dən ‘from what(pl) of ours?’ < ‘what-PL-1P.PO-ABL’
hansı has double functions; (a) as a interrogative determiner it does not take any suffix, (b) as
an interrogative pronoun it takes suffixes.
nə is the most productive base for generating other question words by taking suffixes or other
lexical words.
(16) necə ‘how?’ < nə-cə ‘what-MAN’

nə cür ‘how?, what sort?’ < nə + cür ‘kind, sort’
neçə ‘how many?’ < nə-çə ‘what-(?)much’ < nə + ?çox ‘much’
nəçi ‘of what occupation? < nə-çi ‘what-OCCUPAUION’
nə qədər ‘how much? <nə + qədər ‘amount, degree’
nə zaman ‘what time?, when?’ < nə + zaman ‘time’
nə vaxt ‘what time?, when?’ < nə + vaxt ‘time’
niyə ‘why?, for what?’ < nə-yə ‘what-DAT’
nədən ‘why?, from what?’ < nə-dən ‘what-ABL’
nə üçün ‘why?, for what?’ < nə + üçün ‘for’
neçənci ‘how manyeth?’ < nə-çə-inci ‘what-(?)much-ORD’
ha- of hara is also productive. hara, in fact, is itself a compound word; ha ‘what’+ -ra. -ra is
an old Turkic allative case marker.
(17) haçan ‘when?’ < ha-çan(d) (?)from Persian çand ‘how long?’
hanı ‘where?’ < ha-nı
5.1.7. Relative pronoun
Azerbaijani uses the relative pronoun ki ‘that’ extensively. This is from the Persian ke (ùk),
which facilitates the Indo-European sentence structure within the Azerbaijani language. Its use
in Iranian Azerbaijani is virtually parallel to that of Persian. This pronoun is single-handedly
and very effectively functioning as an interface between Azerbaijani (i.e. Altaic/Turkic) and
Persian (Indo-European). It may be regarded as a bride from the grammatical ‘clan’ of the
Persian language, who has very well established its domestic status within Azerbaijani, thus
bridging the two language families. Finite verbs in embedded clauses are non-Turkic, in
general, but thanks to ki it is possible and the structure thrives. For this reason one may ask: Is ki
the key?
It functions both as a complementizer, introducing a finite complement clause in the sentence,
and as a relative pronoun, linking a finite relative clause to the head noun.
5.2. Adjectives
In this section, adjectives are studied in three aspects: semantic, syntactic, and morphological
characteristics.
5.2.1. Semantic characteristics
Adjectives may be divided "according to those that are more prototypical, and thus code
inherent, concrete, relatively stable qualities of entities; and those that are less prototypical, and
thus code more temporary, less concrete states".50
More prototypical adjectives tend to behave as nouns, as in the example (a.) below, as well as
adjectives; less prototypical adjectives tend to behave as adverbs, as in (b.) below:
(18) a. böyük ‘big’ (ADJ) böyük-lər ‘grown-ups’ (Noun)

b. yaxşı ‘good’ (ADJ) yaxşı ‘well’ (ADV)
5.2.1.1. Prototypical adjectives
(a) Size
Size adjectives may describe a wide range of semantic features. They come mostly as
antonym pairs. For example:
(19) a. General size: böyük/kiçik ‘big/small’

b. Horizontal extension: enli/dar ‘wide/narrow’
c. Vertical extension: uca/qısa ‘tall/short’
50Givón (1993:62).
d. Length: uzun/qısa ‘long/short’

e. Weight: ağır/yüngül ‘heavy/light’
f. Distance: uzax/yaxın ‘far/near’
(b) Colour
Colour adjectives describe the range of visible colour spectrum or the brightness with
antonym pairs. In fact, colour terms morphologically straddle the borderline between noun and
adjective.
(20) a. Brightness: aydın/qaranqul ‘bright/dark’, ağ/qərə ‘white/black’

b. Colour: göy ‘blue/green’, səbz (yaşıl) ‘green’, sarı ‘yellow’,
ağ ‘white’, qərə ‘black’, boz ‘gray’, qırmızı ‘red’,
qəhvə rəngi ‘coffee colour, i.e. brown’
c. Noun/Adjective: qərə ‘black’, qərə-lər ‘the black people’
Four colours traditionally signified the four directions: göy ‘blue/green’ for the east, ağ ‘white’
for the west, qırmızı ‘red’ for the south, and qərə ‘black’ for the north.
(c) Shape
Shapes of objects are described with shape adjectives according to the dimensional status—
one-, two- or three- dimensions—and the number of angles of the external contour. Some
examples:
(21) a. One-dimensional: düz ‘straight’, əyri ‘crooked’

b. Two-dimensional: girdə ‘round’, ücbucaqlı ‘triangular’, dördbucaqlı ‘square’
c. Three-dimensional: kürəli ‘spherical’, kub ‘cubic’, piramidalı ‘pyramidal’
(d) Auditory qualities

Sounds produced in the world are described with auditory adjectives according to their
auditory qualities experienced by the human ear, often organized in contrastive antonym pairs.
Some examples:
(22) a. Loudness: bərk/sakit ‘loud/quiet’

b. Pitch: uca(səs)/zəif(səs) ‘high(voice)/low(voice)’
c. Harmony: ahəngdar/ahəngsiz ‘harmonious/inharmonious’
(e) Taste
Taste adjectives describe the various tastes experienced by the sense of human tongue. Some
of the common taste adjectives in Azerbaijani are:
(23) şirin ‘sweet’, turş ‘sour’, duzlı ‘salty’, acı ‘bitter’
(f) Tactile
Tactile adjectives describe tactile features of an object. Some examples:
(24) a. Texture: qobud/rəvan ‘rough/smooth’

b. Resistance: bərk/yümşax ‘hard/soft’
c. Pointedness: iti/küt ‘sharp/blunt’
5.2.1.2. Less prototypical adjectives
(a) Evaluative
Evaluative adjectives describe the subjective estimation of the speaker on an object or event.
Some examples:
(25) yaxşı/pis ‘good/bad’

nəcib/nanəcib ‘noble/dishonourable’
təmiz/murdar ‘clean/dirty’
(b) Transitory states

Adjectives in this group of multiple features describe the temporary states of external,
internal, social or mental dimensions, such as:
(26) Mental: qızğın ‘angry’, qəmgin ‘sad’, şad ‘joyful’, məmnun ‘grateful’
Speed: sür’ətli/yavaş ‘fast/slow’
Temperature: isti ‘hot’, soyux ‘cold’, mö’tadil ‘mild’
Weather: buludli ‘cloudy’, küləkli ‘windy’
5.2.2. Syntactic characteristics
Adjectives generally display two syntactic positions in clauses: (a) as predicates with or
without copula in non-verbal clauses; (b) as modifiers within the noun phrase, as in:
(27) a. Predicate adjective:

Fatma göyçək-dir.
Fatma pretty-be.3S.PR
‘Fatma is pretty.’
b. Modifying adjective:
yaxşı bir adam
good one man
‘a good man’
5.2.3. Morphological characteristics
5.2.3.1. Grammatical morphology
Adjectives display the comparative degrees of qualities by taking grammatical suffixes.

Azerbaijani has two kinds of comparative markings: the diminutives with suffixes; and the
intensives with a suffix and reduplications, as in:
(28) a. Diminutive suffixes:

-ImtIl: ağ ‘white’ → ağımtıl ‘whitish’
-sov (-ımsov): uzun ‘long’ → uzunsov ‘somewhat long’
-(ı)mtrax: ağ ‘white’ → ağımtrax ‘somewhat white’
-şın: sarı ‘yellow’ → sarişın ‘pale yellow’
-rax: çox ‘a lot’ → çoxrax ‘rather a lot’
b1. Intensive suffix:

-cA: bala ‘baby’ → balaca ‘very small’
xırda ‘small’ → xırdaca ‘tiny’
b2. Intensive adjectival reduplication:

qırmızı ‘red’ → qı-p-qırmızı → qıpqırmızı ‘very red’
sarı ‘yellow’ → sa-p-sarı → sapsarı ‘very yellow’
səbz ‘green’ → sə-r-səbz → sərsəbz ‘very green’
boş ‘empty’ → bo-m-boş → bomboş ‘totally empty’
In addition to these markings, Azerbaijani uses Persian loanwords with the Persian
comparative suffix -tər, in a rather frozen form, such as: bəhtər ‘better’, bətər ‘worse, badly’.
5.2.3.2. Derivational morphology
Derivational morphemes—suffixes and prefixes—are added to exisiting words or stems to

obtain new adjectives. Some of those derivational morphemes work with nouns to change them
into adjectives, others with verbs to change them into adjectives. Some adjectives display the
noun-like characteristics of adjectives, as those nouns are used as adjectives without affixation.
Here are some examples:
5.2.3.2.1. Noun to adjective:
(29) Suffix +Input Noun Gloss → Adj. Gloss

-cIl zarafat joke arafatcıl facetious
-dAki ev house vdəki being in the house
-(y)I gümüş silver ümüşi silvery
-ki səhər morning əhərki of morning
-lI ağıl intelligence ğıllı intelligent
-sIz ağıl intelligence ğılsız stupid

-Ø qızıl gold ızıl golden
Among these derivational suffixes -lI and -sIz are most productive: -lI denotes that the entity
possesses the quality of the basic "noun"; -sIz denotes the entity is devoid of the quality. -(y)I
and -(da)ki are from Persian morphology, meaning ‘belonging to’. (But -da is the Azerbaijani
locative.) -cIl appears with just a few words, like söhbət-cil ‘talkative’ (söhbət ‘talk’), qabaq-cıl
‘advanced’ (qabaq ‘front’).
In addition to these suffixes, there are prefixes bəd-, bi- and na- both deriving negative
adjectives. These prefixes originate from Persian. na- is also used to derive adjectives from their
affirmative counterparts. qeyri- may be added here as being a prefix deriving a negtive adjective
from an affirmative one, as in:
(30) Suffix +Input Noun Gloss → Adj. Gloss

bəd- bəxt fortune ədbəxt unfortunate
bi- günah guilt igünah innocent
na- insaf justice ainsaf unjust
narahat comfortable arahat uncomfortable
qeyri- mşəyyən definite eyri-mşəyyən indefinite
5.2.3.2.2. Verb to adjective:
(31) Suffix +Input Verb Gloss → Adj. Gloss

-(y)An əl- come gələn coming
-IcI darıxdır- annoy darıxdırıcı boring
-kIn kəs- cut kəskin sharp
-IX poz- break pozux broken
-mIş gəl- come gəlmiş having come
-(y)An and -mIş are present and perfect participles and are highly productive. -(y)An implies the
present tense-aspect, -mIş the perfect tense-aspect.
5.3. Numerals
5.3.1. Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numbers are a sub-class of quantifiers. The Azerbaijani numeral system has the
following numbers as lexical words: 1-10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 1,000, 1,000,000,
zero (0).
(32) bir ‘1’ otuz ‘30’

iki51 ‘2’ qırx ‘40’
üç ‘3’ əlli ‘50’
dörd ‘4’ altmiş ‘60’
beş ‘5’ yetmiş ‘70’
altı ‘6’ səksən/haşdad52 ‘80’
yeddi ‘7’ doxsan ‘90’
səkkiz ‘8’ yüz ‘100’
doqquz ‘9’ min ‘1,000’
on ‘10’ milyon ‘1,000,000’
iyirmi 53 ‘20’ sıfır ‘zero’
1-10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 1,000 are simple lexical words. 60-90 (60, 70, 80, 90) are
compound words with two different systems: a. alt-miş, yet-miş; b. sək-sən, dox-san — the
diachronic development of the numeral may reveal the logic behind these combinations. A
simple logic is this: 20-90 are based on 10 like in English, i.e. 20=2x10, 30=3x10. Only 60-90
seem to show the logic more clearly. These twenty numerals are genuine Turkic words, whereas
milyon and upward numerals (milyard, trilyon) are loanwards, as well as sıfır, which was
borrowed from Arabic.
The numbers 11-19 are formed from 10 followed by simple numerals, as in:
(33) on bir ‘11’ on altı ‘16’

on iki ‘12’ on yeddi ‘17’
on üç ‘13’ on səkkiz ‘18’
on dörd ‘14’ on doqquz ‘19’
on beş ‘15’
This juxtaposing method is applied to all other numbers, such as: 24 = iyirmi dörd, 365 = üç
yüz altmıs beş, 1995 = min doqquz yüz doxsan beş.
Certain numbers are associated with specific meanings: for example, yeddi is conceived as
‘complete’ and qırx54 as ‘a very large number’, as in:
(34) Yeddi gün, yeddi gecə toy ol-di.

seven day seven night wedding be-3S.PA
‘There was a wedding party for seven days and seven nights.’
Qırx gün, qırx gecə toy elə-di.

forty day forty night wedding do-3S.PA
‘He had the wedding party for forty days and forty nights.’
51Sometimes pronounced işki.

52For 80, the Persian numeral "haştad" is more widely used, instead of the Turkic/Azerbaijani səksən.
It is so because a speaker wants to avoid a possible semantic confusion over the number: səksən
may be interpreted either as "şək" ‘doubt’ (in Persian)+-sən ‘you are doubtful’ or as "səg" ‘dog’
(in Persian)+-sən "you are a dog" or even as "(eş)şək" 'donkey' (in Azerbaijani) + -sən "you are a
donkey".
53Often pronounced igirmi.
54The number ‘40’ appears to hold a universal meaning of ‘immensely big quantity’. At least it is
generic in Turkic languages.
Chen (1989:49) describes further symbolic meanings attached to certain numbers in Turkic
languages: "3 and 7 were usually used in funeral rites and in offering sacrifices, 9 was used in
the ceremonies for weddings and for ascending the throne, while 40 was considered to be a
lucky number, and was used to denote an infinitely large number." Only the use of 9 is not
attested in Azerbaijani.
Overall, the Azerbaijani numeral system is organized in line with the traditional decimal
system. Chen writes (p. 49) "A decimal system was used in the units of their military
organization. This was true for the Avars, the Turks and even the Mongols."
The function of bir: Among numerals, bir ‘one’ is unique with three functions as: (a) a
numeral, meaning ‘one’, in contrast to multiple numbers, when bir is stressed; (b) the indefinite
article, meaning ‘a’, in contrast to definite reference, when it is unstressed; (c) an adverb,
meaning ‘once’, as in the following examples:
(35) a. 'bir qovun ‘one (not two) melon’ (as a cardinal numeral)
b. bir ki'şi ‘a (certain) man’ (as the indefinite article)
c. Ana-sı-na bir bax-di. (as an adverb)
mother-3S.PO-DAT once look-3S.PA
‘He looked at his mother once.’
5.3.2. Ordinal numbers
The ordinal numbers are created by attaching the ordinal suffix -(I)ncI to the cardinal
numbers: -IncI after consonants, -ncI after vowels.55 As usual, the final vowel I tends to be i.
(36) birinci ‘1st’ otuzunci ‘30th’

ikinci ‘2nd’ qırxınci ‘40th’
üçünci ‘3rd’ əllinci ‘50th’
dördünci ‘4th’ altmişınci ‘60th’
beşinci ‘5th’ yetmişinci ‘70th’
altınci ‘6th’ səksəninci ‘80th’
yeddinci ‘7th’ doxsanınci ‘90th’
səkkizinci ‘8th’ yüzünci ‘100th’
doqquzunci ‘9th’ mininci ‘1,000th’
onunci ‘10th’ milyonunci ‘1,000,000th’
iyirminci ‘20th’
There are two special ordinals: ‘first’ and ‘last’. An Arabic ordinal əvvəl ‘first’ is often used
instead of birinci, and əvvəl can take the ordinal suffix: əvvəlinci. ‘last’ is axır, and can be
suffixed: axırınci.
Ordinal numbers function as a special sub-class of adjectives.
5.3.3. Fractions
There are a few ways to get fractions: two major ways are explained here.
55In Urmia -mi- or -m- is inserted, as in: ikiminci or ikimci, instead of ikinci ‘second’.
(a) lexical words: yarım ‘half’, yarı ‘half’, rub ‘quarter’, çərək ‘quarter’, faiz ‘percent’,
dərsad ‘percent’. The use of lexical fractional items differs. yarım requires a unit or a classifier
noun. yarı is mostly used within a possessive construction with itself suffixed with -sı ‘third
person singular possessive suffix’, as in:
(37) yarım il
half year
‘half a year’
il yarım
year half
‘one and a half years’
üç il yarım
three year half
‘three and a half years’
qovun-un yarı-si
melon-GEN half-3S.PO
‘half a melon’
rub is used in telling time, çərək in measuring weight and length. faiz (from Arabic) and dərsad
(from Persian) may be used interchangeably, though dərsad is used more often.
(38) Sa’at dörd-i bir rub keç-ir

hour four-ACC one quarter pass-3S.PR
It’s a quarter past four
beş kilo bir çərək

five kilogram one quarter
‘5 1/4 kilogram’
əlli beş faiz/dərsad

50 5 percent
‘fifty five percent (55%)’
(b) adding the locative case suffix -dA to the denominator, to be followed by the numerator;
‘percent’ can be expressed in this manner – yüzdə, as in:
(39) yeddi-də üç
seven-LOC three
‘3/7’
yüz-də iyirmi üç
100-LOC twenty three
‘23/100’ or ‘23%’
5.3.4. Collective numbers
The suffix -(I)z is added after a slightly changed form of the numeral iki ‘two’ to express
twins. This suffix is not productive, unlike in Turkish.
(40) əkiz < iki+z ‘twins’

*üçüz < üc+üz ‘triplets’ (This word is used in Turkish, but not in Azerbaijani.)
*dördüz < dörd+üz ‘quadraplets’ (The same as above.)
5.4. Classifiers
Azerbaijani classifiers are a closed class of specialized lexical nouns. Classifiers are used
together with a numeral or rarely with a quantifier, in enumerating the quantity of the head noun
in the noun phrase. Their function is to indicate the semantic classification of the head noun.
That is, each classifier has semantic restrictions on the objects enumerated.56 Classifiers are
generally used with count nouns; however, a generic classifier dənə ‘piece’ is used to prepare
for quantifying abstract (i.e. uncount) nouns as well as count nouns. The following are some
classifiers with examples:
a. nəfər ‘person’ — With human beings or nouns semantically related to human beings, this is
the typical classifier, as in:
(41) on nəfər pəhlivan ‘ten person warrior’ > ‘ten warriors’

neçe nəfər yoldaş ‘some person friend’ > ‘some friends’
min nəfər cəmiyyət ‘thousand person population’ > ‘a population of
one thousand people’
b. baş ‘head’ — Typically with animals and informally with people, as in:
(42) bir baş öküz ‘one head ox’ > ‘an ox’
yüz baş qoyun ‘hundred head sheep’ > ‘a hundred sheep’
beş baş adam ‘five head man’ > ‘five men’
beş baş ailə ‘five head family’ > ‘a family of five people’
c. dənə ‘item, piece’ — With inanimate objects, this is the most generically used classifier:
from solid, separated objects to abstract nouns. When an abstract noun is counted with the help
of dənə, the noun is usually modified by an adjective.
(43) bir dənə qazan ‘one item pot’ > ‘a pot’

iki dənə şam ‘two stick candle’ > ‘two candles’
bir dənə hərf ‘one item letter’ > ‘a letter (symbol of alphabet)’
bir dənə ayrı dünya ‘one piece other world’ > ‘another world’
bir dənə yaxşılıx ruhu ‘one item good spirit’ > ‘a good spirit’
bir dənə təzə zindəğanlıx ‘one item new life’ > ‘a new life’
d. cüt ‘pair’ — With objects existing in pairs, such as "shoes", as in:
56Matsumoto (1993:668) notes “The selection of a classifier is based on the properties of the objects
whose quantity is being indicated.”
(44) bir cüt başmax ‘one pair shoe’ > ‘a pair of shoes’
bir cüt xalı ‘one pair rug’ > ‘a pair of rugs’
e. dəst ‘set’ — With objects which, in a complete sense, exist as a coherent set of assorted
items; typically for clothing, such as "suit" or "dress", as in:
(45) bir dəst paltar ‘one set suit’ > ‘a suit’

iki dəst libas ‘two set dress’ > ‘two dresses’
f. tikə ‘piece’ — With objects which are separated part of the whole, as in:
(46) bir tikə parça ‘one piece material’ > ‘a piece of material’
bir tikə çörək ‘one piece bread’ > ‘a piece of bread’
g. dəstə ‘bunch, group’ — With human beings, non-human objects, or plants: those which
may normally exist as a unit, without necessarily the sense of ‘completeness’, as in:
(47) bir dəstə gül ‘one bunch flower’ > ‘a bunch of flowers’
bir dəstə qoşun ‘one group army’ > ‘a group of soldiers’
h. ovuc ‘palm, handful’ — With objects which exist as tiny pieces or granules, such as "gold"
or "ash", as in:
(48) bir ovuc qızıl ‘one palm gold’ > ‘a handful of gold’
bir ovuc kül ‘one palm ash’ > ‘a handful of ash’
The units of measurement can be included in this category, such as kilo ‘kilogram’, metr
‘metre’, litr ‘litre’, tuman ‘tuman (unit of money)’, as in:
(49) on kilo qənd ‘ten kilograms of sugar’

min tuman pul ‘the money of a thousand tuman’
Some classifiers, such as nəfər and units, are used without the following head noun, where
they function as the head noun as well as classifiers, as in:
(50) beş nəfər ‘five people’

min tuman ‘one thousand tuman’
5.5. Quantifiers
Quantifiers are pre-nominal modifiers, which express some notion of quantity and extent.
Some of these are:
(51) çox ‘many, much’ bir az ‘a little’

az ‘little’ bir qədər ‘a little’
hamı ‘all’ bir neçə ‘some, several’
xeyli ‘much’ bir çox ‘a lot’
bə’zi ‘some’ bir sıra ‘a number of’
fəqət ‘only’
These quantifiers may be classified into two types according to the structure: single lexical
words, and compound words which include bir ‘one’. They basically behave like the cardinal
numerals.
çox, az, hamı can be ‘floated off’, i.e. their positions can be separated from the prenominal
positions to a preverbal positions, as in the example below; çox has floated off:
(52) a. Çox adam-lar ev-ə gəl-dilər.

many man-PL house-DAT come-3P.PA
‘Many people came to the house.’
b. Ev-e adam-lar çox gəl-dilər.

house-DAT man-PL much come-3P.PA
‘Many people came to the house.’
çox and az can take further modifying elements, such as lap ‘very’, daha ‘more’ to intensify
the meaning: lap çox ‘very much’, lap az ‘very little’, daha çox ‘much more’, daha az ‘much
less’.
5.6. Adverbs
Adverbs are grammatical adjuncts of a verb and in most cases express semantic notions, such
as time, place, manner, quantity. Adverbs may be classified by (a) morphological criteria, and
(b) semantic criteria.
In fact, the border between adjective and adverb is often thin in Azerbaijani, i.e. many
adjectives can serve as adverbs, as in:
(53) Adjective vs. Adverbs

a. yaxşı oğlan vs. yaxşı daniş-ır
good boy well talk-3S.PR
‘a good boy’ ‘He talks well.’
b. ağır bir daş vs. qəm o-ni ağır bas-di

heavy one stone sorrow he-ACC heavily press-3S.PA
‘a heavy stone’ ‘Sorrow pressed him heavily.’
c. uzun körpi vs. uzun daniş-ma!

long bridge at.length talk-2S.NEG.IMP
‘a long bridge’ ‘Don’t talk too long!’
That versatile bir ‘one, a’ belongs to this group of adjectives. bir means ‘once’ as an adverb, as
in:
(54) uşax ana-sı-na bir bax-di

child mother-3S.POSS once look-3S.PA
‘The boy glanced once at his mother.’
5.6.1. Morphological characteristics
Adverbs may be classified into three types according to structural characteristics: simple
adverbs, derived adverbs, and compound adverbs. Simple adverbs are simple lexical words,
such as: təz ‘quickly’, yavaş ‘slowly’.
5.6.1.1. Derived adverbs
There are some suffixes which change nouns, verbs or adverbs to adverbs by suffixing them.
These suffixes may be called adverbializers.
(55) Suffix N/V Gloss → Adverb Gloss

-ən təsadüf accident təsadüfən accidentally
-cA qabax front qabaxca in front
dörd four dördcə fourish
-casına dost friend dostcasına in a friendly way
-dAn bir one birdən suddenly
-InAn zor force zorunan by force
-dIXcA get- to go getdikcə gradually
-lAr əvvəl previous time əvvəllər previously
-mAdAn dur- to stop durmadan ceaselessly
-mAXsIzIn dur- to stop durmaxsızın ceaselessly
-sIz ev house evsiz without a house
-lIX hələ for the present hələlik for the present, good-bye
All the above suffixes are highly productive. -ən is the Arabic accusative case marker, which is
added mostly to nouns of Arabic origin. Highly productive -cA semantically denotes ‘manner’. -
dAn is the ablative case marker and -InAn is the comitative-instrumental; semantic meanings of
the case markers are maintained, when these are used as adverbializers. -lAr is the plural marker
here turning some time nouns into time adverbs. -mAdAn and -mAXsIzIn are verbal
adverbializer suffixes, denoting ‘negative manner’. This is an example of many verbal
adverbializers, of which further descriptions will follow in 12.1. on "adverbial clauses". The
adjectival suffix -sIz is also used to change nouns into adverbs.
5.6.1.2. Compound adverbs
There are a few ways of compounding:

(a) An adjective or noun is repeated to serve as an adverb. Sometimes verbs with the
adverbializing suffix -A are repeated. The repeated two words are connected by a hyphen.
(56) tez-tez ‘quick-quick’ > ‘quickly’

yavaş-yavaş ‘slow-slow’ > ‘slowly’
yazıq-yazıq ‘pity-pity’ > ‘pitifully’
ağır-ağır ‘heavy-heavy’ > ‘heavily’
gedə-gedə ‘go-go’ > ‘gradually’
(b) Words of antonym pairs are compounded to serve as adverbs, such as:
(57) az(dan)-çox(dan) ‘a little-a lot’ > ‘more or less’

alt-üst ‘lower part-upper part’ > ‘topsy-turvy’
gecə-gündüz ‘night-day’ > ‘day and night, ceaselessly’
(c) The Persian preposition ba ‘by’ is inserted in between repeated lexical items, thus
producing adverbs, as in:
(58) üzbəşz > üz-bə-üz ‘face-by-face’ > ‘face to face’

ilbəil > il-bə-il ‘year-by-year’
5.6.2. Semantic classifications of adverbs
5.6.2.1. Manner adverbs
Manner adverbs clarify the manner of the state, events or actions. Adverbs in this category
may be characterized as being answers to a question, "how did it happen?". Here are some
examples. cəld ‘quickly’, dərhal ‘immediately’, forən ‘immediately’, tezlikinən ‘quickly’,
yavaş-yavaş ‘slowly’, yaxşı ‘well’, sənsiz ‘without you’.
A postpositional phrase with the postposition kimi ‘like’ functions as a manner adverb, as in:
(59) Yer qəlbir kimi görüş-ür.

earth [sieve like] look-3S.PR
‘The earth looks like a sieve.’
Manner adverbs may also be constructed as subordinate adverbial clauses, as in:
(60) Sən heç dur-madan çalış-ır-san.

you [never stop-ADVLZ] work-PR-2S
‘You are working without stopping at all.’
5.6.2.2. Time adverbs
Time adverbs clarify the time or other temporal aspects of the state, event or action. Adverbs
in this category may be characterized as being answers to a question, "when did it happen?".
Time adverbs may be semantically classified in four groups: (a) temporal point, (b) frequency,
(c) discourse time indicator, as in:
(61) a. Temporal point:

dünən ‘yesterday’, bu gün ‘today’, sabah ‘tomorrow’, axşam
‘evening’, indi ‘now’, cümə güni ‘Friday’
b. Frequency:
həmişə ‘always’, adətən ‘usually’, bə’zən ‘sometimes’,
tez-tez ‘often’, az-az ‘seldom’, hərdənbir ‘from time to time’

çoxdan ‘long since’, gine ‘again’, yenə ‘again’, dübarə ‘again’
c. Discourse time indicator:

əvvəl(cə) ‘(at) first’, sora ‘afterwards’, axırda ‘lastly, finally’
Some temporal adverbs are structurally noun phrases, and some others are locative case
constructions, as in:
(62) a. Noun phrases as time adverbs:

gəl-ən həftə > come-PR.PTC week > ‘next week’
hər gün > every day > ‘every day’
o zaman > that time > ‘then’
o gün-lər > that day-PL > ‘in those days’
b. Locative case construction:

bir həftə-də > one week-LOC > ‘in one week’
Rəməzan ay-ı-nın axır cümə-si-ndə

Ramazan month-3S.PO-GEN final Friday-3S.PO-LOC
‘on the last Friday of the month of Ramazan’
Some subordinate adverbial clauses often semantically function as temporal adverbs. This will
be discussed in detail in 12.1.2. on ‘Temporal clauses’.
5.6.2.3. Place adverbs
Place adverbs clarify the locational spot, distance or direction of the state, event or action in
relation to a referential point. Adverbs in this category may be characterized as being answers to
a question, "where did it happen?", as in:
(63) irəli ‘forward’ geri ‘backward’

içəri ‘inside’ eşikdən ‘outside’
uxarı ‘up, above’ aşağı ‘down’
yaxın ‘near’ uzax ‘far’
bura ‘here’ ora ‘there’
yaxın, uzax, bura, ora denote the semantic notion of distance from a referential point. The
first six adverbs basically denote the the semantic notion of direction, more specifically
‘direction to’. To further encode the semantic notions of direction towards or to, or of locational
spot, these adverbs take relevant case markers.
To clearly indicate ‘location’, all of them take the locative case suffix, as with: irəlidə ‘in
front’, orada ‘in there’.
Except for yaxın and uzax, the dative suffix may be attached to the place adverbs to
specifically indicate ‘direction to’, as with: içəriyə ‘toward inside’, oraya ‘toward that place’;
without the dative suffix they still indicate the notion of ‘direction to’.
To indicate ‘direction from’, the ablative suffix is attached to all the place adverbs, as with:
irəlidən ‘from forward’, uxarıdan ‘from above’, yaxından ‘from near’, buradan ‘from here’.
Some place adverbs are composed of noun phrases and case markers in varying degrees of
complexity, as in:
(64) a. eşik ‘outside’ + -də ‘LOC’ → eşikdə ‘outside’

eşik ‘outside’ + -ə ‘DAT’ → eşiyə ‘toward outside’
eşik ‘outisde’ + -dən ‘ABL’ → eşikdən ‘from outside’
b. o ev-in dam-ı-nda
that house-GEN roof-3S.PO-LOC
‘on the roof of the house’
5.6.2.4. Quantity adverbs
Quantity adverbs indicate the quantity of the state, action or event. Adverbs in this category
may be characterized as being answers to a question, "how many or much?", as in:
(65) çox ’much’ az ’little’

bir qədər ‘a little’ bu qədər ’this much’
o qədər ’that much’ bir az ’a little
xeyli ’a lot’ az-çox ’more or less’
tamam ‘completely’
5.6.2.5. Epistemic-evaluative adverbs
Epistemic-evaluative or modal adverbs indicate the speaker’s attitude toward the proposition;
concerning possibility, probability, and certainty, or desirability of the state or event. The
semantic scope of adverbs in this category ranges over the entire proposition. They may appear
in lexical items or idiomatic clauses, as in the examples below.
(66) a. ehtimalən ‘probably’ hüdudən ‘approximately’

əlbəttə ‘of course’ xoşbəxtlikdən ‘fortunately’
inşallah ‘God willing’ doğrudan ‘truly’
bari ‘at least’ təəsüf ki ‘unfortunately’
təbii ki ‘naturally’ yəqin ki ‘surely’
b1. ümid-im var ki,

hope-1S.PO existent that,
‘I hope that’, ‘hopefully’
b2. heç şək ol-ma-sın ki,

nothing doubt be-NEG-3S.IMP that,
‘Let there be no doubt that’, ‘without doubt’
5.7. Postpositions
Azerbaijani, being an SOV language, has postpositions, complying with the Greenbergian
universals. Postpositions do not appear independently but combine with noun phrases by
following the head noun or pronoun, and thus compose postpositional phrases. Postpositions
mark various semantic relations of nouns they govern to the rest of phrases or clauses. Most of
them are independent lexical words, but a few of them appear as suffixes.
Azerbaijani postpositions may be classified according to the cases they govern; the
nominative, genitive, dative, ablative cases. Other cases do not co-occur with postpositions.
5.7.1. Postpositions with the nominative case: üzrə, içrə
üzrə — implies – ‘on’, ‘in harmony with’, or ‘according to’, as in:
(67) a. adəti üzrə ‘in harmony with the custom’

b. Məməd-in təklif-i üzrə
Memed-GEN suggestion-3S.PO according.to
‘according to Memed’s suggestion’
içrə — ‘in’, or ‘inside a location’, as in:
(68) həyat içrə ‘in life’

cahan içrə ‘in the world’
5.7.2. Postpositions with the nominative, genitive, or dative case: üçün, kimi, qədər
üçün — ‘for’, ‘reason, purpose’. This is used with nouns in the nominative case, verbs in the
infinitive form, or with pronouns in the genitive, as in:
(69) a. toy üçün ‘wedding for’ > ‘for the wedding’

bayram üçün ‘festival for’ > ‘for the festival’
b. təbrik de-mək üçün

congratulation say-INF for
‘in order to congratulate’
c. o-nun üçün ‘3S-GEN for’ > ‘for him/her/it’

mən-im üçün ‘1S-GEN for’ > ‘for me’
kimi or kimin — (a) While maintaining the primary meaning of ‘like’ or ‘similar to’ in
connection with nouns in the nominative or with pronouns in the genitive, this postposition has
several other meanings: (b) with nouns in the dative, ‘till, until, up to’ (time and place); (c) with
verbs in the present participle form (-(y)An), ‘as soon as’; (d) with verbs in the present tense
form (-(y)Ir), ‘as if’. As in the following examples:
(70) a. gün kimi ‘sun like’ > ‘like the sun’

maşın kimi ‘machine like’ > ‘like a machine’
b. o-nun kimi ‘3S-GEN like’ > ‘like him/her/it’

siz-in kimi ‘2P-GEN like’ > ‘like you’
c. Mərizxana-ya kimi bir yerdə ged-ək.

hospital-DAT till together go-1P.OPT
‘Let’s go together as far as the hospital.’
d. məməd yuxu-dan dur-an kimi

Memed sleep-ABL wake-PR.PTC as.soon.as
‘As soon as Memed woke up from sleep’
e. malla, alim-ə ver-ir kimi hərəkət el-ir

mullah scholar-DAT give-3S.PR as.if action do-3S.PR
‘Mullah was acting as if he were giving (it) to the scholar.’
qədər — This has two meanings. (a) ‘as much as’: with nouns or demonstrative pronouns in
the nominative. It often appears in such expressions as bu qədər ‘this much’, o qədər ‘that
much, so much’, nə qədər ‘so much so’. (b) ‘until, till’: with nouns in dative, as in:
(71) a. div o qədər yəkə-dir ki,

giant that much big-be.PR.3S that
‘The giant is so big that,’
b. bir sa’at qədər

one hour as.much.as
‘for about an hour’
c. dünya-nın axır-ı-na qədər

world-GEN end-3S.PO-DAT till
‘until the end of the world’
5.7.3. Postpositions with the dative case: görə, doğru, tərəf, sarı, -çAn/dAX, qədər
görə — ‘according to’, ‘on account of’, ‘as’; it expresses the notions of source or reason, as
in:
(72) a. siz-ə görə

2P-DAT according.to
‘according to you, in your opinion’
b. öz təbi’ət-i-nə görə
self nature-3S.PO-DAT according.to
‘according to its own nature’
c. bu su-yun dərmani xasiyyət-lər-i-nə görə

this water-GEN medicinal peculiarity-PL-3S.PO-DAT on.account.of
‘on account of the medicinal peculiarities of this water’
In connection with demonstrative pronouns bu ‘this’ or o ‘that’—more often with o—in the
dative, görə often expresses the sense of a discourse conjunction ‘therefore’ or ‘for that reason’:
buna görə ‘therefore, for this reason’; ona görə ‘therefore, for that reason’. The sense of
‘conclusion’ is often emphasized by adding a particle də ‘also’, as in:
(73) o-na görə də de-yir-dilər : "..."

that-DAT reason also say-PROG-3P.PA
‘Therefore they were saying, ".."’
This postposition also constructs an adverbial clause of reason in connection with the
subordinator ki followed by a subordinate clause. (See 12.1.6. for detail.)
doğru, tərəf, sarı — ‘toward’; these three synonyms express direction toward a referential
point, as in:
(74) a. bu-na da doğru cavab ver-di

this-DAT also toward answer give-3S.PA
‘He also answered this (question).’
b. öz kənd-lər-i-nə tərəf yol-a düş-di

self village-PL-3S.PO-DAT toward way-DAT fall-3S.PA
‘He started the journey toward his own villages.’
c. fərəngistan-a sarı yollan-di

Ferengistan-DAT toward advance-3S.PA
‘He advanced toward (the country of) Ferengistan.’
-cAn/-cAX/-dək — ‘till, until, as far as’; these are suffixed to nouns. These three synonyms
express an extension to a specified point in time and space. In some dialects -can/-cən is
pronounced as -çan/-çən. In Urmia -çan is preferred. Examples:
(75) a. Nə vaxt-a-can gözli-yəcək-sən?

what time-DAT-till wait-FUT-2S
‘Until what time (how long) are you going to wait?’
b. Bugün bura-(ya)-cax işlə-yək.

today here.DAT-as.far.as work-1P.IMP
‘Today let’s work this much.’
5.7.4. Postpositions with the ablative case: qabax, əvvəl, sora, ayrı, suvay, başqa, ötri
These may be divided into three groups according to their use: qabax, əvvəl, sora – primarily
in relation to time, secondarily in relation to order in general ; ayri, suvay, başqa – with a
semantic notion of separateness or exclusiveness; ötri - with a semantic notion of purpose or
cause.
qabax, əvvəl — ‘before’; these two postpositions, being synonyms, may be used
interchangeably; əvvəl is an Arabic loanword. In colloquial speech qabax is more often used.
Demonstrative pronouns, in the ablative, are employed preferably to fill the slot of a temporal
deictic point of reference, as in:
(76) a. bir il bu-ndan qabax

one year this-ABL before
‘one year ago (from now)’
b. mən-dən əvvəl gəl-ən adam

I-ABL before come-PR.PTC man
‘the man who came before me’
sora — ‘after’, as in:
(77) bir az-dan sora

one little-ABL after
‘after a little while’
ayrı, suvay, başqa — ‘apart from, other than’; these three postpositions are synonyms and can
be used interchangeably. başqa is not often used in Iranian Azerbaijani. Examples:
(78) Allah-dan suvay heç kəs yox i-di.

God-ABL apart any person non-existent be-3S.PA
‘There was not anyone apart from God.’
ötri — ‘because of, for, for the sake of’, as in:
(79) a. zindəganlığ-ın ağır ağır xərc-lər-i-ndən ötri

living-GEN heavy heavy expense-PL-3S.PO-ABL for
‘because of the heavy expenses of living’
b. qoyun-lar-dan ötri
sheep-PL-ABL for
‘for the sake of sheep’
5.7.5. Nominal postpositions
There is a set of nouns which syntactically and semantically function as postpositions. These
nouns may be divided into three groups, according to their flexibility in taking case markers and
personal suffixes. Often these nominal postpositions are used in possessive constructions as the
noun of the possessed noun phrase (7.6.1.).
Group I: The first group nominal postpositions describe positions within a three-dimensional
space. Being nouns they can appear with any case markers and any personal suffixes. A fully-
established postposition qabax also belongs to this category, for it is a noun. Most often they
are used in possessive constructions. The list and some examples are below:
(80) a. qabax ‘front’ dal ‘back’

üst ‘top’ alt ‘underside’
iç ‘inside’ yan ‘side’
ara ‘interval’ orta ‘middle’
b. gün-ün orta-sı-nda
day-GEN middle-3S.PO-LOC
‘in the middle of the day’
c. miz-in alt-ı-ndan
table-GEN underside-3S.PO-ABL
‘from under the table’
d. mənim dal-ım-ca gəl-dilər

1S.GEN back-1S.PO-MANNER come-3P.PA
‘They came along to follow me.’
Group 2: There is another set of nominal postpositions, which are used in a more restricted
manner; they can take any personal suffixes, but only with specific cases, as in:
(81) Noun Gloss → Postposition Gloss

haqq ‘right’ haqqında57 ‘about, concerning’
tərəf ‘side’ tərəfindən ‘by’
urumiya haqqında ‘Urmia about’ > ‘about Urmia’

ata-lar tərəfindən ‘father-PL by’ > ‘by ancestors’
miz-in üzərində ‘table-GEN on’ > ‘on the table’
Group 3: Nominal postpositions in this group are more or less frozen phrases, with fixed case
markers (mostly locative or dative) and with the third person singular (or definitive) suffix in
most cases or without any personal suffix. as in:
(82) a. Noun Gloss → Postposition Gloss

barə ‘regard’ barədə ‘about, regarding’
boy ’height’ boyunca ‘along’
əvəz ‘replacement’ əvəzinə ‘instead of’
" " əvəzində " "
sayə ‘shadow’ sayəsində ‘thanks to, owing to’
uğur ‘luck’ uğrunda ‘for, for the sake of’
yer ‘place’ yerinə ‘instead of’
b. toy mərasim-i barə-si-ndə

wedding ceremony-3S.PO regard-3S.PO-LOC
‘about the wedding ceremony’
c. o-nun əvəzinə
3S-GEN instead.of
‘instead of him/her/it’
57Pronounced həqqində in natural speech.

5.8. Connectives
There are three kinds of connectives: conjunctions, complementizers and subordinators.

Conjunctions serve to construct coordinative structures. There is only one complementizer in
Azerbaijani, ki ‘that’, which serves to mark a complement clause. Subordinators serve to
introduce subordinate adverbial clauses with finite verbs.
5.8.1. Conjunctions
Azerbaijani conjunctions may be divided into two groups, according to their structural
characteristics: simple conjunctions and complex conjunctions. Simple conjunctions are single
lexical words. The comitative case suffix -inən is used as an independent conjunction. The
majority of conjunctions are originally Arabo-Persian loanwords which have become deeply
established within Azerbaijani. Complex conjunctions are made of two or more of words and/or
particles. These conjunctions serve to construct coordinate structures at the phrasal or sentential
level, but at other levels of grammatical hierarchy as well.
(83) a. Simple conjunctions:
inən, -(y)InAn ‘with, and’ (used independently or cliticized)

və ‘and’
amma ‘but’
lakin ‘but’
məgər ‘but’
vəli ‘but’
halbuki ‘however, nevertheless’
ya ‘or’
yaxud ‘or’
yoxsa ‘or, otherwise’
pəs ‘then’
b. Complex conjunctions:
...dA ---dA ‘both... and---’ (in an affirmative clause),

‘neither... nor---’ (in a negative clause)
ya da ‘or’
ya... ya (da)--- ‘either... or---’
həm(i) də ‘moreover’
həm... həm(i) də--- ‘both... and---’
nə... nə--- ‘neither...nor---’
nəinki... həm(i) də--- ‘not only... but also---’
5.8.2. Subordinators
All Azerbaijani subordinators are of non-Turkic—Persian—origin. Subordinators may also be

divided in two groups, according to their structure characteristics: simple subordinators;
complex subordinators. Most complex subordinators are combined with ki. The use of
subordinators will be further discussed in chapters 10-12 on subordinate clauses. Some of the
more often used subordinators are:
(84) a. Simple subordinators:
ki ‘that, who, what’

əgər ‘if’
çün(ki) ‘because, since’
gərçi ‘it is true that’
madəm(ki) ‘since, while’
məbada ‘lest’
məgər (inki) ‘unless, if not’
sanki ‘as if’
ta ‘until, as long as’
zira ‘because’
b. Complex subordinators:
buna görə ki ‘because of this that’
ona görə ki ‘because of that that’
elə bil (ki) ‘as if’
indi ki ‘now that’
The use of these subordinators and other inter-clausal connectives will be discussed in later
chapters.
5.9. Particles
Particles are lexical items which neither inflect nor have independent meanings. These items
do not seem to fit into more-or-less well-defined word classes. Some particles are enclitic, i.e.
phonologically bound to a preceding host, as in the case of dA (da, də) ‘also’. Some of these
may be classified as below:
(85) a. Emphatic particles:

artıx ‘furthermore’
axı ‘anyway’
daha ‘more’
dA ‘also’
b. Confirmation or denial particles:

hə ‘yes’ – most frequently used, often in informal situation;
genuine Azerbaijani (Turkic) word
bəli ‘yes’ – formal; Persian origin
həyə ‘yes’ – a variation of hə, more formal but used rarely
aha(n) ‘oh yes’ – with a surprise
xeyr ‘no’ – more formal; Arabic origin
yox ‘no’ – most frequently used, interchangeable with xeyr

heç ‘no, never’ – emphatic, less frequently used; Persian origin
c. Interrogative particle:
aya – this is a Persian loanword marking a yes-no question.
d. Reiterative particles:
yə’ni, demək, deməli ‘that is to say’, ‘it means’, ‘so to speak’
– these three words are rough synonyms.
e. Signal particles:
budur/budi, odur/odi – ‘look!’, ‘behold!’
f. Topical particle:
ki – the subordinator ki is also used as a particle marking the topicality of an
element in the clause, being added directly after the element, as in:
O ki söz mülk-ü-nə sultan i-di.
he TOPIC word property-3S.PO-DAT master be-3S.PA
‘HE was the master in the domain of word.’
5.10. Interjections
Interjections are non-inflecting lexical items or phrase which serve to express various kinds of
emotion, such as pleasure, sorrow, surprise, disapproval, fear and anger; or to address or call for
an attention of a person. They do not function as grammatical consitutents of a clause but form
sentence-initial phrases. Some of more common interjections in Azerbaijani are:
a! ‘oh!’ — (a) to call a person in an affectionate mood, (b) to express appreciation:
(86) a. A balam! ‘O my baby!’

b. A! sağ ol! ‘Oh (that’s right.) thank you!’
afərin! ‘bravo!, well done! ’ — to express an appreciation of or encouragement for a good
artistic performance or deed:
(87) Afərin sənə, bala-m!

well.done to.you baby-1S.PO
‘Well done, my baby!’ (Lit., Bravo to you my baby!’)
ah! ‘ah!, oh!’— a cry of pain, sigh, or groaning, physical or emotional:
(88) Ah başım! ‘Oh my head! (It’s painful!)’

aha(n)! ‘I see!’ — an expression of surprise, when one suddenly or unexpectedly discovers
something which he/she has been looking for, as in:
(89) Aha! alman-i apar-an bu i-miş!

I.see! apple-ACC take.away-PTC this be-INFR.3S
‘I see! This must be the one who took the apple away.’
(ay) aman! ‘oh!, mercy!, help!’ — expressing fear or desperation, calling for a rescue or
leniency, as in:
(90) Aman, apar-di sel-lər Sara-ni!

help take.away-3S.PA flood-PL.NOM Sarah-ACC
‘Help! The flood took Sarah away!’
ay! ‘oh!’— (a) to call a person, more affectionately than ey! (to use instead of a!(a)), (b) an
exclamation of anxiety or pain:
(91) a. Ay ana! ‘Oh mother!’

b. Ay yan-dım, çək-in!
oh burn-1S.PA pull-2P.IMP
‘Oh I am burning, pull (me out)!’
bəh-bəh! ‘nice!, bravo!’ — similar to afərin!, expressing an appreciation of a good
performance or deed, or good food.
(92) Bəh-bəh! bu çelo-kəbab çox yeməli görüş-ür.

nice this chelo-kebab very delicious look-3S.PR
‘Nice! This chelo-kebab looks very delicious.’
ey! ‘oh, hey!’ — to address or call a person, more commonly used and possibly more formal
than ay!:
(93) Ey cavan, yazıq-san, qəyit qaç.

oh young.man poor-be.2S.PR go.back.2S.IMP excape.2S.IMP
‘Oh! Young man, what a pity! go back! excape!’
ha! ‘you see!, you’d better know!’ — (a) giving a warning or admonition, (b) expressing a
pleasant surprise. It comes at the end of a sentence, as in:
(94) a. Olar-a bir söz de-mə, ha!

they-DAT one word say-2S.NEG.IMP you.see
‘Don’t say any thing to them, okay?’
b. Gözəl-di(r) ha!
pretty-be.3S.PR you.see
‘Isn’t it pretty?’
vay! ‘alas!’ — expressing sorrow or regret:
(95) Vay gəl gör nə ol-di!

alas come-2S.IMP see-2S.IMP what happen-3S.PA
‘Alas! Come and see what happened!’
90 6. Simple clauses
Chapter 6
Simple clauses
This chapter describes the structure of simple clauses: After an introduction on analytical
method and a section on the basic order of constituents in simple clauses, types of simple
clauses will be surveyed by describing the semantic types and syntactic characteristics of
various kinds of verbs. The chapter also includes a discussion on verbs that incorporate objects,
on adverbs and on agreement within the clause.
6.1. Preamble
As mentioned in Chapter 1, the syntactic structure of a language may be described at two

levels: simple clauses and complex sentences. The simple clause is the minimal unit of utterance
which is able to stand alone to express a coherent thought, i.e. a proposition. Simple—main,
declarative, affirmative, active—clauses serve "as reference point for the description of all other
clause-types in grammar".58 That is, all other clause-types such as subordinate (vs. main),
interrogative (vs. declarative), negative (vs. affirmative), passive (vs. active) clause types are
modifications of simple clauses. All the modifications will be described in later chapters.
In describing the types of simple clauses, we need to look into the types of verbs or
predicates, since these constitute the semantic core of clauses. Azerbaijani simple clauses can be
classified into two basic categories, based on the type of predicate that they have: copular
clauses and verbal clauses. Copular clauses are subcategorized in five types: equational clauses,
existential clauses, locative clauses, possessive clauses, adjectival clauses. Verbal clauses are
more diversified and share by far the larger part of clause types.
6.1.1. Semantic roles
In encoding the state, event, or action which a proposition may represent, a verb operates in
coordination with the participants in the state, event, or action. Here, the semantic type of the
verb is regulated or defined by the semantic roles of the participants. Some of the major
semantic roles in the clause are: agent, patient, recipient, instrument, benefactive, purpose,
associative, time, locative. These semantic roles in clauses are briefly explained 59 with
examples below: (Word in the questioned role is highlighted.)
a. Agent (AGT): Deliberate initator of events.
Uşax çörəy-i ye-di.

child bread-ACC eat-3S.PA
‘The child ate the bread.’
b. Patient (PAT): Registering a non-mental state or change-of-state.
58
Givón(1993:89).
59
Definition of the semantic roles here are mostly quoted from Givón (1984:127f).
Uşax çörəy-i ye-di. (the same as a.)
c. Recipient (REC): Conscious participant or recipient in events or states.
Ana mən-ə alma ver-di.

mother 1S-DAT apple give-3S.PA
‘Mother gave me an apple.’
d. Instrument (INST): Unconscious instrument used by the agent in bringing about the event.
O-nun əl-ayağ-ı-ni ip-inən bağla-dılar

3S-GEN hand-foot-3S.PO-ACC rope-INST bind-3P.PA
‘They bound his hands and feet with rope.’
e. Benefactive (BEN): Conscious benefiter from an agent-initiated event; most commonly

sub-category of Recipient.
Fatma üçün çox şirni gətir-di.

Fatma for much sweets bring-3S.PA
‘He brought a lot of sweets for Fatma.’
f. Purpose (PURP): Purpose or goal of an action initiated by the agent.
Bu su-dan istifadə üçün gəl-irlər.

this water-ABL use for come-3P.PR
‘They come (here) to make use of this water.’
g. Associative (ASSOC): Co-agent or co-dative that is outside the focus of importance.
Fatma inək-inən ev-ə qəyit-di.

Fatma cow-ASSOC home-DAT return-3S.PA
‘Fatma returned back home with the cow.’
h. Time (TIME): The time, real or hypothetical, when the state is, or when the event occurs.
Đndi dağ-da qar əri-yir.

now mountain-LOC snow melt-3S.PR
‘Snow is melting in the mountain now.’
i. Locative (LOC): The place, typically concrete and inanimate, where the state is, where the
event occurs, or toward which or away from which some participant is moving.
Đndi dağ-da qar əri-yir. (the same as h.)
j. Source (SOURCE): The start point of motion or event in an abstract or concrete sense.60
60
Trask (1993:255).
Sən-dən heç zad istə-m-irəm.

2S-ABL not.any thing want-NEG-1S.PR
‘I don’t want anything from you.’
6.1.2. Grammatical roles
Each participant, in turn, takes a grammatical role (or ‘grammatical relation’) to encode the
semantic role that it occupies. There are four major grammatical roles within the simple clause:
subject (S), direct object (DO), oblique object (OBL), nominal and adjectival predicates
(PRED.NOM, PRED.ADJ)
This is an illustration of the major grammatical roles:
(1) a. Məməd Fatma-ya pul ver-di.

Memed Fatma-DAT money give-3S.PA
[S] [OBL] [DO]
‘Memed gave money to Fatma.’
b. Məməd yaxci bir adam-dır.

Memed good one man-be.3S.PR
[S] [PRED.NOM]
‘Memed is a good man.’
Semantic roles are in principle not identical with grammatical roles, but there is a close
relation between the semantic roles and the grammatical roles. The following restrictions on the
distribution of semantic roles in grammatical roles in simple clauses are to be noted: (Givón
1993:93).
a. An agent can only be the subject (of a simple clause).

b. A patient can be either the subject, direct object or oblique object.
c. A recipient can be either the subject, direct object or oblique object.
d. The others—benefactive, instrumental, associative, temporal and locative—are
found mostly as oblique objects.
When there is more than one participant in simple clauses, accessibility to the grammatical
subjecthood by the participants is regulated by the following hierarchy.
AGENT > RECIPIENT > PATIENT > OTHERS61
61
This hierarchy is largely parallel to the NP accessibility hierarchy which is based on grammatical
roles, as was proposed by Keenan and Comrie (1977:66):
SUBJ » DO » IO » OBL » Genitive » Object of comparison
6.1.2.1. The grammatical subject
The grammatical subject in Azerbaijani simple clauses appears either in the unmarked
nominative case (below a.) or in the genitive-possessive construction which ends with a
possessive suffix (b.). It appears before the object and the verb, and governs grammatical
agreement with the verb, though this is not rigidly observed (cf. 6.6.). Anaphoric (i.e. personal
pronoun) subjects are normally not expressed, for the verbal agreement identifies the subject
(c.).62 When the anaphoric subject (ANA) appears, it is pragmatically focused or topicalized
(d.). In the following examples, parenthesis indicates (SURFACE FORM, SEMANTIC ROLE).
(2) a. Fatma ev-ə qəyit-di. (NOM, AGT)

Fatma home-DAT return-3S.PA
‘Fatma returned back home.’
b. Fatma-nın ana-sı de-di. (POSS CONSTR, AGT)

Fatma-GEN mother-3S.PO say-3S.PA
‘Fatma’s mother said.’
c. Danişqah-dan ev-ə gəl-ib-lər. (Ø - ANA, AGT)

university-ABL home-DAT come-PF-3P.PR
‘They have come home from the university.’
d. Olar danışqah-dan ev-ə gəl-ib-lər. (ANA, AGT)

3P.NOM university-ABL home-DAT come-PF-1S.PR
‘They have come home from the university.’
6.1.2.2. The grammatical direct object
The direct object in Azerbaijani simple clauses appears in various morphological markings: in
the nominative for indefinite direct object (below a.), in the accusative for definite direct object
(b.). It does not govern grammatical agreement with the verb. From a discourse-pragmatic point
of view, the direct object generally marks the secondary topic of the clause. Parenthesis
indicates (SURFACE FORM, SEMANTIC ROLE).
(3) a. olar uşax-lar gör-dülər. (NOM, PAT-INDF)

3P.NOM child-PL.NOM see-3P.PA
‘They saw children (i.e., not adults).’
b. Olar mən-i gör-dülər. (ACC, PAT-DEF)

3P.NOM 1S-CC see-3P.PA
‘They saw me.’
62
Azerbaijani is thus a pro-drop language.
6.1.2.3. The oblique object
Oblique objects in Azerbaijani simple clauses appear with various grammatical markings:
case suffixes (dative, locative, comitative, ablative) and postpositions. The slot of oblique
objects may be occupied by various semantic roles. Some of typical oblique objects are as
illustrated below: (Parenthesis indicates (SURFACE FORM, SEMANTIC ROLE).)
(4) a. Dünən şəhər-ə get-din? (DAT, LOC: direction toward)

yesterday town-DAT go-2S.PA
‘Did you go to town yesterday?’
b. Şəhər-də şirni və mivə al-dım. (DAT, LOC: location on)

town-DAT sweets and fruit buy-1S.PA
‘I bought sweets and fruit in town.’
c. Qardaş-ım-ınan danış-dım. (COM, ASSOC)

brother-1S.PO-COM talk-1S.PA
‘I talked with my brother.’
d. Qardaş-ım üçün də mivə al-dım. (POSTP, BEN)

brother-1S.PO for also fruit buy-1S.PA
‘I also bought fruit for my brother.’
e. Mivə-ni o-na ver-dim. (DAT, BEN)

fruit-ACC he-DAT give-1S.PA
‘I gave the fruit to him.’
f. Şəhər-dən nəvaxt qəyit-dın? (ABL, LOC: direction away)

town-ABL when return-2S.PA
‘When did you return from town?’
g. Sən ata-dan63 ita’ət el-ər-din. (ABL, REC)

2S.NOM father-ABL obedience do-HAB-2S.PA
‘You used to obey your father.’
h. Çöl-də təbiət-dən istifadə el-ər-lər. (ABL, PAT)

field-LOC nature-ABL use do-HAB-3P.PR
‘They would utilize the nature in the field.’
6.1.2.4. Nominal and adjectival predicates
Nominal and adjectival predicates in Azerbaijani precede copular verbs and they are
morphologically unmarked, i.e., nominal predicates take the nominative case, and they are
pragmatically non-topical. (See 6.3.1. for the nominal predicate and 6.3.5. for the adjectival
predicate.)
63
In North Azerbaijani, the case in this use is dative: sən ata-ya ...
6.2. Basic word-order in simple clauses
The basic order of constituents in Azerbaijani clauses is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb).64 Both

copular and verbal clauses comply with the basic order. There are restrictions on which
elements are obligatory and which are optional. In general the predicate is obligatory. When the
subject is present, the unmarked subject always comes in first position. The verb or copula
normally comes at the end. All other clausal constituents occupy the middle ground, between
the subject and the verb.
In copular clauses, each type shows slightly different word-order from the others: The subject
and the predicate nominal or predicate adjective are obligatory in equational clauses or
adjectival clauses; the predicate adjective var ‘existent’ is obligatory in existential and
possessive clauses; the copula with tense-modality markers is obligatory in locative phrases. No
aspect marker can appear in the copula.
The following are examples showing the basic structure of each copular clause type:
(5) a. Equational clauses:

Bu, yaxşı oğlan-dır.
this good boy-be.3S.PR
[S] (ADJ) [PRED.NOM]-(COP)
‘This is a good boy.’
b. Existential clauses:
Bura-da çoxli qızıl var i-di.
here-LOC much gold existent be-3S.PA
(LOC.PHRASE) [S] [PRED.ADJ:var] (COP)
‘There was a lot of gold in here.’
c. Locative clauses:
Uşax ev-də-y-di.
child house-LOC-be-3S.PA
[S] [LOC.PHRASE]-(COP)
‘The child was at home.’
d. Possessive clauses:
Bir çoban-ın qırx qoyun-i var i-di.
one shepherd-GEN forty sheep-3S.PO existent be-3S.PA
[S:GENITIVE CONSTR ] [PRED.ADJ:var](COP)
‘One shepherd had forty sheep.’
64
In general, word-order in Azerbaijani abides by Greenberg’s universals (1966): e.g., “Universal 4:
Languages with normal SOV order are postpositional. Universal 16: In languages with dominant
word-order SOV, an inflected auxiliary always follows the main verb.” Azerbaijani in follows
Croft’s Harmony (1) (OV) pattern for word-order universals (Croft 1990:56). However, due to
the adoption of Persian structure, Azerbaijani often includes alternative word-order types from
Harmony (2). In summary, Azerbaijani word-order types are as follows, with types from
Harmony (2) in ( ): SV, OV, Postp, GN, PossN (NPoss), DemN, NumN, RelN (NRel), AN,
AdvA, StdMA, CompV (VComp), VAux, SentQ (QSent).
e. Adjectival clauses:
Ana məhriban i-di.
girl kind be-3S.PA
[S] [PRED.ADJ] (COP)
‘The mother was kind.’
Verbal clauses have more diverse types and many more possible constituents. However, the
basic word-order is the same: The verb generally comes at the end of the clause and takes all the
verbal suffixes—person, number, and one or more tense-aspect-modality-negation markers. The
following are examples showing the basic structure of verbal clauses:
(6) a. Intransitive verbs:

Malla yuxu-dan dur-di.
mullah sleep-ABL get.up-3S.PA
[S] [OBL] [V]
‘Mullah got up from sleeping.’
b. Transitive verbs:
Məməd dünən xiyaban-da Jalə-yə çox alma ver-di.
M. yesterday street-LOC J.-DAT many apple give-3S.PA
[S] (TIME) (LOC) [IO] [DO ] [V]
‘Memed gave a lot of apples to Jale on the street yesterday.’
CL → (S) (ADV (TIME) (PLACE)) (IO) (DO) VERB[NEG.TAM.PERS-NUM]
Beyond this basic word-order, word-order in Azerbaijani is to some degree pragmatically

governed. The basic rule is that a constituent to be focused or emphasized is placed immediately
before the verb,65 as explained in 6.6.4.
6.3. Copular clauses
There are two copular verbs in Azerbaijani: the state copula i-(mək) ‘be’, and the process
copula ol-(max) ‘become, be, happen’.
The copula i- appears in variable forms, as was explained in 4.2.1. "morphology of copula". It
is employed in all five types of copular clauses. However, the presence or absence of the copula
in natural speech varies according to clause type: except for the equational clauses, it is
typically deleted in the most widely used form of the third-person in the present tense, i.e. -di(r)
‘he/she/it is’; its presence, on the other hand, indicates an emphasis on the sense of copula.
Compare the following two existential clauses as an example:
(7) a. Bu kəşo-da zəhər var.

this drawer-LOC poison existent
‘There is poison in this drawer.’
65
This basic rule of word-order is the same for both Turkish and Azerbaijani. Cf. Lewis (1967:240).
b. Bu kəşo-da zəhər var-dır.

this drawer-LOC poison existent-be.3S.PR
‘There surely is poison in this drawer.’
This absence of copula in Azerbaijani seems to comply with the suggestion of Ferguson
(1971:147) that copular verbs tend to be absent:
- in main rather than in subordinate clauses;
- in non-empatic rather than in emphatic constructions;
- in timeless or unmarked present tense rather than in other tenses;
- with third person rather than with first or second person subjects;
- with adjectival rather than with nominal predicates.
In poetic verses, the copula suffix is often deleted for the sake of the metre, as in below:
(Superscript numbers indicate feet.)
1
(8) Fatma 2xanım 3təndir-4də 1ayaq-2lar-i 3
kəndir-4də (-dir)
Fatma lady oven-LOC foot-PL-3S.PO rope-LOC
‘Lady Fatma is in the oven, her feet in the rope.’
The process verb ol- functions as a copula. Unlike the copula -i, ol- morphologically inflects
like a regular verb. This copula typically encodes ‘a change of state’; on the state–action
continuum of verbal semantic properties, ol- may be placed between the stative copula -i and
intransitive verbs:
(9) STATE ACTION

|—x———x———————x————————x———|
i- ol- intransitive verb transitive verb
Its major function as a copula is complementary to the ordinary copula i-: in general, i- is used
with the past, present, and inferential tenses; ol- with the future tense and in participial
subordinate claluses. That is, in the equational and locative clauses ol- replaces copula i-
phrases; in the existential and possessive clauses ol- replaces var+copula i- constructions, as
illustrated in 6.3.1–6.3.5.
ol-, as an intransitive verb, serves to encode expressions such as "what happened?", "it is
okay!". In these cases, any tense is possible, since it is not functioning as the auxiliary copula.
Examples:
(10) a. Nə ol-di?
what happen-3S.PA?
‘What happened?’
b. Q: Sabah get-mək ol-ar? → A: Ol-ar!

tomorrow go-INF be-3S.AOR be-3S.AOR
‘Is it all right to go tomorrow?’ ‘(Yes,) it’s okay!’
These copulas construct the five types of copular clauses. Their use in the clauses is discussed
below.
6.3.1. Equational clauses
Equational clauses are those in which the referent of the subject noun phrase (NP) is identical
to another NP specified in the predicate nominal. Word-order is vital for the identification of the
subject NP and the predicate nominal NP; the one which comes first is the subject and the one
immediately before the copula is the predicate nominal. The predicate nominal gets the primary
stress in the clause. The phrase structure rule is:
(11) EQUATIONAL.CL → S (ADJ) PRED.NOMINAL (COP)
The auxiliary copula ol- is employed with the future tense and in nominalized subordinate
clauses, but with the other tenses copula i- is used as usual. In the present tense, the copular
personal endings are used, as in (a.) below. In the future tense, it is difficult to draw a semantic
borderline between the sense as the equational copula ‘will be’ and that as an intransitive verb
‘will become’. Examples:
(12) a. Predicate nominal:

(Siz) 'padşah-sız.
2H.NOM king-be.2H.PR
‘(Indeed) you are the KING.’
b. Auxiliary copula ol- in the future:

Bu oğlan 'padşah ol-acax.
this boy king be(come)-3S.FUT
‘This boy will be(come) a king.’
c. Nominalized subordinate clause:

Siz-in 'padşah ol-duğ-uz-i bil-ir-ik.
[2H-GEN king be-PTC-2H.PO-ACC] know-PR-1P
‘We know that you are the king.’
Sometimes the two NPs seem to change positions, especially when the personal pronoun
takes the predicate nominal slot, as in (13.a.) below, attracting the focus and the primary stress
as usual. Compare the example (13.a.) with (12.a.) above:
(13) a. Padşah 'sən-sən.

king you[2S]-be.2S.PR
‘The king is YOU.’ (‘It is no one else but you who is the king.’)
b. Ustad 'mən-əm.
teacher I[1S]-be.1S.PR
‘The teacher is ME.’ (‘It is no one else but I who is the teacher.’)
6.3.2. Existential clauses
An existential clause asserts "the existence or non-existence of some entity, either in general
or in a specified location"66. There are three types of existential clause: (a) canonical existential
clause; (b) var-personal-ending existential clause; (c) narrative existential clause.
a. Canonical existential clauses: This ‘canonical’ type is regular. In this type, a locative
phrase comes first and is nearly obligatory but still optional, then comes the obligatory subject
noun phrase, which is followed by the predicate adjective var in tenses other than the future. var
is the head of the predicate phrase. The copula, which comes in the clause-final position is also
obligatory except for the third-person in present tense. Here again subject anaphoric personal
pronouns are usually deleted, but if present, they are emphasized. The phrase structure rule is:
(14) EXIST.CL → (ADV.PH) S var COP
In the future tense and in nominalized subordinate clauses, as in equational clauses, auxiliary
copula ol- is obligatory.
(15) a. Canonical existential clause:

Ora-da çox qızıl var i-di.
there-LOC much gold existent be-3S.PA
‘There was a lot of gold in there.’

Ora-da çox qızıl ol-acax.
there-LOC much gold be-3S.FUT
‘There will be a lot of gold in there.’

Ora-da çox qızıl ol-duğ-u-ni bil-ir-ik.
there-LOC much gold be-PTC-3S.PO-ACC know-PR-1P
‘We know that there is a lot of gold in there.’
Rarely ol- is used, instead of the predicate adjective var, in the past tense in connection with
nouns which imply ‘dynamic’ nature. a. instead of b. from the following illustration: (a. and b.
have the same meaning.)
(16) a. Qırx gün, qırx gecə toy ol-di.

forty day forty night wedding be-3S.PA
b. Qırx gün, qırx gecə toy var i-di.

forty day forty night wedding existent be-3S.PA
‘There was a wedding for forty days and forty night.’
b. Var-personal-ending existential clause: This awkward name is intended to identify

another type of existential clause, where the subject is always a personal pronoun. The phrase
structure rule is:
66
Trask (1993:96)
(17) EXIST.CL → (ADV.PH) S[PERSONAL.PRONOUN] var COP
Here, var is usually followed by the copular personal ending: i.e. -(y)Am, -sAn, [-dI(r)]/Ø, -
(y)IX, -sIz, -[dI]lAr (cf. 4.2.1.2.). The subject and the predicate phrase with var are obligatory.
The personal ending in the predicate phrase agrees with the subject in number and person, as in:
(18) a. Biz də var-ıx.

we also existent-be.1P.PR
‘We are also present.’ or ‘We are here, too.’
b. Urumiya-da mən var-am.

Urmia-LOC I existent-be.1S.PR
‘I do exist in Urmia.’ or ‘I am in Urmia.’
Above (b.) may be compared with the locative clause Mən Urumiya-da-yam. ‘I am in Urmia.’
This clause expresses the current location of the speaker, whereas (b.) expresses a strong
connection between the location and the speaker, e.g., his/her home is there.
c. Narrative existential clauses: This form of existential clause is specially employed in

starting a narrative story; its function is identical to the English phrase, "Once upon a time there
was...". Here, the locative phrase is optional. For the predication of narrative existential clauses
there are two forms: (i) a compound of the existential predicate adjective var and the inferential
(or narrative/hearsay) of the morphology of the copula (4.2.1.2.b.), as in (a.) below; or (ii) the
copula i- with the past tense, as in (b.) below:
(19) a. Biri var i-miş biri yox i-miş,

one existent be-3S.INFR one absent be-3S.INFR
bir kişi var i-miş.

one man existent be-3S.INFR
‘Once upon a time there was a man.’
b. Biri var i-di biri yox i-di Đsfahan

one existent be-3S.PA one absent be-3S.PA Isfahan
vilayət-i-ndə bir padşah var i-di.

province-3S.PO-LOC one king existent be-3S.PA
‘Once upon a time there was a king in Isfahan province.’
6.3.3. Locative clauses
A locative clause asserts that an entity is located in a specified location. The order of
constituents is important: first comes the subject noun phrase, then the locative phrase. These
two elements are obligatory. At the end comes the predicate phrase with copula, which is also
obligatory except for the third-person in present tense. The constituent order in locative clauses
is rather rigid: the subject-NP can not be placed after the predicate locative phrase (a3. below is
not grammatical).
In the future tense and in nominalized subordinate clauses, as in equational clauses, the
auxiliary copula ol- is obligatory. Examples:
(20) a. Regular locative clause:

a1. Q: Alma harada-dır?
apple where-be.3S.PR
‘Where is the apple?’
a2. A: (Alma) süfrə üst-ü-ndə(-dir).

(apple) table top-3S.PO-LOC (COP)
‘It’s on the table.’
a3. *Süfrə üst-ü-ndə alma-dır.

Alma süfrə üst-ü-ndə ol-acax.
apple table top-3S.PO-LOC be-3S.FUT
‘An apple will be on the table.’

Alma-nın ev-də ol-duğ-u-ni bil-ir-sən.
apple-GEN house-LOC be-PTC-3S.PO-ACC know-PR-2S
‘You know that the apple is in the house.’
It should be pointed out that existential clauses and locative clauses are systematically related,
as was posited by Clark (1978:117f): "The existential, locative, and possessive constructions...
are related to one another in word order, in the verbs used, and in their locative characteristics".
Nonetheless, these two clauses appear to be different in syntactic structure, with the following
phrase structure rules:
(21) EXIST.CL → (LOC.PH) S PRED.ADJ:var COP

LOC.CL → S LOC.PH (COP)
The most conspicuous distinction seems to be the presence or absence of the predicate adjective
var. Notice also the obligatory status of subject-NP or locative phrase, and constituent order. In
existential clauses the optional locative phrase can move freely, i.e. before or after the subject,
but in locative clauses subject is not allowed to move to the position after the locative phrase.
The reason is that in locative clauses the locative phrase is in focus; thus it should be located
immediately before the copular verb. This is following the cardinal rule of word-order in
Azerbaijani, as mentioned in 6.2.: Any constituent in focus is placed immediately before the
verb.
However, the distinction between the two types of copular clauses seems to be minor. Both of
them are constructed with the locative phrase and share the auxiliary copula ol- in the future
tense and in nominalized subordinate clauses. Indeed, the meanings of the two clauses types are
difficult to separate in nominalized subordinate clauses. For example, alma-nın ev-də ol-duğ-u-
ni from the example (20.c.) above may be interpreted in two ways: (i) ‘(that) the apple is IN
THE HOUSE.’ – as an embedded locative clause; (ii) ‘(that) there is an apple in the house.’ – as
an embedded existential clause, although the existential clause can be better expressed by
placing the subject phrase immediately before the verb, i.e. ev-də alma ol-duğ-u-ni ‘(that)
THERE IS an apple in the house.’67
6.3.4. Possessive clauses
Azerbaijani possessive clauses encode possession or age. The relationship of possession

between two noun phrases is characterized by "A belongs to B", or "B is in possession of A".
a. Canonical possessive clauses: A canonical Azerbaijani possessive clause is constructed in

two levels: the first level is the formation of the subject, the second level is the predication. The
formation of the subject is realized by the genitive-possessive construction. (See 7.6.
"Possessive constructions") The subject in the genitive construction contains both the possessor
and the possessed of the entire predication. The possessor with genitive suffix may be deleted,
but the possessed entity with possessive suffix is obligatory. Predication is done by employing
the predicate adjective var at the end of clause. The subject and predicate adjective are both
obligatory. Subjects in possessive clauses are [+human].68
As in other copular clause types, the auxiliary copula ol- replaces the var+copula predication
in the future tense and participial subordinate clauses. Here are the phrase structure rule and
examples:
(22) POSS.CL → S(POSS.CONSTR) PRED.ADJ:var (COP)
a. Regular possessive clause:

a1. Bir çoban-ın qırx qoyun-i var i-di.
one shepherd-GEN forty sheep-3S.PO existent be-3S.PA
‘One shepherd had forty sheep and lambs.’
a2. Ümid-im var.

hope-1S.PO existent
‘I have a hope.’ or ‘I hope.’

Bir çoban-ın qırx qoyun-i ol-acax.
one shepherd-GEN forty sheep-3S.PO be-3S.FUT
‘One shepherd will have forty sheep and lambs.’
c. Nominalized subrodinate clause:

Bir çoban-ın qırx qoyun-i ol-duğ-u-ni
one shepherd-GEN forty sheep-3S.PO be-PTC-3S.PO-ACC
67
Thus, the claim that “one should expect concepts of existence to be expressed in locative terms in
natural language” is to be positively acknowledged in Azerbaijani. (Clark 1978:89).
68
Freeze (1992:582) argues “In languages where the existential and the ‘have’ predication (i.e.
possessive clauses) differ, the difference depends on the [±human] feature of the locative
subject”. This is largely valid for Azerbaijani.
yəqin bil-ir-ik.
surely know-PR-1P
‘We surely know that one shepherd has forty sheep and lambs.’
b. Expression of ‘age’: Age is expressed in the existential clause construction, with a

modification in the genitive-possessive construction for subject noun phrase. The subject NP for
age is:
(23) NP.S.age → (Possessor[+human].GEN) + Modifier[NUM/QUANT] + yaş.PO
Numerals or quantifiers can come in the noun modifier slot; a classifier noun yaş ‘age’ is in the
possessed slot. The possessor is optional, because it can be identified as the possessive suffix in
the possessed. ol- replaces the var+copula construction in the future tense and participial
subordinate clauses, as in other copular clauses. Examples:
(24) a. O vaxt mən-im iyirmi beş yaş-ım var i-di.

that time 1S-GEN twenty five age-1S.PO existent be-3S.PA
[NP.S.age ]
‘That time I was twenty five years old.’
b. Çox yaş-ın var.

much age-2S.PO existent
[NP.S.age ]
‘You are very old.’
c. Var-possessive-construction possessive clauses: Iranian Azerbaijani uses another type of

possessive clause, which is slightly analogous to the var-personal-ending existential clause (see
6.3.2.b.). Instead of the personal ending in existential clauses, possessive clauses take
possessive suffixes after var. We may call it the var-possessive-construction possessive clause.
The var-possessive-construction is followed by the copula, as illustrated in the examples below.
Agreement between the subject and the predicate personal ending is not rigidly followed. Some
examples:
(25) a. Kibrit var-ın-dı(r)?

match existent-2S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘Do you have a match?’
b. Ağa, siz-in ruznamə var-ız-dı(r)?

sir, 2H-GEN newspaper existent-2H.PO-be.3S.PR
‘Sir, do you have a paper?’ (lit., ‘Sir, is there a paper of yours?’)
The systematic relationship between the existential clause and the possessive clause should be
noted. The phrase structure rules, shown below, reveal their mutual closeness; the common use
of predicate adjective var, the obligatory status of subject and var:
(26) EXIST.CL → (LOC.PH) S PRED.ADJ:var (COP)

POSS.CL → S(POSS.CONSTR) PRED.ADJ:var (COP)
In the possessive clause of ‘age’, the semantic correlation seems evident. ‘Age’, as counted by
years and months, may be defined as ‘quantified temporal existence of an animate entity’.
Again Clark’s argument on the relations between existential constructions and possessive
constructions should be accepted.69
6.3.5. Adjectival clauses
Adjectival clauses describe the attribute or quality of the subject by means of either (i)
predicate adjectives or (ii) postpositional predicate phrases that occupy oblique object
grammatical roles. The subject and the predicate adjective/postpositional predicate phrase are
obligatory in adjectival clauses. The auxiliary copula ol- is employed with the future tense but
with the other tenses copula i- is used as usual.
The phrase structure rule is shown below with examples:
(27) a. ADJ.CL → S PRED.ADJ/POSTP.PH (COP)
b. Predicate adjective:
Padşah-ın oğl-i çox mehriban-dir.
king-GEN son-3S.PO much kind-be.3S.PR
[S ] [PRED.ADJ]-COP
‘The king’s son is very gentle.’
c. Predicate postpositional phrase:

Sanki göy-lər-də uç-an quş kimi-yəm.
as.if sky-PL-LOC fly-PTC bird like-be.1S.PR
[POSTP.PH ]-COP[Anaphoric.S]
‘As if I am like a bird flying in the sky.’
d. Auxiliary copula ol- in the future:

Padşah-ın oğl-i çox mehriban ol-acax.
king-GEN son-3S.PO much kind be-3S.FUT
‘The king’s son will be(come) very kind.’
e. Nominalized subordinate clause:

O-nun mehriban ol-duğ-u-ni bil-ir-ik.
[3S-GEN kind be-PTC-3S.PO-ACC] know-PR-1P
‘We know that he is kind.’
69
Clark’s argument is reiterated virtually identically by Freeze (1992:592) from a framework of
Generative Grammar (Government and Binding Theory): “A crosslinguistic close relation was
first established between the predicate locative structure and the existential... ‘Have’
predications of various kinds, including those with ‘have’ copulas, were then shown to be
basically existentials with a [+human] locative argument.” Azerbaijani existential, locative,
possessive clauses genuinely appear to support this argument.
6.4. Verbal clauses
In this section simple finite verbal clauses will be discussed. As explained earlier, types of
verbs will be classified.
6.4.1. Simple intransitive verbs
Simple intransitive verbs may encode either states, events or actions. They can be
subclassified into three types: (i) those which typically take a voluntary agent subject, (ii) those
which take an involuntary, patient subject, and (iii) those expressing change of nature or
weather.
The voluntary, agent subject verbs denote actions. Bodily function verbs are in this category:
(28) Voluntary bodily function, action verbs:

nəfəs al- ‘breathe’
gül- ‘laugh’
gülümsə- ‘smile’
daniş- ‘speak’
Many verbs denoting change of body posture belong to this category:
(29) Change of body posture, action verbs:

çök- ‘squat’
dön- ‘turn’
dur- ‘stand up’
tərpən- ‘shake’
burul- ‘curl up’
əyil- ‘bow’
Verbs of motion mostly denote voluntary actions. Only verbs which do not normally require a
locative expression are registered here:
(30) Motion verbs:

yeri- ‘walk’
qaç- ‘run’
qəyit- ‘return’
oyna- ‘dance’
sürün- ‘crawl’
atıl- ‘jump’
üz- ‘swim’
dayan- ‘stop’
Many verbs denoting vocal sounds are agentive intransitives:
(31) Verbs of vocalization:

sus- ‘be silent’
çığır- ‘shout’
bağır- ‘cry out in agony’

qişqır- ‘shout, bellow’
There are many other verbs which do not fit into the above semantic categories but still are
voluntary intransitives:
(32) Miscellaneous voluntary verbs:

oyna- ‘play’
işlə- ‘work’
gizlən- ‘hide’
yaşa- ‘live’
Intransitive verbs with involuntary, patient subject may also be subcategorized. First, verbs
which denote a change of state in the subject:
(33) Patient-of-change subject, state verbs:

doğ- ‘give birth’
böyü- ‘grow’
gözəlləş- ‘become beautiful’
şiş- ‘grow fat, swell’
sol- ‘wither’
öl- ‘die’
yan- ‘burn’
Another category of intransitive verbs with involuntary, patient subjects are some of the
bodily functions:
(34) Bodily function verbs:

tərlə- ‘sweat’
öskür- ‘cough’
asqır- ‘sneeze’
püskür- ‘belch’
gəyir- ‘burp’
oyan- ‘wake up’
qaşın- ‘itch’
Verbs which denote unfavourable or probably unwanted events may be lumped in a group as
verbs of adversity:
(35) Verbs of adversity:

naxoşla- ‘get sick’
yaralan- ‘get injured’
ağrı- ‘hurt, ache’
səhv elə- ‘make mistakes’
Intransitive verbs which denote change of nature or weather may be gathered as a self-
standing category. Verbs in this category are characterized by requiring semantically-related
(cognate) subjects which precede the verb:
(36) Intransitive verbs of change of nature or weather:
Cog.Subj Verb Gloss Gloss of Cog.Subj

yağış yağ- ‘rain’ yağış ‘rain’
qar yağ- ‘snow’ qar ‘snow’
doli yağ- ‘hail’ doli ‘hail’
göy gürüldə- ‘thunder’ göy ‘sky’
ildırım çax- ‘lightning strike’ ildırım ‘lightning’
külək əs- ‘blow’ külək ‘wind’
6.4.2. Intransitive verbs with an oblique-object
6.4.2.1. Intransitive verbs with a locative oblique-object
Verbs in this sub-group are typical intransitive verbs which take two arguments: the subject
and an oblique object. The subject is either an agent or patient, the oblique-object is a locative
(i.e., has the semantic role of locative). These verbs code either (i) that the subject is located in
the specified area or (ii) that the direction of the subject’s motion is either away from or toward
the locative object. There are semantic restrictions on verbs that regulate the distribution of
these functions: normally, some verbs, such as get- ‘go’, çıx- ‘come out’, gəl- ‘come’, collocate
with locatives of direction (source or goal); some other verbs, such as dolan- ‘loiter around’,
gəz- ‘walk about’, collocate with locatives of locational state.
Syntactically, locative oblique-objects are formed by attaching case markers to the object
noun-phrase, or by combining the object noun-phrase and postpositions with case markers.
Normally, a stative location is encoded with the locative case suffix, the direction of motion
with the dative or ablative suffixes. Some of typical verbs in this category and examples in
sentences are:
(37) a. çıx- ‘go out’

dolan- ‘loiter around’
əyləş- ‘sit down’
get- ‘go’
gəl- ‘come’
gəz- ‘walk about, travel around’
gir- ‘go in’
otur- ‘stay, remain, sit down’
qəyit- ‘return’
uzaqlaş- ‘go apart’
yaxınlaş- ‘come close, approach’
b. Dərə-dən su çıx-acax.
valley-ABL water come.out-3S.FUT
‘Water will come out from the valley.’
c. Azərbaycan torpağ-i-nda gəz-miş-əm.

Azerbaijan land-3S.PO-DAT travel.around-PF-1S
‘I have traveled around in the land of Azerbaijan.’
d. Fatma ev-ə qəyit-di.

Fatma home-DAT return-3S.PA
‘Fatma returned home.’
e. Đmarət-in qabağ-ı-na yaxınlaş-dılar.

building-GEN front-3S.PO-DAT approach-3P.PA
‘They approached toward the front of building.’
6.4.2.2. Intransitive verbs with recipient or patient oblique-object
Verbs in this group behave in a way similar to the above (6.4.2.1.) sub-group, but differ from
it in the semantics of the oblique-object. The noun phrase in the oblique-object has the semantic
role of recipient or patient in contrast to the locative semantic role in the above group.
Some of the verbs in this sub-group and examples in sentences are:
(38) a. bax- ‘look’

eşit- ‘hear’
danış- ‘talk’
soruş- ‘ask’
min- ‘ride’
muğayat ol- ‘look after, watch out’
b. Fatma bir ata-ya bax-di, bir ana-ya.

Fatma once father-DAT look-3S.PA once mother-DAT
‘Fatma looked once at her father and once at her mother.’
c. Olar mehriyə barəsində daniş-ar-lar.

they husband’s.deposit about talk-AOR-3P
‘They would talk about the husband’s deposit.’
d. Məməd Fatma-dan soruş-di.

Memed Fatma-ABL ask-3S.PA
‘Memed asked Fatma.’
e. Məməd ağ at-a min-di.

Memed white horse-DAT ride-3S.PA
‘Memed rode on the white horse.’
f. Qərə inəy-imiz-dən muğayat ol.

black cow-1P.PO-ABL tending be.2S.IMP
‘Look after our black cow.’
6.4.2.3. Intransitive verbs with impersonal construction
A few intransitive verbs take a kind of impersonal construction which takes up the argument
of the subject: i.e., the impersonal subject is expressed as a genitive-possessive construction;
and a recipient or patient oblique-object takes the dative or ablative case marker depending on
the semantic role. The oblique-object in dative may be inserted into the genitive-possessive
construction; e.g. the oblique-object in dative oğl-u-na is inserted into the genitive construction
ata-nın yazığ-i, in (c2.) below. Verbs in this group with examples are:
(39) a. tut- ‘hold, catch’

gəl- ‘come’
b. Ana-si bu-ni gör-üb Fatma-ya

mother-3S.PO this-ACC see-CS Fatma-DAT
bərk (o-nun) acığ-i tut-di.

much (she-GEN) anger-3S.PO catch-3S.PA
‘The mother saw this and got very angry at Fatma.’
(lit., ‘The mother saw this and her anger caught toward Fatma very much.’)
c1. Oğl-u-na ata-nın yazığ-i gəl-di.

son-3S.PO-DAT father-GEN pity-3S.PO come-3S.PA
‘The father had pity on his son.’
(lit., ‘The pity of the father came toward his son.’)
c2. ata-nın oğl-u-na yazığ-i gəl-di.
d. O sarı paltar-dan xoş-um gəl-ir.

that yellow dress-ABL pleasure-1S.PO come-3S.PR
‘I like that yellow dress.’
(lit., ‘My pleasure comes from that yellow dress.’)
In a similar vein, some verbs in this category can take simply an impersonal subject without a
recipient or patient oblique-object. The impersonal subject is formed by attaching a personal
suffix for the passive recipient-experiencer to the subject noun, as in:
(40) a. Yuxu-m gəl-di.

sleep-1S.PO come-3S.PO
‘I feel sleepy.’ (lit., ‘My sleep came.’)
b. Can-ım sıx-ıl-ır.
soul-1S.PO squeeze-PASS-3S.PR
‘I am troubled.’ (lit., ‘My soul is squeezed/troubled.’)
c. Fatma-ya ürəy-im sıx-ıl-ır.

Fatma-DAT heart-1S.PO squeeze-PASS-3S.PR
‘I miss Fatma.’ (lit., ‘My heart is in trouble for F.’)
Above (b.) expresses that the soul of speaker rather than the speaker himself is troubled. In
Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages, the strategy of reducing personal involvement, like
this, is well developed and widely used.
6.4.2.4. Intransitive verbs with predicate nominals
A few intransitive verbs appear with predicate nominals. The relationship between the subject
and the predicate nominal is equational; and the relationship between the verb and predicate
nominals is essentially copular; i.e. a noun phrase preceding the verb encodes a kind of status or
qualification of the subject. It may be rendered, ‘as being’ or ‘(it) becomes’. So far the
following verbs have been identified which occur with this construction. The verbs with
examples in sentences are:
(41) a. get- ‘go’

gəl- ‘come’
ol- ‘be, become’
b. Jahidi-nin ev-i-nə qonax get-dim.

Jahidi-GEN house-3S.PO-DAT guest go-1S.PA
‘I went to Jahidi’s house as a guest.’
c. Jahidi-gil ev-im-ə qonax gəl-dilər.

Jahidi-family house-1S.PO-DAT guest come-3P.PA
‘Jahidi’s family came to my house as guests.’
d. Ağay Jahidi biz-ə qonax ol-di.

Mr Jahidi we-DAT guest become-3S.PA
‘Mr Jahidi became a guest to us.’
6.4.3. Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs are those verbs which syntactically require a subject and a direct object. They
are further divided according to the semantic roles of the participants that fill the grammatical
slots of subject and direct object.
6.4.3.1. Prototypical transitive verbs
The prototypical transitive verbs are those encoding events in which a volitional, acting agent
causes visible, physical effects on a concrete patient within a short span of time.70
Some prototypical transitive verbs denote actions in which previously non-existent patient is
created, as in:
(42) yarat- ‘create’

tik- ‘build’
qur- ‘construct’
düzəlt- ‘make’
rənglə- ‘paint’
Some others denote actions in which existent patient is destroyed, as in:
70
Givón (1993:106).
(43) məhv et- ‘destroy’

parçala- ‘smash’
sındır- ‘break’
Some verbs denote drastic change in the patient’s state, as a result of physical contact between
the agent and patient, as in:
(44) vur- ‘beat’

dişlə- ‘bite’
kəs- ‘cut, kill’
deş- ‘pierce’
öldür- ‘kill, murder’
Some others denote less drastic change in the patient’s condition, though there is still physical
contact between the agent and patient, as in:
(45) döy- ‘hit’

yu- ‘wash’
dara- ‘comb’
götür- ‘take’
yala- ‘lick’
Some transitive verbs denote a change in the patient’s location, as in:
(46) köç- ‘move, migrate’

yığişdır- ‘gather up’
çək- ‘pull’
daşı- ‘carry’
6.4.3.2. Transitive verbs with experiencer subjects
In contrast to the prototypical transitive verb with a volitional and active agent-subject, a
group of less prototypical verbs take an experiencer subject. Perception verbs come into this
group. The subject of these verbs appears to maintain varying degrees of conscious volitional
involvement in the event, though it is never an active initiator. The following perception verbs
may illustrate degrees of volitional involvement, from virtual passivity to near agentivity.
(47) gör- ‘see’

dad- ‘taste’
bil- ‘know’
istə- ‘want’
6.4.3.3. Transitive verbs with recipient direct-objects
In contrast to the prototype transitive verb which affects the patient-object with resulting
physical change, a group of less prototypical verbs take a recipient object with internal, mental
effects.
(48) güldür- ‘make laugh’

cəzalandır- ‘punish’
təhqir elə- ‘insult’
6.4.3.4. Transitive verbs with cognate objects
A few verbs take cognate objects whose semantic properties are identical or related to the
verb. Often they form a kind of compound verbs, but unlike canonical compound verbs which
take a frozen form, the cognate-object noun can take number, personal suffix, and the
accusative case suffix, as in:
(49) a1. oxu- ‘sing’

a2. mahnı oxu- ‘sing a song’ (mahnı ‘song’)
a3. Xanəndə mahnı-lar-ımız-i yaxşı oxu-di.

singer song-PL-1P.PO-ACC well sing-3S.PA
‘The singer sang our songs beautifully.’
b1. gör- ‘see’

b2. yuxu gör- ‘dream a dream’ (yuxu ‘sleep’)
b3. Dünən yuxu-da çox yuxu-lar gör-düm.
yesterday sleep-DAT much dream-PL see-1S.PA
‘Yesterday while sleeping, I dreamed a lot of dreams.’
6.4.3.5. Transitive verbs with predicate nominals
A few transitve verbs are construed with a predicate nominal as well as with a direct object.
The relationship between the object and the predicate nominal is equational; and the predicate
nominal which precedes the verb encodes a kind of status or qualification of the subject. The
constituent order is:
(50) CL → S OBJ PRED.NOM V
Some of verbs in this sub-group with examples in sentences are:
(51) a. çağır- ‘call, invite’

tə’yin elə- ‘appoint’
san- ‘consider, think’
al- ‘take’
b. Olar malla-ni qonax çağır-dılar.

they mullah-ACC guest invite-3P.PA
‘They invited the mullah as a guest.’
c. Kiçik qardaş-ın-i vəzir tə’yin el-ir-əm.

little brother-2S.PO-ACC minister appointment do-PR-1S
‘I appoint your little brother as the minister.’
d. Həsən mən-i usta san-ır-di.

Hasan 1S-ACC professor consider-PROG-3S.PA
‘Hasan was thinking that I was a professor.’
e. Fatma-ni özü-nə arvad al-di.

Fatma-ACC himself-DAT wife take-3S.PA
‘He took Fatma as wife for himself.’
6.4.4. Ditransitive verbs
Ditransitive verbs are verbs which take two objects. The subject in this type of clause is
mostly agent, and one of the objects is always a patient, the second object is an oblique object.
This oblique object may occupy various semantic roles. Thus ditransitive verbs may be sub-
categorized according to the semantic role of their oblique object.
6.4.4.1. The ditransitive prototype: Locative oblique-object
Verbs in this sub-group are normally construed with a locative expression, either a locative
adverb or a locative postpositional phrase. In this type of clause, the agent causes the patient to
move locationally in a direction toward or away from a locational reference point. Typical verbs
with a locative oblique-object are:
(52) gətir- ‘bring in’

apar- ‘take away’
götür- ‘take’
qoy- ‘put’
çıxard- ‘take out’
tök- ‘pour’
daşı- ‘carry’
yolla- ‘send’
ək- ‘plant’
The verb gətir- ‘bring in’ is etymologically a causative: gəl- ‘come’ + -tir ‘CAUS’ = ‘cause to
come’, with /l/ deletion. It denotes that the patient is transported toward the locational reference
point. The verb apar- ‘take away’ encodes the opposite direction of motion, i.e., the patient is
transported away from the locational reference point. It is etymologically a compound verb: al-
‘take’+bar- ‘go’71 = ‘take and go’, with /l/ deletion and devoicing /b/. The verb götür-
presumes the agent is the locational reference point toward whom the patient is transported. The
following examples illustrate the verbs in bold. The locational reference point is mostly marked
by the dative suffix, though other case markers can be employed.
(53) a. Zümürrüd quş-u bala-lar-ı-na dən gətir-di.

emerald bird-3S.PO baby-PL-3S.PO-DAT grain bring-3S.PA
‘Emerald-bird brought grains for her chicks.’
71
Kutadgu Bilig vol. III (1979:56); Divanü Lügat-it-Türk vol. IV (1986:66).
b. Qara qoç da Məlik Məməd-i götür-üb qaranqulux

black ram also Malik Memed-ACC take-CS dark
dünya-ya apar-di.
world-DAT take.away-3S.PA
‘The black ram also grabbed Malik Memed and took him away
to the world of darkness.’
qoy- ‘put’ presumes that the targeted locational reference point is an enclosed or bounded
area. çıxard- ‘take out’ encodes the opposite direction to qoy-. tök- ‘pour’ denotes the direction
of motion is vertical. yolla- ‘send’ denotes that the agent does not accompany the patient: the
agent causes the patient to move away from him toward a specified location. daşı- ‘carry’
presumes the patient is a bulky or heavy object, with a source location and a goal location which
are of equal importance. ək- presumes that the patient is a plant and the targeted locative
reference point is earth. Some examples are:
(54) a. Qari qabağ-ı-na bir qurbağa qoy-di.

old.woman front-3S.PO-DAT one frog put-3S.PA
‘The old woman put a frog in front of her.’
b. Xənçər-i-ni çıxard-ıb barmağ-ı-nın

dagger-3S.PO-ACC take.out-CO finger-3S.PO-GEN
baş-ı-ni yar-di, yer-i-nə duz tök-di.
head-3S.PO-ACC cut-3S.PA place-3S.PO-DAT salt pour-3S.PA
‘He drew out his dagger and cut the tip of his finger,
and poured salt into the cut.’
c. Biləxərə yolla-dım malla-nın dal-ı-na.

finally send -1S.PA mullah-GEN back-3S.PO-DAT
‘Finally I sent people to call the mullah.’
d. Ağac-lar-i təpə-yə daşı-dılar və sora ək-dilər.

tree-PL-ACC hill-DAT carry-3P.PA and later.on plant-3P.PA
‘They carried the trees to the hill and then planted them.’
6.4.4.2. Verbs with recipient-benefactive oblique-object
A few ditransitive verbs can take two objects, where the second object takes the semantic role
of recipient, benefactive. Syntactically, the second object is construed with the oblique. For
pragmatic reasons, the order of constituents may vary more freely among the two objects,
without any change in syntactic pattern, as in:
(55) a. ver- ‘give’

görsət- ‘show’
de- ‘say’
istə- ‘want’
b1. Fatma yun-i ver-ir-miş

Fatma wool-ACC give-PROG-3S.INF.PA
inəy-in ağz-ı-na.
cow-GEN mouth-3S.PO-DAT
‘They say Fatma was giving wool to the mouth of the cow.’
b2. (b1. in ordinary constituent order.)

Fatma inəyin ağzına yuni verirmiş.
c. Ev-in-i biz-ə görsət.

house-2S.PO-ACC 1P-DAT show.2S.IMP
‘Show us your house.’
d. Əhməd hamı ol-an-i olar-a de-di.

Ahmed whole happen-PTC-ACC they-DAT say-3S.PA
‘Ahmed said to them all that has happened.’
6.4.4.3. Verbs with an instrumental oblique-object
Ditransitive verbs in this sub-group can take two objects, where one object occupies the
semantic role of locative, and the other object occupies that of instrumental. A verb takes an
instrumental object that is semantically compatible with the verb. Syntactically the locative
takes the accusative case; the instrumental takes the comitative-instrumental case.
Some of verbs in this sub-group with examples in sentences are:
(56) a. ört- ‘cover’

doldur- ‘fill’
bük- ‘wrap’
kəs- ‘cut’
vur- ‘strike, beat’
rənglə- ‘paint, colour’
b. Qələçə-ni duman-ınan doldur-dular.

cave-ACC smoke-COM fill-3P.PA
‘They filled the cave with smoke.’
c. Dev-in baş-ı-ni qılıncı-ynan vur-di.

giant-GEN head-3S.PO-ACC sword-COM strike-3S.PA
‘He struck the head of the giant with the sword.’
6.4.5. Verbs with sentential complements
Some verbs can take sentential complements. This verbal complementation in complex
sentences will be more fully described in Chapter 10 "Complement clauses". Here we will
briefly survey those verbs that fall into this group. They may be sub-divided into types
according to the syntactic pattern of complement clause that the verbs take. Again, it should be
pointed that there are two strategies in constructing sentential complementation in Azerbaijani:
(a) one, by nominalizing the verb in the embedded complement clause which is placed before
the main verb (Nominlized Clause); (b) another type of complement clause is introduced with
the subordinator ki ‘that’ after the main verb, which is in finite form (Finite Complement
Clause). ki can be deleted.
6.4.5.1. Perception-cognition-utterance verbs
Verbs of perception-cognition-utterance take complement clauses. Sentences with these verbs

are characterized as follows: (i) Verbs in the main clause code the perception, cognition or
verbal utterance realized by the subject; (ii) the complement clause codes the proposition
perceived, cognized or uttered; (iii) the subordinate complement clause appears mostly as finite
clause introduced by the complementizer ki, but less often as nominalized clause; (iv) verbs in
the finite clause appear in full-fledged normal finite forms, i.e., not imperative or optative form;
but verbs in nominalized clauses appear in an infinitive form with case suffixes.
Some of these verbs are:
(57) gör- ‘see’

eşit- ‘hear’
de- ‘say’
daniş- ‘speak’
soruş- ‘ask’
san- ‘consider, think’
inan- ‘believe’
bil- ‘know’
anla- ‘understand’
Some examples with this type of complement are:
(58) a. Nominalized clause:

Oğl-u-nun harada ol-duğ-u-ni bil-m-ir.
son-3S.PO-GEN where be-PTC-3S.PO-ACC know-NEG-3S.PR
‘He does not know where his son is.’
b. Finite complement clause:

Həsən gör-di (ki,) bu ağac-a bir əjdaha dırmaş-ır.
Hasan see-3S.PA (that) this tree-DAT one dragon climb-3S.PR
‘Hasan saw that a dragon was climbing on this tree.’
Utterance verbs, such as de- ‘say’, soruş- ‘ask’, introduce a direct quote, with or without ki.
Out of orthographic convention, a colon (:) is used after the verb without ki, and a comma (,)
after ki. Unlike English, a direct quote can follow the complementizer ki ‘that’. de- is used
nearly in all instances as an introducer of direct quote, as in:
(59) a. Fatma de-di: "......"

‘Fatma said: "......"’
b. Fatma soruş-di ki, "......."

‘Fatma asked that, "......"’
6.4.5.2. Modality verbs
Modality verbs can also take complement clauses. Sentences with modality verbs are
characterized as follows: (i) The subject of the main verb is co-referent as the subject of the
complement clause; (ii) the co-referent subject of the complement clause is left unexpressed;
(iii) the verb in the complement clause appears either in an infinitive form in the nominalized
clause, or in a subjunctive-optative form in the finite complement clause. The infinitive form
may take case suffixes, often the dative. Some of these verbs and examples are:
(60) a. istə- ‘want’

çalış- ‘try, strive, endeavour’
b. Nominalized clause:
b1. Həsən qələçə-yə gir-məy-ə çaliş-di.
Hasan small.castle-DAT enter-INF-DAT strive-3S.PA
‘Hasan strove to enter the small castle.’
b2. Çalhovuz-da çim-mək istə-di.
pool-LOC swim-INF want-3S.PA
‘He wanted to swim in the pool.’
c. Finite complement clause:

c1. Đstə-di (ki,) çalhovuz-da çim-sin.
want-3S.PA (that) pool-LOC swim-3S.SJNCT
‘He wanted to swim in the pool.’
c2. Đstə-di ki, ağac-ı çıxart-a.
want-3S.PA that tree-ACC take.out-3S.OPT
‘He wanted to take out the tree.’
6.4.5.3. Manipulative verbs
Manipulative verbs are those verbs which can take a human agent that manipulates the
behaviour of another human, the manipulee. Sentences with manipulative verbs are further
characterized as follows: (i) The agent is the subject of the main clause; (ii) the manipulee in the
main clause is co-referential with the agent in the complement clause, which is left unexpressed;
(iii) complement clauses in the manipulative construction appear mostly as the finite
complement clauses, and their verbs take an imperative or optative form. Some of these verbs
and examples are:
(61) a. əmr ver-/elə- ‘command, order’

məcbur elə- ‘force’
qoy- ‘allow’
icazə ver- ‘allow, permit’
xahiş elə- ‘beg, request’
b. Padşah əmr elə-di ki, qız-ı-nı da

king order do-3S.PA that daughter-3S.PO-ACC also
keçəl-i də şəhər-dən qov-sunlar.
bald.head-ACC also city-ABL banish-3P.IMP
‘The king ordered to banish both his daughter and the bald headed
man away from the city.’
c. Zartoşt de-di: şərab qoy-maz

Zoroaster say-3S.PA wine allow-3S.AOR.NEG
insan sa’adət-ə yetiş-ə.
people happiness-DAT arrive-3S.OPT
‘Zoroaster said, "Wine won’t allow people to arrive at happiness."’
6.5. Incorporation in compound verbs
Azerbaijani compound verbs show a grammatical process of incorporation. A number of

nouns or adjectives are attached in front of a limited number of verbs. Within the compound
verb, the noun or adjective has a grammatical function in relation to the incorporating verb.
The most common verbs which incorporate are: elə- (or et-) [tr. aux.] ‘do’, ver- [tr.] ‘give’,
gör- [tr.] ‘see’, qal- [intr.] ‘remain’, ol- [intr.] ‘become, be’. Of course, there are more verbs
than these which can incorporate nouns. These verbs may be classified into two types according
to the lexical types that they take. elə- and ver- take only nouns; gör-, qal-, ol- can take either
nouns or adjectives. Thus, incorporation can be discussed in two sections: noun incorporation
and adjective incorporation.
6.5.1. Noun incorporation
Noun incorporation is often called object incorporation. This process is characterized as

follows:
(a) After incorporation, the verb becomes intransitive in general, as was predicted by
Mardirussian:72 i.e., it does not take a direct-object, but may take oblique-objects, (except b.
below). The meaning of the incorporated compound verb also tends to be idiomatic. Some
examples are:
(62) toy elə- ‘have wedding party’, lit., ‘do wedding’:

toy ‘wedding’ functions as the object of elə- ‘do’.
icazə ver- ‘allow’, lit., ‘give permission’:
icazə ‘permission’ functions as the object of ver- ‘give’.
iş gör- ‘work, do the business’, lit., ‘see work’:
iş ‘work’ functions as the object of gör- ‘see’.
həsrət qal- ‘yearn’, lit., ‘remain yearning’:
həsrət ‘yearning’ functions as the predicate nominal of qal- ‘remain’.
fəda ol- ‘sacrifice’, lit., ‘become sacrifice’:
fəda ‘sacrifice’ functions as the predicate nominal of ol- ‘become’
(b) However, the auxiliary verb elə- looks so productive that the incorporated verb with elə-
can also be transitive, as in:
72
Mardirussian (1975:384).
(63) Padşah keçəl-i qəbul elə-di.

king bald.man-ACC accept-3S.PA (lit., ‘do reception’)
‘The king accepted the bald man.’
(c) There seems to be a continuum in the degree of incorporation of the noun and verb; from
loose to solid (lexicalized) incorporation or integration. (i) In loose incorporation, the noun
takes the plural marker and case suffixes. This type occurs when the object is referential and the
object actually forms a noun phrase. The border between incorporation and non-incorporation is
not clear-cut. Some analysts may not count this type as incorporation. (ii) In solid incorporation,
the object noun becomes non-referential and the noun and verb together function as a unit, thus
nothing, not even a suffix, can come between the two partners, and now the incorporated verb
can take a direct-object as in the example (64.c.) below. (iii) In the middle ground are the
majority of intransitive incorporated verbs that may or may not take various sorts of oblique-
objects. This middle ground incorporation may be prototypical cross-linguistically.
This may be illustrated as below, to be followed by examples:
(64) Incorporation degree continuum:

Loose Medium Solid
|———————————————————————————|
+Number/Case +OBL +DO
a. Incorporated verbs with number and case markers:

Orada iş-lər-i-ni gör-di.
there work-PL-3S.PO-ACC see-3S.PA
‘There he did his work.’
b. Incorporated verbs with an oblique-object:

Padşah olar-a icazə ver-di ki,
king 3P-DAT allow-3S.PA that
‘The king allowed them that...’
c. Incorporated verbs with a direct-object:

Padşah olar-i qəbul elə-di.
king 3P-ACC accept-3S.PA
‘The king accepted them.’
6.5.2. Adjective incorporation
Adjective incorporation is constructed mostly by intransitive verbs, such as qal- and ol-, and
less often by transitive verb such as gör-. This process is characterized as follows:
(a) After incorporation, the verbs in this sub-group generally become intransitive, though
some of them rarely take an oblique-object. Incorporated verbs here are not idiomatic, but the
adjective is descriptive of the mental or physical state of the subject. Some examples are:
(65) a. lazım gör- ‘consider it necessary’

çarəsiz qal- ‘remain helpless’
hazır ol- ‘be ready’
b. O kişi özgə ölkə-də çarəsiz qal-di.

that man foreign country-LOC helpless remain-3S.PA
‘The man became a helpless person in a foreign country.’
(b) Rarely the verb with gör-, which is transitive, functions as a transitive verb taking a
direct-object. In this construction, the direct object is realized with a complement clause. The
adjective predicates the object complement clause.
(66) Biz, uşax-lar-ın ata-ana-ları-na ita’ət

we child-PL-GEN father-mother-3P.PO-DAT obedience
elə-məy-i-ni lazım gör-ür-ük.

do-INF-3S.PO-ACC necessary see-PR-1P
‘We consider it’s necessary for children to obey their parents.’
6.6. Adverbs in simple clauses
Adverbs can be placed in several positions within simple clauses according to their types.
Typical unmarked adverbs take three positions: clause-initial, post-subject, pre-verbal. The three
positions of adverbs with their preferred types are as follows.
6.6.1. Clause-initial position of adverbs
Unmarked time adverbs and epistemic-evaluative adverbs tend to take the clause-initial
position, as in:
(67) a. Time adverbs:

Dünən oğlan şəhər-ə get-di.
yesterday boy town-DAT go-3S.PA
‘Yesterday the boy went to town.’
b. Epistemic-evaluative adverbs:
Doğrudan da Həsən gücli pəhlivan-di.
truly also Hasan mighty warrior-3S.PR
‘Truly indeed Hasan is a mighty warrior.’
6.6.2. Post-subject position of adverbs
Unmarked manner adverbs tend to take the position immediately after the subject, as in:
(68) Manner adverbs:

Uşax cəld ana-sı-na qaç-di.
child quickly mother-3S.PO-DAT run-3S.PA

‘The child quickly ran to his mother.’
6.6.3. Pre-verbal position of adverbs
Unmarked place adverbs and quantity adverbs tend to take the position immediately before
the verb, as in:
(69) a. Place adverbs:

Həsən dağ-a sarı irəli get-di.
Hasan mountain-DAT toward forward go-3S.PA
‘Hasan went straight toward the mountain.’
b. Quantity adverbs:
Arvad, sən-i çox incid-əcək.
woman 2S-ACC much torment-3S.FUT
‘The woman will torment you very much.’
6.6.4. Altaic-movement
When an adverb is focused or emphasized, it is moved to the immediately pre-verbal position.

In fact, cross-linguistically, most SOV languages in the Eurasian region, east and west of the
Altay mountains, tend to have this focus phenomenon: which we might call "Altaic-
movement".73 Some examples of the Altaic-movement are:
(70) a. (Compare with the example (67a.))

Oğlan şəhər-ə dünən get-di.
boy town-DAT yesterday go-3S.PA
‘It was yesterday that the boy went to town.’
b. (Compare with the example (68))

Uşax ana-sı-na cəld qaç-di.
child mother-3S.PO-DAT quickly run-3S.PA
‘Quickly the child ran to his mother.’
6.7. Agreement in simple clauses
In Azerbaijani clauses, there are two kinds of grammatical agreement: verbal agreement and
nominal agreement. Verbal agreement is that the verb or predicate agrees with the subject in
person and number in a clause. Nominal agreement is that the head noun agrees with the
73
This term is a reflexion of “Y-movement” or “Yiddish fronting” which labels the phenomenon of
fronting the focused constituent in a sentence. “Altaic-movement“ is attested with Turkic
languages, Uralic languages, Georgian, Korean. See Comrie (1981b:77, 79, 122, 124),
Chisholm, ed. (1984:272), Givón (1990:730).
modifier in person and number in a possessive noun phrase or nominalized complement; this
will be discussed in Chapter 7 "Noun phrases" (7.6.3.). Here the verbal agreement is examined.
The verbal agreement applies to both copular clauses and verbal clauses. Some examples
follow:
(71) a. Verbal agreement in a copular clause:

(Mən) bugün çox şad-am.
1S.NOM today much happy-be.1S.PR
‘I am very happy today.’
b. Verbal agreement in a verbal clause:

(Siz) ev-də kitab-i oxu-r-suz.
2P.NOM house-LOC book-ACC read-PR-2P
‘You are reading the book in the house.’
Agreement in person is always obligatory. Agreement in number requires close attention: it is

obligatory, except for the third-person plural. It appears that the animacy hierarchy of subject
noun phrase is affecting the agreement of plurality in the third-person. The animacy hierarchy
is:
(72) Animacy hierarchy:

a. 1, 2 > 3
b. +human > –human
c. +animate > –animate
When the head of the subject noun phrase is [+human], it tends to observe the number
agreement in all persons. Especially when the plurality of subject is expressed in a possessive
noun phrase, the verb in most cases takes the plural marker, as in:
(73) Padşa-ın oğlan-lar-i içəri gir-mək istə-di-lər.

king-GEN son-PL-3S.PO inside enter-INF want-PA-3P
‘The sons of the king wanted to enter inside.’
In Azerbaijani, anaphoric pronominal subjects are almost always left unexpressed and the
agreement in the verb expresses the person and number of the subject. When the antecedent of
the anaphoric pronoun of third-person olar ‘they’ is [+human], the verb usually requires the
plural marker in the verb, as in:
(74) Olar ip-i kəs-di-lər.

3P.NOM rope-ACC cut-PA-3P
‘They cut the rope.’
When the subject NP—whether non-anaphoric or anaphoric pronouns—is [–human], the

singular verb form is generally preferred, though the plural is optional still. Let’s look at the
following examples.
(75) Verbal agreement with 3P subject NP [–human]:
a. Non-anaphoric NP:
a1. O dəyğə yer-dən bir toyux və onun cücə-lər-i
that minute ground-ABL one hen and its chick-PL-3S.PO
çıx-di, darı-ni təmiz dənlə-di-lər.
go.out-3S.PA corn-ACC clean peck-PA-3P
That moment a hen and its chicks came out of the ground,
and they pecked up the corns.’
a2. Göz-lər-im yaşar-di.

eye-PL-1S.PO fill.with.tears-3S.PA
‘My eyes became filled with tears.’
b. Anaphoric pronominal NP:

Olar arx-da üz-ür.
3P.NOM canal-LOC swim-3S.PR
‘They (ducks) are swimming in the canal.’
In (a1.) above, the non-anaphoric subject NP in the first clause bir toyux və onun cücə-lər-i ‘a
hen and its chicks’ is [–human] and it takes a singular verb çıx-di, but in the second clause it
takes a plural verb dənlə-dilər in order to clarify the plural identity of the subject. In (b.), the
anaphoric pronominal NP, whose antecedent is here supposedly ‘ducks’ [–human], takes a
singular verb.
When personal pronouns are compounded in the subject noun phrase, the person in higher
position takes the verbal agreement marking: i.e., when a first-person pronoun is present in the
compounded noun phrase, the verb takes the first-person plural suffix, as in:
(76) a. Mən və olar baham get-di-k.

1S.NOM and 3P.NOM together go-PA-1P
‘They and I went together.’
b. Sən və uşax-lar hara get-di-z.

2S.NOM and child-PL where go-PA-2P
‘Where did you and the children go?’
124 7. Noun phrases
Chapter 7
Noun phrases
Azerbaijani noun phrases (NP) are constructed on two syntactic models: (a) the indigenous
Turkic structure where modifying elements precede the head noun – this is canonical; (b) the
Persian structure with post-nominal modifiers, including the post-nominal relative clauses.
The head is the core of the noun phrase and it may be either a pronoun or a noun. Pronouns
and names often form the simplest noun phrases without any modifiers. However, a noun phrase
is typically constructed by an obligatory head noun with optional modifier(s) of various types.
7.1. Ordering of elements within the noun phrase
The general rule that regulates the order of various optional modifiers relative to the head
noun and to each other may be categorized into two types: The NP type 1 is of genuine Turkic
structure with pre-nominal modifiers; the NP type 2 is a mixture of Turkic (pre-nominal
elements) and Persian (post-nominal elements) structures. The order of elements within the
noun phrase may be schematically represented as the following: (The parentheses ( ) indicate
the constituent is optional.)
(1) Order of elements within the NP:
NP1 → (RC) (POSSR-NP) (DET) (QUANT) (AP) (N+) N (PL) (POSS)

NP2 → (DET) (QUANT) (AP) N (POSS) (POSSR-NP) (RC)
The above stated elements, in order, are relative clauses (RC), possessor noun phrases
(POSSR-NP), determiners (DET), quantifiers (QUANT), adjectival phrases (AP), another
noun (N+) modifying the head Noun in a compound, the plural marker (PL) and possessive
suffixes (POSS). The order in each NP type is fairly rigid. Determiners, quantifiers, and
adjectival phrases are placed before the head noun in both types, and presumably this is the
basic NP order in Azerbaijani: NP → (DET) (QUANT) (AP) N (PL). Possessor NP and
possessive suffixes are interdependent in the possessive construction (cf. 7.6.). Relative clauses
and possessor NP are highly mobile across the two types. The following are examples for the
two NP types:
(2) a. Noun phrase of NP1 (Pre-nominal) type:

[bura gəl-ən] [adam-ın] [o] [hamı] [yaxşı] quzu[-lar][-i]
here come-PTC man-GEN that all good lamb-PL-3S.PO
[RC ] [POSSR-NP] [DET] [QUANT] [AP] N PL][POSS]
‘all the good lambs of the man who came here’
b. Noun phrase of NP2 (Pre- & post-nominal) type:

[o] [beş] [yaxşı] reis[-i] [danışqah] [ki, bura gəl-dilər]
the five good president-POSS university SUB here come-3P.PA
125 7. Noun phrases
[DET] [QUANT] [AP] N [POSS] [POSSR-NP] [RC]

‘the five good university presidents who came here’
In natural speech one NP seldom gets all the optional modifiers. Much less frequently one may
come across a mixed—or creolized—NP like the one in (b.) above, which closely follows the
Persian structure. In the ensuing sections the structure and function of each modifier and other
aspects in relation to Azerbaijani NPs are discussed.
7.2. Determiners
The syntactic class of determiners in Azerbaijani includes all the demonstrative pronouns and
the indefinite article.
The demonstrative pronouns are bu ‘this’, o ‘that/the’, belə ‘something like this’, elə
‘something like that’, həmin ‘this same’, həman ‘that same’, and obiri ‘the other’ (without the
definite suffix -si). They indicate deictic definite reference: i.e, bu, belə, həmin for referents
relatively near the speaker; o, elə, həman, obiri for those far away from the speaker. That is, the
use of the demonstrative suggests to the hearer to look somewhere in the discourse or
extralinguistic context for the referent of the noun phrase. (For demonstrative pronouns, see
5.1.4.) The following are examples:
(3) bu adam ‘this man’

o arvad ‘that/the woman’
həman uşax ‘that same child’
elə söz ‘a word like that, such a word’
obiri qız ‘the other girl’
The indefinite article bir ‘a/an’ also functions as an indefinite determiner to indicate indefinite
reference (for the use of bir, see 5.3.1.). bir and obiri are syntactically different from the other
determiners in that they do not allow quantifiers in the noun phrase, as in:
(4) bir qız ‘a girl’

*bir hamı qız *‘a all girl’
*obiri hamı qız *’the other all girl’
When bir is used as the indefinite article, the noun modified by bir can have the plural marker;
it denotes that the quantity is limited though unspecified, as in:
(5) ayri yeməli bir şey-lər

other delicious a thing-PL
‘other delicious things’
These determiners cannot come before the NP with the personal pronoun head: e.g. *bir mən
*‘an I’, *o sən *‘the you’, *obiri olar *’the other they’.
126 7. Noun phrases
7.3. Quantifiers, numerals, and classifiers
Quantifiers and numerals appear in two positions: (a) as partitive definite quantifiers, and (b)
as indefinite quantifiers.
7.3.1. Partitive definite quantifiers
The partitive definite quantifier appears in a structure of Quantifier-Head inversion; i.e. the
regular position of the quantifier changes with that of the head noun. The canonical head noun,
suffixed by the ablative or genitive suffix, occupies the position of pre-nominal modifier. It
functions as the "whole" entity to be parted. The quantifier-turned-head (cf. 7.9.) is made
definite by adding the definite suffix -(s)I to quantifiers. When the modifier-noun is with the
genitive suffix, the NP as a whole takes a structure exactly like that of the possessive
construction.
(6) a. həmvətən-lər-imiz-dən bir çox-i

compatriot-PL-1P.PO-ABL one many-3S.PO
‘many from/of our compatriots’
b. (o) qız-lar-ın iki-si

(the) girl-PL-GEN two-3S.PO
‘two of the girls’
c. olar-ın hamı-si
they-GEN all-3S.PO
‘all of them’
It is noted that bir çox in (a.) above is a compound quantifier (see 5.5.). As the modifier-nouns
in this construction are definite referring to specific referents, it is possible further to make their
definiteness explicit by adding the definite determiners before them, as exemplified in (b.)
above; but the determiners can not be placed before modifier-nouns of personal pronouns, as in
(c.). At a pragmatic level, the ablative and the genitive suffixes are interchangeable. Thus, it is
possible to restate the above examples as: a. həmvətən-lər-imiz-in bir çox-i, b. qız-lar-dan iki-
si, c. olar-dan hamı-si.
This construction is the preferred structure to the regular NP order shown in (1) in the
beginning of this chapter, when the NP is long with many modifiers. Thus the example in (2.a.)
may be changed to the following:
(7) bura gəl-ən adam-ın o yaxşı quzu-lar-ı-nın hamı-si

here come-PTC man-GEN that good lamb-PL-3S.PO-GEN all-3S.PO
‘all the good lambs of the man who came here’
127 7. Noun phrases
7.3.2. Indefinite quantifiers
The indefinite quantifiers appear in the regular pre-nominal position. These quantifiers
occupy the slot of the determiner. The head noun does not take the definite suffix. The
following are some examples:
(8) a. hamı qonşu-lar ‘all neighbours’

b. bə’zi kişi-lər ‘some men’
c. hər gün ‘every day’
d. heç biri ‘no one’
e. beş qoyun ‘five sheep’
f. çox adam-lar ‘many people’
g. biraz su ‘a little water’
7.3.3. Numerals and classifiers
Cardinal numbers can appear in the two quantifier slots: As partitive definite quantifiers, and
as indefinite quantifiers. As partitive definite quantifiers numerals take the definite suffix, as iki-
si in the example (6.b.) above; but as indefinite quantifiers they appear in the absolute form, as
beş in the example (8.e.) above.
Classifiers together with a numeral or quantifiers behave like an extended numeral (for
classifiers, see 5.4.). Classifiers are preceded by numerals or quantifiers in the pre-nominal
position, as in:
(9) beş nəfər kişi

five person.CLAS man
‘five men’
On the other hand, ordinal numbers function as a special sub-class of adjectives in the pre-
nominal position. An ordinal may be modified by another adjective within an adjective phrase,
when the ordinal usually is placed immediately before the head noun, as in:
(10) a. bir-inci qız

one-ORD girl
‘the first girl’
b. o yaxşı beş-inci adam

the good five-ORD man
‘the good fifth man’
7.4. Adjectives
The adjective phrase (AP) typically occupies the position immediately before the head noun.
An AP may be composed of an adjective only, or an adjective and an adverb which modifies the
128 7. Noun phrases
adjective. When multiple adjectives are conjoined within the AP, they are linked by the
conjunction və ‘and’. Thus the order of elements for an expanded AP may be illustrated as this:
(11) Adjective phrase (AP):
AP → (ADV) <(ADJ) (və)> ADJ
The angle brackets <> around the optional (ADJ) and (və) signify that more than one pair of an
adjective and və can appear in the adjective phrase. Quantity adverbs mostly occupy the adverb
slot in the AP. çox ‘very, much’ is the most commonly used adverb. The interrogative pronoun
nə ‘what’ is also used as an indefinite quantity adverb in an exclamatory sentence. The
(12) a. gözəl qız

beautiful girl
‘a beautiful girl’
b. çox gözəl qız
very beautiful girl
‘a very beautiful girl’
c. çox ağıllı və gözəl qız
very clever and beautiful girl
‘a very clever and beautiful girl’
d. Nə pis iy verir!
[what bad smell]NP give-3S.PR
‘What a bad smell it smells!’
When an AP is used with bir ‘a, an, one’ within the NP, their relative order requires careful
notice for the understanding of semantic distinction between the two combinations. There are
two possibilities: (a) ADJ-bir order; (b) bir-ADJ order, as in:
(13) a. ADJ-bir order in the NP:

gözəl bir qız
beautiful a girl
b. bir-ADJ order in the NP:

bir gözəl qız
a beautiful girl
The bir-ADJ order type (b.) is more typically used than the other type. Here an adjective and
head noun together make up a conceptual unit of "Noun with the quality of Adjective", e.g.,
gözəl qız "beautiful girl" may be counted as a conceptual unit in contrast to, say, çirkin arvad
"ugly woman" or gözəl oğlan "beautiful/handsome boy". bir here can be either an indefinite
determiner/ article (‘a, an’) or a numeral (‘one’), thus it may be replaced by other numerals, like
iki gözəl qız ‘two beautiful girls’ or qırx gözəl qız ‘forty beautiful girls’. Other determiners, such
as o ‘the/that’ or bu ’this’, may replace bir in this type, maintaining the usual order before
129 7. Noun phrases
adjectives within the NP, as: o gözəl qız ‘the/that beautiful girl’. But, it may not replace bir in
the ADJ-bir type, i.e. ?gözəl o qız sounds unnatural. In this respect, bir holds unique features.
The ADJ-bir order type (a.), on the other hand, emphasizes "the quality of the Adjective"
leaving the noun unchanged, and bir is used always as the indefinite article. The example in (a.)
above may be contrasted with çirkin bir qız ‘an ugly girl’ or pis bir qız ‘a bad girl’.
Oblique phrases as well as adverbs can occupy the adverb slot, as in the following:
(14) çaxır-ınan dolu badə

win-COM full cup
‘a cup full of wine’
7.5. Compounding: Nouns as modifiers
Modifying nouns may fill the last slot in the pre-nominal position. These modifying nouns
together with the head noun construct noun compounds. In fact, the process of compounding
shows varying degrees of fusion. "Compound nouns" discussed in 3.2.2.2. are highly fused,
yielding new lexical items. Those highly fused compounds are a product of compounding
process over a long period of time and are limited in number, while less fused compounds are
relatively loose in the relation of elements and are easy to make up. In this section noun
compounds with different degrees of fusion are discussed.
As discussed in 3.2.2.2., there are also two types of compouning for less fused noun
compounding: (a) with the third-person possessive suffix -(s)I, (b) without the possessive suffix.
7.5.1. Compounding with the possessive suffix
This is sometimes called "the indefinite izafet74 (or compounding)" in that the modifying
noun is indefinite or generic. It is constructed after the following steps:
1. the head noun takes the third-person singular possessive suffix
2. the modifying noun remain in the absolute form
3. the modifying noun gets the primary-word accent (à), and the following head noun the
secondary accent (â), as in the following:
(15) a. öràdək bala-âsi

duck baby-3S.PO
‘duckling’
b. àalma ağac-âi
apple tree-3S.PO
‘apple tree’
74“Izafet”is an Arabic loanword, meaning ‘annexation’ or ‘nominal compound’. The term originating
from Persian grammar is used in grammars of Turkic languages. The Persian proper izafet
construction is explained in 7.8.
130 7. Noun phrases
c. ànəft quyu-âsi
oil well-3S.PO
‘oil well’
d. dəàmir yol-âi
iron way-3S.PO
‘railway’
The relationship between the two elements may be "qualificatory" rather than possessive.
(Lewis 1967:42).
This construction may also be used for proper names and titles, as in:
(16) a. Urumiyə şəhər-i

Urmia city-3S.PO
‘Urmia city’
b. Urumiyə danışqah-i
Urmia university-3S.PO
‘the University of Urmia’
c. "Yol" məcələ-si
"Yol" magazine-3S.PO
‘the magazine "Yol"’
d. Davud oğl-i Süleyman
David son-3S.PO Solomon
‘Solomon, the Son of David’
The example (d.) above may be contrasted with Davud-un oğl-i Süleyman ‘David’s son
Solomon’ with the genitive suffix after David, where the kinship relation, i.e. David’s
fatherhood, is overtly emphasized. In contrst, (d.) expresses Davud oğl-i as a kind of title to
Solomon.
7.5.2. Compounding without the possessive suffix
Compounding without the possessive suffix occur less frequently than other types of
compounding. It is constructed by simply juxtaposing two nouns; the modifying noun precedes
the head noun. The relationship between the two elements is that the modifying noun expresses
the material for the head noun. Like compounding with the possessive suffix (7.5.1.), the
modifying noun gets the primary-word accent. The following are some examples:
(17) a. dəàmir âpul

iron money
‘iron money’ (i.e. ‘coin made of iron’)
b. qıàzıl başâmax
gold shoe
‘gold shoe’ (i.e. ‘shoe made of gold’)
131 7. Noun phrases
c. ipàək kəâmər
silk belt
‘silk belt’ (i.e. ‘belt made of silk’)
This may be compared with the compounding with the possessive suffix: e.g. dəmir yol ‘iron
road’ means ‘any road which is constructed or paved with iron’, whereas dəmir yol-i ‘railway’
specifically means ‘the road constructed with iron on which trains can move along’.
7.6. Possessor NP: Possessive constructions
7.6.1. The structure of possessive construction
Azerbaijani Turkic-proper possessor NPs are pre-nominal modifiers, indicating the possessor
of the head noun (or the possessed NP). The possessor NP and the possessed NP together
constitute the possessive or genitive construction. This construction is sometimes called "the
definite izafet", in that the modifying noun is a definite or specific person or thing. It is
constructed according to the following steps:
1. the modifying noun, head of the possessor NP, takes the genitive suffix
2. the head noun, head of the possessed NP, takes the possessive suffix
3. the two nouns are independent; each can form a NP with modifers and its own accent. The
(18) a. Fatma-nın ana-si

Fatma-GEN mother-3S.PO
[POSSR.NP] [POSSD.NP]
‘Fatma’s mother’
b. qız-ın ayağ-i
girl-GEN foot-3S.PO
‘the girl’s foot’
c. bu padşah-in bir alma ağac-i

this king-GEN one apple tree-3S.PO
‘an apple tree of this king’
d. o kiçik qardaş-ın bir qiymətli balaca qab-i

the little brother-GEN one precious small box-3S.PO
[POSSD.NP ] [POSSD.NP ]
‘a precious small box of the little brother’
e. (mənim) bacı-m
1S.GEN sister-1S.PO
‘my sister’
132 7. Noun phrases
The example (d.) above shows two independent NPs connected together in a possessive
construction. The example (e.) above has a possessive pronoun mənim ‘my’ as the possessor NP
in parentheses ( ), indicating it is optional. The possessive pronouns are usually omitted, since
the possessive suffix sufficiently identifies the person and number of the possessor, in
accordance with the nominal agreement (7.6.3.). When present, a possessive pronoun generally
functions for focus or contrast with other persons, as the following example shows:
(19) Mənim baş-ım yaxşı-di, ya nənə-yin baş-i?

[1S.GEN head-1S.PO]NP nice-be.3S.PR or [mother-2S.PO head-3S.PO]NP
‘Is my head nice, or your mother’s head?’
When the NP in a possessive construction has one or more modifiers, the scope of the
modifiers is generally confined to the NP whose head noun they modify. Compare the following
examples:
(20) a. bir uşağ-ın oyuncağ-i

one child-GEN toy-3S.PO
‘the toy of a (specific) child’
b. uşağ-ın bir oyuncağ-i

child-GEN one toy-3S.PO
‘a (specific) toy of the child’
In the above examples, a determiner bir ‘a ’ is used both in the possessor NP, in (a.), and in the
possessed NP, in (b.). In the former, it modifies uşax ‘child’, thus, meaning ‘one specific child’;
in the latter, it modifies oyuncax ‘toy’, thus meaning ‘one specific toy’.
This possessive construction (or definite izafet) may be compared with the compounding with
the possessive suffix (or indefinite izafet, 7.6.1.). For example,
(21) a. Definite izafet:

inəy-in ət-i
cow-GEN meat-3S.PO
‘the meat of the cow’
b. Indefinite izafet:
inək ət-i
cow meat-3S.PO
‘cow meat’
Ət ‘meat’ in (a.) above means ‘the meat of a specific inək ‘cow’’, while that in (b.) means ‘meat
of any cow’ which may be contrasted with ‘pork’ or ‘mutton’.
It is possible to construct multiple-possessive constructions: The head noun of the first-cycle
possessive construction functions as the possessor of the second-cycle possessive construction.
This construction in principle can be recursive, but in practice two or more cycles seldom
appear, probably due to the difficulties of cognitive processing. The following is an example:
(22) a. padşah-ın oğl-u-nun adam-lar-i

king-GEN son-3S.PO-GEN man-PL-3S.PO
‘the men of the king’s son’
133 7. Noun phrases
b. First-cycle possessive construction:

padşah-ın oğl-u ‘the king’s son’ or ‘the son of the king’
c. Second-cycle possessive construction:

[padşah-ın oğl-u]-nun adam-lar-i
7.6.2. Relationship between elements within the possessive construction
The semantic relationship between elements within the possessive construction is more than
just possession. The following are some of the various relationships that may be identified
between elements within the possessive construction:
(23) a. Possession, ownership:

mənim ev-im
1S.GEN house-1S.PO
‘my house’
b. Part-whole (body parts) relations:

qarı-nın baş-i
old.woman-GEN head-3S.PO
‘the old woman’s head’
c. Kinship relations:
Fatma-nın ana-si
Fatma-GEN mother-3S.PO
‘Fatma’s mother’
d. Location relative to the possessor:

körpü-nün yan-i
bridge-GEN side-3S.PO
‘the side of the bridge’
e. Predicate (agent–action relations):

mşəllim-i-nin gəl-məy-i
teacher-3S.PO-GEN come-INF-3S.PO
‘the coming of his teacher’ (The teacher comes.)
f. Predicate (patient–action relations):

alma ağac-ı-nın keşiy-i
apple tree-3S.PO-GEN guard-3S.PO
‘the guard of the apple tree’ (Someone guards the apple.)
134 7. Noun phrases
7.6.3. Nominal agreement in the possessive construction
Nominal grammatical agreement is generally observed in Azerbaijani possessive

constructions between the possessor NP and the head noun in number and person. Possessor
NPs take the genitive pronouns (for anaphoric pronominal subjects) or the genitive case marker
(for non-anaphoric third person); head nouns take the possessive suffixes. However, the
nominal agreement is not rigidly observed in some cases. The Azerbaijani nominal agreement
markers may be summed up in the following table:
(24) Nominal agreement markers:
Person Possessor NP Head Noun

1S mənim -(I)m
2S sənin -(I)n
3S onun/-(n)In -(s)I
1P bizim -(I)mIz
2P sizin -(I)z
3P oların/-lArIn -(s)I
The most conspicuous point to note is with the third person: there is no difference between the
singular and the plural, i.e. the possessive suffix for the plural is the same -(s)I as the singular.
The following are examples:
(25) mənim ata-m ‘my father’

sənin ata-n ‘your father’
onun ata-si ‘his/her/its father’
Fatma-nın ata-si ‘Fatma’s father’
bizim ata-mız ‘our father’
sizin ata-z ‘your father’
oların ata-si ‘their father’
The third person plural still can take the plural marker -lAr, when the head noun itself is
plural. Of course, the plural marker can be added to the head noun of any person, when itself is
plural in number. Compare the following:
(26) a. oların ata-si ‘their father’

b. oların ata-lar-i ‘their fathers’
c. mənim qardaş-ım ‘my brother’
d. mənim qardaş-lar-ım ‘my brothers’
Use of the first person plural may need closer observation. There is a distinction between
those with the possessive suffix and those without. It seems there are two occasions when the
possessive suffix is omitted: (a) exclusive first person, i.e. when the second person is not
included in modifying the head noun; (b) to avoid miscommunication of possessive relationship,
as in:
135 7. Noun phrases
(27) a. Sən bizim ölkə-ni əzab-dan qurtar-dın.

you our country-ACC torment-ABL save-2S.PA
‘You saved our country from torment.’
b. bizim Fatma
our F.
‘our Fatma’
In (a.) above, by omitting the agreement marker, the speaker indicates that the second person (or
the addressee) does not belong to his ölkə ‘country’. He uses bizim ‘our’ as the exclusive first
person and, by omitting the agreement suffix (ölkə)-miz, avoids a possible confusion of national
identity. In (b.), the speaker does not say Fatma-mız, for in that case a confusion of relationship
might occur, i.e. Fatma could be regarded as a member of his own family. By omitting the
agreement marker, he indicates Fatma is not his wife or within his own family.
The caution to avoid miscommunication of possessive relationship seems to work with the
second person also, when the relationship between the possessor NP and the head noun is not
obvious to the speaker, as in the following example:
(28) Sizin bağ-da yat-dım.

your garden-DAT sleep-1S.PA
‘I slept in your garden.’
7.6.4. Possessive constructions arising through nominalization
Noun phrases arising through the process of nominalizing clauses largely take the possessive
construction. There are four suffixes employed in the process: a nominalizer -mA for creating
action nouns meaning "the act or occurrence of the verb"; the infinitive -mAX for creating action
nouns meaning "the fact of the verb"; the past-participle -dIX for "the past action of the verb";
and the future-participle -(y)AcAX for "the future action of the verb". This nominalization is a
syntactic process rather than lexical (cf. 3.2.2.1. "lexical nominalization") The end product NP
may occupy the position of subject, direct object or oblique object in the clause. The possessive
constructions arising through nominalization are constructed after the following steps:
1. the subject of the verb takes the genitive;
2. the verb is suffixed with a nominalizing suffix agreeing with the subject in number and
person;
3. the possessor NP (in the genitive) may be omitted, when the identity of the possessor is
recoverable from the context or from the rules of nominal agreement.
The following examples illustrate this process:
(29) a. Underlying clause with finite verb:

Fatma gec gəl-di.
Fatma late come-3S.PA
‘Fatma came late’
b. -mA nominalization:
Fatma-nın gec gəl-mə-si
136 7. Noun phrases
Fatma-GEN late come-NMLZ-3S.PO

‘Fatma’s late coming’
c. -mAX-infinitive:
Fatma-nın gec gəl-məy-i
Fatma-GEN late come-INF-3S.PO
‘Fatma’s late coming’ or ‘for Fatma to come late’
d. -dIX-participle:
Fatma-nın gec gəl-diy-i
Fatma-GEN late come-PTC-3S.PO
‘Fatma’s having come late’
e. -(y)AcAX-participle:
Fatma-nın gec gəl-əcəy-i
Fatma-GEN late come-PTC-3S.PO
‘Fatma’s late coming (in the future)’
Use of the above nominalized NPs within clauses may be demonstrated as the following:
(30) a. Subject of the clause:

Fatma-nın gec gəl-mə-si xoş deyil.
Fatma-GEN late come-NMLZ-3S.PO nice be.NEG.3S.PR
‘Fatma’s late coming is not nice.’ (F. is coming or has come.)
b. Direct object of the clause:

Fatma-nın gec gəl-məy-i-n gör-di
Fatma-GEN late come-INF-3S.PO-ACC see-3S.PA
‘He saw Fatma’s coming late.’ (F. has not yet come.)
c. Oblique object of the clause:

Fatma-nın gec gəl-diy-i-ndən qəzəblən-di.
Fatma-GEN late come-PTC-3S.PO-ABL get.angry-3S.PA
‘He got angry because of Fatma’s having come late.’
7.7. Relative clauses
Relative clauses are the left-most pre-nominal or right-most post-nominal element of

modifiers within the NP. The structure and function of relative clauses will be discussed in
detail in Chapter 11. Examples of pre-nominal and post-nominal relative clauses have already
been given in the example (2) in this chapter.
137 7. Noun phrases
7.8. Post-nominal modifiers
As discussed in 7.1., the head noun in Azerbaijani NPs can have three optional elements of
post-nominal modifiers: the Persian possessive suffix (POSS) -i or -(y)e, possessor-NP
(POSSR-NP), and relative clause (RC). This Persian grammatical feature of post-nominal
modification is incorporated into Azerbaijani grammar with varying degrees of integration: the
relative clause has reached a considerable level of naturalness; the possessive construction
(sometimes called "Persian izafet") is possibly still in the process of establishing itself. The
post-nominal RC will be discussed in 11.4. and 11.5; in this section, the post-nominal
possessive construction is discussed.
In most cases the "Persian izafet" is used with direct quotations from Persian phrases, some
phrases being more natural than others. It is constructed by means of the following steps:
1. the head noun takes the possessive suffix -i
2. the possessive NP follows the postposition, as in the following examples:
(31) a. nöqtə-(y)i nəzər

point-POSS view
‘point of view’
b. reis-i danışqah
president-POSS university
‘the president of university’
c. Ustan-i Azərbaycan-i qərbi

province-POSS Azerbaijan-of western
‘Western Azerbaijan province’
d. Xiyaban-i Kaşani
street-POSS Kashani
‘Kashani street’
e. atəşbazi-ye şabe
firework-POSS evening
‘evening firework’
Arabo-Persian phrases like in (a.) above are highly domesticated and are idiomatic. As there are
a great many French phrases in English, so are there a number of phrases of Arabo-Persian
origin in the Azerbaijani vocabulary. Names of offices, as in (b.), or administrative units, as in
(c.), or street names, as in (d.), are frequently used in daily language use after the Persian
manner. Phrases like in (e.) are rather direct quotations from Persian, thus more alien to
Azerbaijani. Persian has its own rules of possessive construction, and these fall within the
domain of Persian grammar beyond the scope of the present one.
Leaving the idiomatic phrase in (a.), the phrases (b.) to (e.) may be easily converted to
Azerbaijani, i.e. Turkic, structure, like the following: (The meaning is the same as in the above
examples.)
(32) b. danişqah(-ın) reis-i

university(-GEN) president-3S.PO
138 7. Noun phrases
c. Qərbi Azərbaycan ustan-i

western Azerbaijan province-3S.PO
d. Kaşani xiyaban-i
Kashani street-3S.PO
e. axşam-ın atəşbazlığ-i
evening-GEN firework-3S.PO
Interesting enough, the Persian possessive suffix -i is identical with the Azerbaijani third-person
singular possessive suffix -(s)I. The phrase in (e.) exhibits lexical and morphological changes
for the conversion.
The number (plural, PL) of the head noun may also be expressed in NPs with post-nominal
modifiers. However, discussion of this should be sought within Persian grammar.
Overall, features of post-nominal NP modification are obvious in daily speech in Southern
Azerbaijan, though they are definitely Persian characteristics. In Azerbaijani traditional stories,
such as legends or fables, Persian-style NPs like (b.) to (e.) above do not normally appear. But
idiomatic phrases and post-nominal RCs appear frequently.
7.9. Modifiers used as anaphoric pronouns
Several kinds of noun modifiers can stand for the NP without the head noun, such as
anaphoric pronouns, when the identity of the referent is recoverable from the context. In
Azerbaijani, determiners, numerals (cardinal and ordinal), or quantifiers can be used as
anaphoric pronouns, as in the following examples.
(33) a. Determiner:
O adam gəl-di. ===> O gəl-di.
that man come-3S.PA that come-3S.PA
‘The man came.’ ‘That (one) came.’
b. Numeral (cardinal):
Đki adam gəl-di. ===> Đki gəl-di.
two man come-3S.PA two come-3S.PA
‘Two men came.’ ‘Two came.’
c. Numeral (ordinal):
Đkinci adam get-di. ===> Đkinci get-di.
second man go-3S.PA second go-3S.PA
‘The second man went.’ ‘The second went.’
d. Quantifier:
Hamı adam get-dilər. ===> Hamı get-dilər.
all man go-3P.PA all go-3P.PA
‘All men went.’ ‘All went.’
139 7. Noun phrases
7.10. Split NPs, double-head NPs
In general, all elements of a noun phrase are kept together in accordance with the rule of
ordering. This can be illustrated as the following:
(34) a. O yaxşı kişi balaca at-in bel-i-nə min-di.

the good man small horse-GEN back-3S.PO-DAT ride-3S.PA
‘The good man rode on the back of the small giant.’
b. *O balaca at-ın yaxşı bel-i-nə kişi min-di.
In some cases, mostly within possessive constructions, noun phrases ‘split’ or ‘scatter’; i.e.
some oblique phrases—mostly with the locative or ablative case—or particles are inserted in the
middle of the otherwise contiguous noun phrase. These oblique phrases add parenthetical
information to the noun phrase. The following are some examples:
(35) a. Bu arvad-ın Fatma ad-ı-nda bir qız-i

[this woman-GEN Fatma name-3S.PO-LOC one daughter-3S.PO]NP.S
var i-di.
existent be-3S.PA
‘There was a daughter to this woman by the name of Fatma.’
Or, ‘This woman had a daughter by the name of Fatma.’
b. Sən-in cənavar-dan nə-yin əskik-dir?

[2S-GEN wolf-ABL what-2S.PO]NP.S lack-be.3S.PR
‘What do you lack to be a wolf?’
c. Bu padşah-ın da bağ-ı-nda bir alma ağac-i

[this king-GEN also garden-3S.PO]NP-LOC one apple tree-3S.PO
var i-di.
existent be-3S.PA
‘There was an apple tree in the garden of this very king.’
In (a.) above, the locative phrase Fatma ad-ı-nda ‘by the name of Fatma’ is inserted in the
possessive construction bu arvad-ın bir qız-i ‘a daughter of this woman’. In (b.), the
parenthetical element is an ablative phrase. These inserted elements are scattering the noun
phrase, but add extra information to the noun phrase. In (c.), the particle dA (i.e. da/də) ‘also’ is
inserted in the noun phrase bu padşah-ın bağ-ı ‘the garden of this king’.
Some noun phrases have two or more heads. Since Azerbaijani is a head-last language, the
last head is considered more prominent than the other head. In other words, the first head (or the
appositive) is rather parenthetical, adding more information to the main head noun. Typical
examples are: (à for the first head/appositive, â for the second and main head.)
140 7. Noun phrases
(36) a. Padşah böyük oğl-ià Əhmədâ-i çağır-di.

king big son-3S.PO Ahmed-ACC summon-3S.PA
‘The king summoned his eldest son Ahmed.’
b. padşah-ın kiçik oğl-ià Məmədâ

king-GEN little son-3S.PO Memed
‘the king’s youngest son Memed’
7.11. Coordination of noun phrases
NP coordination is the conjoining of NPs which share the same case role. Four types of
coordination appear in the coordination of Azerbaijani noun phrases: (a) conjunction (p and
q)75, presection (not p but q), disjunction (p or q), and rejection (not p and not q; not...p or
q). This section describes these types of NP coordination: the four conjunction types and the
case-marking of conjoined NPs. The strategies employed in conjoining NPs are also, if not all
of them, used in coordinating other types of phrases, such as adjectival phrases and adverbial
phrases, and less frequently in coordinating clauses.
7.11.1. Conjunction
Two kinds of strategies are used for NP conjunction: (i) a marked strategy employing the
Arabic-originated conjunction və ‘and’, the Turkic conjunction inən ‘and, with’,76 which with
a comitative sense coordinates two conjuncts in most cases, or the particle dA ‘also, too’77; (ii)
an unmarked (zero) strategy.
The feature [Separate] seems to play an important role in the relationship between the
conjuncts.
(a) When the separateness in their relationship is emphasized, [++Separate], the particle dA
‘also’ is repeatedly added after each conjunct. This is a genuine Turkic means of multiple
coordination. Thus the schema may be: "A dA B dA <C dA>" ‘both A and B <and C>’. (The
angle brackets <> in the schema denote that the conjunct within them is both optional and
recursive.)
(b) When the conjuncts are considered still highly separate from each other, i.e. [+Separate],
və is added between the conjuncts, thus the schema: "A və B <və C>" ‘A and B <and C>’.
(c) When the conjuncts are considered relatively separate, [±Separate], both the unmarked
conjunction and və, sometimes supported by the temporal adverb sora ‘afterwards’, are
used. Thus the schema may be: "A <Ø B> və (sora) C" ‘A, <B,> and then C’.
75The classification and explanatory formula for coordination types has been quoted from Payne
(1985).
76 inən is originally the comitative case suffix. This may be termed ‘With’ strategy, as Payne
(1985:29) puts it. Mithun also notes, “Frequently, the source of noun phrase conjunctions is a
comitative construction.” (1988: 339).
77This is attested by Mithun (1988:340), “Nominal conjunctions also frequently develop from a
second source, an adverbial particle meaning ‘also, too, as well’. The original function of such a
particle is to point out a parallelism between otherwise separate entities.”
141 7. Noun phrases
(d) When the conjuncts are regarded as less separate from each other, [–Separate], the
unmarked conjunction is used; i.e. the conjuncts are simply juxtaposed. Thus the schema: "A
<Ø B> Ø /və C" ‘A, <B,> and C’. və before the last conjunct is optional.78
(e) When the conjuncts are regarded as building a kind of pair or group, i.e. [––Separate], inən
is used. Thus the schema: "A inən B" ‘A and B’.
All these schemata may be illustrated with the following scale:
(37) Separateness scale of NP conjunction:
–Separate ±Separate +Separate

|—————|————————|—————|—————————|
inən A {Ø B}və (sora) C A və B ...dA ...dA
A {Ø B} Ø/və C
The following are typical examples:
(38) a. Allah-a da qonağ-ı-na da qurban ol-um.

God-DAT also guest-3S.PO-DAT also sacrifice be-1S.IMP
‘Let me serve both God and his guest.’
b. Uzun ömür və şadlıx və səlamətlik arzu el-ər-lər.

long life and joy and health wish do-AOR-3P
‘They would wish a long life and joy and health.’
c. bir ağ su, Ø bir qara su və sora bir qırmızi su

a white water a black water and afterwards a red water
‘white water, black water, and then red water’
d. Burda əkinçi-lər buğda Ø arpa Ø yeralma Ø soğan Ø

here farmer-PL wheat barley potato onion
alma Ø üzüm Ø tut Ø cəviz Ø badam Ø qarpız Ø

apple grape mulberry walnut almond water.melon
qovun və ayrı bir məhsulat ək-ər-lər.

melon and other one crop sow-AOR-3P
‘Here farmers grow wheat, barley, potato, onion, apple, grape, mulberry,
walnut, almond, water melon, melon and other crops.’
78Mithun (1988:338) appropriately says, “the appearance of the particles is not random: they are used
only when a set is first established, or when the speaker wishes to specify that the set is closed or
complete.”
142 7. Noun phrases
e. Həsən inən balaca dev Fərəngistan-a get-dilər.79

Hasan and little giant Europe-DAT go-3P.PA
‘Hasan and the little giant went to Europe.’
7.11.2. Presection
The function of presection is to negate or reject all the other conjuncts but the last one.
Presection in conjoining Azerbaijani NPs is handled by adding the denial particle yox ‘no, not’
after each negated conjunct. Thus the schema: "A yox, <B yox,> C" ‘not A, <not B,> but C’.
Out of orthographic convention, a comma (,) is added after yox. The following are examples:
(39) a. O yox, sən gəl.

he not you come.2S.IMP
‘Not he, but you come!’
b. Ağa-ni yox, vəzir-i yox, qonşu-ni çağır-di.

master-ACC not minister-ACC not neighbour-ACC call-3S.PA
‘Not the master, not the minister, but the neighbour he called.’
7.11.3. Disjunction
The function of disjunction is to mark a relationship of contrast between conjuncts.

Disjunction in conjoining Azerbaijani NPs is handled by adding the conjunctions (və) yaxud
‘or’, ya da ‘or’, or və ya ‘or’. Thus the schema: "A ya (da) B, A (və) yaxud B", or "A və ya B"
‘A or B’. Və ya may be the most commonly used one for the disjunction in NP coordination.
When the nature of contrast is emphasized, the repeated form "ya... ya (da)..." is used: "ya A
<ya B> ya (da) C" ‘either A <or B> or C’. The following are examples:
(40) a. bu gün yaxud sabah

this day or tomorrow
‘today or tomorrow’
b. Məməd və ya Ali
Memed or Ali
‘Memed or Ali’
c. Məmed ya da Ali
Memed or Ali
‘Memed or Ali’
79 This clause may be compared with one using a comitative inən: Həsən, balaca devinən
Fərəngistan-a get-dilər. ‘Hasan went to Ferengland (together) with little giant.’ Here Həsən and
dev are not equal partners.
143 7. Noun phrases
d. ya mən ya da qurd
or I or wolf
‘either I or wolf’
7.11.4. Rejection
The function of rejection is to negate or reject all the conjuncts. Rejection in conjoining
Azerbaijani NPs is handled either by using the repeated form ...dA ...dA followed by the
negative marker -mA in the clause or by using the repeated form nə... nə... Thus the schema: A
dA B dA Verb-mA; nə A <(və) nə B> (və) nə (də) C ‘neither A <nor B> nor C’. The following
are examples:
(41) a. O da, yoldaş-ı da gəl-mə-di.

he also friend-3S.PO also come-NEG-3S.PA
‘Neither he nor his friend came.’
b. Nə yorğan və nə döşək, nə də baliş və nə də

no blanket and no mattress no also pillow and no also
pul var-dır
money existent-be.3S.PR
‘There is neither blanket, mattress, pillow, nor money.’
7.11.5. The relative order of conjoined NPs
When two or more NPs are conjoined, their serial order is the result of a deliberate choice. "It
has been shown in text-based studies that more important—more topical—NPs in the clause are
more likely to be fronted." (Givón 1993.I:275). In Azerbaijani the following relative orders of
conjoined NPs are observed to be preferable.
(42) a. Far > near:

o üz bu üz-ə
that face this face-DAT
‘to that face and this face’ i.e. ‘here and there’
b. Adult > young:

qoca və onun üç qız-i
old.man and his three daughter-3S.PO
‘an old man and his three daughters’
c. Male > female:

bir kişi inən arvad-i
144 7. Noun phrases
one man and wife-3S.PO

‘a man and his wife’
d. Male > female > young:

bir kişi və arvad-i və oların uşaq-lari
one man and wife-3S.PO and their child-3P.PO
‘a man, his wife, and their child’
e. Human > non-human:

Həsən və div
Hasan and giant
‘Hasan and the giant’
f. Animate > inanimate:

qoyun-lar və otlax
sheep-PL and pasture
‘the sheep and pasture’
g. Possessor > possessed:

Fatma və onun inəy-i
Fatma and her cow-3S.PO
‘Fatma and her cow’
7.11.6. Case-marking of conjoined NPs
When the same and shared case-role of the conjoined NPs requires case markers, the
appearance of the case markers varies according to the kinds of coordinating strategies. The
separateness scale (cf. 7.11.1.) applies to the contraints on the case-marking of conjoined NPs.
NPs coordinated with [–Separate] conjunctions, such as inən, have only one set of case
markers—in fact, case-suffix and other nominal suffixes—at the end of the second or last
conjunct. Whereas, NPs with [+Separate] conjunctions, such as dA or yox, have the case
marking in all the conjuncts. On the other hand, with the conjunction və the case marking is
optional except for the last conjunct, where it is obligatory. The following are some examples:
(Each conjunct is identified with a superscript number; case-markers are in underlined bold.)
(43) a. O çörəkà inən o balâ-ın hamı-sı-ni ye-di.

the bread and the honey-GEN all-3S.PO-ACC eat-3S.PA
‘He ate all of the bread and the honey.’
b. Allah-aà da qonağ-ı-naâ da qurban ol-um.

God-DAT also guest-3S.PO-DAT also sacrifice be-1S.IMP
‘Let me sacrifice myself (i.e. serve) for both God and his guest.’
145 7. Noun phrases
c. Ağa-nià yox, vəzir-iâ yox, qonşu-niä çağır-di.

master-ACC not minister-ACC not neighbour-ACC call-3S.PA
‘Not the master, not the minister, but the neighbour he called.’
d. Biz Đranlı-lar adabà və rüsumâ-lar-ımız-i saxla-dıx.

we Iranian-PL custom and practice-PL-1P.PO-ACC keep-1P.PA
‘We Iranians kept our customs and practices.’
e. Dodaq-lar-ı-naà və yanaq-lar-ı-naâ sürt-di.

lip-PL-3S.PO-DAT and cheek-PL-3S.PO-DAT rub-3S.PA
‘He rubbed on his lips and his cheeks.’
When two or more head nouns are conjoined within a possessive construction, the last head
noun conjunct takes the plural marker and the possessive suffix, as in:
(44) qız-ın qardaşà və bacıâ-lar-i

bride-GEN brother and sister-PL-3S.PO
‘the brothers and sisters of the bride.’
146 8. Tense, aspect, modality and negation
Chapter 8
Tense, aspect, modality and negation
This chapter describes the formation and semantics of the tense-aspect-modality (henceforth
TAM) system and negation, the four grammatical categories operating in simple clauses and
complex sentences. TAM operate in simple clauses as obligatory components, to begin with,
then upward in the discourse level as devices for deictic coherence. In general, the TAM system
in any language is known to be complex and hard to analyse, Azerbaijani would not be
exceptional. The boundaries of tense-aspect-modality categories are often not clearly separate
but overlap with one another.
The Azerbaijani TAM system is encoded in three types: (i) by means of verbal suffixes, singly
or in combination, (ii) by means of serial verbs, (iii) by means of auxiliaries. Each operator in
these types is the result or in the process of historical development.
8.1. Tense
The category of tense encodes the relation between the time of the event and the point of
(temporal) reference.80 Usually the point of reference is identical with the time of utterance
which serves as the absolute time axis, but it can also be relative, when the point of temporal
reference is different from the time of utterance. The tense operators in Azerbaijani are marked
primarily by verbal suffixes.
8.1.1. Present
The present tense denotes that an event occurs at the time of utterance. In Azerbaijani the
present tense is marked by the present tense marker -(y)Ir. The marker has three tense-aspect
senses: (i) the (absolute) present tense, (ii) the progressive aspect (cf. 8.2.2.), and (iii) the
historic present tense.
As a matter of fact, the present tense and the progressive aspect are pragmatically hard to
differentiate in the absolute tense, as in the following examples:
(1) a. Hara ged-ir-sən?

where go-PR-2S
‘Where do you go?’ or ‘Where are you going?’
b. Tehran-a ged-ir-əm.
Tehran-DAT go-PR-1S
‘I go to Tehran.’ or ‘I’m going to Tehran.’
The present tense is employed basically to describe that an event is taking place at the time of
utterance, as the above dialogue shows. However, it also can be used to describe an event which
80Comrie (1985:9) refers to tense as the “grammaticalized expression of location in time”.

is just about to take place. From the above example, (a.) may be uttered to a person just about to
leave a place, then the person may answer (b.) before the actual departure. Besides this
canonical use, the present tense also is used as the historic or narrative present.
Historic (or Narrative) present: The present tense is used sometimes in narratives, where
main-line events are generally encoded by the past tense, to refer to a past event. The use of this
historic present tense occurs usually in highlighted background events in a narrative with a
zooming-in effect out of the background stage, as in the following:
(2) Biri var-ı-ymiş, bir yox-u-ymış ...

one existent-be-3S.INFR one absent-be-3S.INFR
‘Once upon a time, (there was ) ...’
Bir gün Fatma-nın ana-si naxoşlu-yur və

one day Fatma-GEN mother-3S.PO get.sick-3S.PR and
qız-ı-na de-yir ki, mən ...

daughter-3S.PO-DAT say-3S.PR that I ...
‘One day Fatma’s mother gets sick and says to her daughter that I...’
Outside of the narrative genre, the present tense is often employed in the descriptive and
expository discourse genre to encode the backbone events or states. The sense in this use of the
present tense is close to the habitual aspect, as in:
(3) Present tense in a descriptive discourse:

Cəmaat xiyaban-lar-a tökül-ür-lər və Qods
people street-PL-DAT come.out-PR-3P and Jerusalem
gün-ü-n əziz tut-ur-lar.

day-3S.PO-ACC holy keep-PR-3P
‘People come out to the streets and keep the Jerusalem Day holy.’
This text describes a series of habitual activities that are repeated every year on the World Day
of Jerusalem (Qods) by the people in Iran.
8.1.2. Past
The past tense denotes an event that occurred before the time of utterance. In Azerbaijani the
past tense is marked by the past tense marker -dI. Its typical use is to encode the main-line
sequential events in a narrative and it appears mostly in main clauses. The past tense is
maintained consistently until background information or a background event appears and
employs other tense operators. Outside of the narrative genre, the past tense, as an alternative to
the present, may be employed to encode the backbone events or states in expository discourse. It
also is used in ordinary dialogues, whenever the past time reference is needed. The following
are examples:
(4) a. Past tense in a narrative:

hməd bir paslı qılınc-a bax-di, sora gül-üb de-di: ...
Ahmad once rusty sword-DAT look-3S.PA later laugh-CS say-3S.PA
‘Ahmed looked once at the rusty sword, then said with laughing, "...
b. Past tense in a dialogue:

"Sən hara get-din?" "Tehran-a get-dim."
You where go-2S.PA Tehran-DAT go-1S.PA
"Where did you go?" "I went to Tehran."
8.1.3. Future
The future tense denotes that an event is expected to occur following the time of utterance.
There are two suffixes marking the future tense in Azerbaijani: (i) -(y)AcAX the future tense-
aspect marker to encode ‘definite future’, and (ii) -(y)Ar the ‘aorist’ tense-aspect marker to
encode ‘indefinite future’. The functional difference between the two markers is not easy to
determine, but it may be explained as follows. Here tense is overlapping with modality in that
the difference is closely associated with the speaker’s attitudes towards, or perception of, the
reality. At least two semantic features are observed to be involved: (i) degree of certainty, (ii)
intentionality. In real world situations these features appear not as a matter of polarity but as a
continuum of gradation.
The definite future marker -(y)AcAX is used for the future happenings which are highly
certain based on the previous understanding of matter (typically when the subject is non-human,
as in (b.) below), or for the future happenings which are intended or planned by the subject, as
in (c.).
(5) a. Mən öl-ən-dən sora ata-n təzə arvad al-acax.

I die-PTC-ABL after father-2S.PO new woman take-3S.FUT
‘After my death, your father will take a new wife.’
b. Qabağ-ın-da bir qırmızi su çıx-acax.

front-2S.PO-DAT a red water come.out-3S.FUT
‘A red water will come out in front of you.’
c. Indi sən ged-ib nə qayır-acax-san?

now you go-CS what do-FUT-2S
‘Now you are going and what are you going to do?’
The aorist or indefinite future marker -(y)Ar is used for future happenings which are relatively
less certain, unintended or less intentional on the intentionality continuum, or predictable on the
basis of generalized knowledge in the past. Frequently this marker is used with non-human
subjects. Nevertheless, when it is used with human subjects, as in (c.) and (d.) below, it denotes
that the action takes place not because of the subject’s intention but because it is scheduled so
beyond the volition of the subject.
(6) a. Tezliğ-inən hamısi baş-a gəl-ər.

quick-COM everything head-DAT come-3S.AOR
‘Quickly everything will come to a completion.’
b. Belə hadisə bugün-lər əsla vaqe’ ol-maz.

thus incident today-PL never happening become-3S.NEG.AOR
‘Such an incident would never happen in these days.’
c. Yuxari çək-sinlər, sora da mən çıx-ar-am.

upward pull-3P.IMP later also I come.out-AOR-1S
‘Let them pull upward, then I will also come out.’
d. Mən hazır ol-ar-am, sən-i işıqlı dünya-ya çıxard-ar-am.

I ready be-AOR-1S you-ACC bright world-DAT take.out-AOR-1S
‘I will be ready, and I will take you out to the bright world.’
The present tense marker is sometimes employed to mark the future tense, implying that the
event will take place in the immediate future. It is used in a more colloquial situation, as in:
(7) Ana-si Həsən-i yan-ı-na çağır-ıb dedi: "Oğlum,

mother-3S.PO Hasan-ACC side-3S.PO-DAT call-CS said: my son
ged-ir-sən, ancax mənim söz-lər-im-ə qulax as.

go-PR-2S but my word-PL-1S.PO-DAT ear hang.2S.IMP
‘Hasan’s mother called him to her side and said, "My son, you will go,
but listen to my words."’
8.1.4. Perfect
The perfect in Azerbaijani, as in many other languages, embraces tense and aspect, for it
comprises both tense elements and aspectual elements. Here it is described under the tense
category. It is marked by the suppletive markers -(y)Ib/-mIş. Among the two suppletive
morphemes, -mIş is considered prototypical and appears in combination with the past tense
marker to form the past perfect (8.1.4.1.b.).
The perfect in Azerbaijani involves all four features noted by Anderson (1982): anteriority,
perfectivity, current relevance, and counter-sequentiality. These features will be described in
order.
8.1.4.1. Anteriority
The perfect typically indicates that an event has occurred in the past situation or prior to the
point of reference. The perfect, in turn, can be used with three points of temporal reference as
relative tense: (i) time of utterance, i.e. the present, (ii) past, and (iii) future. The past perfect
(əpluperfectə in traditional terms) is constructed by adding the past tense marker to the perfect
marker, as in the example (b.) below. The future perfect is constructed by adding the auxiliary
copula ol- ‘be’ to the main verb, which takes the perfect marker, as in the example (c.) below.
The following are examples with diagrams: (E–event time, R–reference time, <>–time of
utterance)
(8) a. Present perfect:

Sən şərt-i utuz-ub-san.
you condition-ACC lose-PF-2S
‘You have lost the bet.’
––––––––––E–––––––––––––––––––<R>–––––––––––→
event time reference time
"utuz-" time of utterance
b. Past perfect:
Bir gün padşah-ın oğl-i ov-a çıx-miş-di.
one day king-GEN son-3S.PO hunt-DAT go.out-PF-3S.PA
‘One day the king’s son had gone out for hunting.’
––––––E––––––––––––––R–––––––––––––<>–––––––→
event time reference time time of utterance
"çıx-" ‘one day’
c. Future perfect:
O vaxt sən şərt-i utuz-muş ol-acax-san.
that time you condition-ACC lose-PF be-FUT-2S
‘That time you will have lost the bet.’
–––––<>–––––––––––––––E–––––––––––––R–––––––––→
time of utterance event time time of reference
"utuz-" ‘that time’
The main function of the past perfect in most discourse genres is to code background events, as
is implied in (b.) above.
In connection with the anteriority feature of the perfect tense, there is a tendency for the
perfect to take over the territory of the past tense, as the following example shows:
(9) Teymurləng nə vaxt yaşa-yıb?

Tamerlane what time live-3S.PF
‘When did Tamerlane live?’
O təxminən altı yüz il bu-ndan qabax yaşa-yıb.

he about six hundred year this-ABL before live-3S.PF
‘He lived about six hundred years ago.’
8.1.4.2. Perfectivity
The perfect indicates that an event has terminated or completed prior to the time of reference.
Speaking from the examples (8) above, all the events (E) are perceived to have terminated some
time before the time of reference (R).
8.1.4.3. Current relevance
The perfect indicates that an already terminated event holds a lingering result and relevance at
the time of reference. The current relevance of the perfect is seen clearly in contrast to the past
tense, as in:
(10) a. Onun kitab-i Avestai-xat inən yaz-ıl-ıb-dır.

his book-3S.PO Avestaic-writing with write-PASS-PF-3S
‘His book has been written with the Avestaic writing (system).’
b. Onun kitab-i Avestai-xət inən yaz-ıl-di.

his book-3S.PO Avestaic-writing with write-PASS-3S.PA
‘His book was written with the Avestaic writing (system).’
In the example (a.) above, the perfect indicates that ‘his book’ holds a resultant relevance even
now. On the other hand, in (b.) the past tense expresses a historical fact in the past, thus it is not
clear whether ‘his book’ holds any relevance in the current situation. In contrast to the past
tense, the present perfect is used to indicate a more immediate past. Even if the actual writing of
the book could be more than two thousand years ago, as in (a.) above, it is perceived by the
speaker as being relatively close, for the book is close to him. This feature may be understood
as a kind of durative aspectuality, though what is durative is not the action itself but the
resultant state of the action. This is another illustration:
(11) Gülşən dedi: "Mən ev-dən çöl-ə çıx-ma-mış-am."

Gülshan said I house-ABL field-DAT come.out-NEG-PF-1S
‘Gülshan said, "I have not come out to the field from the house."
In the above example, what Gülshan argues is that the state of ‘her staying at home’ has
continued and is valid at the time of utterance/reference.
Again due to this feature of current relevance of the past action, the perfect tends to supplant
the past tense in colloquial conversations, as in:
(12) Xoş gəl-ib-siz!81

well come-PF-2H
‘You have come well.’ i.e. ‘Welcome!’
8.1.4.4. Counter-sequentiality
The perfect typically encodes in a narrative an event which does not fit into the sequential
flow of main-line events which are usually coded by the past tense. For this feature the perfect
takes either the form of the past perfect by adding the past tense marker or the form of the
present perfect mostly in some types of subordinate clause. The past perfect is used to encode a
background event in the middle of the narrative, as in the following example:
(13) Belə-belə Məlik Məməd yeddinci qapı-ni aç-di. gör-di ....

in.this.way Melik Memed seventh door-ACC open-3S.PA see-3S.PA
‘In this way Melik Memed opened the seventh door, and he saw ...’
Qız-ın diz-i üstə bir div baş-ı-ni

girl-GEN knee-3S.PO upon a giant head-3S.PO-ACC
qoy-ub yat-miş-di.
put-CS sleep-PF-3S.PA
‘A giant was sleeping, having put his head on the knee of the girl’
In the above example, the sequential main-line events, i.e. aç-di ‘he opened’ and gör-di ‘he
saw’, are encoded by the past tense. The event which he saw, i.e. that the giant had fallen asleep
before Memed opened the door, is counter-sequential and is encoded by the past perfect.
The present perfect is used to encode an event which has taken place before the time of the
main verb in a complex sentence. Here is an example:
(14) Alma yetiş-ən vaxt yuxu o-ni tut-di.

apple ripen-PTC time sleep he-ACC take-3S.PA
‘When the apple was getting ripened, he fell asleep.’
Bir zaman ayıl-ıb gör-di ki, alma ağac-da

one time wake-CS see-3S.PA that apple tree-LOC
81This may be compared with the Turkish equivalent, which uses the past tense:
Hoş gel-di-niz!
well come-PA-2H
‘You came well!’ i.e. ‘Welcome!’
yox-di, dər-il-ib.
absent-be.3S.PR pick-PASS-3S.PF
‘At one moment he woke up and saw that the apple was not on the tree, it had been
picked.’
In this example, the counter-sequential effect of the prior event of alma dər-il-ib ‘the apple has
been picked’ is obviously the same as in the previous example. Here in a complement clause it
is in the present perfect, due to the rules of tense agreement in subordinate clauses (8.1.6.).
8.1.5. Tense for generic statements/timeless action
The aorist marker is used to encode generic statements such as mathematical axioms or
timeless actions such as natural phenomena, where the question of time reference does not
occur. The term ‘aorist’82 seems literally appropriate in this usage more than any other.
(15) a. Đki inən iki dörd ed-ər.

two with two four do-3S.AOR.
‘Two plus two is four.’ (2+2=4)
b. Su yuxarı-dan aşağı ax-ar.

water above-ABL downward flow-3S.AOR
‘Water flows down from above.’
8.1.6. Tense in the subordinate clause
In Azerbaijani, structurally there are two types of subordinate clauses: (a) pre-posed/pre-
verbal subordinate clauses and (b) post-posed/post-verbal subordinate clauses. Further sub-types
of subordinate clauses and the tense-aspect system within them are explained in detail in
Chapter 10 "complement clauses". In this section, the use of tense in the post-posed
indicative—or realis—subordinate clause, which is the most temporally marked of all
subordinate clauses, is described.
The tense in a post-posed subordinate clause, especially in a complement clause (Chapter 10),
takes an indicative finite verb with tense-aspect marker(s)83 and uses the relative tense. In
Azerbaijani, as noted in other languages, the use of relative tense occurs in (i) reported speech
and indirect questions, (ii) post-posed/finite subordinate clauses, (iii) a clause introduced by the
subordinator ki ‘that’.84 (For further description of subordinate clauses, see Chapters 10, 11,
and 12.)
The kinds of tense-aspect markers used in subordinate clauses are limited to these three kinds:
the present, the future, and the perfect. The time of the verb in the main clause is equated with
82‘Aorist’ literally means ‘un-bound’ or ‘un-fixed’.

83Some types of subordinate clauses do not take tense-aspect markers but modality markers, for
example, the conditional clause.
84Chung and Timberlake (1985:211f).
the present in the subordinate clause. The future in the subordinate clause indicates that the
event is yet to take place from the temporal point of the main event; the present indicates that
the event takes place simultaneously at the time of the main event; the perfect indicates that the
event has taken place prior to the time of the main event. Thus there are at least six
combinations of tense between the main clause and the subordinate clause: PA–PF, PA–PR,
PA-FUT; PR–PF, PR–PR, PR–FUT. This strategy may be represented diagrammatically as
follows:
(16) Time in the main CL: ––––––––PA/PR–––––––––→

-dI/-(y)Ir
Time in the subord CL: –––PF––––PR–––––FUT–→
-(y)Ib -(y)Ir -(y)AcAX
Following are examples:
(17) a. Düşmən gör-di Həsən inən bacar-a bil-mi-yəcək.

enemy see-3S.PA Hasan COM succeed-be.able.to-NEG-3S.FUT
‘The enemy saw that he wouldn’t be able to overcome Hasan.’
b. Baş-a düş-di ki, qardaş-ı-ni bura-da öldür-üb-lər.

understand-3S.PA that brother-3S.PO-ACC here-LOC kill-PF-3P
‘He understood that they had killed his brother in here.’
c. Şah bax-di ki, qız-i həmin həkim-inən

king see-3S.PA that daughter-3S.PO same doctor-COM
bir yer-də gəl-ir.

one place-LOC come-3S.PR
‘The king saw that his daughter was coming together with the same doctor.’
d. Gör-ür alim daniş-m-ır.

see-3S.PR scholar speak-NEG-3S.PR
‘He sees that the scholar does not speak.’
8.2. Aspect
The category of aspect encodes the internal temporal properties of an event, such properties as
perfective/imperfective, durativity, progressive, and habituality. As many linguists have pointed
out, the difference between tense and aspect is often less than clear and the two categories
merge together. Azerbaijani none the less demonstrates this universal feature. The aspect
operators in Azerbaijani are marked by verbal suffixes—the same as tense markers—and by the
use of serial verbs.
8.2.1. Perfective versus imperfective
The aspect of perfective is marked by the perfect tense (8.1.4.2.) and the past tense -dI, i.e. the
event or action has completed prior to the time of reference.
The perfect and the past equally denote perfectivity. The coding of perfective also includes
the terminative which uses a serial verb construction (8.2.2.).
The imperfective involves the progressive, habitual, iterative, and the inchoative aspects.
8.2.2. Terminative
The aspectuality of terminative is generally included in the perfective form of verb, though
the point of termination is sometimes expressly coded by a serial verb construction: the main
verb in the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib is followed by the an aspectual verb qurtar- ‘finish’: "V-
(y)Ib qurtar-" ‘finish to "verb"’. This construction may also be understood as a copulative
compound (4.3.6.1.) where qurtar- serves as an aspectual auxiliary.
(18) Həsən bu boy-da qoşun-i qır-ıb qurtar-di

Hasan this height-LOC army-ACC destroy-CS finish-3S.PA
‘Hasan finished destroying the army as much as this height.’
The terminative aspect indicates that an important event in the discourse has finally come to an
end. In the above example, it may be presupposed that Hasan went through a prolonged ordeal
with subsequent episodes.
The use of terminative aspectual connotes a durative sense in the main verb, qır- in the above
example, more so than in the two perfective forms of the past and the perfect, i.e. qır-di
‘(Hasan) destroyed’ or qır-ıb ‘(Hasan) has destroyed’. This sense of durativity in the main verb
seems to draw a distinction between the usage of qurtar- as a main verb, as in (a.) below, and
that as an aspectual auxiliary, as in (b.) in the following example:
(19) a. Söhbet-i qurtar-dılar.

talking-ACC finish-3P.PA
‘They finished the talking.’
b. Söz-ləri-ni çox dey-ıb qurtar-dılar.

word-PL-ACC much say-CS finish-3P.PA
‘They said a lot of words, then finished.’
8.2.3. Progressive
The progressive aspectual marker is -(y)Ir, the present tense marker. The logic behind the
syncretic use of the marker is understandable in that at present time the event seems to be
ongoing. Thus, in Azerbaijani there is no distinction between the simple present and the present
progressive. The future progressive makes use of the auxiliary copula ol- in the future form. The
past progressive is constructed with a combination of the progressive marker and the past tense
marker -dI. The following are examples:
(20) a. Present progressive: -(y)Ir

Nahidə gəl-ir.
Nahide come-3S.PR
‘Nahide is coming.’
b. Future progressive: -(y)Ir + olacax

Nahidə gəl-ir ol-acax.
Nahide come-PROG be-3S.FUT
‘Nahide will be coming.’
c. Past progressive: -(y)Ir + dI

Nahidə gəl-ir-di.
Nahide come-PROG-3S.PA
‘Nahide was coming.’
The use of present progressive is as explained under the present tense (8.1.1.) The use of
future progressive is limited to some occasions when the pragmatic situation requires such an
aspectual construction. The past progressive in most cases encodes a background event which
prepares for an episode or main event in a narrative discourse.
(21) Fatma çox gözəl oyna-yır-di. Hamı onun

Fatma very beautifully dance-PROG-3S.PA all her
oyna-mağ-ı-na aşiq ol-di...

dance-INF-3S.PO-DAT lover become-3S.PA
‘Fatma was dancing very beautifully. All the people became
enamoured with her...’
In narratives, propositions with the past progressive often appear along with other forms of
TAM markers in a given paragraph. In such a context, the past progressive seems to maintain a
main-line background. After opening the narrative by using the idiomatic narrative existential
clauses, such as biri varıymiş or biri var idi ‘once upon a time there was’ (6.3.2.), background
events which prepare for an episode are most typically coded by using the past progressive. For
example, when it appears together with the past perfect in the same background setting, the past
perfect tends to mark more remote background rather than main-line ones, as indicated by the
anteriority of the event time. As an initial attempt, the following scale of continuum is suggested
to indicate relative backgrounding/foregrounding characteristics of some TAM markers:
(22) Background Foreground

| | | | | | |
Narrative Hearsay Past Past Past Historic Present Past
Exist. Cl. Prog/Hab Hab Prog Perf Present Perf
varıymiş/ -irmiş/ -ərdi -irdi -mişdi -ir -ib -di
var idi -ərmiş
As shown in the above continuum, the progressive marker combines with the
inferential/hearsay marker (INFR/HRS) -mIş: -(y)IrmIş to express the hearsay nature of
continued events which set a background in a discourse. This may be called the "hearsay
progressive". Pragmatic use in discourses indicates that the hearsay progressive seems virtually
interchangeable with the "hearsay habitual" -(y)ArmIş, as the habitual aspect employs both the
present and the past tense markers (8.2.4.). The following are some examples:
(23) a. Fatma yun-i ver-ir-miş inəy-in ağz-ı-na.

F. wool-ACC give-PROG-3S.INFR cow-GEN mouth-3S.PO-DAT
‘(It is said that) Fatma was giving wool to the cow’s mouth.’
b. Qara inək yun-i ud-ar sora hazır ip-i

black cow wool-ACC swallow-HAB later ready thread-ACC
çıxard-ıb ver-ər-miş Fatma-ya.
take.out-CS give-HAB-3S.INFR F.-DAT
‘(It is said that) the black cow would swallow the wool,
then later would take out thread to give to Fatma.’
8.2.4. Habitual
The habitual aspect is typically marked by the aorist tense marker -(y)Ar, and less typically by
the present tense marker -(y)Ir and by the serial verb construction "V-(y)Ib elə- ‘would "verb"’.
The habitual encodes a habitual or customary event which is performed over an extended period
of time. Most typiclly this aspect is employed in explaining procedures of events, i.e. in
procedural discourses, which customarily take place during feasts, such as Novruz, Çərşənbə
suri, and wedding. The following example explains the wedding.
(24) ... məhriyə barəsində daniş-ar-lar və toy üçün vaxt

deposit regarding talk-AOR-3P and wedding for time
‘they talk about the (husband’s) deposit and fix the date for the
təyin el-ər-lər və sora... bir müfəssəl toy

appointment do-AOR-3P and later one detailed wedding
wedding, and then they hold a detailed wedding
tut-ar-lar, və şadlıx el-ər-lər. Və cavan oğlan-lar və

hold-AOR-3P and joy do-AOR-3P and young boy-PL and
and celebrate. And young boys and girls
qız-lar bu toy-da oyna-yar-lar və oxu-yar-lar...

girl-PL this wedding-DAT dance-AOR-3P and sing-AOR-3P
dance and sing at the wedding...’
The habitual marker combines with two other TAM markers: the "past habitual" with the past
tense marker -dI and the "hearsay habitual" with the hearsay/inferential marker -mIş (8.2.3.).
The past habitual construction -(y)ArdI actually has two functions: (a) past habitual as an
aspectual, (b) speculative supposition as an irrealis modality. It may be said that the features of
aspect and modality merge in the past habitual. Following are examples:
(25) a. Past habitual as aspectual:

Arpa quyu-lar-i əvvəl çərşənbə-yə aç-ıl-ar-di.
barley pit-PL-ACC first Wednesday-DAT open-PASS-HAB-3S.PA

‘The barley pit used to be opened at the first Wednesday.’
b. Speculative supposition as irrealis modality:

Belə nə abır ged-ər-di
in this way neither honour go-HAB-3S.PA
nə də dərdi–sər cıx-ar-di.
nor also trouble come.out-HAB-3S.PA
‘In this way neither would he be ashamed nor would there be any trouble.’
Examples such as the above (a.) mostly occupy backbone events in a procedural discourse or
background information in a narrative. The use of past habitual construction as speculative
supposition as in (b.) above often appears as the apodosis in a counterfactual conditional
sentence. The following is an example. (For further discussion on conditionals, see 12.1.7.)
(26) O ol-ma-sa-ydı, düşmən sizi qır-ıb

he be-NEG-COND-3S.PA enemy you-ACC destroy-CS
qurtar-ar-di.
finish-HAB-3S.PA
‘Had it not been for him, the enemy would have finished destroying you.’
The present tense marker also expresses, though less frequently, the habitual aspect with a
sense of more reality or certainty, such as the movement of celestrial bodies or firmly
established traditional events:
(27) a. Gün keç-ir ay dolan-ır vaxt gəl-ir.

sun pass-3S.PR moon revolve-3S.PR time come-3S.PR
‘The sun passes, the moon revolves, and the time comes.’
b. Səs-i bat-mış adam-a noxud su-yu

voice-3S.PO sink-PF.PTC man-DAT pea water-3S.PO
iç-ird-ir-lər.
drink-CAUS-PR-3P
‘They would make someone with a hollow voice drink juice of peas.’
In (a.) above, the sun and the moon should have revolved habitually or iteratively until the
specified time of event in the narrative came about. Here it is not the case of a generic
statement, which would be sufficient with the aorist tense marker (8.1.5.), but a passage of real
time which requires the present tense marker.
The serial verb "V-(y)Ib elə-" ‘would "verb"’ is constructed by adding the auxiliary verb elə-
‘do’ to the main verb which takes the coordinative suffix. This serial verb is used to express the
habitual aspect on rare occasions, as in:
(28) Ata-m-ın əl-lər-i dəmir-dir, dəmir;

father-1S.PO-GEN hand-PL-3S.PO iron-be.3S.PR iron
od-dan alov-dan qorx-ub elə-m-ir.

fire-ABL flame-ABL fear-CS do-NEG-3S.PR
‘My father’s hands are iron, iron; they wouldn’t fear fire or flame.’
8.2.5. Iterative
The iterative aspect indicates that an action is performed repeatedly in a limited period of
time, relatively shorter than in the habitual aspect. Five types of devices are registered for the
iterative aspect: (i) A reduplicative subordinative suffix construction "V-(y)A–V-(y)A", which
iconically reflects the iterative feature of the verb. The action of the verb in this construction is
perceived to occur iteratively, while the action of the following verb is still being performed, i.e.
coding iterative simultaneous actions. (ii) An iconic reduplication of the coordinative suffix "V-
(y)Ib–V-(y)Ib", which expresses that the iterative action of the verb precedes the action of the
following verb, i.e. coding iterative sequential actions. (iii) A iterative particle hey or ha is
added before the verb of repeated action which appears in a finite form, singly or occasionally
repeatedly in an iconic manner. (iv) As a highly iconic device, the verb is simply reduplicated.
Among these three types the (i) appears to be most typical and widely used. Following are
examples:
(29) a. Olar axtar-a–axtar-a gəl-ib çıx-dılar

they search-SS–search-SS come-CS go.out-3P.PA
Fatma gil-in ev-i-nə.

F. family-GEN house-3S.PO-DAT
‘They came along searching thoroughly and arrived at the house
of Fatma’s family.’
b. Süleyman şah bax-ıb–bax-ıb de-di:

Solomon king look-CS–look-CS say-3S.PA
‘King Solomon looked over and over again and said:’
c. Uşax hey ağla-yır.

child ITER cry-3S.PR
‘The child was crying on and on.’
d. Hey de-dim hey de-dim amma eşit-mə-din.

ITER say-1S.PA ITER say-1S.PA but listen-NEG-2S.PA
‘I said over and over again, but you didn’t listen.’
e. (De-dim) ha de-dim amma siz qulaq as-ma-dız.

say-1S.PA ITER say-1S.PA but you ear hang-NEG-2P.PA
‘I tell you over and over, but you are not listening to me.’
f. Get-diler, get-dilər, bir uca dağ-ın bel-i-nə

go-3P.PA go-3P.PA a high mountain-GEN waist-3S.PO-DAT
çat-dılar.
arrive-3P.PA
‘They went on and on, and arrived at the waist of a high mountain.’
8.2.6. Inchoative
The inchoative aspect in Azerbaijani is coded by a serial construction: an aspectual verb

başla- ‘begin’ is preceded by the verb of main action which is realized in the form of the
infinitive plus the dative suffix (i.e. coding purpose): "V-mağa/-məyə başla-" ‘begin to "verb".
The inchoative construction is used generally with active verbs, though it still is natural with
stative verbs. Following are examples:
(30) a. Dev yer-i-ndən qalx-ıb yalvar-mağ-a başla-di.

giant place-3S.PO-ABL rise-CS plead-INF-DAT begin-3S.PA
‘The giant rose up from his place and began to plead.’
b. Pəri xanım fikir elə-məy-ə başla-di.

Peri lady thought do-INF-DAT begin-3S.PA
‘Lady Peri began to think.’
In order to focus the inchoative aspect of the event, the aspectual verb başla- is often fronted
to a position before the main verb, i.e. from its canonical position after the main verb. In this
case other components of the clause, such as noun phrases or adverbs, may be added
immediately before the main verb.
(31) a. Genə başla-dılar güləş-məy-ə.

again begin-3P.PA wrestle-INF-DAT
‘They began to wrestle again.’
b. Başla-dılar ora–bura-ni axtar-mağ-a.

begin-3P.PA there–here-ACC search-INF-DAT
‘They began to search here and there.’
On rare occasions when the context clarifies the action of the main verb, the main verb is
omitted and only başla- is used. In the following example, possibly the verb de-məyə ‘to say’ or
banla-mağa ‘to crow’ is omitted, its position is indicated by Ø:
(32) Xoruz atlan-di dam-ın üst-ü-nə uca

cock jump-3S.PA wall-GEN top-3S.PO-DAT high
səs-inən Ø başla-di: "Fatma xanım təndir-də!ə
voice-INST begin-3S.PA F. lady oven-LOC
‘The cock jumped onto the top of the wall and began (to shout):
"Lady Fatma is in the oven!ə’
8.3. Modality
The category of modality is generally defined as the grammatical coding of the attitudes and
opinions of the speaker towards the propositional content.85 This section deals first with the
85Based on Palmer (1986:16). The topic of modality seems to pose such a subtle task for linguists that
there are wide varieties of definitions and classifications.
basic distinction in modality, between realis and irrealis, followed by a broad discussion on the
grammatical distribution of modality. Then the three major types of modalities—epistemic,
epistemological and deontic modalities—are investigated. Some topics related to modality, such
as conditional and imperative, will be described more fully in other chapters.
8.3.1. Realis versus irrealis
A base criterion the speaker uses in relation to a proposition is the actuality of the event; i.e.
an event can be actual/real (realis) or non-actual/unreal (irrealis). "Whereas there is basically
one way for an event to be actual, there are numerous ways that an event can be less than
completely actual."86 Thus, the discussion of modality is mostly concerned with various types
of encoding of non-actual events, i.e. irrealis modality, such as future tense, hypothetical
conditional, obligation, ability, purpose, intention, imperative and negation.
8.3.2. The grammatical distribution of modality
As in many other languages, there is no uniform way of coding realis or irrealis modality in
Azerbaijani. Although it would be fair to say that verbal morphology plays the most important
role in coding modalities, it is still important to say that modality operators indeed extend over
other domains of grammar.87
8.3.2.1. Tense-aspect
The five morphological tense-aspect markers largely correlate with the corresponding
modalities as shown in the following:
(33) a. Present: -(y)Ir ===> Realis

b. Past: -dI ===> Realis
c. Aorist: -(y)Ar ===> Irrealis
d. Future: -(y)AcAX ===> Irrealis
e. Perfect: -mIş/-(y)Ib ===> Realis
The above correlation is rather a suggestion, except for the future which by nature always codes
various types of irrealis modality. The irrealis status of the future tense-aspect is widely attested
cross-linguistically88 and Azerbaijani follows suit. The aorist as the indefinite future marker
codes an irrealis modality and as the timeless action marker codes an event which is
presupposed to be real or true. The present is generally associated with realis, though that status
can be interrupted by irrealis-inducing operators such as modal adverbs (5.6.2.5. and 8.3.2.2.).
The realis status of the past and perfect are more interruptible by irrealis-inducing operators.
86Chung and Timberlake (1985:241).

87The description in this section follows the framework in Givón (1993.I:170ff).
88Palmer (1986:216).
8.3.2.2. Modal adverbs and adjectives
Modal adverbs and modal adjectives and phrases in combination with these lexical items
function as irrealis operators which usually induce realis propositions of past, present or perfect
to irrealis ones. Some words and phrases are used both in the epistemic and deontic modalities,
such as gərək(dir) ki or mütləq. The majority of these words are used to express epistemic
modality. The following are some of them in three types of modality with examples of use.
a. Modal words for epistemic modality
bəlkə (də) ‘probably, maybe’, doğrudan (da) ‘truly’, gərək(dir) (ki) ‘necessary, (it is
necessary that)’, mütləq ‘certainly’, sübhəsiz (ki) ‘undoubtedly, (it is doubtless that)’, yəqin (ki)
‘surely, certainly, (it is certain that)’.
(34) a. Bəlkə o tanı-di.

probably he know-3S.PA
‘Probably he knew.’
b. Yəqin dərzi-də bir xəbər var, ged-in

Certainly tailor-LOC a news existent go-2P.IMP
bura gətir-in.
here bring.2P.IMP
‘Certainly the tailor has news, go and bring him here.’
b. Modal words for epistemological modality
məncə ‘as to me, in my opinion’, mənə görə ‘for me, in my opinion’, deyilənə görə
‘according to what is said’, fikrimizcə ‘in our opinion’, ümidvaram ki ‘I am hopeful that, I
wish’.
(35) a. Məncə bu iş düzgün deyil.

to.me this matter right be.NEG.3S.PR
‘In my opinion this matter is not right.’
b. Deyilən-lər-ə görə, bura çox xətərnak bir dərə i-di.
be.said-PL-DAT as.to here very dangerous a valley be-3S.PA
‘According to what were said, here was a very dangerous valley.’
c. Ümidvar-am ki, Marifə çox yaxşı usta ol-acaq-dır.
hopeful-be.1S.PR that Marife very good teacher become-FUT-3S
‘Hopefully Marife will make a good teacher.’
c. Modal words for deontic modality
məcbur ‘obligatory’, mütləq ‘certainly, by all means’, vacib ‘obligatory’. These modal words
are employed to strengthen the deontic force of the sentence.
(36) a. Qarn-ı-ni doyur-max üçün məcbur-dur

stomach-3S.PO fill-INF for obligatory-be.3S.PR
quzu-lar-i qap-ıb apar-sın.
sheep-PL-ACC seize-CS take.away-3S.SJNCT
‘In order to fill his stomach he was obliged to seize the sheep and
take them away.’
b. Sabah mütləq bura gəl-əsən.
tomorrow certainly here come-2S.OPT
‘You should certainly come here tomorrow.’
8.3.2.3. Modal suffixes and verbs
Modal suffixes are grammaticalized modality operators and are by far the most salient irrealis
operators in Azerbaijani. Two operators are combinations with auxiliary verbs: the abilitative is
composed of the suffix -(y)A and the auxiliary verb bil- ‘know’; the possibilitive is of the
infinitive and the verb ol- ‘become’. These two verbs may be regarded as the only modal verbs
in Azerbaijani. These operators are employed in the epistemic, deontic, and epistemological
modalities and one operator is used for more than one modal feature. The following is a
summary of these modal suffixes and verbs. (Their use will be explained in the following
sections.)
(37) a. Necessitative: -malı/məli ‘must, be necessary’

b. Abilitative: -(y)A bil- ‘can, be able to, may’
c. Intentional: -(y)AcAX ‘will, intend to (do something)’
d. Inferential: -mIş ‘it is inferred, it is reported’
e. Possibilitive: -mAX ol- ‘it is possible to (do something)’
8.3.2.4. Irrealis and non-declarative speech-acts
Manipulative clauses and yes-no questions are associated with irrealis. "Manipulatives—such
as command, request, exhortation etc.—are associated with irrealis because... they are future
projecting" (Givón 1993.I:176). Manipulative speech-acts in Azerbaijani are mostly marked
with the subjunctive, though command is marked with the imperative. In yes-no questions the
low epistemic certainty presupposes irrealis in itself. Here are some examples:
(38) a. Command:
Gəl bura!
come.2S.IMP here
‘Come here!’
b. Exhortation:
Ora ged-ək.
there go-1P.IMP
‘Let’s go there.’
c. Request:
Məktub yaz-ır-san?
letter write-PR-2S
‘Will you write a letter?’ i.e. ‘Please write a letter.’
d. Yes-no question:
Dünən ora get-din?
yesterday there go-2S.PA
‘Did you go there yesterday?’
8.3.2.5. Modality in complement clauses
Among the three types of subordinate clauses (i.e. complement clauses, relative clauses,
adverbial clauses), a complement clause most obviously exhibits the distinction between realis
and irrealis. The distinction depends on the semantic or modality features of the verb. In
general, irrealis is coded by subjunctive in finite post-verbal complement clauses and the "action
nominalizations" -mA and -mAX (see 3.2.2.1.1.a.) in non-finite pre-verbal complement clauses.
Here the modality in finite complement clauses is dealt with, and further description of
complement clauses will follow in Chapter 10 "Complement clauses".
Modality and manipulative verbs create an irrealis modal scope over their complement which
is coded by the subjunctive, for the event is yet to be realized, as in:
(39) a. Đstə-di ki, at-ı-na su ver-sin.

want-3S.PA that horse-3S.PO-DAT water give-3S.SJNCT
‘Memed wanted him to give water to his horse.’
b. Şah əmr elə-di ki, keçəl-i

king order do-3S.PA that bald.man-ACC
Şəhər-dən qov-sunlar.
city-ABL drive-3P.SJNCT
‘The king ordered them to drive the bald man out of the city.’
Non-factitive cognitive verbs cast an irrealis modal scope, but their complement is coded by
various devices: for example, if the event in the complement is intended in the future, it is coded
by the subjunctive; if the event is a supposed or imaginative one, it is coded by the aorist; if the
event is a past one, it is coded by the perfect, as in:
(40) a. Fikirləş-di ki, biraz məmləkət-i gəz-ib dolan-sın.

think-3S.PA that a.bit country-ACC walk-CS loiter-3S.SJNCT
‘He thought that he would walk about the country a bit.’
b. Birdən fikirləş-di ki, div qalx-ıb məni öldür-ər.

suddenly think-3S.PA that giant rise-CS 1S.ACC kill-3S.AOR
‘Suddenly he thought that the giant might rise and kill him.’
c. Şah ha fikirləş-di ki, kim qal-ıb.

king much think-3S.PA that who remain-3S.PF
‘The king thought very much if anyone remained still.’
Verbs of perception, such as gör- ‘see’ or eşit- ‘hear’, mostly facilitate a realis complement.
(41) a. Qız qalx-ıb gör-di ki, Fatma gəl-ir.

daughter rise-CS see-3S.PA that Fatma come-3S.PR
‘The daughter stood up and saw that Fatma was coming.’
b. Biz eşit-miş-ik ki, bu adam yaxşı-dır.

we hear-PF-1P that this man good-be.3S.PR
‘We have heard that this man is good.’
Utterance verbs, such as de- ‘say’ or cavab ver- ‘answer’, function most usually as
introducers of a direct speech. Thus modality in the complement clause depends on the content
of the clause.
(42) a. Analığ-i qız-ı-na de-di:

step-mother-3S.PO daughter-3S.PO-DAT say-3S.PA
"çix, gör Fatma necə ol-di."

go.out.2S.IMP see.2S.IMP Fatma how become-3S.PA
‘Her stepmother said to her daughter, "Go out and see what
happened to Fatma.’
b. Fatma cavab ver-di ki, səninki yaxşı-dır.

Fatma answer give-3S.PA that yours good-be.3S.PR
‘Fatma answered, "Yours is good."’
8.3.2.6. Modality in adverbial clauses
Certain types of adverbial clauses also exhibit the distinction between realis and irrealis, such
as purpose clauses and conditional clauses. In the finite construction type of adverbial clauses
irrealis is marked with the subjunctive, as in the following examples: (For a further description
of adverbial clauses, see 12.1.)
(43) a. Purpose clause:

Fatma-ya yundarağı ver-di ki,
F.-DAT woolcomb give-3S.PA that
çöl-də dara-yıb əyir-sin.
field-LOC come-CS spin-3S.SJNCT
‘She gave Fatma a woolcomb so that she could comb and spin in the field.’
b. Conditional clause:
Əgər əl-im-ə düş-əsən,
if hand-1S.PO-DAT fall-2S.OPT
‘If you fall into my hand,’
8.3.3. Epistemic modality
Epistemic modality is concerned with knowledge, belief, and truth with which the speaker
evaluates the proposition. Two major subtypes of epistemic modality may be identified:
Necessity and Possibility. The devices employed in the epistemic modality are often employed
also in the deontic modality, as is the case with many other languages, such as with English
modals.
8.3.3.1. Necessity
Epistemic necessity expresses a range of senses, from outright necessity to high level
certainty/probability. It is coded by a number of devices: (i) with lazım ‘necessary’: "V-INF +
lazım(dır)" ‘it is necessary to’, or "V-INF-ACC + lazım gör-/bil-" ‘see/know it necessary to’;
(ii) with necessitative -malı/məli : its modal sense spans a strong degree of necessity and
obligation. However, with the auxiliary copula verb ol- it denotes epistemic necessity definitely,
i.e. ol-malı ‘it must be’. Here are some examples.
(44) a. Dev-in dalıca quyu-ya gir-mək lazım i-di.

giant-GEN following cave-DAT enter-INF necessary be-3S.PA
‘It was necessary to enter into the cave following the giant.’
b. Ona kamil ita’ət et-məy-i-ni lazım gör-ür.

to.him totally obedience do-INF-3S.PO-ACC necessary see-3S.PR
‘He saw it necessary to obey him totally.’
(It was necessary for him to obey him totally.)
c. Ağır-ağir xərc-ləri-ndən ötri bazar gün-lər-i də

heavy expense-3P.PO-ABL for sunday-PL-3S.PO also
işlə-məli-dirlər.
work-NECES-3P
‘Because of the heavy expenses they needed to work on Sundays.’
d. Bir şey ol-malı-dır.

one thing be-NECES-3S
‘There must be something.’
8.3.3.2. Possibility
Epistemic possibility expresses a range of senses, from ability (proved or assumed) to levels
of possibilities/potentials. It is coded by a number of devices: (i) with the abilitative "V-(y)A bil-
" ‘can "verb"’. When added by the past or present tense (i.e. realis), it becomes a proved ability;
when added by the future or aorist tense (i.e. irrealis), it becomes an assumed ability or
possibility. The future indicates a higher degree of certainty than the aorist. (For further
explanation on their distinction, see 8.1.3.); (ii) with mümkün ‘possible’: "V-INF +
mümkündür" ‘it is possible to’ or "mümkündür + Complement CL" ‘it is possible that...’; (iii)
with ehtimal ‘probable’: "ehtimal ki + Complement CL" ‘it is very likely that...’ or "V-INF-
DAT + ehtimal var(dır)" ‘it is probable to’; (iv) with the verb ol-: "V-INF + ol-" ‘it is possible
to’. Here are some examples:
(45) a. Amma oni tut-a bil-mə-di-lər.

but 3S.ACC catch-be.able.to-NEG-PA-3P
‘But they were unable to catch him.’
b. O əjdaha-ni da sən öldür-ə bil-ər-sən.

that dragon-ACC also you kill-be.able.to-AOR-2S
‘You will be able to kill the dragon as well.’
c. Bir hakim mümkün-dür

a ruler possible-be.3S.PR
bir şəhər-ə ixtar göndər-sin.
a city-DAT warning send-3S.SJNCT
‘It’s possible that a ruler should send a warning to a city.’
d. Ehtimal ki, göz-lər-i gör-mə-yir-di.

probable that eye-PL-3S.PO see-NEG-PROG-3S.PA
‘It is very likely that his eyes were not seeing.’
e. De-mək ol-maz ki, yaxşı i-di.

say-INF be.possible-NEG.3S.AOR that good be-3S.PA
‘It’s not possible to say that it was good.’
8.3.4. Epistemological modality
Epistemological modality is similar to epistemic modality in that it is concerned with

knowledge, belief and truth, but further it is concerned with the speaker’s commitment to the
truth of the proposition or with the source of the proposition. Two subtypes of epistemological
modality may be identified: Evaluative and Evidential.
8.3.4.1. Evaluative
The particle ki functions as a sentence-final evaluative particle, employed to express the

surprise or empathy of the speaker in relation to an unexpected event, such as a near escape
from a traffic accident, as in the example (a.) below, or on learning a friend’s unexpected
illness, as in (b.) below. In other words, the speaker emotionally commits himself to the event.
The speaker with this modality expects same kind of responses from addresses or hearers.
Syntactically the clause which contains ki may be interpreted as a main clause whose
subordinate clause is left unexpressed. But, functionally the clause stands as a full sentence and
in general the subordinate clause is never expressed.
(46) a. Az qal-dı ki!

little leave-3S.PA that
‘Wow, it was a near escape!’
b. Sənə nə ol-ub ki?

to.you what happen-3S.PF that
‘What happened to you?’or ‘What’s wrong with you?’
8.3.4.2. Evidential
The inferential marker -mIş is employed to code evidential modalities which are employed to
express the speaker’s relation to the source of the proposition. The evidential system in
Azerbaijani may be further divided into two distinctive subtypes: Reportative (Hearsay) and
Inferential. The reportative is more extensively used than the inferential in natural texts.
a. Reportative (Hearsay)
The reportative or hearsay indicates that the speaker reports what he heard from someone
else, as in:
(47) Bu ağac birinci gün çiçək ver-ər-miş.

this tree first day blossom give-HAB-3S.INFR
‘As they say, this tree used to produce blossoms in the first day.’
b. Inferential
The inferential indicates that the speaker infers the propositional content from certain
evidence in the speech context. Here is an example:
(48) Məməd o saat barmağ-ı-ni dişlə-yib dedi: "Aha,

Memed that time finger-3S.PO-ACC bite-CS said now.I.see
alma-ni apar-an bu i-miş."
apple-ACC take.away-PTC this be-3S.INFR
‘That moment Memed, biting his finger, said, "Now I see, this
must be the one who took away the apple."’
In the above example, Memed draws the conclusion from observing several pieces of evidence
that were found around the location of the episode.
8.3.5. Deontic modality
Deontic modality is concerned with a non-actual event imposed by others and by the speaker
himself. It is characterized as ‘containing an element of will’. Three subtypes of deontic
modality may be identified: Obligation, Permission, and Volitives. The imperative may come
into this category, though it is dealt with separately along with other devices of manipulative
speech acts in 13.1. As Chung and Timberlake note (1985:246), there is parallelism between the
epistemic and deontic modalities: "Thus, epistemic necessity is parallel to deontic obligation,
and epistemic possibility is parallel to deontic permission." Azerbaijani is in line with this cross-
linguistic tendency.
8.3.5.1. Obligation
The obligation modality is marked with at least two kinds of devices: (i) "gərək +
Subjunctive"; (ii) the necessitative -malı/məli. The device (i) seems to carry a stronger sense of
obligation and is more readily employed in Southern Azerbaijani. Particularly (ii) tends to draw
two senses—epistemic necessity and obligation (i.e. deontic necessity)—approximate to each
other.
(49) a. Gərək bu saat paslı qılıncı gətir-əsiz.

necessary this time rusted sword bring-2S.OPT
‘You must bring the rusty sword right now.’
b. Bu iş-i gör-məli-sən.
this matter-ACC see-NECES-2S
‘You should deal with this matter.’
8.3.5.2. Permission
The permission modality is marked with at least three kinds of devices, in parallel with the
epistemic possibility: (i) with the abilitative "V-(y)A bil-"; (ii) manipulative verbs: icazə ver-
‘give permission’ and qoy- ‘allow’: "V-INF-DAT + icazə ver-" ‘allow to’, "V-INF-ACC +qoy-"
or "qoy- + Complement CL" ‘allow to/that’; (iii) with the verb ol-: "V-INF + ol-" ‘it is allowed
to’. Permission is linked with its opposite, prohibition, which is constructed by negating the
device (iii) with the aorist, i.e. olmaz. Here are some examples.
(50) a. Sən indi ged-ə bil-ər-sən.

you now go-may-AOR-2S
‘Now you may go.’
b. Heç kim-in tərk et-məy-i-nə icazə ver-mə-di.

anyone-GEN leave-INF-3S.PO-DAT permission give-NEG-3S.PA
‘He did not allow anyone to leave.’
c. Bala-lar-i yuva-dan çığıriş-ıb qoy-ma-dılar ki,

baby-PL-3S.PO nest-ABL shout-CS allow-NEG-3P.PA that
‘The chicks shouted from the nest and didn’t allow that...’
d. Hər yer-də dolan-max ol-ar.

every place-LOC travel.around-INF be.allowed-3S.AOR
‘It’s allowed to travel around in any place.’
e. Đcazəsiz içəri gir-mək ol-maz.

without.permission inside enter-INF be.allowed-NEG.3S.AOR
‘It’s not allowed to enter inside without permission.’
8.3.5.3. Volitive
The volitive modality expresses the speaker’s intention or wishes, so the volitive may be
divided into two subtypes: Intentional and Desiderative. The intentional tends to indicate a more
active personal engagement in the process of decision-making than the desiderative.
a. Intentional
The intentional modality is coded by the intentional marker -(y)AcAX, whose form is shared
by the future tense-aspect marker (see 4.2.3. and 4.2.4.), specifically when it is used with the
first or second person, or in combination with the past tense. In the latter case, the state copula i-
‘be’ is added before the past tense suffix.
(51) a. Gələn bahar Bakı-ya ged-əcək-sən?

coming spring B.-DAT go-FUT-2S
‘Are you going to go to Baku next spring?’
b. Keçən bahar Ankara-ya ged-əcək i-dik.

past spring A.-DAT go-INTENT be-1P.PA
‘Last spring we intended to go to Ankara.’
b. Desiderative
The desiderative modality is expressed with at least two kinds of devices: (i) the optative "V-
(y)A"; (ii) the modality verb istə- ‘want, wish’, i.e. "V-INF + istə-" or "istə- (ki) + Complement
CL" ‘want to/that’ when the subject of the main verb (i.e. istə-) is also the subject of the
complement clause. In this case, the verb often holds a sense of intention as well, as in (c.)
below. But when the subjects are different, the verb holds a sense of directive, as in (d.) below,
as was noted in Palmer (1986:152). Here are some examples:
(52) a. Bağişla-ya-sız.
forgive-OPT-2H
‘Please, forgive me.’ or ‘I wish you could forgive me.’
b. jdaha bizi ye-mək istə-yir-di.

dragon 1P.ACC eat-INF want-PROG-3S.PA
‘The dragon was desiring to eat us.’
c. Đstə-di gir-ib çarhovuz-da çim-sin.

want-3S.PA enter-CS pool-LOC swim-3S.SJNCT
‘He wanted to enter the pool and swim.’
d. Padşah istə-di ki, at-ı-na su ver-sin.

king want-3S.PA that horse-3S.PO-DAT water give-3S.SJNCT
‘The king wanted them to give water to his horse.’
8.4. Negation
Negation in Azerbaijani is constructed basically by two forms of standard negation in the two
basic types of simple clauses, i.e. copular clauses and verbal clauses. These standard forms of
negation are predominant and appear in most negations. Besides these standard forms, there are
negative polarity items which mark negation in certain grammatical circumstances, such as
negative nouns, negative particles, negative adjectives, and negative adverbs. At the end of this
section, the scope of negation is also dealt with.
8.4.1. Standard negation in simple clauses
8.4.1.1. Copular negation
There are two devices to mark copular negation: (i) a negative predicate adjective deyil ‘not, it
is not’ is used in the equational and adjectival clauses; (ii) a negative adjective yox ‘non-
existent’ in other copular clauses, mainly in the existential clauses. On the other hand, the
negation of copular clauses in the future tense and in subordinate clauses, which uses the
auxiliary copula ol- ‘be’, follows the pattern of verbal negation.
deyil functions approximately as the negative counterpart of the state copula i- ‘be’ as the
predicate in the equational and adjectival clauses. However, there are a few differences: (i)
While i- may be absent under certain conditions (6.3.), deyil must be present to mark negation,
for negative is the marked form of polarity. (ii) deyil does not cliticize in any case, unlike i-,
cliticizing in the present tense. (iii) In the past tense, deyil may take i-di, like other adjectives.
(53) Copular negation with deyil:
a. Equational clauses (predicate nominal):

(Sən) padşah deyil-sən.
2S.NOM king not.be-2S.PR
‘(Indeed) you are not the king.’
O zaman sən padşah deyil i-din.

that time 2S.NOM king not.be be-2S.PA
‘That time you were not a king.’
b1. Adjectival clauses (predicate adjective):

Elə bil heç naxoş deyil-miş.
as if at.all ill not.be-3S.INFR
‘As if he was not ill at all.’
b2. Adjectival clauses (predicate postpositional phrase):

Göy-lər-də uç-an quş kimi deyil.
sky-PL-LOC fly-PTC bird like not.be.3S.PR
‘She is not like a bird flying in the sky.’
yox is functionally the negative counterpart of var ‘existent, there is’ as the existential
predicate adjective, a noun or a particle. It is used in negating existential—or non-equational—
copular clauses. The negation of other types of copular clauses, i.e. possessive and locative
clauses, may be regarded as being included in the existential negation. This phenomenon seems
to follow a cognitive realism that the question of existence is fundamental. Here are some
examples:
(54) Copular negation with yox – existential clauses:

a. Daha bir ayrı şey yox i-di.
more one other thing non-existent be-3S.PA
‘There wasn’t any other thing anymore.’
b. Heç kəs-im yox-di.

any person-1S.PO non.existent-be.3S.PR
‘There is no one to me.’
yox and deyil together form a double negative idiomatic phrase yox deyil ‘it is not non-
existent, there it is’ indicating an emphatic affirmation of existence or presence.
8.4.1.2. Verbal negation
The negation of verbal clauses is straightforward: by adding the negative suffix -mA or the
impossibilitive suffix -(y)AmmA to the verb stem, i.e. after the root and derivational voice
markers. The negative suffix -mA is unaccented and accent falls on the preceding syllable, but
the impossibilitive suffix -(y)AmmA is accented on the first syllable, as explained in 4.2.6.
Verbal negation is characterized as taking the whole proposition within its scope of negation.
(55) a. Mən ev-dən çöl-ə 'çıx-ma-mış-am.

I home-ABL outside-DAT go.out-NEG-PF-1S
‘I haven’t ventured out of home.’
b. Amma Pəri xanım heç biri-ni bə'yən-mə-di.

but Peri lady any one-ACC like-NEG-3S.PA
‘But Lady Peri didn’t like any of them.’
c. Sən 'çıx-ma, mən çıx-acağ-am.

you come.out-NEG.2S.IMP I go.out-FUT-1S
‘You don’t come out, I will go out.’
d. O parça-ni tap-'amma-di.
the piece-ACC find-IMPOS-3S.PA
‘He was unable to find the piece.’
8.4.2. Negative polarity items
One peculiary of Azerbaijani negative polarity items is that there are many items combined
with heç ‘not any’. This Persian-derived adjective is highly versatile in marking negation. There
are also other items, though not many in number.
8.4.2.1. Negative nouns
Heç and yox, which function primarily as adjectives, are used as negative nouns, heç
‘nothing’ and yox ‘nothing, non-existence’. Propositions with these negative nouns do not take
any form of standard sentential negation, as in the following examples:
(56) Bu onun qabağ-ı-nda heç-dir.

this his before-3S.PO-LOC nothing-be.3S.PR
‘This is nothing compared to him.’
Yox-un üz-i qara-dır.

non-existence-GEN face-3S.PO black-be.3S.PR
‘It’s a shame not to have.’ (an idiom)
literally ‘The face of non-existence is black.’
Heç as an adjective produces a group of compound negative nouns in combination with nouns
and pronouns (5.1.5.): heç biri ‘no one’, heç (bir) şey/zad ‘nothing’, heç kəs/kim/kimsə ‘no
one’, heç nə ‘nothing’. These compound negative nouns always appear in negated propositions,
of which negation is marked with standard sentential negation.
(57) a. Heç biri o birisi-ni yıx-a bil-mə-di.

no one the other one-ACC overthrow-be.able-NEG-3S.PA
‘No one was able to overthrow the other one.’
b. Heç zad istə-m-ir-əm.

nothing want-NEG-PR-1S
‘I do not want anything.’
c. Ahməd gör-di burada heç kim yox-di.

Ahmed see-3S.PA here no one non.existent-be.3S.PR
‘Ahmed saw that there was no one in here.’
d. Bu işarə-dən heç nə baş-a düş-mə-dik.

this signal-ABL nothing head-DAT drop-NEG-1P.PA
‘We didn’t understand anything from this signal.’
8.4.2.2. Negative quantifiers
The negative adjective heç in combination with the numeral/indefinite article bir ‘one, a’
functions as a negative quantifier: heç bir ‘not a, not any’, which is used only in negative
clauses. heç bir can modify most nouns to construct non-referential indefinite noun phrase, as
in:
(58) a. Heç bir şübhə yox-di.

not a doubt non-existent-3S.PR
‘There isn’t any doubt.’
b. Sən ata-n-a heç bir söz de-mə.

you father-2S.PO-DAT not a word say-NEG.2S.IMP
‘Don’t say any word to your father.’
8.4.2.3. Negative adjectives
Besides the prolific negative adjective heç, there are two kinds of negative adjectives: (i)
negative adjectives with derivational negative affixes; (ii) inherently negative adjectives.
Negative adjectives construct a constituent negation of the adjective in a noun phrase or in non-
verbal clauses; i.e. the semantic features of the adjective are negated.
As noted in 5.2.3.2.1., there is one Turkic negative suffix -sIz ‘-less’ and four Persian
negative prefixes, bi- ‘-less’, bəd- ‘un-’, na- ‘un-, non-’, qeyri- ‘un-, non-’ in Azerbaijani. -sIz,
bi-, and bəd- derive negative adjectives from nouns; na- and qeyri- are added to adjectives to
create contradictory adjectives. -sIz is most productive and bəd- least productive, and the use of
the Persian prefixes is rather restricted to certain established items.
Some of inherently negative adjectives are qəmgin ‘sad’, pis ‘bad’, murdar ‘dirty’, çirkin
‘ugly’.
(59) a. pul-suz adam

money-less man
‘a man without money, a poor man’
b. Bərk na-xoş-am.
badly un-well-be.1S.PR
‘I am badly unwell/ill.’
c. Daha da çirkin və kifir ol-di.

more also ugly and unattractive become-3S.PA
‘She became further more ugly and unattractive.’
8.4.2.4. Negative adverbs
There are a few negative adverbs closely related to negative clauses, where they reinforce the
negative feature of the negation. Basic negative adverbs are heç, əsla, and qətiyyən, all meaning
‘never, at all’. Again heç creates some compound negative adverbs in combination with words
or the accusative case suffix: heç (bir) vaxt/zaman, heç yox, heçdən ‘never, at all’. These
negative adverbs appear mostly in negative sentences. Here are some examples:
(60) a. Đnəy-in ət-i-ndən heç ye-mə-di.

cow-GEN meat-3S.PO-ABL never eat-NEG-3S.PA
‘She didn’t eat the meat of the cow at all.’
b. Belə hadisə bugün-lər əsla vaqe ol-maz.

such event today-PL never happen-NEG.3S.AOR
‘Such an event would never happen in these days.’
c. Heç vaxt belə şey-ə razı ol-max ol-maz.

never such thing-DAT pleased become-INF become-NEG.3S.AOR
‘It’s impossible ever to be pleased with such a thing.’
8.4.2.5. Negative/denial particles
There are three negative/denial particles which are used in response to questions, requests or
assertions: (a) yox, of Turkic origin, is the regular denial particle used in informal, friendly
situations; (b) xeyr, of Arabic origin, is used in formal situation; (c) heç, of Persian origin, is
used when the negation is emphasized, but its use is less frequent than the other two. Here are
some examples:
(61) a. "Bu kəşo-da zəhər var-di

this drawer-LOC poison existent-be.3S.PR
məbada o-na əl vur-asan."

lest 3S-DAT hand touch-2S.OPT
‘There is poison in this drawer, you should never touch it.’
"Yox, baba, mən-im o-nunan nə iş-im var?"

no sir 1S-GEN 3S-COM what business-1S.PO existent
‘No, sir, what does it have to do with me?’
b. Q: Gəz-mək istə-yir-sən? → A: Xeyr!

walk-INF want-PR-2S ‘No!’
‘Do you want to take a walk?’
c. Heç, elə bir şey yox-di.

no such.as.this a thing non.existent-be.3S.PR
‘No, there isn’t such a thing as this.’
8.4.3. The scope of negation
In Azerbaijani, like other languages, the asserted information in a clause generally falls under
the scope of negation, whereas presupposed/ backgrounded information such as definite
subjects usually does not.
There sometimes occurs a need to narrow down or limit the scope of negation on practical
purposes. There are two kinds of devices to control the scope of negation: (a) the use of particle
yox ‘no, not’, dA ‘too, also’ or nə ‘no’ to negate noun phrases; (b) the use of optional adverbials
which attract the scope of negation to themselves.
(a) NP negations with particles
As noted in 7.11. "coordination of noun phrases", two types of NP coordination are related to
negation: Presection (7.11.2.) and Rejection (7.11.4.). The common factor in these types is the
use of particles: yox and nə appear with affirmative clauses, but da with the standard sentential
negation.
Presection is used for a focused negation contrasting the conjuncts and focusing on the
positive conjunct. Here are some examples of presection:
(62) a. O yox, sen gəl!

he not you come.2S.IMP
‘Not he, but you come!’
b. Ona dağ hava-sı yox, dərya hava-sı xeyirli-dir.

to.him mountain air-3S.PO not sea air-3S.PO useful-be.3S.PR
‘For him the sea air is useful, not the mountain air.’
The example (a.) above is a clear illustration showing the scope of negation; the addressee ‘you’
is focused by presecting ‘he’ in contrast. In the above example (b.), the fact that certain kind of
air is useful is not denied, but the fact that the sea air rather than the mountain air is useful is
emphasized.
Rejection negates all the conjuncts, thus establishing the scope of negation as including all the
specified conjuncts. For examples, see 7.11.4.
(b) Adverbials in sentential negation
Among the adverbials which attract the scope of negation to themselves in the sentences are
found several semantic roles: locative, source, purpose, time, etc. These adverbials appear in
standard sentential negation. In fact, these adverbials tend to narrow down the scope of
assertion to themselves, first in the affirmative sentences. The following examples illustrate the
use of adverbials:
(63) a. Siz-in ev-də ayri bir qız yox-di?

2P-GEN house-LOC other a girl non.existent-be.3S.PR
‘Isn’t there any other girl in your house?’
b. Sən-dən heç zad istə-m-ir-əm.

2S-ABL not.any thing want-NEG-PR-1S
‘I don’t want anything from you.’
c. Tə’rif üçün söz tap-a bil-m-ir-əm.

praise for word find-be.able-NEG-PR-1S
‘I can’t find right words to praise (him enough).’
In the above example (a.), the enquirer limits the scope of negation or his question within the
house of the addressees with the use of a locative adverb phrase. The example (b.) employs an
oblique noun phrase which negatively sets the scope of the speaker’s source. The example (c.)
employs a postpositional phrase of purpose, which limits the purpose of his failing endeavour to
find right words.
178 9. Voice and transitivity
Chapter 9
Voice and transitivity
In Azerbaijani, there are five morphologically distinctive voices: besides the unmarked active,
there are four marked voices (cf. 4.3.4.): causative-transitive, passive, reciprocal, and reflexive.
Although the voice system in Azerbaijani is marked primarily by verbal suffixes, there
additionally are a small number of lexical items or periphrastic constructions available at the
disposal of voice operations.
This chapter first explains the functional dimensions of voice, then describes the syntax of de-
transitive clauses which include the passive voice and other de-transitive constructions,
followed by a description of the transitivization strategies, including the causative constructions,
and finally of the reciprocal and reflexive constructions.
9.1. Functional dimensions of voice
The voice system in Azerbaijani, as in other languages, may be explained as operating on two
semantic and functional features: transitivity and relative topicality.
9.1.1. Transitivity
The voice system can be explained in terms of the semantic transitivity phenomenon.
Linguists argue that events in the real world can be expressed as the prototypical transitive
clause and that this transitivity prototype is found universal cross-linguistically.89 DeLancey
(1987:60) notes,
I think it can be shown that the natural basis for the transitivity prototype is the universal
human understanding of the physical fact that events have causes, i.e. that the basis of the
transitivity prototype is a simple CAUSE –––> EFFECT schema which owes its universality
to its universal utility in dealing with the real world.
In the prototypical transitive clause there are three semantic parameters, two participants and
an event, with their typical or salient features:
(a) Agent: A volitional and controlling participant, ranking high on the animacy hierarchy,
that typically takes the grammatical role of subject.
(b) Patient: A definite, referential, and non-volitional and totally affected participant, that
typically takes the grammatical role of direct object.
(c) Verb: Typically punctual, perfective, realis verb and tense-aspect-modality, and
affirmative in polarity.
Various constructions with different voice operations involve changes in these parameters. For
example, in the typical passive clause, the patient gets promoted to the grammatical role of
subject, while the agent gets demoted from the subject role to an oblique phrase or left
89As for the transitivity prototype, I take the theoretical position of DeLancey (1987).
unexpressed. At the same time the transitive verb changes to an intransitive-passive verb which
is formed by taking a passive suffix, as in:
(1) a. Active-transitive clause:

Məhbub kitab-ı al-dı.
Mahbub book-ACC buy-3S.PA
‘Mahbub bought the book.’
b. Passive clause:
Kitab Məhbub tərəfindən al-ın-dı.
book Mahbub by buy-PASS-3S.PA
‘The book was bought by Mahbub.’
Conversely, a transitive verb can be further transitivized increasing the number of arguments.
Take an example from the following causativized clause: A new participant-agent, Nəsib, is
introduced, and now the subject of the underlying clause, Məhbub, marked with the dative
suffix, takes dual semantic roles: the agent in the underlying clause and the patient to the newly
introduced agent in the causativized clause. Then the verb is made causative by taking a
causative suffix:
(2) Causativized clause:

Nəsib Məhbub-a kitab-ı al-dır-dı.
Nasib Mahbub-DAT book-ACC buy-CAUS-3S.PA
‘Nasib made Mahbub buy the book.’
The reciprocal and reflexive voices, being semantically motivated, can be likewise explained
in terms of changes in the three transitivity parameters, as described in 9.4. and 9.5.
Transitivity is a matter of gradual continuum between passive and causative, and the transitivity
of the clause can be changed in several ways depending on the semantic characteristics of the
verb. Morphologically, there seem to be different types of transitivity-changing processes
among different types of verbs. Let’s look at an example with a typical intransitive verb öl-
‘die’: this can be transitivized by adding a causative-transitive suffix -dIr, thus öl-dür- ‘kill’;
this may be further made causative to öl-dür-t-(dür-) ‘make kill’ or passivized to öl-dür-ül- ‘be
killed’. The transitivity change schema in intransitive verbs may be expressed in the following
rule, with some examples:
(3) Transitivity change schema in intransitive verbs:
Simple (intr.) Verb → ┌CAUS-TR1 → ┌CAUS-TR2 → (CAUS-TR3)

│ └PASS
│RCPR → CAUS-TR1 → PASS
└RFLX → CAUS-TR1 → PASS
öl- ‘die’ V-
öl-dür- ‘kill, cause to die’ V-CAUS
öl-dür-t- ‘make kill’ V-CAUS1-CAUS2
öl-dür-ül- ‘be killed’ V-CAUS-PASS
gül- ‘laugh’ V-
gül-üş- ‘laugh together’ V-RCPR
gül-üş-dür- ‘make laugh together’ V-RCPR-CAUS

gül-üş-dür-ül- ‘be made to laugh together’ V-RCPR-CAUS-PASS
gey- ‘wear’ V-
gey-in- ‘wear oneself’ V-RFLX
gey-in-dir- ‘make wear oneself’ V-RFLX-CAUS
gey-in-dir-il- ‘be made wear oneself’ V-RFLX-CAUS-PASS
Transitive verbs show slightly different types of transitivity-changing processes. For example,
oxu- ‘read’ may be either passivized directly to oxu-n- ‘be read’ or further made causative to
oxu-t-(dur-) ‘make read’. The transitivity change schema in transitive verbs may be expressed
in the following rule, with some examples:
(4) Transitivity change schema in transitive verbs:
Simple (tr.) Verb → ┌CAUS-TR1 → (CAUS-TR2) → PASS

│PASS
└RCPR → CAUS → PASS
oxu- ‘read’ V-
oxu-t- ‘make read’ V-CAUS
oxu-t-ul- ‘be made to read’ V-CAUS-PASS
gör- ‘see’ V-
gör-ün- ‘be seen’ V-PASS
gör-üş- ‘see each other’ V-RCPR
gör-üş-dür- ‘make see each other’ V-RCPR-CAUS
gör-üş-dür-ül- ‘be made to see each other’ V-RCPR-CAUS-PASS
It may be notable that the reciprocal and reflexive suffixes do not occur at the same time in any
verb.
9.1.2. Relative topicality
Voice operations, more precisely the passive operations, are pragmatically motivated. At the
core of the pragmatic operations is the relative topicality of the agent and patient, i.e. the
semantic role which is considered more important in the clause occupies the grammatical
subject or topic, and this topicalization requires corresponding syntactic restructuring.
In the typical unmarked active-transitive clause, the agent is the subject and topic. In its
corresponding passive clause, the patient is promoted from the direct object to the subject and is
topicalized. The choice of the agent-topicalized active clause or the patient-topicalized passive
clause is decided by pragmatic considerations of the speaker. This parameter of relative
topicality mainly relates to the active-passive contrast or de-transitivization.
9.2. The syntax of de-transitive clauses
9.2.1. The passive voice and agent suppression
A canonical passive clause is contructed with the following steps: (a) the patient is promoted
to the grammatical subject dropping the accusative suffix, (b) the agent is demoted from
subjecthood to an oblique phrase or often left unexpressed, (c) one of the passive suffixes -Il, -
(I)n is added to the verb, as was shown in the example (1) above. Here is another example:
(5) a. Active-transitive clause:

Eldar bu məqalə-ni yaz-dı.
Eldar this article-ACC write-3S.PA
‘Eldar wrote this article.’
b. Passive clause:
Bu məqalə Eldar tərəfindən yaz-ıl-dı.
this article Eldar by write-PASS-3S.PA
‘This article was written by Eldar.’
In the example above, the patient bu məqalə is promoted to the subject position dropping the
accusative suffix -ni. The agent Eldar is demoted from the clause-initial subject position to the
pre-verbal position and presented as an oblique phrase Eldar tərəfindən. The verb takes the
passive suffix -ıl.
The demoted agent is mostly presented as an oblique phrase with tərəfindən ‘by, from the
direction of’.
Compound verbs with the auxiliary verb ol- ‘become’ call for some care. These verbs
generally present intransitive counterparts to transitive verbs compounded with the auxiliary
verb et- ‘do’. For example, məhkum et- ‘sentence’ vs. məhkum ol- ‘be sentenced’; təşkil et-
‘organize’ vs. təşkil ol- ‘be organized’. Semantically, clauses with ol- compound verbs often
express a stative-passive sense. But, when the agent of the event is clearly implied, the auxiliary
verb ol- takes the passive suffix, thus olun-. The following are examples:
(6) a. Active-transitive compound verb with auxiliary et-:

Hökmdar cani-ni məhkum et-di.
ruler criminal-ACC sentence-3S.PA
‘The ruler sentenced the criminal.’
b. Stative-passive compound verb with auxiliary ol-:

Cani məhkum ol-di.
criminal be.sentenced-3S.PA
‘The criminal got condemned.’
c. Passive compound verb with passivized auxiliary olun-:

Cani (hökmdar tərəfindən) məhkum ol-un-di.
criminal ruler by be.sentenced-PASS-3S.PA
‘The criminal was sentenced (by the ruler).’
The demoted agent can be either expressed with the tərəfindən phrase or left unexpressed,
though in natural text it is seldom overtly expressed. It is due to some pragmatic reasons that the
referent of the agent can be identified from the context and there is no practical reason to
mention the demoted agent in the passivized clause. Thus, the primary motive for the
suppression of agent occurs when the patient is strongly focused.90
Another motive for suppressing the agent may be politeness. Dik notes (1989:214), "There
may be politeness conventions which prevent a direct address of the Addressee, and lead to
preferred passive expression of imperatives." Here is an Azerbaijani example:
(7) Burada papiros çək-il-məz.

here cigarette smoke-PASS-3S.AOR.NEG
‘No smoking here please.’
Another motive for the suppression of agent may be when the agent is general/non-referential.
Longacre notes (1976:90), "Passives often are not successful if they specify the agent (with a by
phrase). Passives are more successful with a general referent, i.e., when the agent, stated or
unstated, is a group, or when the entire clause is gnomic, i.e., general or proverbial in its thrust."
(One may term this construction as "impersonal passive"). Here are some examples:
(8) a. Agent suppression with general agent:

Farsi əlifba-si sağ-dan sol-a yaz-ıl-ar.
Persian alphabet-3S.PO right-ABL left-DAT write-PASS-3S.AOR
‘The Persian alphabet is written from right to left.’
b. Agent suppression in proverbial clause:

Qızarmiş göz-ə tünd çay xəkə-si qoy-ul-ar.
reddened eye-DAT dark tea fragment-3S.PO put-PASS-3S.AOR
‘Dark tea fragments are put on the reddened eye.’
It may be noted that Azerbaijani proverbial clauses, having a non-referential agent, mostly
have the agent suppressed and the verb in the active aorist form. As a matter of fact, the verb in
this construction is characterized as irrealis. This may be termed the "proverbial schema". Some
examples:
(9) Proverbial schema with agent suppression:

a. Qonağ-ın at-ı-na qulluq ed-ər-lər.
guest-GEN horse-3S.PO-DAT service do[tr.]-AOR-3P
‘People would take care of a guest’s horses.’
b. Oğlan uşağ-ı-nı qorxaq böyüt-məz-lər.

boy child-3S.PO-ACC coward raise[tr.]-AOR.NEG-3P
‘They wouldn’t raise a boy as a coward.’
In Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages, there is another type of agent suppression in an
impersonal construction (cf. 6.4.2.3.). This type of agent suppression occurs when the human
90Givón notes (1990:623), “If the perspective focuses on the patient-effect of the event, the agent-
cause is likely to be ignored.”
agent expresses his intention or decision in a cautious manner out of some pragmatic motives;
i.e. the speaker tries to lessen the level of personal responsibility for expressing the proposition.
Here the agent suppresses himself under the disguise of an impersonal proxy agent such as
meyl-im ‘my inclination’, can-ım ‘my soul’, ürəy-im ‘my heart’, xoş-um ‘my pleasure’ instead
of mən ‘I’. Though the overall construction is syntactically active, it is not canonically active
but semantically moves towards passive and is to be viewed as one way of de-transitivization.
This construction is employed often to decline proposals, or to express the speaker’s opinion
cautiously and politely. Here are some examples:
(10) Agent suppression with impersonal proxy agent:

a. Đçməy-ə meyl-im yox-di.
drinking-DAT inclination-1S.PO non.existent-3S.PR
‘I have no inclination to drink.’
lit. ‘My inclination for drinking doesn’t exist.’
b. Can-ım istə-m-ir.
soul-1S.PO want-NEG-3S.PR
‘I don’t want.’ lit. ‘My soul doesn’t want.’
c. Urmia dərya-sı-ndan xoş-um gəl-ir.
U. sea-3S.PO-ABL pleasure-1S.PO come-3S.PR
‘I like the Urmia sea.’ lit. ‘My pleasure comes from the U. sea.’
In the above example (b.), the verb is transitive. In such an impersonal construction, patient-
object is also suppressed.
9.2.2. The antipassive voice with patient suppression
The antipassive voice has the common function with the passive voice of de-transitivizing the
canonical transitive clause. However, it contrasts with the passive voice in that it suppresses (or
demotes) the patient in syntactically active clauses, while the passive suppresses the agent in
passivized clauses. The suppression of patient occurs also out of pragmatic motives, i.e. the
speaker doesn’t see the need to express the patient in its canonical position.
There are two syntactic means noted for patient suppression: (i) deletion, and (ii) object
incorporation.
The deletion of patient results in objectless clauses with transitive verbs or recipientless with
intransitive verbs. This strategy is employed when the object or recipient is generic or
predictable, as in:
(11) a. Ye-dilər, iç-di-lər, murad-ları-na yetiş-di-lər.

eat-3P.PA drink-PA-3P wish-3P.PO-DAT reach-PA-3P
‘They ate, drank and reached their wishes.’
b. Pəri küləfərəngi-dən çıx-ıb bax-dı.

Peri balcony-ABL go.out-CS look-3S.PA
‘Peri went out from the balcony and looked.’
The above example (a.) is taken from the closing sentence in a happy-ending folk story. Here
the objects of the transitive verbs ye- ‘eat’ and iç- ‘drink’, such predictable ones as ‘food, fruit’
to eat and ‘water, wine’ to drink, are not expressed for pragmatic reasons to close the story with
simple clarity. As a result, the clause is functionally intransitive. In the example (b.), the
intransitive bax- ‘look’, which in most cases appears with a patient oblique-object, doesn’t have
one, for the patient "young men" is predictable from the context.
The other means for patient suppression is object incorporation. As discussed in 6.5.1. "noun
incorporation", after incorporating the object transitive verbs generally change into intransitive
verbs. This strategy also is employed when the object or recipient is generic or predictable. Here
are examples with the object-incorporated verb iş gör- ‘work’:
(12) a. Olar şəhər-də iş-ləri-ni gör-dü-lər. (active-transitive)

they town-LOC work-3P.PO-ACC see-PA-3P
‘They did their business in the town.’
b. Olar şəhər-də iş gör-ür-lər. (antipassive)

they town-LOC work see-PR-3P
‘They work in the town.’
c. Olar şəhər-də iş gör-ən-lər-dirlər. (nominalized)

they town-LOC work see-NMLZ-PL-be.3P.PR
‘They are workers in the town.’
In the above example (a.), the object is yet not fully integrated into the verb, thus the verb
behaves as active-transitive. In (b.) and (c.) the object is fully incorporated and here the object iş
‘work’ is generic, non-referring and non-topical.
9.3. Transitivization
While transitive verbs are de-transitivized into intransitive or passive verbs as we saw in the
preceding sections, intransitive verbs can be transitivized and in the case of transitive verbs the
number of arguments can also be increased by further transitivization (or causativization).
Transitivization in Azerbaijani is made mostly by adding morphological causative-transitive
suffixes (as described in 4.3.4.1.) and in lesser degree by means of periphrastic constructions.
9.3.1. Transitivization of intransitive verbs
Clauses with intransitive verbs may be made transitive/causative where another argument
(agent or causer) is introduced, thus forming a transitive clause. The newly introduced agent
appears as grammatical subject and the patient (the subject of the underlying intransitive clause)
appears as direct object in the transitivized clause.
With the causative suffixes -dIr, -(I)t, and -art, the causative thrust of the verb is evident, as
the following typical examples show:
(13) a1. Đnək öl-di. (Intransitive)

cow die-3S.PA
‘The cow died.’
a2. Məhməd inəy-i öl-dür-di. (Transitive-causative)

Mehmed cow-ACC die-CAUS-3S.PA
‘Mehmed killed the cow.’ ‘M. caused the cow to die.’
b1. Su ax-ır-di. (Intransitive)

water flow-PROG-3S.PA
‘Water was flowing.’
b2. Məhməd su-yi ax-ıt-ır-di. (Transitive-causative)

Mehmed water-ACC flow-CAUS-PROG-3S.PA
‘Mehmed was causing the water to flow.’
With the causative-transitive suffix -Ir the causative thrust of the verb is less evident, for it is
hard to assume that the agent volitionally caused the event to take place, as the following
example shows:
(14) a. Açar it-di. (Intransitive)

key disappear-3S.PA
‘The key is missing.’
b. Açar-ı it-ir-dim. (Transitive)

key-ACC disappear-CAUS-1S.PA
‘I lost the key’ ‘I caused the key to disappear’(?)
There are two periphrastic causative constructions, using the compound verbs səbəb ol- and
bais ol- both meaning ‘be the cause (of)’ and collocating with the dative suffix -(y)A in the
nominalized genitive phrase which includes the patient as the possessor head noun, as in:
(15) a. Underlying intransitive clause:

Đnək öl-di.
cow die-3S.PA
‘The cow died.’
b1. Periphrastic causative clauses:

Đnəy-in ölməy-i-nə Məhməd səbəb ol-muş-di.
cow-GEN death-3S.PO-DAT Mehmed cause be-PF-3S.PA
‘Mehmed had caused the cow to die.’
b2. Đnəy-in ölməy-i-nə bais Məhməd ol-muş-di.

cow-GEN death-3S.PO-DAT cause Mehmed be-PF-3S.PA
The position of the agent is to be noted. It is immediately before the verb səbəb ol-; but with the
verb bais ol- it is between bais and ol-. These periphrastic causative constructions contrast with
morphological causative constructions as shown in the example (13.a2.) above. As Comrie
points out (1985:333), "the degree of closeness between the cause and the effect (the death of
the cow)" is less direct in the periphrastic causative constructions, while it is more direct in the
morphological causative construction.
9.3.2. Causativization of transitive verbs
The number of arguments is increased in the causativization of transitive verbs, by adding a

new causer-agent. This new agent functions as the causer for the event of the underlying
proposition and appears as grammatical subject, while the agent of the underlying proposition is
demoted to patient in reference to the new agent and appears as an indirect (or oblique) object
in the dative. Now the original agent has double roles: (i) patient to the new agent and (ii) agent
to the underlying proposition. Here are some examples:
(16) a1. Bu kitab-i oxu-dum.

this book-ACC read-1S.PA
‘I read this book.’
a2. Ata-m bu kitab-i mən-ə oxu-t-di.

father-1S.PO this book-ACC 1S.DAT read-CAUS-3S.PA
‘My father made me read this book.’
b1. Məhməd inəy-i öl-dür-di. (from the example (13.a2)

Mehmed cow-ACC die-CAUS-3S.PA
‘Mehmed killed the cow.’
b2. Qasım Məhməd-ə inəy-i öl-dür-t-di.

Qasım Mehmed-DAT cow-ACC die-CAUS-CAUS-3S.PA
‘Qasım made Mehmed kill the cow.’
In the above examples, new agents are introduced, i.e. atam ‘my father’ in (a2.) and Qasım in
(b2.). They are causers for the events and appear as grammatical subjects, while the agent of
underlying propositions, i.e. ‘I’ in (a1.) and Məhməd in (b1.), are demoted with the dative
suffix. Verbs may be doubly causativized, as evidenced in (b2.).
The periphrastic causative constructions which were used in the transtivization of intransitive
clauses are also available in the causativization of transitive clauses, as in:
(17) Periphrastic causativization of transitive clause:

Məhməd-in inəy-i öldürməy-i-nə Həsən səbəb ol-muş-di.
M.-GEN cow-ACC killing-3S.PO-DAT Hasan cause be-PF-3S.PA
‘Hasan had caused Mehmed to kill the cow.’
9.3.3. Subject-patient suppression in causative clauses
As noted in 9.2.2. that the patient is suppressed in the antipassive voice out of pragmatic
motives, the subject-patient in causative clauses may also be suppressed in two ways: (a)
deletion of patient, (b) object incorporation.
9.3.3.1. Deletion of subject-patient
The subject of the underlying transitive clause and patient of the causative clause may be
deleted or suppressed in the corresponding causative construction91 in most cases, when the
subject is non-referential or not highlighted. This may be due to a pragmatic motive not to
highlight two agents in a sentence. Here is an example:
(18) a. Patient deletion in transitive causativation:

Şah dedi, "Oğlan, əgər məni toxtad-a bil-mə-sə-n
king said boy if 1S.ACC heal-be.able-NEG-COND-2S
boyn-un-i vur-dur-acağ-am."
neck-2S.PO-ACC strike-CAUS-FUT-1S
‘The king said, "Boy, if you are unable to heal me, I will have
(someone, say ‘an executioner’) cut your neck."’
b. Underlying transitive proposition for a.:

(Cəllad) boyn-un-i vur-acax.
executioner neck-2S.PO-ACC strike-3S.FUT
‘(An executioner) will cut your neck.’
In the above example, the king feels it is not necessary to mention the executioner, the subject
of the underlying transitive proposition, to the addressee, thus it is omitted.
On the other hand, the subject of an underlying intransitive clause is in most cases made
expressed in the corresponding causative construction. For it seems that in this type of
causativized clause all three semantic parameters (i.e. agent, patient and verb) are salient and it
will be awkward to omit any of them. For example, if the subject inək ‘cow’ of the intransitive
clause from the example (13.a1.) is missing in the causativized clause (13.a2.) like Məhməd öl-
dür-di ‘Mehmed killed’, the addressee would immediately ask Məhməd kimi öldürdi? ‘Whom
did Mehmed kill?’, unless the referent of the patient can not be clearly identified in the
anaphoric context.
9.3.3.2. Object incorporation
The object is often incorporated to the verb in causative clauses, when the object is non-
referential. After the incorporation, verbs becomes intransitive, in accordance with the noun
incorporation rules as described in 6.5.1. Here are some examples:
(19) a. Padşah-ın oğl-i adam sal-dır-ıb

king-GEN son-3S.PO man drop-CAUS-CS
çay-i axtar-t-di.
brook-ACC search-CAUS-3S.PA
‘The king’s son made people go down and search the brook.’
91This feature is described in Knecht (1986:97f.) and Aissen and Hankamer (1980:242ff.) as the
“missing subject phenomenon” in Turkish.
b. Məməd o tərəf-ə bu tərəf-ə göz gəz-dir-di.

M. that side-DAT this side-DAT eye inspect-CAUS-3S.PA
‘Memed inspected to this side and that side.’
c. Padşah-ın böyük oğl-i da at çap-dır-di.
king-GEN big son-3S.PO also horse gallop-CAUS-3S.PA
‘The king’s first son also did some horse riding.’
The non-referential objects in the above examples do not take the accusative case suffix in their
immediate pre-verbal position and the verbs are intransitive. 92 Thus, the non-highlighted
objects are suppressed in order to render topicality to other elements of the clause.
9.3.4. Production of ditransitive verbs
A number of ditransitive verbs are produced by means of causativization from both

intransitive and transitive verbs. For example,
(20) a. min-dir- ‘make ride’ (from intr.)

gey(in)-dir- ‘make dress up’
anla-t- ‘make understand’
vur-dur- ‘make strike’.
b1. Underlying proposition for b2.:

Fatma başmağ-i gey-in-di.
Fatma shoes-ACC wear-RFLX-3S.PA
SUBJ DO V
‘Fatma put on the shoes.’
b2. Ditransitive causative clause:

Qari başmağ-i Fatma-ya gey-in-dir-di.
old.woman shoes-ACC Fatma-DAT wear-RFLX-CAUS-3S.PA
SUBJ DO IO(PAT) V
‘The old woman helped Fatma to put on the shoes.’
c1. Underlying proposition for c2.:

Maşın-a min-dim.
car-DAT ride-1S.PA
IO(LOC) V
‘I got in the car.’
c2. Ditransitive causative clause:

Ata mən-i maşın-a min-dir-di.
father I-ACC car-DAT ride-CAUS-3S.PA
SUBJ DO IO(LOC) V
‘Father made me get in the car.’
92Knecht (1986:99).
9.4. Reciprocal constructions
9.4.1. Light and heavy reciprocal markings
The reciprocal voice is semantically motivated. It primarily applies to transitive clauses with
direct objects. The reciprocal construction is characterized by two or three features: (i) Two (or
more) participants act upon one another reciprocally. As the reciprocal clause does not have any
other direct object, the verb is semantically de-transitivized. (ii) There are two types of
reciprocal markings: light and heavy. The light reciprocal marking is realized morphologically
by adding the reciprocal suffix -(I)ş to the verb. The resultant reciprocal verbs are intransitive
without taking the direct object. The heavy reciprocal marking is realized by the use of
reciprocal pronouns (5.1.3.) in the slot of direct or oblique object. Here are some examples:
(21) a. Light reciprocal marking:

a1. Ağ qoç-unan qara qoç bərk döy-üş-ür-di.
white ram-with black ram heavily hit-RCPR-PROG-3S.PA
‘A white ram and a black ram were fighting fiercely.’
a2. On il-dir ki, Məhməd inən gör-üş-mə-miş-əm.

ten year-be.3S.PR that M. with see-RCPR-NEG-PF-1S
‘It’s been ten years since I saw Mehmed.’
b. Heavy reciprocal marking:

Hər iki-si bir-biri-nə bax-ıb hırılda-di.
each two-3S.PO one.another-DAT look-CS snarl-3S.PA
‘Both looked at each other and snarled.’
In clauses with the light marking, the two or more agents in the subject noun phrase are
conjoined, mostly with the conjunction inən ‘with, and’ as in the above example (a1.) ağ goç-
unan qara qoç ‘a white ram and a black ram’ (here inən is cliticized.) Reciprocal verbs often
take an oblique phrase with inən (as the comitative suffix), as in (a2.) above Məhməd inən ‘with
Mehmed’, where the subject attracts more importance among the two agents.
There are some differences of semantic effect between the two types of marking. First, the
light marking strongly indicates simultaneity, while the heavy marking suggests less strong
simultaneity or is rather temporally indifferent. Second, the light marking strongly indicates
some sort of social interaction attached to the reciprocal action; while the heavy marking
generally indicates the action itself and if the action is related to another action the other action
needs to be added, as exemplified by hırıldadi ‘snarled’ in the example (b.) above.
Because the light marking indicates some sort of social interaction, some reciprocal verbs
have developed idiomatic meanings, though it is still visible that they are semantically related to
reciprocal, as the examples below:
(22) qız- ‘get hot’ → qız-iş- ‘get warm, strengthen’

gör- ‘see’ → gör-üş- ‘meet, see each other’
yap- ‘stick’ → yap-iş- ‘stick, grab’
Some reciprocal verbs, such as güləş- ‘wrestle’, bariş- ‘reconcile’, do not have corresponding
simple verbs (though there may have been such simple verbs on the path of historical
development of Azerbaijani in the past), as in:
(23) a. Məməd dev inən güləş-məyə başla-di.

Memed giant with wrestle.RCPR-PURP start-3S.PA
‘Memed started to wrestle with the giant.’
b. Qız-ın və kürəkən inən bariş-asan.

daughter-2S.PO and son-in-law with reconcile.RCPR-2S.OPT
‘I hope you can be reconciled with your daughter and son-in-law.’
Sometimes the reciprocal form takes simply an intransitive sense, or rather a passive sense, as
in gör-üş- ‘show’. It has neither "reciprocal" nor "collective" sense, as the following examples
illustrate:
(24) a. Uzax bir məsafə-dən bir çırax işığ-i

far a distance-ABL a lamp light-3S.PO
görüş-ür-di.
show-PROG-3S.PA
‘A long distance away, a lamplight was shining.’
b. Gör-di ki, yer qəlbir kimi görüş-ür.

see-3S.PA that earth sieve like show-3S.PR
‘He saw that the earth showed like a sieve.’
9.4.2. Collective actions
A limited number of intransitive verbs also are made morphologically reciprocal. The
resultant verbs are still intransitive but they take a sense of collective action rather than of
reciprocal action. Collective verbs typically indicate "group actions" taken by more than two
agents. Though the senses are slightly different, reciprocal and collective verbs share some
common features, e.g. multiple subjects are involved. These collective verbs do not necessarily
have a sense of direction in themselves and the sense of direction is often added with the help of
adverbial phrases. Here are examples:
(25) a. Yüzlərcə uşaq-lar meydan-da qaç-iş-ıb oyna-ş-ır.

hundreds child-PL square-LOC run-RCPR-CS play-RCPR-3S.PR
‘Hundreds of children are all running and playing around in the square.’
b. Aşıq-lar oxu-ş-ur-lar.
minstrel-PL sing-RCPR-PR-3P
‘The minstrels are singing together.’
c. Quş-lar dağ-lar-a sarı uç-üş-ür-di.

bird-PL mountain-PL-DAT toward fly-RCPR-PROG-3S.PA
‘Birds were flying toward the mountains.’
In the above example (a.), the children do not necessarily run toward a common goal but run
and play freely at each one’s will. In (c.) above, the birds fly toward a common direction which
is expressed by the postpositional phrase dağlara sarı ‘toward the mountains’.
The sense of collective action can be expressed without morphological reciprocal-collective
marking, when multiple agents are overtly expressed in the subject noun phrase and the action
is naturally collective, as in:
(26) Bir gün usta inən şagird-i dükan-da otur-muş-di.

a day master and disciple-3S.PO shop-LOC sit-PF-3S.PA
‘One day the master and his disciple sat down in the shop.’
9.5. Reflexive constructions
9.5.1. Light and heavy reflexive markings
The reflexive-middle voice is, like the reciprocal voice, semantically motivated. In
Azerbaijani, the reflexive and passive voices share basically the same marking system. The
reflexive construction is characterized by two features: (i) There is one participant (or a group
of participants behaving as a unit) who acts on or for himself/herself/themselves, i.e. the
participant serves both as the agent and the patient/recipient of the action, thus the verb is
semantically de-transitivized. (ii) There are two types of reflexive markings: light and heavy.
The light refexive marking is realized morphologically by adding the reflexive suffix -(y)(I)n or
-Il to the verb. The resultant reflexive verbs tend to be intransitive, but some are still transitive,
e.g. gey-in- ‘dress oneself’. The heavy relfexive marking is realized by the use of reflexive
pronouns (5.1.2.) in the slot of direct or oblique object, often in reduplicated forms, like öz(i)
özünə ‘spontaneously, by oneself’. If the reflexive pronouns occur with verbs which take the
light marker, they intensify the reflexive meaning of the clause. Here are some examples:
(27) a. Light reflexive marking:

a1. Dava libas-ı-ni gey-in-di.
combat clothes-3S.PO-ACC wear-RFLX-3S.PA
‘He dressed himself in the combat fatigues.’
a2. Qız-lar quyu-nun baş-ı-nda yu-yun-dular.

girl-PL well-GEN head-3S.PO-LOC wash-RFLX-3P.PA
‘Girls washed themselves by the side of the well.’
b. Heavy reflexive marking:

b1. Öz–özü-nə oxu-yur.
own-himself-DAT sing-3S.PR
‘He sings to himself.’
b2. Gözəl qız-i özü-nə götür-əcək.

beautiful girl-ACC himself-DAT take-3S.FUT
‘He will take the beautiful girl for himself.’
Most intrinsically reflexive-middle events, such as those involving strong emotional or

cognitive faculties of the speaker, are iconically marked by the reflexive-middle suffix (or the
light marking) in Azerbaijani, but some such verbs are not marked, like qorx- below:
(28) deyin- ‘grumble’

mırılda-n- ‘grumble’
dilə-n- ‘beg’
döy-ün- ‘grieve, beat oneself (with pain, sadness, or joy)’
düş-ün- ‘think’
heyfsilən- ‘regret’
inan- ‘believe’
sev-in- ‘rejoice’
qorx- ‘fear’
Most reflexive-middle verbs have corresponding simple verbs, but some do not, like deyin-,
heyfsilən- and inan- in the above example, i.e. dey-, heyfsilə-, ina- are not found in today’s
speech.
Most of the verbs with the heavy reflexive marking have developed idiomatic meanings,
though still semantically related to the reflexive, as the examples below:
(29) gözlə- ‘wait’ → özünü gözlə- ‘protect oneself’

topla- ‘gather’ → özünü topla- ‘muster one’s strength’
çıx- ‘go out’ → özünə çıx- ‘appropriate to oneself’
gətir- ‘bring’ → özünə gətir- ‘resuscitate’
Reflexive verbs with the light marking also have often developed idiomatic meanings, though
it is still possible to trace a semantic relation with corresponding simple verbs, as the examples
below:
(30) çək- ‘pull’ → çək-in- ‘feel shy’

keç- ‘pass’ → keç-in- ‘get along’
qaç- ‘flee’ → qaç-ın- ‘avoid’
All the reflexive-middle verbs with the reflexive suffix -il may be categorized as having
developed idiomatic meanings, as the examples below:
(31) aç- ‘open’ → aç-ıl- ‘(flower) come out’

çək- ‘pull‘ → çək-il- ‘withdraw’
vur- ‘hit’ → vur-ul- ‘fall in love’
at- ‘throw’ → at-ıl- ‘leap’
9.5.2. Reflexive and reciprocal verbs
It seems there is a common semantic quality that is shared by the reflexive-middle voice and
the reciprocal voice, and further there seems to be a kind of close semantic relationship between
the two voices, as evidenced in:
(32) Reflexive vs. Reciprocal

düşün- ‘think’ fikirləş- ‘think’
örgən- ‘learn’ örgəş- ‘learn’
öyrən- ‘learn’ öyrəş- ‘learn’
194 10. Complement clauses
Chapter 10
Complement clauses
Complement clauses are a type of subordinate clause embedded in complex sentences. These
complement clauses can fulfil the role of the object or, less frequently, the subject argument of
the main verb or of a non-verbal predicate. Most of this chapter deals with complement clauses
as sentential objects (sections 10.1. through 10.6.), and 10.8. deals with complement clauses as
sentential subjects. 10.7. deals with question complements.
10.1. Types of complement clause
Azerbaijani complement clauses may be classified in two manners: according to (a) the
syntactic construction of the complement clause, and (b) the semantic characteristics of the
complement-taking verbs or predicates. There are varying degrees of constraints on the tense-
aspect-modality systems and other verbal inflections according to the syntactic and semantic
types of the complement.
10.1.1. Syntactic complement types
The structure of complement clauses in Iranian Azerbaijani is characterized by the use of two
major syntactic types, (a) Pre-verbal/preposed complements and (b) Post-verbal/postposed
complements, and a minor type, viz. (c) Paratactic complements.
10.1.1.1. Pre-verbal complements
Pre-verbal complement clauses are those complement clauses which appear before the main
verb. This is the typical Altaic-Turkic pattern of complementation. This type uses the
nominalization strategy. Further, the nominalization strategy in Azerbaijani is realized in two
subtypes: (i) the "participial nominalizations" -dIX and -AcAX and (ii) the "action
nominalizations" -mA and -mAX (i.e. the infinitive) (see 3.2.2.1.1.a.). In pre-verbal
complements, the tense-aspect system is either completely lost, as in the case of the action
nominalizations, or is reduced to a binary distinction between non-future (-dIX) and future (-
AcAX). As for the modality distinction, the participial nominalization is broadly regarded as
realis; and the action nominalization as irrealis. The word-order of a nominalized complement
clause is the same as that of the corresponding simple clause. Here are some examples:
(Brackets [ ] indicate the scope of the complement clause.)
(1) Pre-verbal complement clauses:

a. Complement with participial nominalization:
Əhməd-in əl çək-mə-diy-i-ni gör-dülər.
[Ahmed-GEN hand draw-NEG-PTC-3S.PO-ACC] see-3P.PA
‘They saw that Ahmed did not give up.’
aa. Corresponding simple clause:

Əhməd əl çəkmədi. ‘Ahmed did not give up.’
b. Complement with action nominalization:

Məmləkət-in alim-lər-i inən görüş-mək ist-ir-əm.
[country-GEN scholar-PL-3S.PO with meet-INF] want-PR-1S
‘I want to meet with the scholars of the country.’
As obserable in the above examples, complement clauses in the pre-verbal nominalized
complement clauses syntactically take up the structure of possessive (or genitive) construction,
where the subject is marked with the genitive case suffix (see 7.6. "Possessive construction").
10.1.1.2. Post-verbal complements
Post-verbal complement clauses are those complement clauses which appear after the main
verb. This is an adoption of the Persian pattern of complementation. Complements in this type
are sentence-like with finite verbs and are introduced often by the subordinator (or
complementizer) ki ‘that’. Further, Azerbaijani post-verbal complement clauses may be divided
into two major subtypes: the "indicative" type and the "subjunctive" type.
The indicative type maintains the word-order and verbal inflections, such as the tense-aspect
system, of the declarative main clause, though there is still a certain degree of constraint in
complement clauses. One conspicuous aspect is that in the indicative complement only three
tense-aspect markers are allowed: (i) the future (for events to take place in subsequent to the
time of the main event), (ii) the present (for events taking place at the time of the main event),
and (iii) the perfect (for events temporally prior to the time of the main event), as explained in
8.1.6.
On the other hand, the subjunctive complements can take reduced verbal inflections, virtually
devoid of tense-aspect markers, i.e. they take mostly the subjunctive, though rarely the aorist
and the inferential may join. Among the two variants of subjunctives—the optative-subjunctive
(4.2.2.2.e) and the imperative-subjunctive (4.2.2.3.)—the optative-subjunctive is mainly used
for the second persons (-(y)AsAn, -(y)AsIz); on the other hand, the imperative-subjunctive is far
more frequently used for the third persons (-sIn, -sInlAr) and the first persons (-(y)Im, -(y)AX),
though the optative-subjunctive is still possible.
Here are some examples of post-verbal complement clauses.
(2) Post-verbal complement clauses:

a. Indicative complement:
a1. Gör-di ki, yavaş-yavaş isti azal-ır.
see-3S.PA [SUB slowly heat decrease-3S.PR]
‘He saw that slowly the heat was getting decreased.’
a2. Gör-di ki, Fatma ev-də otur-ub.

see-3S.PA [SUB F. house-LOC sit-3S.PF]
‘He saw that Fatma sat down in the house.’
a3. Kişi gör-di ki, qayğanax əl-dən ged-əcək.

man see-3S.PA [SUB scrambled.egg hand-ABL go-3S.FUT]
‘The man saw that he would lose the scrambled egg.’
b. Subjunctive complement:
b1. Əmr elə-di ki, keçəl-i şəhər-dən qov-sunlar.
order do-3S.PA [SUB bald.head-ACC town-ABL expel-3P.SJNCT]
‘He ordered them to expel the bald-headed man.’
b2. Ata, izn ver, dev-i öldür-üm.

father permission give-2S.IMP [giant-ACC kill-1S.SJNCT]
‘Father, give me permission to kill the giant.’
b3. Đstə-di ki, ağac-i çıxart-a.

want-3S.PA [SUB tree-ACC pull.out-3S.OPT]
‘He wanted to pull out the tree.’
There is a correspondence between the pre-verbal type and the post-verbal type. The post-
verbal indicative complement corresponds to the pre-verbal participial nominalization
complement, and the post-verbal subjunctive complement to the pre-verbal action
nominalization complement. Thus it will be possible to call the participial nominalization an
"indicative nominalized complement" and the action nominalization a "subjunctive nominalized
complement". On the basis of the binary modality distinctions between realis and irrealis, the
indicative complement is broadly regarded as realis and the subjunctive complement as irrealis.
Əliyev (1992) systematically explains the structural correspondence between the two
complement clause types.
As shown in the table (3) below, a statistical count shows that complement-taking
verbs/predicates in the corpus of texts generally prefer to take the post-verbal complement type.
But this generalization should be balanced by pointing the fact that some types of verbs prefer
to take the pre-verbal type, e.g. the aspectual verbs (10.3.) unilaterally take pre-verbal
complements.
(3) Frequency distribution of pre-verbal

and post-verbal complement clause types:
Verb type Pre-verbal Post-verbal
Num % Num %
Modality 16 40% 24 60%
Aspectual 26 100% 0 0%
Manipulative 4 12% 29 88%
Perception 8 15% 45 85%
Cognition 16 7% 23 93%
Utterance 2 41% 28 59%
Total 72 33% 149 67%
10.1.1.3. Paratactic complements
In addition to these two major syntactic complement types, the type of paratactic complement
may need to be mentioned here. In the corpus of texts, paratactic complements appear with two
semantic complement types, viz. manipulative verbs (10.4.) and verbs of perception and
cognition (10.5.).
Azerbaijani paratactic complements appear only in the post-verbal complement type.

Parataxis is signaled by the use of the past tense marker in the complement clause, which is
against the general rule, as noted above 10.1.1.2, that complement clauses take only three tense
markers: the present, the future, and the perfect. Pragmatically such parataxis is employed in the
peak of an episode in the discourse. The use of the subordinator ki ‘that’ is lost in most cases,
except for the perception verbs, such as gör- ‘see’. Here are some examples:
(4) a. Paratactic complement with a manipulative verb:

Padşah əmr elə-di, Məməd-ə qırx şəqqə ət
king order do-3S.PA [Memed-DAT 40 lump meat
hazır elə-dilər.
preparation do-3P.PA]
‘The king ordered and they prepared forty lumps of meat for M.’
b. Paratactic complement with a perception-cognition verb:

Birden gör-di ki, göy gurulda-di ildırım
suddenly see-3S.PA SUB [sky thunder-3S.PA lightning
çax-di, dag kimin bir dev gəl-di.

strike-3S.PA mountain like a giant come-3S.PA]
‘Suddenly he saw that the sky thundered, the lightning struck, and a
giant as big as a mountain came.’
Corresponding non-paratactic embedded forms of the above examples will be: (a) Padşah əmr
elədi, Məməd-ə ... elə-sinlər. ‘The king ordered them to prepare forty lumps of meat for M.’ (b)
Birden gördi ki, göy guruldayıb, ildırım çaxıb, ... gəlib. (Translation will be the same as above.)
As for the example (a), the paratactic clause seems more like an adverbial clause, in that it
functions as the result clause in response to the reason clause padşah əmr elədi ‘the king
ordered’.
10.1.2. Semantic complement types
Complement clause types may also be classified by the semantic characteristics of

complement-taking verbs/predicates. As noted in the chapter 6 "simple clauses", the syntactic
properties of clauses depend on the semantic frame of the verb (Givón 1990:517). That is, verb
type and complement type correspond to each other. However, the classes or types of
complement-taking verbs discussed here are meant to reflect their uses in complementation
rather than the full semantic properties of any given verb or set of verbs (Noonan 1985:110). So
one complement-taking verb can take more than one type of complement. For example, the verb
yalvar- ‘beg, plead’ has two uses; as an utterance verb, as in (a.) below, and as a manipulative
verb, as in (b.) below:
(5) a. Qız yalvar-dı ki, "Ay cavan, qaç!"

girl plead-3s.PA [SUB O young.man escape-2S.IMP]
‘The girl pleaded, "Oh young man, please escape!"
b. O-na yalvar-dı ki, gəl-sin.

he-DAT beg-3S.PA [SUB come-3S.SJNCT]
‘He begged him to come.’
We may classify Azerbaijani complement-taking verbs into five types: modality verbs,
aspectual verbs, manipulative verbs, verbs of perception and cognition, utterance verbs.
Semantic and syntactic properties of these types will be discussed in the following sections.
10.2. Modality verbs
Modality verbs code obligation, intent, desire or ability; the typical complement-taking
modality verb is istə- ‘want’ (see also 8.3.5.3.b. "desiderative"). In this type, when the subject of
the main clause is coreferential with the subject of the complement clause, the subject of the
complement is (equi-) deleted, i.e. deleted under identity. The modality verbs take subjunctive
complements, i.e. pre-verbal subjunctive nominalized complements or post-verbal subjunctive
ones, because the proposition of the complement clause is irrealis. The pre-verbal type and post-
verbal type are used equally in number. Here are some examples:
(6) a. Pre-verbal complement with modality verb:

Dəvə-ni sığalla-max istə-di.
[camel-ACC caress-INF] want-3S.PA
‘He wanted to caress the camel.’
b. Post-verbal complement with modality verb:

Đstə-di (ki,) at-ı-na su ver-sin.
want-3S.PA [SUB horse-3S.PO-DAT water give-3S.SJNCT]
‘He wanted to give water to his horse.’
As seen in the above (a.), the subjunctive nominalization here is a "bare" infinitive devoid of
any inflection.
When two or more verbs (or actions) are connected in the complement clause, there occur
varying degrees of ambiguity. The connection itself is formed by the use of the coordinative
suffix -Ib. In post-verbal complements there is no possibility of ambiguity, because the
sentence-like complement clause with all the verbs are extraposed to the end of the higher-level
sentence, as in the example (a.) below. However, the possibility of ambiguity arises in pre-
verbal complements. In order to minimize ambiguity, a device is sometimes used: when the two
verbs are closely connected, i.e. both belonging to the complement clause, a hyphen (-) is
iconically used in between, as deyib-gülmək in the example (b.) below. On the other hand, when
there is no such marking, an ambiguity is unavoidable. Here are some examples:
(7) a. Usta-sı istə-di ki, o parça-ni

master-3S.PO want-3S.PA [SUB that material-ACC
götür-üb biç-ə.
take-CS cut-3S.OPT]
‘The master wanted to take the material and cut it.’
b. Bu gecə biz dey-ib-gül-mək ist-irik.

this night [we say-CS-laugh-INF] want-1P.PR
‘Tonight we want to talk and laugh.’
c. Qalx-ıb o-ni döy-mək istə-di.

[get.up-CS [he-ACC beat-INF] want-3S.PA
‘He wanted to get up and beat him.’
or ‘He got up and wanted to beat him.’
The non-verbal predicates gərək ‘necessary’ and lazım ‘necessary’ are also used as
complement-taking modality predicates; however, complement clauses with these predicates fill
the role of sentential subject. This will be explained in 10.8. Other grammaticalized modal
suffixes, such as -malı/məli ‘must, be necessary’ and -(y)A bil- ‘can, be able to, may’, do not
take complements.
10.3. Aspectual verbs
Two aspectual verbs, the terminative qurtar- ‘finish’ and the inchoative başla- ‘begin’, take
pre-verbal complements. Both verbs appear in serial verb constructions that introduce
complements.
The terminative serial construction is: "Verb-(y)Ib+qurtar-", as explained in 8.2.2. The
complement here is neither subjunctive nor nominalized; i.e., the verb in the complement takes
the coordinative suffix, which incidentally is identical with the perfect suffix -(y)Ib. Thus here
we may conclude that the complement clause of the terminative aspectual verb is indicative and
realis in the modality distinction. This interpretation seems rather natural, because the finished
event or action is complete in a practical sense.
(8) Həsən bu boy-da qoşun-i qır-ıb qurtar-di

Hasan [this height-LOC army-ACC destroy-CS] finish-3S.PA
‘Hasan finished destroying the army as much as this height.’
The inchoative serial construction is: "-mAXA başla-", as explained in 8.2.6. The complement
here is "subjunctive nominalized complement" and irrealis in the modality distinction. The verb
in the complement takes the infinitive with the dative suffix, devoid of tense-aspect markers.
(9) Dev yer-i-nnən qalx-ıb yalvar-mağ-a başla-di.

giant [place-3S.PO-ABL rise-CS plead-INF-DAT] begin-3S.PA
‘The giant rose up from his place and began to plead.’
10.4. Manipulative verbs
Manipulative verbs take subjunctive complements of both the pre- and post-verbal types,
depending on the verb. The event in the complement clause is irrealis, because it is yet to be
carried out at the time of the main verb. Manipulative verbs code the semantic relation between
an agent/causer, a manipulee/causee, and the target event. The agent is coded as the subject of
the main clause, the manipulee as the object of the main clause and the subject of the
complement clause, and the target event is expressed with the verb in the complement. Though
the notion of manipulation is related to the causative construction, only lexical manipulative
verbs and manipulative perphrastic constructions are dealt with in this section, leaving the
morphological causative constructions as explained in 9.3.
Some typical manipulative verbs are: əmr ver-/et-/elə- ‘command, order’, icazə ver- ‘permit,
allow’, izn ver- ‘permit, allow’, qoy- ‘allow, let’, xahiş et-/elə- ‘beg, request’, yalvar- ‘beg’,
tapşır- ‘commission’. There are two periphrastic constructions: səbəb ol- ‘cause’, bais ol-
‘cause’.
Əmr ver-/et-/elə- ‘command, order’, icazə ver- ‘permit, allow’, izn ver- ‘permit, allow’, and
yalvar- ‘beg’ usually take only post-verbal subjunctive complements in the corpus of text.
Again the subordinator ki is optional, as in:
(10) a. Nökər-lər-ə əmr et-di ki, iti bir

servant-PL-DAT order do-3S.PA [SUB sharp a
bıçax gətir-sinlər.
knife bring-3P.SJNCT]
‘He ordered the servants to bring a sharp knife.’
b. Aman bacı-m izn ver, ged-im.

please sister-1S.PO permission give.2S.IMP [go-1S.SJNCT]
‘Please, my sister, let me go.’
c. O-na yalvar-dı ki, gəl-sin.

he-DAT beg-3S.PA [SUB come-3S.SJNCT]
‘He begged him to come.’
Qoy- ‘allow, let’ takes both pre- and post-verbal subjunctive complements: "Infinitive+DAT"
in the pre-verbal type; the subjunctive verb forms in the post-verbal type. The post-verbal
complement is far more frequently used. The pre-verbal type is employed in declarative
sentences, while the post-verbal type is in most cases employed in imperative sentences. In the
imperative sentence, the manipulee is sometimes addressed in the vocative. Here are some
examples:
(11) a. Post-verbal complements:

a1. Ata, qoy-ma bir də əl-i-ni
father let-NEG.2S.IMP [once also hand-3S.PO-ACC
ona vur-sun!
to.him hit-3S.SJNCT]
‘Father, don’t let his hand hit him (another person) even once.’
a2. Qoy-ma-ram apar-asız!

let-NEG-1S.AOR [take.away-2S.OPT]
‘I will not let you take (it) away.’
b. Pre-verbal complements:
Mahmud onun əl-i-ni tut-ub qalx-mağ-a
M. his hand-3S.PO-ACC catch-CS stand.up-INF-DAT
qoy-ma-di.
allow-NEG-3S.PA
‘Mahmud caught his hand and didn’t allow him to stand up.’
Xahiş et-/elə- ‘plead, request’ also takes both pre- and post-verbal subjunctive complement
clauses. The pre-verbal complement here takes "Subjunctive nominalization -
mA+Person+ACC" before the verb xahiş et-. In post-verbal complements the verb takes either
the subjunctive or imperative form; both of them are irrealis. The post-verbal type is more
frequently used than the pre-verbal one. The subordinator ki is mostly omitted. In this
construction also the manipulee is often addressed in the vocative, as in:

a1. Ağa, xahiş ed-irəm bilet al-asız.
sir request do-1S.PR [ticket buy-2S.OPT]
‘Sir, I’d request you to buy the ticket.’
a2. Ağa, xahiş ed-irəm bircə qran ver!

sir request do-1S.PR [single qran give-2S.IMP]
‘Sir, I’d ask you, "Give (me) a qran".’
Ayax-lar-ı-ni bir yan-a çək-mə-si-ni
[foot-PL-3S.PO-ACC a side-DAT pull-NMLZ-3S.PO-ACC]
xahiş elə-məli i-dim.

request do-NECC be-1S.PA
‘I needed to request him to withdraw his feet to one side.’
The periphrastic manipulative constructions səbəb ol- ‘cause’ and bais ol- ‘cause’ both take
pre-verbal complements. Verbs in complements appear as "V-INF + Possessive + DAT", while
the subject of the complement clause appears in the genitive. In this construction, the agent and
the patient are overtly expressed, as exemplified below: (Examples taken from 9.3.1.)
(13) a. Đnəy-in ölməy-i-nə Məhməd səbəb ol-muş-di.

cow-GEN death-3S.PO-DAT Mehmed cause be-PF-3S.PA
b. Đnəy-in ölməy-i-nə bais Məhməd ol-muş-di.

cow-GEN death-3S.PO-DAT cause Mehmed be-PF-3S.PA
10.5. Verbs of perception and cognition
Verbs of perception and cognition, both coding mental activities of the agent, behave more or
less similarly. In most cases these verbs take indicative complements of both the pre- and post-
verbal types. But, there occur some deviations from this formula, such as with the verbs of
cognition anla- ‘understand’, fikir et- ‘think’ and dərk et- ‘understand’, which will be explained
later in this section. The post-verbal type is far more frequently employed than the pre-verbal
one with these complement-taking verbs.
Some of typical verbs of perception and cognition are: (a) Perception verbs: gör- ‘see’, bax-
‘look, see’, eşit- ‘hear’, qulax as- ‘listen’; (b) Cognition verbs: bil- ‘know’, san- ‘think,
consider’, güman et- ‘suppose’, dərk et- ‘understand’, anla- ‘understand’, fikir et-/elə-//fikirləş-
‘think’. There are also non-verbal predicates of cognition such as ümidvar ‘hopeful’, predicated
by the copular personal endings (4.2.1.2.).
Most indicative complements with verbs of perception and cognition take typical
constructions of post-verbal and pre-verbal complements, as in the following examples:

a1. Gör-düm sən şərt-i utuz-ub-san.
see-1S.PA [you condition-ACC lose-PF-2S]
‘I saw you had lost the condition.’
a2. Mən də bil-mi-rəm Fərəng torpağ-i harada-dır.

I also know-NEG-1S.PR [Europe land-3S.PO where-be.3S.PR]
‘I also don’t know where the land of Europe is.’
b1. Ata-m yat-a bil-mə-diy-im-i gör-di.
father-1S.PO [sleep-be.able.to-NEG-PTC-1S.PO-ACC] see-3S.PA
‘My father saw that I was unable to sleep.’
b2. Adam nə ed-əcəy-i-ni bil-m-ir-di.

man [what do-PTC-3S.PO-ACC] know-NEG-PROG-3S.PA
‘The man did not know what to do.’
The verbs of cognition generally show a feature close to that of the utterance verbs in that
they often seem to introduce a speech quotation, direct or indirect, when they take the post-
verbal construction. Verbs of cognition possibly introduce a quotation of thought or idea in
mind, while utterance verbs introduce an utterance quotation. Thus the verbs of cognition may
be put in between the verbs of perception and the utterance verbs, and these three kinds of verbs
are considered somehow related to each other in Azerbaijani, as noted in other languages.
Anla- ‘understand’ takes both post- and pre-verbal types, and both indicative and subjunctive
complement types: it usually takes post-verbal indicative complements, as the example (a.)
below; but it also takes pre-verbal subjunctive complements, as (b.) below:
(15) a. Đndi anla-dım bu quzi niyə sən-i qarqiş ed-ir?

now understand-1S.PA [this lamb why you-ACC curse do-3S.PA]
‘Now I understood why this lamb cursed you.’
b. Bu kəlam-ın doğri ol-mağ-ı-n yaxşı anla-rıx.

[this word-GEN true be-INF-3S.PO-ACC] well understand-1P.PR
‘We understand well that this word is true.’
Fikir et-/elə-//fikirləş- ‘think’ takes both post- and pre-verbal types, and indicative and
subjunctive complement types. In the post-verbal construction, it takes both indicative and
subjunctive complements, as seen from the examples (a.) through (c.) below. In the pre-verbal
construction, it takes "Infinitive + haqqında", i.e. the complement takes a postpositional phrase,
as (d.) below. It is notable that ki is normally kept with this verb, as in:
(16) a. Sora fikirləş-di ki, bir az məmləkət-i

later think-3S.PA [SUB a little country-ACC
gəz-ib dolan-sın.
walk-CS rove-3S.SJNCT]
‘Later he thought to rove about the country a bit.’
b. Birdən fikirləş-di ki, dev məni öldür-ər.

suddenly think-3S.PA [SUB giant me kill-3S.AOR]
‘Suddenly he thought, "The giant would kill me."
c. Fikirləş-dim ki, hirs-im soyu-mi-yacax.

think-1S.PA [SUB anger-1S.PO cool.down-NEG-3S.FUT]
‘I thought that my anger would not cool down.’
d. Oynamax üçün yer tap-max haqqında fikirləş-ir-dik.

[play for place find-INF about] think-PROG-1P.PA
‘We were thinking about finding a place to play.’
Dərk et- ‘understand’ takes indicative nominalized complements only, as in:
(17) Onun de-diy-i-ni dərk eli-yək.

[his say-PTC-3S.PO-ACC] understand-1P.IMP
‘Let us understand what he has said.’
Complements with the verb bil- ‘know’ sometimes take an anticipatory adverb elə ‘thus, in
this way’ before the verb in the main clause, when the proposition of the complement is based
on supposition or subjective judgment and thus low on the certainty level, as in:
(18) a. Mən elə bil-dim ki, sən ağıllı oğlan-san.

I thus know-1S.PA [SUB you clever boy-be.2S.PR]
‘I thought that you are a clever boy.’
b. Elə bil-irsən bir dağ qop-ub gəl-ir.

thus know-2S.PR [a mountain break.off-CS come-3S.PR]
‘You might think that a mountain is broken off and is coming (this way).’
Non-verbal predicates of cognition, such as "ümidvar ‘hopeful’+Copula+Person" and

"müntəzir ‘waiting’+Copula+Person" take postposed complements, as in:
(19) a. Ümidvar-am ki, Təranə çox gözəl usta ol-acax-dır.

hopeful-be.1S.PR [that Terane very good teacher become-FUT-3S]
‘I hope that Terane will make a good teacher.’
b. Müntəzir-əm piş-ə və sizə qəzə gətir-əm.

waiting-be.1S.PR [cook-3S.OPT and to.you meal bring-1S.OPT]
‘I am waiting till it cooks and I can bring it to you.’
Rarely some complement-taking verbs/predicates are used parenthetically in the complex

sentence. In Azerbaijani, the verb gör- ‘see’ and the non-verbal predicate gərək ‘necessary’ are
often used parenthetically. The parenthetical use of verbs makes the complement the main
clause. Subjunctive forms of gör-, like görüm ‘let me see’, görək ‘let us see’, or görəsən ‘you
may see’, usually follow an imperative verb; in this case the gör-SJNCT functions as a kind of
modal auxiliary to soften the imperative force of the imperative speech-act. Following are some
examples:
(20) a. Hər iki-si də axırda, gör-düz ki,

each two-3S.DEF also at.the.end [see-2P.PA SUB]
razı get-dilər.
satisfied go-3P.PA
‘At the end, as you saw, each of the two went satisfied.’
b. De gör-üm mən-dən nə ist-ir-sən?

say.2S.IMP [see-1S.SJNCT] I-ABL what want-PR-2S
‘Tell me please, what do you want?’
c. Qara inəy-i gərək kəs-əsən.

black cow-ACC [necessary] cut-2S.OPT
‘You ought to cut (i.e. kill) the black cow.’
In the above examples, gördüz ki in (a.), görüm in (b.), and gərək in (c.) are parenthetically
used. In an unmarked word-order gərək comes before the object noun phrase.
10.6. Utterance verbs
In Iranian Azerbaijani, complement-taking utterance verbs take post-verbal complements in

most cases and pre-verbal ones less frequently. With post-verbal complements they function as
the introducers of direct speech. The use of the complementizer ki may signal "indirect" speech,
but its structure shows no difference from that of "direct" speech, which does not have ki. By
convention those utterance verbs without ki are marked by a colon (:) before the direct speech
quote.
The typical complement-taking utterance verb is de- ‘say’, which introduces all kinds of
speech quotations; whether declarative, interrogative, or imperative. Other commonly used
utterance verbs are soruş- ‘ask’ and cavab ver- ‘answer’. Occasionally, primarily manipulative
verbs xahiş et-/elə- ‘request’ and yalvar- ‘plead’ are used as utterance verbs, as exemplified in
10.1.2.
(21) a. Fatma de-di: "Mənim əl-ağac-ım-i ver."

F. say-3S.PA [my stick-1S.PO-ACC give.2S.IMP]
‘Fatma said, "Give my stick."
b. Düktür olara de-di ki, bəlkə

doctor to.them say-3S.PA [SUB probably
ekiz doğ-asan.
twin give.birth-2S.OPT]
‘The doctor said to them, "You may give birth to twins".
Occasionally with post-verbal complements, the speech quote is fronted and the verb is
moved to the end, where the speech itself is topicalized. This fronting of speech quote is
common with questions, soruş- ‘ask’, and answers, cavab ver- ‘answer’, as in the example
below.
(22) a. "Bəs bağ-ın sahib-i harada-dır?" soruş-dum.

[then garden-GEN owner-3S.PO where-be.3S.PR] ask-1S.PA
‘"Then, where is the owner of the garden?" I asked.’
b. "Ağa, ev-i-ndə-dir." cavab ver-di-lər.

[sir house-3S.PO-LOC-be.3S.PR] answer give-PA-3P
"Sir, he is in his house." they answered.
When the utterance verbs take pre-verbal complements, they are generally indicative
nominalized complement with a participial nominalization. Complement clauses in this case are
indirect speech quotes, as in:
(23) Adam-lar nə üçün ağla-dığ-ı-ni soruş-du-lar.

man-PL [what for cry-PTC-3S.PO-ACC] ask-PA-3P
‘People asked (her) why she was crying.’
The verb de- ‘say’ combines with the adverbial suffix -(y)A forming a subordinator deyə
‘saying’, which indicates a pre-posed subordinate clause. Its use usually marks pre-verbal
adverbial clauses, purpose/intention clauses, as in the example (a.) below, and simultaneity
clauses, as in (b.) below. Within purpose clauses, the verb appears in the subjunctive form. The
adverbial clauses before deyə are direct speech quotes or unspoken thoughts.
(24) a. Ürəy-im açıl-sın deyə gəz-mək ist-ir-əm.

[heart-1S.PO open-3S.SJNCT] saying walk-INF want-PR-1S
‘I want to walk about so that my heart might open.’
b. Çəkil kənar-a! – deyə kişi məni möhkəm itələ-di.

withdraw border-DAT saying man me strongly push-3S.PA
‘The man pushed me strongly, saying "Withdraw to the border!"’
In fact, the use of deyə is rather rare in Iranian Azerbaijani, but it is much more frequent in the
North.
10.7. Question complements
A few utterance verbs and verbs of cognition and perception can take complements in the
form of questions. The most common of these are: de- ‘say’, bil- ‘know’, anla- ‘understand’,
and gör- ‘see’.
The question complements that these verbs take are WH (or content) questions (cf. 13.2.2.),
except for the verb soruş-, which takes complements of both yes-no questions (cf. 13.2.1), as in
the example (d.) below, and WH questions, as in (e.) below. These question complements are
normally post-verbal sentence-like clauses. There is no change of word-order in Azerbaijani
question complements. Here are some examples:
(25) a. Padşah de-məz ki, balaca oğl-um harada-dır?

king say-3S.AOR.NEG [SUB little son-1S.PO where-be.3S.PR]
‘Doesn’t the king say, "Where is my youngest son"?’
b. Bil-mi-rəm nəmənə ol-ub?

know-NEG-1S.PR [what become-3S.PF]
‘I don’t know what has happened.’
c. Gör Fatma necə ol-di?

see-2S.IMP [F. how become-3S.PA]
‘See what has become of Fatma.’
d. Soruş-di ki, sizin ev-də ayri bir qız yox-di?

ask-3S.PA [SUB your house-LOC other one girl non.existent-be.3S.PR]
‘He asked, "Don’t you have another girl in your house?"’
e. Soruş-di: "Hara-dan sən belə gözəl ol-dun?"

ask-3S.PA [where-ABL you thus beautiful become-2S.PA]
‘She asked, "From where have you become so beautiful?"’
10.8. Sentential subjects
Complement clauses also take the role of sentential subject, where the main clause takes a
non-verbal predicate—modal predicates or adjectives—or a passive or intransitive verb.
Complements taken by the non-verbal modal predicates lazım ‘necessary’, vacib ‘obligatory’
and gərək ‘obligatory’ function as sentential subjects. These complements are subjunctive;
lazım takes the pre-verbal complement type and gərək takes the post-verbal type. These non-
verbal predicates are predicated by the copular endings (4.2.1.), as in:
(26) a. Quyu-ya gir-mək lazım i-di.

[well-DAT enter-INF] necessary be-3S.PA
‘It was necessary to enter the well.’
b. Bura gəl-məy-iz vacib-dir.

[here come-INF-2P.PO] obligatory-be.3S.PR
‘You need to come over here.’ (Lit. ‘Your coming here is obligatory.’)
c. Gərək bu saat paslı qılınc-ı gətir-əsiz.

obligatory [this time rusty sword-ACC bring-2S.OPT]
‘It is obligatory that you bring the rusty sword this time.’
The following is an example of sentential-subject complement taken by a passive verb:
(27) Mənə bu mətləb-in qəbul et-məy-i

to.me [this request-GEN acceptance do-INF-3S.PO]
məntiqsiz gör-ün-ür.
illogical see-PASS-3S.PR
‘It seems to me illogical to accept this request.’
Other adjectival copular predicates also can take sentential-subject complement clauses, as in:
(28) Bu-ni örgəş-mək çox çətin deyil.

[this-ACC learn-INF] very hard be.NEG.3S.PR
‘Learning this is not very hard.’
208 11. Relative clauses
Chapter 11
Relative clauses
Azerbaijani relative clauses (RC) are head-external subordinate clauses embedded in noun
phrases. Their construction is similar to that of complement clauses (Chapter 10), but their
function is to modify the head noun in the noun phrase. The structure of relative clauses in
Iranian Azerbaijani is further characterized by the use of two major syntactic types of
relativization:
(a) Pre-nominal realtive clauses, which use the nominalization-participle strategy. This is
the typical Altaic-Turkic pattern of relativization.
(b) Post-nominal realtive clauses, which are introduced by the relative pronoun (or
subordinator) ki ‘that’ and use finite verbs. This is an adoption of Persian, i.e. Indo-
European, relative clauses.
A statistical count shows that 61% (42) of all relative clauses in the corpus of texts are in the
pre-nominal type, with the remaining 39% (27) in the post-nominal type. Each of the two types
of relativization includes different case-recoverability strategies as well as different structural
characteristics.
This chapter discusses the many aspects of the structural and functural characteristics of
Azerbaijani relative clauses, mainly around the two types of relative clauses.
11.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses
Relative clauses are commonly divided into two functional types: The first is "restrictive"
relative clauses, in which the clauses are used to identify or modify the referent head noun. The
second type is "non-restrictive" relative clauses, in which the clauses give additional
information about the head noun. This non-restrictive function is achieved in Azerbaijani by an
unembedded parataxis93. The following example shows the paratactic strategy.
(1) Bir vaxt gör-di ki, bir div gəl-ir, böyük minarə kimin,
one time see-3S.PA SUB one giant come-3S.PR big minaret like
‘One moment he saw that a giant was coming, like a big minaret,
adam bax-anda bağr-i yar-ıl-ır.

man see-when liver-3S.PO tear-PASS-3S.PR
when a man sees it, his liver would be torn apart.’
Free tr: ‘One moment he saw that a giant was coming. It was as big as a minaret.
If a man looked (at it), his liver would tear apart (i.e., he would be extremely
terrified.).’
93Keenan (1985:163ff.) uses the term “corelatives” for the unembedded relative clauses. Keenan
says, ‘These are not NPs and thus a fortiori not relative clauses on our definition, but they are
the functional equivalent of relative clauses in many languages..’ (p. 163).
böyük minarə kimin and adam ... yarılir are un-embedded parataxes which provide additional
information about div ‘giant’, which can be identified as the head noun. The use of a paratactic
structure for non-restrictive relative clauses is not rare in Azerbaijani texts. However, canonical
relative clauses in Azerbaijani are embedded and "restrictive" in nature.
11.2. The basic syntax of relative clauses
11.2.1. Embedding inside a noun phrase
Relative clauses are embedded inside noun phrases. The embedding can be either left-
branching (pre-nominal, further explained in 11.3.) or right-branching (post-nominal, in 11.4.).
The relativized NP may occupy any syntactic position within the higher-level sentence, such as
subject, object, adverb or predicate. Then, the position which the deleted coreferent noun
(11.2.2.) may occupy inside the embedded RC may not necessarily be the same as that the head
noun may occupy inside the higher-level sentence. Thus there can be combinations of positions
or case-roles across the lower-level embedded clause and the higher-level sentence: Subject RC
modifying a subject noun; Subject RC modifying an object noun; Object RC modifying a
subject noun; Object RC modifying an object noun, etc. The following examples from pre-
nominal constructions illustrate some of the combinations. Ø
(2) a. Subject RC modifying a subject noun:

a1. [[Ø dünən gəl-ən] kişi] bugün get-di.
yesterday come-PR.PTC man today go-3S.PA
[[(S) ADV V ]RC ]NP.S ADV V
‘The man who came yesterday left today.’
a2. Main clause: kişi bugün get-di. ‘The man left today.’
a3. Underlying subordinate proposition:
kişi dünən gəl-di. ‘Yesterday the man came.’
b. Object RC modifying a subject noun:

b1. [Zümürrüd Ø ver-diy-i] tük yaxşı-dır.
Zumurrud give-PTC-3S.PO feather good-be.3S.PR
[[S (O) V ]RC ]NP.S PRED.Adj COP
‘The feather that Zumurrud gave is good.’
b2. Main clause: tük yaxşı-dır. ‘The feather is good.’
b3. Underlying subordinate proposition:
Zümürrüd tük-i ver-di. ‘Zumurrud gave the feather.’
In (2) above, the subject of the main clause (a2.) kişi ‘man’ is the head noun of the relativized
subject noun phrase inside the sentence (a1.). The head noun of the subject NP is modified by
the relative clause whose full propositional expression is shown in (a3.). The relative clause
dünən gəl-ən is embedded inside the relativized subject NP dünən gəl-ən kişi. The subject of
the main clause is coreferential with the subject of the relative clause. Notice that there is no
change in the basic word-order in the relative clause. In (b.), the missing argument tük ‘feather’
in (b1.) is the object inside the relative clause and it occupies the syntactic position of subject
inside the main clause. Here one can see that the grammatical case-role of the head noun in the
higher-level sentence is independent of its role in the lower-level.
11.2.2. Deletion under coreference and case-role recoverability
A relative clause is syntactically different from a simple clause. This difference occurs when
the simple clause, under the new task of modifying the head noun within a noun phrase, adjusts
to its new syntactic and functional frame. One distinct difference is the deletion of the
coreferent noun inside the relative clause. Let’s look at the following examples:
(3) a. Pre-nominal RC:

a1. Ø Bəhanə axtar-an yoldaş-lar-i de-dilər.
excuse find-PTC friend-PL-3S.PO say-3P.PA
[[(S) O V ]RC N ]NP.S V
‘His friends who were searching for an excuse said.’
a2. Yoldaş-lar-i bəhanə axtar-ır-dılar, olar de-dilər.

friend-PL-3S.PO excuse find-PROG-3P.PA they say.3P.PA
NP.S O V NP.SV
‘His friends were searching for an excuse, they said.’
b. Post-nominal RC:
b1. Yoldaş-lar-i ki, Ø bəhanə axtar-ır-dılar, de-dilər.
friend-PL-3S.PO SUB excuse find-PROG-3P.PA say-3P.PA
[N [ (S) O V ]RC]NP.S V
‘His friends who were searching for an excuse said.’
b2. Yoldaş-lar-i ki, yoldaş-lar-i bəhanə

friend-PL-3S.PO SUB friend-PL-3S.PO excuse
[N [ NP.S O
axtar-ır-dılar, de-dilər.
find-PROG-3P.PA say-3P.PA
V ]RC ]NP.S V
‘His friends, (I mean) his friends were searching for an excuse, (they) said.’
The relative clauses in (a1.) or (b1.) do not overtly have the subject which is coreferential with
the head noun yoldaş-lar-i ‘his friends’. The subject in the relative clause is deleted and there
remains a gap, which is signified by Ø. In (a2.), the subject noun phrases, i.e. yoldaş-lar-i and
the anaphoric pronoun olar ‘they’, of the two juxtaposed clauses are coreferential; this
unadjusted structure is semantically identical with the adjusted (relativized) structure of (a1.),
though (a1.) sounds more well-formed. In the relativized sentence (b2.), the subject noun phrase
yoldaş-lar-i of the relative clause is coreferential with the head noun, but its repetition means
the sentence is less well-formed.
The deleted coreferent noun within the relative clause may occupy the grammatical case-role
of either the subject, object, adverb (time, place), nominal predicate or possessor. The deletion
applies to all these roles. In Azerbaijani relativization, the frequency of case-role which the
deleted coreferent noun occupies within the relative clause seems to follow in this order:
Subject > Object > Nominal Predicate > Time > Place > Possessor.94
94This may be contrasted with the NP Accessibility Hierarchy of Keenan and Comrie (1977):
On the other hand, this deletion creates a problem of recovering the case-role of the missing
coreferential argument. However, owing to the coreferential system within the relativized noun
phrase, the identity of the deleted argument is recoverable. There are a few strategies available
to sort out the problem of case recoverability, such as:
(i) The lexical-semantic case-frame of the subordinate verb gives a clue. In the above example
(3a1.), the transitive verb axtar- takes two arguments: the agent and patient of the action. Since
the patient bəhanə ‘excuse’ is present, the missing argument must fill the case-role of agent.
(ii) The animacy hierarchy plays a role here. Again in (3a1.), bəhanə, an inanimate noun, can
not "search for something" instead of "‘somebody’ search for something". Thus, it is assumed
that the missing argument is human rather than inanimate bahane. In this manner, the common
sense of the animy hierarchy is applied to recover the case-role of the missing coreferential
argument.
(iii) The verbal agreement helps to identify and recover the missing argument and its case-
role. In post-nominal relative clauses where the verb is finite, the rule of verbal agreement plays
a role. In (3b1.), axtar-ır-dılar in the relative clause suggests that the subject is a third-person
plural. The third-person plural subject yoldaş-lar-i ‘his friends’ is identified in the higher-level
sentence and the case recovered.
(iv) The syntactic characteristic of participles also plays a role. Each participle functions with
a set of specific case-roles. In (3a1.), since the participle -an is a subject nominalizing suffix,
the hearer can identify the coreferential agent as occupying the case-role of subject. This
strategy is significant in Azerbaijani and thus will be explained in detail in the following
sections.
11.3. Structure and function of pre-nominal relative clauses
The most typical relativization strategy in Azerbaijani is the nominalization-participle

strategy, which constructs pre-nominal relative clauses. For this strategy, there are four
participles or nominalizing suffixes, as listed below:
(4) Participles constructing relative clauses:
Suffix Tense-Aspect Grammatical case-roles

1. -(y)An Present Sub Ob j Obl Loc Temp Poss
2. -dIX Past Obj Obl Loc Temp
3. -mIş Perfect Sub Loc Temp
4. -(y)AcAX Future Sub Loc Temp
These participles are added to the stem of the verb. They are named after the tense-aspect
system, though they do not denote the same tense-aspectuality as their corresponding tense-
aspects do in the finite verb. They still indicate a sense of relative tense-aspectuality with
respect to the tense-aspect of the main verb or the context. But a more definite distinction
between them lies in the constraints they have in recovering case-roles. That is, each
nominalizer specializes in specific case-role(s) as well as its tense-aspectuality. Two major
roles—subject and object—are discussed in the following sections and other roles are dealt with
later (adverbial roles in 11.6, possessive in 11.7)
Subject » DO » IO » Object of pre- or postposition » Possessor

11.3.1. Subject pre-nominal relative clauses
Subject is the most common case-role of the deleted relativized coreferent noun. It is realized
by three participles: -(y)An, -mIş, and rarely -(y)AcAX.
The subject pre-nominal relative clause is constructed according to the following steps:95
(i) Move the head noun to the end of the clause.
(ii) Replace the tense suffix of the verb with an appropriate participle.
For example, to relativize the clause adam bura gəl-di ‘The man came here’ (<man here
come-3S.PA), (i) adam is moved to the end of the clause, then (ii) the tense -di is replaced with
the participle -ən, thus the relativized noun phrase (relative clause+head noun) is constructed —
bura gəl-ən adam ‘the man who came here’, including the relative clause bura gəl-ən ‘the one
who came here’.
The function of each particple is explained below.
(a) -(y)An. The ‘present participle’ is more typical and versatile than the two others used in
this category. It indicates that the action takes place at about the same time as the main verb.
The action may be past or present, depending on the main verb or context, as in the following
examples:
(5) a. Past action with -(y)An:

a1. Dünən bura gəl-ən adam ata-m-dır.
yesterday here come-PTC man father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The one who came here yesterday is my father.’ (He is here.)
a2. Dünən bura gəl-ən adam ata-m i-di.

yesterday here come-PTC man father-1S.PO be-3S.PA
‘The one who came here yesterday was my father.’ (He is not here.)
b. Present action with -(y)An:

Đndi bura gəl-ən adam ata-m-dır.
now here come-PTC man father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The one who is coming here now is my father.’
In (a1.) above, the main verb (viz. the copula -dır) is in the present tense, indicating that "the
speaker’s father" is still in the location. In (a2), it is in the past, indicating he is not there any
more. Inside the relative clauses the temporal adverbs more definitely indicate the time of the
relativized action: in (a1.) and (a2.) dünən ‘yesterday’ indicates the past action of the subject; in
(b.) indi ‘now’ does the present action.
The relativization of a nominal predicate is expressed by relativized copular clauses. In
relativized copular clauses, the nominal predicate is supported by the present participial form of
the process copula ol- ‘be’ (cf. 6.3.) , i.e. ol-an ‘being’. A similar basic structure is used for
both the relativized existential clause and the relativized locative clause. A locative phrase—
often a postpositional phrase with the locase case—is obligatory in the relativized existential
clause. The difference between the existential clause and the locative clause lies in the
formation of the locative phrase: in the existential clause, as in (b1.) below, there is the
possessor noun phrase (kürrə ‘earth’) in the locative phrase kürrə üst-ü-ndə ‘on the earth’;
95Adapted from Underhill (1976:276).

whereas in the locative clause, as in (c.), there is only the possessed noun phrase üst-ü ‘its top’
in the locative phrase üst-ü-ndə ‘upon it(s top)’. Also it sounds natural to put var ‘existent’ in
the existential clause, as in (b2.) below. (Relativization of non-copular locative clause is
described in 11.6.). Here are some examples:
(6) a. Relativized equational clause:

Çox mehriban ol-an padşah bura gəl-di.
much kind be-PTC king here come-3S.PA
‘The king who was very kind came here today.’
b. Relativized existential clause:

b1. Kürrə üst-ü-ndə ol-an bitki-lər-in həyat-i həqqində
earth top-3S.PO-LOC be-PTC plant-PL-GEN life-3S.PO about
‘About the life of plants which are on the earth’
b2. Kürrə üst–ü-ndə var ol-an bitki-lər-in həyat-i həqqində
c. Relativized locative clause:

Üst-ü-ndə alma ol-an süfrə-ni tap-di.
top-3S.PO-LOC apple be-PTC table-ACC find-3S.PA
‘He found the table upon which there was an apple.’
(b) -mIş. The ‘perfect participle’ is identical in the form to the perfect tense-aspect marker.
This participle encodes that the action of the verb has already taken place and is completed, and
the resultant state is available at the time of the main verb, as in the following examples:
(7) a. Ovçi sazla-n-mış ox-u-ni dovşan-lar-a yönəlt-di.

hunter prepare-PASS-PTC arrow-3S.PO-ACC rabbit-PL-DAT aim-3S.PA
‘The hunter aimed at rabbits with his arrow which had been prepared.’
b. Göy-dən düş-müş üç alma var i-di.

heaven-ABL fall-PTC three apple existent be-3S.PA
‘There were three apples which had fallen from heaven.’
There is a tendency to avoid the -mIş participle form in constructing subject pre-nominal RCs.
The solution is to change the construction into the more usual -(y)An participial construction: it
is made by attaching ol-an ‘being’, the present participial form of the process copua ol- ‘be’, to
the -mIş verb. Thus the above examples may be remodelled as: (7a.) Ovçi sazla-n-mış ol-an ox-
u-ni dovşan-lar-a yönəlt-di. (7b.) Göy-dən düş-müş ol-an üç alma var i-di. The meaning does
not change with this structural change.
(c) -(y)AcAX. The ‘future participle’ is also identical in the form with the future tense-aspect
marker. This participle indicates that the action in the relative clause has not yet taken place but
is expected, seen at the time of the main verb, to take place in the future. However, this Turkic
participle is hardly used for relative clauses in Iranian Azeri, as in the example (8a.). Instead,
the post-nominal relative clause with the finite verb in the future tense is more readily employed
to express the future action of the subject head noun, as in (8b.):
(8) a. Sabah bura gəl-əcək adam ata-m-dır.

tomorrow here come-PTC man father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The one who will come here tomorrow is my father.’
b. O adam ki, sabah bura gəl-əcək, ata-m-dır.

the man SUB tomorrow here come-3S.FUT father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The one who will come here tomorrow is my father.’
11.3.2. Object pre-nominal relative clauses
The case-role of object is relativized in Azerbaijani by two participles: -dIX, -(y)An.
(a) -dIX. The ‘past participle’ may be the most extensively used and versatile of all
participles. But the construction of a RC with this suffix is more complex than that with other
participles. It makes use of case-marking morphology and personal endings to further clarify
case-roles. The coreferent noun generally occupies the case-role of object inside the relative
clause, but it may occupy some other case-roles as well though not subject.
The object pre-nominal relative clause with -dIX is constructed according to the following
steps:96
(i) Move the head noun, which is the object of the clause, to the end of the clause, and delete
the accusative case suffix from the head noun.
(ii) Replace the tense suffix of the verb with -dIX
(iii) Add the possessive suffix (3.2.1.5.), which agrees with the subject, to the participle -dIX.
For example, to relativize the clause Zümürrüd tük-i ver-di ‘Zumurrud gave the feather’
(<Zumurrud feather-ACC give-3S.PA), (i) the object head noun tük is moved to the end of the
clause, (ii) the tense suffix -di is replaced with -diy (k of -dik changes to y according to the
phonological rule.), (iii) the third-person singular possessive suffix -i is added to -diy, i.e. -diy-i,
as the subject Zümürrüd is a third-person singular. Thus, the relativized noun phrase is
constructed — Zümürrüd ver-diy-i tük ‘the feather which Zumurrud gave’.
The following is another example illustrating the construction of the object pre-nominal
relative clause:
(9) a. Sənə ver-diy-im axırınci ət

2S.DAT give-PTC-1S.PO last meat
bud-um-un ət-i i-di.

thigh-1S.PO-GEN meat-3S.PO be-3S.PA
‘The last (lump of) meat that I gave you was the flesh of my thigh.’
b. Relativized noun phrase:

Sənə ver-diy-im axırınci ət ‘the last (lump of) meat that I gave you’
c. Underlying subordinate proposition:

(Mən) sənə axırınci ət-i ver-dim.
(1S.NOM) 2S.DAT last meat-ACC give-1S.PA
S IO DO V
‘I gave the last (lump of) meat to you.’
96Adapted from Underhill (1976:288).

Unlike Turkish97, Azerbaijani subject does not take the genitive suffix in the relative clause.
However, it also can take the genitive suffix; in particular personal pronouns, when they are
present for the purpose emphasis, tend to take the genitive, as the following examples show:
(10) a. Subject in the genitive suffix:

Abbas-ın ver-diy-i alma
Abbas-GEN give-PTC-3S.PO apple
‘the apple which Abbas gave’
b. Subject personal pronoun in genitive:

mən-im ver-diy-im alma
1S-GEN give-PTC-1S.PO apple
‘the apple which I (myself) gave’
Other case-roles which the head noun of the -dIX relative clause occupies inside the relative
clause are locative and temporal (see 11.6).
(b) -(y)An. The largely subject-nominalizing -(y)An functions as an object-nominalizer,

though much less frequently than -dIX. A syntactic difference from the -dIX construction is that
the -(y)An construction, being unable to take the possessive suffix which identifies the subject,
always has the subject NP expressed. Here the subject NP in the relative clause is in the
nominative case and the object NP is zero-marked, whereas in the subject relative clause with -
(y)An (11.3.1.) the subject NP is zero-marked and the object NP is expressed if the clause has
one. Any person can occupy the subject position. Following are some examples:
(11) a. Qız Ø de-yən ağ qoç-unan qərə qoç gəl-ir.

girl say-PTC white goat-COM black goat come-3S.PA
[[S (O) V ]RC Head.NP ]NP.S V
‘The white and black goats that the girl spoke (about) are coming.’
b. Sən Ø istə-yən qız

you love-PTC girl
[S (O) V ]RC Head.NP
‘The girl whom you love’
11.4. Structure and function of post-nominal relative clauses
Post-nominal RCs are introduced by the relative pronoun ki ‘that, who, which’. As an
orthographic convention, a comma (,) is added after ki and another at the end of the relative
clause when the clause is followed by other elements of the higher-level sentence. The
construction of post-nominal RCs is simpler than that of pre-nominal ones. The simplicity of
constructing the post-nominal RC stems from the simplicity of case and verbal morphologies
and word-order within the RC. As can be noted in the example (3.b), the relative pronoun ki is
97Underhill (1972:88) reports that “the subject of the embedded sentence is put into the genitive case”
in the construction of Turkish object relative clauses.
added (somewhere) after the head noun and the ensuing relative clause takes a finite verb. No
RC-specific case inflection is required, nor is there need of verbal agreement. Word-order in the
post-nominal relative clause is the same as that in the corresponding normal simple clause, be it
copular or verbal, i.e. there is no need of moving the head noun to the end of the clause.
In general, the structure of the post-nominal RC is straightforward, with the relative pronoun
ki immediately following the head noun. But in Azerbaijani there is a significant disruption of
this syntactic arrangement, i.e. the head noun is separated from ki. This so-called extraposition
of relative clauses is described below.
11.4.1. Extraposition of post-nominal relative clauses
Post-nominal RCs can modify a head noun which is a component within the higher-level
sentence of copular or verbal predication. Then, the syntactic peculiarities of the relative clause
within copular clauses are slightly different from those within verbal clauses: (i) In the copular
clause, the relative clause is mostly extraposed, i.e. placed at the end of the main clause. (ii) In
the verbal clause, generally there is no extraposition of relative clauses. However, here still are
some instances when the relative clause is extraposed, most commonly when the head noun is
with a case-marking suffix or postposition. In that case, the relativized noun phrase often
functions as an adverbial clause of time or place.
First, let’s look at some examples whose higher-level sentences are copular clauses.
(12) a. Extraposed RC in an equational copular clause:

a1. Bu bir gözəl qız-dır ki, Ø ay-a de-yir: "..."
this one pretty girl-be.3S.PR SUB (S) moon-DAT say-3S.PR
‘This is a pretty girl who says to the moon, "..."’
a2. Main clause: Bu bir gözəl qız-dır. ‘This is a pretty girl.’
a3. Underlying subordinate proposition: Qız ay-a de-yir "…"
‘The girl says to the moon, "..."
b. Extraposed RC in an existential copular clause:

b1. Bir ifritə var i-di ki, Ø bir
one evil.old.woman existent be.-3S.PA SUB (S) one
qızıl-a öz can-ı-ni da ver-ər-di.
gold-DAT self soul-3S.PO-ACC also give-HAB-3S.PA
‘There was an evil old woman who would give her own soul to
gain a piece of gold.’
b2. Main clause: Bir ifritə var i-di. ‘There was an evil old woman.’
Đfritə bir qızıl-a öz can-ı-ni da ver-ər-di.
‘The evil old woman would give her own soul to gain a piece of gold.’
In (a.) above, the relative clause is separated from the head noun qız ‘girl’ by the copular
predicate -dır. In (b.), the extraposed relative clause is further distanced from the head noun by
the existential copular predicate var idi ’there was’.
Now, let’s look at the following examples whose higher-level sentences are verbal clauses.
(13) Extraposed post-nominal RC in verbal clause:

a. Head noun with a case suffix:
a1. Təbiət-dən ki, Ø bahar-ın gəl-məy-i-ynən
nature-ABL SUB (S) spring-GEN come-INF-3S.PO-COM
cavanlaş-ıb-di, istifadə el-ər-lər.
rejuvenate-PF-3S.PA use do-AOR-3P
‘They would make use of the nature which had rejuvenated
with the coming of spring.’
a2. Main clause: (Olar) təbiət-dən istifadə el-ər-lər.
‘They would make use of the nature.’
a3. Underlying subordinate proposition:
(Təbiət) bahar-ın gəl-məy-i-ynən cavanlaş-ıb-di.
‘(The nature) had rejuvenated with the coming of spring.’
b. Head noun with a case suffix and a postposition:

b1. Neçə saat-dan sora ki, Ø müntəzir ol-dular,
some hour-ABL after SUB (S) waiting become-3P.PA
Şam-dan xəbər ol-ma-di.
supper-ABL news be-NEG-3S.PA
‘After several hours which they waited, there still was no news about
the dinner.’
b2. Main sentence: Neçə saat-dan sora, şam-dan xəbər ol-ma-di.
‘After some hours, there still was no news about the dinner.’
Neçe saat(di) müntəzir ol-dular.
‘For several hours they waited.’
In (a.) above, the relative clause is separated from the head noun təbiət ‘nature’ by the ablative
case suffix -dən. In (b.), it is the postposition sora ‘after’, preceded by the ablative suffix -dən,
that extraposes the relative clause away from the head noun.
There must be reasons for this extraposition of post-nominal relative clauses. One possible
reason is that in copular clauses the predicate may be syntactically rather coagulated with the
other components. It may be seen from the suffixation of predicate, as with -dır ‘is’ is suffixed
in (b.) above. In a similar manner, in verbal clauses the case markers are suffixed and
inseparable; postpositions are also closely associated with correlative case suffixes. In contrast
to this highly predictable systematic extraposition of post-nominal relative clauses, extraposition
is not found with pre-nominal relative clauses. Why this contrast? One possible answer seems to
come from word-order typology. The order of "RelN" (Relative-clause Head.Noun, i.e. pre-
nominal relative clause) is in harmony with the SOV typology98; so the structure is regular and
98According to Croft (1990:56), the word-order harmony (1) pattern shows the following word-
orders:
SV, ONomV, OPrnV, Postposition, GenN, PossN, NumN, RelN, AdjN, AdvAdj, StdMA,
CompV, VAux, SentQ. (The pure Turkic syntax of Azerbaijani perfectly complies with this
pattern.)
there is no structural separation between the modifier and the modified. On the other hand, in
accommodating the disharmonizing structure of "NRel" (post-nominal relative clause) the
Azerbaijani syntax may be making a sort of compromise by allowing the postpositions and
suffixes to remain in their usual place and consequently extraposing the relative clause.
11.4.2. Case-roles of the coreferential noun phrase
The post-nominal type of RC seems to have more straightforward devices for recovering the
case-role than the pre-nominal type does. (See 11.5. for the logic behind the choice of type.)
First, the missing coreferent noun is identified by the gap (Ø). Then, its case-role is identified
and recovered by some strategies similar to those used for the case-role recovery in pre-nominal
RCs (11.2.2.), such as the lexical-semantic case-frame of the subordinate verb. The case-role
which the missing coreferent noun occupies within the RC may be again either subject, object,
time, place, nominal predicate or possessor. Time and place will be discussed in 11.6, possessor
in 11.7, and examples of the subject post-nominal RC can be observed from previous examples
beginning with (3.b1.). Here the object post-nominal RC is exemplified:
(14) Object post-nominal RC:

Cəmaat özləri-nə şirni mivə libas və ayri lazım
people themselves-DAT sweet fruit clothes and other needed
şey-lər ki, bayram üçün Ø ist-ir-lər, al-ar-lar.
thing-PL SUB feast for (O) want-PR-3P buy-AOR-3P
‘People would buy for themselves sweets, fruit, clothes, and other
needed things that they want for the feast.’
Main clause: Cəmaat özləri-nə şirni ... və ayri lazım şey-lər al-ar-lar.
‘People would buy for themselves sweets ... and other needed things.’
Underlying subordinate proposition:
Cəmaat bayram üçün ayri lazım şey-lər ist-irlər.
‘People want other needed things for the feast.’
In the above example, ayri lazım şey-lər ‘other needed things’ is the head noun and deleted
coreferential noun phrase. It occupies the case-role of object both in the lower-level RC and in
the higher-level sentence.
11.5. Logic behind the choice of type
Why this parallel use of two major types of relative clause: the Turkic pre-nominal and the
Indo-European post-nominal? Here a simple answer is suggested, though a good one may
require voluminous research.
Turkic languages throughout the history have been under the influence of Indo-European
languages. In particular, Iranian Azerbaijani, under heavy Persian influence, has significantly
accommodated the Indo-European means of subordination.99 As a result, Iranian Azerbaijani
speakers command both types of RC with equal naturalness. However, there seems to be a
99Azeri has been using the Persian subordinator ki since at least the fourteenth century. (Slobin
1986:281).
tendency in choosing the type in natural speech: When the clause to be relativized is short, say
no more than four words, they tend to choose the Turkic pre-nominal; when the clause is
considerably longer, they use the post-nominal. Obviously speakers can manage the various
morphological and word-order processing and still can grasp the meaning in short relative
clauses. But they seem to find it difficult to process a long relative clause and hard to grasp the
overall meaning. When Iranian Azerbaijani speakers encounter a long pre-nominal relative
clause (such as one may see from a Turkish text), they complain that the sentence is too long
and the meaning is not clear.
Slobin says, "Turkic relative clause constructions are highly nontransparent and therefore are
reformulated in history, replaced by paraphrases in conversation, and acquired with difficulty"
(1986:277). The result of his experiment on the acquisition of the pre-nominal relative clause
type by Turkish children indicates the following: Compared with English children of the same
age, who use the Indo-European post-nominal construction, Turkish children experience
difficulty in acquiring the Turkic pre-nominal construction. This difficulty is observed even
among adults, particularly with the use of -dIX construction, because it requires more
complicated morphological processing. Identifying various case-roles is another cause of
difficulty. "When Turkish children begin to use subordinate constructions, they have difficulty
with casemarking... They also have difficulty in choosing the appropriate nonfinite verb form"
(Slobin 1986:286). After all, this experiment was carried out upon Turkish speakers, who have
used more genuine Turkic constructions since the language reform of 1928. Therefore, it should
be no wonder that Iranian Azerbaijani speakers, under daily influence from the Persian media
and official language usage, should often resort to the simpler-to-process and conforming-to-
Persian construction of post-nominal subordination.
In Iranian Azerbaijani, actually most relative clauses with -dIX are composed of two words,
rarely of three words or more, and those with other participles are not so different. In contrast,
relative clauses with the post-nominal construction seem to have some liberty with regard to the
number of words that they have. Iranian Azerbaijani speakers seem to feel comfortable in
processing the syntax of post-nominal subordination in complex sentences. Among educated
speakers, this type of subordination is even considered as canonical, displacing the indigenous
Turkic construction into the position of a secondary type. Nevertheless, as a result of this
linguistic trade Azerbaijani has acquired a wide variety of means to construct subordinate
clauses. This argument applies to all other forms of subordination, including complementation
and adverbial clauses.
Further, this logic is in line with a wider cross-linguistic tendency. Cross-linguistic
observation shows that relative constructions prefer the post-nominal position. Dik summarises,
"The Prefield is universally less hospitable to complex material than the Postfield; ... Postfield
languages will hardly ever have their relative constructions in the Prefield; on the other hand,
there is a rather strong tendency for Prefield languages to have them in the Postfield."
(1989:350, 355). Iranian Azerbaijani may be a classic example.
11.6. Relativization of adverbial roles: Time/place – relativization
The structure of relative clause is utilized to relativize adverbial (or oblique) roles—most
commonly "time" and "place". The relativized noun phrase with this type of embedded relative
clause functions as an adverbial clause. The overall structure of oblique relative clause is
exactly the same as that of canonical relative clause in each type. The head noun is not the
subject or object in the underlying subordinate clause. The head noun in oblique relative clauses
specifies its own semantic case-role with the use of words explicitly indicating the role, such as
zaman ‘time’, vaxt ‘time’ or yer ‘place’. Thus, the case-role of the missing coreferent noun
being self-evident through the meaning of the head noun, there is no further need to
identify/recover the case-role. In Azerbaijani, relativization of adverbial roles is realized also
with the two types of relativization. The logic behind the choice of type described in 11.5
applies here as well.
The use of relative constructions in this category may be an interface between relative clauses
and adverbial clauses.
11.6.1. Pre-nominal relativization of adverbial roles
In most cases the participles -(y)An and -dIX are employed in this category. In most cases
"time" and "place" are expressed in this construction; other adverbial roles including "manner"
are not encountered. The construction is a formula of "V-(y)An/-dIX (-Possessive suffix) +
Noun". Relativization of time and place is illustrated in the following.
Time: First, let us look at the relativization of "time" from the following examples. The head
nouns vaxt and zaman ‘time’ are synonymous and interchangeable.
(15) Relativization of "time":

a. Bu-ni gör-ən vaxt can-dil-dən aşiq ol-di.
this-ACC see-PTC time soul-heart-ABL lover become-3S.PA
[[O V ]REL N]ADV.CL Adv Comp V
‘When he saw this, he fell in love with all his heart.’
b. Yuxu-da ol-dux-lari vaxt-dan başlan-di.

[sleep-LOC become-PTC-3P.PO time]-ABL begin-3S.PA
‘It started from the time when they were sleepy.’
Place: The following are examples for the relativization of "place". The head noun is yer
'place'.
(16) Relativization of "place":

a. inəy-in sümüy-i basdır-ıl-an yer
cow-GEN bone-3S.PO bury-PASS-PTC place
‘the place where the bones of cow were buried.’
b. Həsən-nin yat-dığ-i yer-ə gir-di.

[Hasan-GEN sleep-PTC-3S.PO place]-DAT enter-3S.PA
‘She entered the place where Hasan slept.’
11.6.2. Post-nominal relativization of adverbial roles
Time: Relativization of "time" is the most thriving usage in this category. The head noun vaxt
or zaman ‘time’ is preceded by the demonstrative pronoun o ‘that/the’, thus the head noun
phrase is a rather frozen o vaxt or o zaman ‘that time’.
(17) Relativization of "time":

O vaxt ki, islam gəl-di və Đran-a hökümət elə-di,
that time SUB Islam come-3S.PA and Iran-DAT rule do-3S.PA
‘When Islam came and ruled Iran,
biz Đranlı-lar bəzi adab və rüsum-lar-ımızi saxla-dıx.

we Iranian-PL some custom and practices-PL-1P.ACC keep-1P.PA
we Iranians kept some of our customs and practices.’
Place: The post-nominal relativization of "place" appears rarely to replace the pre-nominal
construction, but it is sometimes combined with the conditional to express the meaning of
‘(what)ever’. We may call this a "conditional relative clause". The head noun yer ‘place’ is
suffixed with the locative marker and is preceded by the demonstrative pronoun o: thus, a
formula "o yer-də ‘in that place’ ... V-sA ‘if’".
(18) Conditional relative clause with "place":
O yer-də ki, bir nəfər insan bir uzax çirağ-ın

that place-LOC SUB one person man one far.way lamp-GEN
işığ-ı-ynan qıziş-sa,
light-3S.PO-COM warm.up-3S.COND
‘If ever a man is able to warm up from the light of a faraway lamp.’
11.7. Possessive relative clauses
Azerbaijani possessive relative clauses are expressed both in pre-nominal and post-nominal
constructions. The characteristic of possessive relative clause is that the missing coreferent noun
takes up the role of possessor modifier within some noun phrase, which is in the genitive (-
possessive) construction, in the relative clause. The possessor modifier is expressed by adding
an appropriate possessive suffix to the noun modified. Sometimes the possessor role of the
coreferent noun takes place within locative phrases.
11.7.1. Pre-nominal possessive relative clauses
The following are examples in this category:
(19) a. Possessor within the NP in the RC:

ata-si Tabriz-də ol-an uşax
father-3S.PO Tabriz-LOC be-PTC child
‘the child whose father is in Tabriz’
b. Possessor within the locative phrase in the RC:

çiyn-i-ndə iti ucli ox-lar-i
shoulder-3S.PO-LOC sharp pointed arrow-PL-3S.PO
ol-an ovçi
be-PTC hunter
‘the hunter on whose shoulder were sharp pointed arrows’
11.7.2. Post-nominal possessive relative clauses
Some possessor modifiers in this category are expressed with possessive suffixes, as in (a.)
below, while others are augmented with the use of resumptive pronouns which in turn appear in
the genitive case; thus the noun phrases form a complete possessive construction, as in (b.)
below.
(20) a. Possessor within the NP in the RC:

Urmiyə-nin hava-si bir kuhistani hava-dır
Urmia-GEN climate-3S.PO one mountainous climate-be.3S.PR
ki, qiş-lar-i çox soyux və ...

SUB winter-PL-3S.PO very cold and
‘The climate of Urmia is a mountainous one
whose winters are very cold and ...
b. Resumptive pronoun within the NP in the RC:

Bu şəhər-in bir mə’ruf dəryaçə-si var ki,
this city-GEN one famous lake-3S.PO existent SUB
o-nun su-yi çox şor-di.

it-GEN water-3S.PO very salty-be.3S.PR
‘There is a famous lake of this city whose water is very salty.’
In (b.) above, the possessor role of the coreferent noun dəryaçə-si ‘its lake’ is resumed within
the relative clause with the third-person singular pronoun o ‘it’ suffixed by the genitive marker -
nun. As a result, the task of recovering the case-role of the missing coreferent noun becomes
easy. It seems that resumptive pronouns are used when the distance between the head noun and
the extraposed relative clause is relatively long. But this reason does not seem to be decisive.
The reason why some possessors take resumptive pronouns while some others do not is as yet
not clear.
11.8. Headless relative clauses
Azerbaijani relative clauses are sometimes headless, i.e. without a lexical head noun. Deletion
of the head noun takes place in the head noun phrase which is modified by the relative clause.
This can be realized in two ways: (i) In the pre-nominal type, the participle -An is used for
subject relative clauses and the participle -dIX for object relative clauses. -An in headless
relative clauses functions as the ‘agentive nominalizer’ (3.2.2.1.1.b.) meaning ‘one who does
"verb"’ instead of the usual function as an adjectival modifier (or participle). (ii) In the post-
nominal type, the head noun phrase of a relative clause is represented by a pronoun o
‘he/she/it’. The following are examples compared with the headed equivalents:
(21) a. Headless subject pre-nominal RC:

Bura gəl-ən mənim ata-m-dır.
here come-PTC my father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘(The one) who is coming here is my father.’
aa. Headed equivalent:

Bura gəl-ən kişi mənim ata-m-dır.
here come-PTC man my father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The man who is coming here is my father.’
b. Headless object pre-nominal RC:

Mən-im axtar-dığ-ım bu i-di.
1S.GEN look.for-PTC-1S.PO this be.3S.PA
‘This was (the one) who(m) I had looked for.
bb. Headed equivalent:

Mən-im axtar-dığ-ım kişi bu i-di.
1S.GEN look.for-PTC-1S.PO man this be.3S.PA
‘This was the man who(m) I had looked for.
c. Headless post-nominal RC:

O ki, bura gəl-ir, mənim ata-m-dır.
he SUB here come-3S.PR my father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The one who is coming is my father.’
cc. Headed equivalent:

O kişi ki, bura gəl-ir, mənim ata-m-dır.
that man SUB here come-3S.PR my father-1S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘The man who is coming here is my father.’
The coreferential head noun kişi ‘man’ is deleted from the higher-level sentences (a.) and (c.).
Relative clauses themselves are untouched: i.e. bura gəl-ən in (a.) or bura gəl-ir in (c.) is the
same as that in (aa.) or (cc.) respectively. In (b.), in the same vein, the head noun kişi, which is
the object within the relative clause, is deleted.
Though the form of -An or o does not change either in the headed or in the headless
construction, their function changes slightly. As mentioned above, the function of -An changes
from a modifier to the ‘agentive nominalizer’; that of o changes from a demonstrative pronoun
(‘that’) to a personal pronoun (‘he/she/it’).
11.9. Clause internal relativized noun phrases and the infinitive
The infinitive is used to form a relative clause in a clause-internal relativized noun phrase.
The structure of the relativized noun phrase is a possessive construction. Within the noun
phrase the elements prior to the head noun construct a relative clause modifying the head noun.
The case-role of the head noun is often adverbial, such as "place", as the following example
shows:
(22) Bə’zi mühəqiq-lər Zərtoşt-un dünya-ya gəl-mək

some scholar-PL Zoroaster-GEN world-DAT come-INF
yer-i-ni Azərbaycan bil-ib-lər.

place-3S.PO-ACC Azerbaijan know-PF-3P
‘Some scholars have known that the place of Zoroaster’s birth is Az.’
Relativized noun phrase: Zərtoşt-un dünya-ya gəl-mək yer-i

‘the place where Zoroaster was born’ (or literally ‘the place where
Z. came to the world.’)
Underlying subordinate proposition: Zərtoşt dünya-ya gəl-di.

‘Zoroaster came to the world.’ or ‘Z. was born.’
In the above sentence, the relativized noun phrase is in the possessive construction. The
predicate of the relative clause is an infinitive.
11.10. Recursive embedding of relative clauses
Both types of Azerbaijani RCs can be recursive within the main sentence. In practice,
however, Iranian Azerbaijani speakers tend to produce more post-nominal recursive
embeddings than pre-nominal ones. This may be linked to the logic behind the choice of type
(see 11.5.). The number of embedded clauses normally does not exceed two. Following is an
example of post-nominal recursion:
(23) Recursion of post-nominal RC:

Urmiyə şəhər-i qərbi Azərbaycan ustan-ı-nın
Urmia city-3S.PO western Azerbaijan province-3S.PO-GEN
mərkəz-i-di ki, bu şəhər-in səkkiz yüz min

centre-3S.PO-be.3S.PR SUB this city-GEN 8 100 1,000
nəfər cəmiyyət-i var ki, oların milliyət-ləri

person population-3S.PO existent SUB their nationality-3P.PO
türk, kürd, fars, asuri, ərməni, kəlimi-dir.

Turk Kurd Persian Assyrian Armenian Jew-be.3S.PR
‘Urmia city is the centre of Western Azerbaijan province whose
population is 800,000 people whose nationalities are Turkish
(i.e. Azerbaijani), Kurdish, Persian, Assyrian, Armenian, and Jewish.’
Main clause: Urmiyə şəhər-i qərbi Azərbaycan ustan-ı-nın mərkəz-i-di

‘Urmia city is the centre of Western Azerbaijan province.’
Underlying subordinate proposition 1 (for RC 1):

Bu/Urmiyə şəhər-in səkkiz yüz min nəfər cəmiyyət-i var.
‘The population of this city is 800,000 people.’

Oların milliyət-ləri türk, kürd, fars, asuri, ərməni, kəlimi-di.
‘Their nationalities are Turkish ... and Jewish.’
The overall structure of the above sentence is: Main Clause [RC1 [RC2]]. The head noun of
RC1 is Urmiyə şəhəri ‘the city of Urmia’ of which the coreferential noun phrase occupies the
possessor case-role in the relative clause. The RC1 functions as the higher-level sentence for the
RC2 of which the head noun is bu/Urmiyə şəhərin cəmiyyəti ‘the population of this/Urmia city’.
The coreferential noun phrase in the RC2 again occupies the possessor case-role.
The following is an example of pre-nominal recursion.
(24) Recursion of pre-nominal RC:

Padşah öz oğl-i Həsən-ə ver-diy-i qələ-yə
king own son-3S.PO Hasan-DAT give-PTC-3S.PO castle-DAT
yaxın ol-an bir dağ-a çıx-dılar.
close be-PTC one mountain-DAT climb-3P.PA
‘They climbed up a mountain which was near the castle which the
king had given to his own son Hasan.’
Main clause: Bir dağ-a çıx-dılar. ‘They climbed up a mountain.’

Bir dağ qələ-yə yaxın i-di.
‘A mountain was near the castle.’
Padşah qələ-ni öz oğl-i Həsən-ə ver-di.
‘The king gave the castle to his own son Hasan.’
The overall structure of the above sentence is: "[[RC2] RC1] Main Clause". The head noun of
RC1 is bir dağ ‘a mountain’, of which the coreferential noun phrase occupies the subject case-
role in the copular relative clause. The RC1 functions as the higher-level sentence for the RC2,
of which the head noun is qələ ‘castle’. The coreferential noun phrase in the RC2 occupies the
object case-role.
226 12. Inter-clausal connections
Chapter 12
Inter-clausal connections
In the two previous chapters two types of inter-clausal connections, i.e. complement clauses
and relative clauses, are described. The inter-clausal connections described in this chapter are
structurally and semantically less homogeneous than the previous two types: adverbial clauses
and coordinate clauses.
It is generally agreed that adverbial clauses are a sort of convenient mixed bag; they are
diverse in both structure and function: structurally they vary from juxtaposition of clauses to
nominalized subordinate clauses, and they represent several semantic functions or roles.
Then there is the domain of coordination, where two or more of syntactically equal clauses
are connected. Coordinate clauses are less diverse in structure and function than the adverbial
clauses are.
12.1. Adverbial clauses
Adverbial clauses are categorized here with respect to the semantic functions that they
maintain in relation to the main clauses. They are expressed in various structural types, which
are described below.
12.1.1. Structural types of adverbial clauses
Like many other languages, Azerbaijani also manifests a relative degree of integration
between the subordinate clause and the main clause. Givón puts it, "the more two events/states
are integrated semantically or pragmatically, the more will the clauses that code them be
integrated grammatically" (Givón 1990:826). In Azerbaijani, four structural types are identified
for marking adverbial clauses: (i) juxtaposition of independent clauses; (ii) finite clauses with
subordinating conjunctions or conjunctive phrases; (iii) non-finite clauses with subordinating
morphemes; (iv) participial-nominalized constructions with postpositions or case suffixes.
These four types show a gradual scale of clause integration: a simple juxtaposition indicates the
two events are minimally integrated semantically, while nominalized adverbial clauses indicate
they are highly dependent on the main events/clauses. On the other hand, these diverse
structures again reflect the two structural sources of Azerbaijani, namely the Altaic-Turkic and
Indo-European structures.
(i) Juxtaposition of independent clauses may be exemplified with the following clauses with a
reason-result relation.
(1) Padşah əmr elə-di, Məməd-ə qırx şəqqə ət

king order do-3S.PA [Memed-DAT forty lump meat
hazır elə-di-lər.
preparation do-PA-3P]
‘The king ordered and they prepared forty lumps of meat for M.’
(ii) The type of finite clause with subordinating conjunctions or conjunctive phrases is highly
productive, forming both pre-posed and post-posed adverbial clauses, depending on the
characteristics of each subtype. There are three subtypes:
(a) Pre-posed adverbial clauses with a cataphoric interrogative pronoun: There may or may
not take a postposition or a postpositional phrase, such as necə ‘how’, harada ‘where’, or nə
qədər ‘how much’. Their following main clauses take a resumptive anaphoric pronoun or
phrase, such as elə ‘that manner/way, something like that’, orada ‘there’, or o qədər ‘that
much’, as in the following locative clause:100
(2) Hara-da camaat var-sa, biz ora-da ol-malı-yıx.

[where-LOC people be-3S.COND] we there-LOC be-NECES-1P
‘Wherever the people are, we must be there.’
(b) Pre-posed adverbial clauses in the form of a relative clause: The relative clause takes a
generic head noun such as vaxt/zaman ‘time’ or yer ‘place’, as described in 11.6. This is most
common with temporal and locative clauses, as in:
(3) Bu-ni gör-ən zaman can-dil-dən aşiq ol-di.

[this-ACC see-PTC time] soul-heart-ABL lover become-3S.PA
‘When he saw this, he fell in love with all his heart.’
(c) Post-posed adverbial clauses with the subordinator ki: their preceding main clauses take a
cataphoric pronoun or phrase, such as elə ‘that manner/way’, onda ‘then’, or ona görə
‘according to that’, as in the following example of reason clause:
(4) Həsən ona görə belə tez get-di ki, söhbət

Hasan according.to.that so quickly go-3S.PA [SUB talk
o-nu razı et-ma-mış-di.

he-ACC pleased do-NEG-PF-3S.PA]
‘Hasan went so soon, because he was not pleased with the talk.’
(iii) Subordinating morphemes, singly or in combination, construct non-finite subordinate

adverbial clauses. They are of two subtypes: (a) subordinative suffixes, such as the conditional
suffix -sA ‘if’, or the temporal suffix -cAX ‘when, as soon as’; (b) grammatical lexical items –
particles or adverbs, such as əgər ‘if’, əvvəl ‘before’, sora ‘after’, singly or in combination with
other grammatical suffixes. The following examples are time and conditional clauses.
(5) a. Qız Məməd-i gör-cək de-di: "Ey cavan ..."

girl [Memed-ACC see-as.soon.as] say-3S.PA oh young.man
‘As soon as the girl saw Memed, she said, "Oh young man, ..."’
100The examples in this chapter are taken mostly from three sources: from Kazımov and Seydov
(1994) and Azerbaycan Dilinin Đzahlı Lüğəti(1964 et al), as well as from the author’s own
corpus of text.
b. Əgər bir səhv iş-im ol-sa

[if a wrong thing-1S.PO be-3S.COND]
boyn-um-ı vur-dur-a bil-ərsən.

neck-1S.PO-ACC strike-CAUS-be.able-2S.AOR
‘If there is anything wrong with me, you can have my neck struck.’
(iv) The type of participial-nominalized constructions, with or without case suffixes or

postpositions, produces pre-posed adverbial clauses. Clauses of this type can take either the past
participle -dIX for realis modality, the infinitive -mAX or the negative -mA for irrealis modality,
as in the following purpose clauses:
(6) a. Söhbət o-ni razı elə-mə-diy-i üçün

[talk he-ACC pleased cast-NEG-PTC-3S.PO for]
belə tez get-di.

so quickly go-3S.PA
‘He went so quickly, because he was not pleased with the talk.’
b. Qatar-a vaxtında çat-max üçün belə tez get-di.

[train-DAT on.time reach-INF for] so quickly go-3S.PA
‘He went so quickly to reach the train on time.’
c. Günəş doğ-ma-mış dur-ub

[sun rise-NEG-PF.PTC] wake.up-CS
‘He used to get up while the sun had not yet risen, and
bilet-i günorta-ya qədər sat-ar-dı.

ticket-ACC noon-DAT till sell-HAB-3S.PA
sell tickets till noon.’
12.1.2. Temporal clauses
Temporal adverbial clauses specify a temporal setting for their main clauses. The temporal
relationship between the event in the subordinate clause and the event in the main clause can be
one of the following types: precedence ‘before’, subsequence ‘after’, simultaneity ‘while’,
initial ‘since’, or terminal ‘till’ boundary. Various structural types are employed to construct
temporal clauses.
a. ‘When’ clauses
Generic temporal sequence clauses, ‘when’ clauses, are constructed by a few structural types:
(a) subordinating morpheme V-(y)AndA ‘when, while’, (b) post-posed finite clause, (c) pre-
posed relative clauses, both post-nominal and pre-nominal relativizations.
-(y)AndA ‘when, while’ may be the most frequently used to construct generic temporal
clauses, encoding simultaneity, subsequence or terminal boundary, as in the following
examples:
(7) a. Simultaneity:
Heç vaxt gör-mə-diy-im yemək-lər-ə bax-anda
[never see-NEG-PTC-1S.PO food-PL-DAT look-when]
ağz-ım-ın su-yi ax-di.

mouth-1S.PO-GEN water-3S.PO run-3S.PA
‘When I looked at the food which I had never seen, my mouth was watering.’
b. Subsequence:
Fatma inək inən ev-ə qayıd-anda ata-si
[Fatma cow with home-DAT return-when] father-3S.PO
on-i iş dalıca göndər-ib inəy-i kəs-di.

she-ACC work after send-CS cow-ACC slaughter-3S.PO
‘When Fatma returned home with the cow, her father sent her on an errand
and he slaughtered the cow.’
c. Terminal boundary:
Ata-m-ın yan-ı-na çat-anda
[father-1S.PO-GEN side-3S.PO-DAT arrive-when]
xiyaban-lar tamam xəlvətləş-miş-di.

street-PL completely quieten-PF-3S.PA
‘When I arrived at my father’s side, the streets were completely quiet.
A post-posed finite clause is constructed by "o vaxt/zaman//onda+Main Verb+ki+Subord.

CL" ‘when Main Verb, Subord. CL’, as in the following example:
(8) Oğlan o zaman kənd-ə çat-di ki,

boy [the time] village-DAT arrive-3S.PA [SUB
iş iş-dən keç-miş-di.
work work-ABL pass-PF-3S.PA]
‘The boy arrived at the village (at a time)
when he was unable to do anything about the matter.’
The relative clause construction, with a generic head noun vaxt/zaman ‘time’, is also used to
produce pre-posed time adverbial clauses. The pre-nominal relativization of time is constructed
by replacing -dA in the subordinating morpheme -(y)AndA with the generic head noun
vaxt/zaman, as examplified in (a1.) below. (See 11.6. for other manners of the temporal relative
clause construction.) The examples in (7) above may be restructured in the form of a relative
clause:
(9) a. Simultaneity:
a1. Pre-nominal relative clause:
Heç vaxt gör-mə-diy-im yemək-lər-ə bax-an vaxt
[never see-NEG-PTC-1S.PO food-PL-DAT look-PTC time]
ağz-ım-ın su-yi ax-di.

mouth-1S.PO-GEN water-3S.PO run-3S.PA
‘When I looked at the food which I had never seen, my mouth was watering.’
a2. Post-nominal relative clause:

O vaxt ki, heç vaxt gör-mə-diy-im yemək-lər-ə
[the time SUB never see-NEG-PTC-1S.PO food-PL-DAT
bax-dım, ağz-ım-ın su-yu ax-dı.

look-1S.PO]
(The remaining morpheme glosses and translation are as in (7.a.)
b. Subsequence:
O zaman ki, Fatma inək inən ev-ə qayıt-di,
[the time SUB Fatma cow with home-DAT return-3S.PA]
ata-si on-i iş dalıca göndər-ib inəy-i kəs-di.

(The remaining morpheme glosses and translation are as in (7.b.)
c. Terminal boundary:
O vaxt ki, ata-m-ın yan-ı-na çat-dım,
the time SUB father-1S.PO-GEN side-3S.PO-DAT arrive-1S.PA]
xiyaban-lar tamam xəlvətləş-miş-di.

(The remaining morpheme glosses and translation are as in (7.c.)
b. ‘Before’ clauses
‘Before’ clauses are characteristically marked by the negative marker -mA after the verb stem.
This negative feature in ‘before’ clauses is attested in many other languages (Thompson and
Longacre 1985:182). In Azerbaijani, two more items are involved to construct ‘before’ clauses:
the ablative case suffix -dAn and the postposition əvvəl ‘before’ or qabax ‘before’ which is
often optional. Among these three features, the negative feature is central. There are two kinds
of constructions, depending on the aspectuality of the event in the complex sentence: (a) V-
mAzdAn (əvvəl/qabax), with the aorist (indirect future) tense-aspect, indicates the durative
aspect of the event in the ‘before’ clause; (b) V-mAmIş (-dAn əvvəl/qabax), with the negative
perfect participle, indicates the perfect aspect of the event in the ‘before’ clause with reference
to the time of the event in the main clause. Often this construction of ‘before’ clause is used
without adding the postpositional phrase -dAn əvvəl/qabax ‘before’, thus forming an "absolute"
construction, as in the example (b.) below (also in (6.c.) above)101:
101In general the absolute construction is rarely used among Altaic/Turkic languages.
(10) a. Söz-üm-ə başla-maz-dan əvvəl bu-ni

[word-1S.PO-DAT begin-AOR.NEG-ABL before] this-ACC
de-məli-yəm.
say-NECES-1S
‘I must say this before I begin my speech.’
b. Pəhləvan at-dan düş-mə-miş başla-dı qişqır-mağa.

warrior [horse-ABL alight-NEG-PF] begin-3S.PA shout-PURP
‘The warrior started to shout before he had alighted from the horse.’
The adverbial suffix -mAdAn (the nominalizer suffix -mA plus the ablative case suffix -dAn)
is also used to construct ‘before’ clauses, optionally followed by əvvəl/qabax, as in:
(11) Həsən bura gəl-mədən əvvəl sən nəyn-ir-din?

Hasan here come-ADVLZ before you do.what-PROG-2S.PA
‘Before Hasan came here, what were you doing?’
c. Subsequent temporal clauses
To express the sense of temporal subsequence, i.e. ‘after’ clauses, a few constructions are
used in addition to the ordinary or unmarked ‘when’ clauses as mentioned above. ‘After’
clauses are expressed usually as pre-posed subordinate clauses, utilizing subordinating
morphemes or participles, with or without a postposition: V-(y)AndAn sora ‘after(wards) ...’, V-
(y)IncA ‘after ..., when’. V-(y)IncA indicates a relatively shorter temporal interval between the
two events, meaning close to ‘as soon as’.
(12) a. Oyna-yandan sora Fatma tələsik qayıt-di ev-ə.

dance-after Fatma quickly return-3S.PA home-DAT
‘After the dancing, Fatma returned home quickly.’
b. Qonşu-lar-ımız bu xəbər-i eşid-incə

neighbour-PL-1P.PO [this news-ACC hear-after]
çox narahat ol-du-lar.

very anxious become-PA-3P
‘When our neighbours heard this news, they became very anxious.’
When two events are not semantically integrated but nonetheless connected in a temporal
sequence, the sequence is expressed by the time adverb sora ‘afterwards, and then’. Sora also
indicates a condition—consequence relationship, when preceded by the imperative. In this case
it means more ‘and then’, as in (b) below:
(13) a. Padşah oğl-u-nun üz-ü-ndən–göz-ü-ndən

king son-3S.PO-GEN face-3S.PO-ABL–eye-3S.PO-ABL
öp-dü-lər sora hamam-a apar-dı-lar.

kiss-PA-3P afterwards bath-DAT take-PA-3P
‘They kissed the face and eyes of the king’s son,
(and) afterwards they took (him) to the bath.’
b. Gəl baş-ım-a bax sora ver-im.

come-2S.IMP head-1S.PO-DAT look-2S.IMP and.then give-1S.IMP
‘Come and look at my head, and then I will give.’
Temporal clauses with the ‘as soon as’ or ‘on ...ing’ phrase may be included in this section as
a specified kind of ‘after’ clause, since they also express the sense of temporal subsequence but
specifically that the event in the adverbial clause is immediately followed by the main event.
Three types are noted in the corpus of texts: V-cAX, V-(y)Ar- V-mAz, V-(y)An kimi. -(y)Ar- -
mAz is a pair of positive and negative aorist forms of the verb. -(y)An kimi is a combination of
the participle -(y)An and the postposition kimi ‘like’. They express equally the sense of
immediate subsequence. Further, these ‘as soon as’ constructions are characterized in that one
subject is used for both the subordinate and main clauses. Here are some examples:
(14) a. Padşah alma-lar-i gör-cək çox şad ol-di.

king [apple-PL-ACC see-as.soon.as] very glad became-3S.PA
‘As soon as the king saw the apples, he became very glad.’
b. Ana-sı-ni gör-ər-gör-məz ağla-mağa başla-di.

[mother-3S.PO-ACC see-as.soon.as] cry-INF-DAT start-3S.PA
‘On seeing his mother, he started to cry.’
c. Boz dev qardaş-ı-nı gör-ən kimi gül-di.

grey giant [brother-3S.PO-ACC] see-as.soon.as laugh-3S.PA
‘On seeing his brother, the grey giant laughed.’
d. Simultaneous temporal clauses
While the generic ‘when’ clauses can express temporal simultaneity, the particle ikən ‘while
being’ is used specially to encode simultaneous time across the two events/clauses. This
structure is the preferred form to express simultaneity with copular clauses. With verbal clauses,
it is suffixed as -kən to the verb after the tense-aspect suffix, such as V-(y)Arkən, V-mIşkən.
(15) a. Mən xəyal aləm-i-ndə ikən qulağ-ım-ın

I dream world-3S.PO-LOC while.being ear-1S.PO-GEN
dib-i-ndə tükürpədici səs ucal-di.

bottom-3S.PO-LOC creepy sound rise.up-3S.PA
‘While I was in the dream world, a creepy sound rose up
in the bottom of my ear.’
b. Maşın hərəkət ed-ər-kən arxa-dan

car motion do-AOR-while.being back-ABL
kimsə məni tut-ub saxla-di.

someone me drag-CS stop-3S.PA
‘While the car was starting, someone dragged me back and stopped me.’
e. ‘Since’ clauses
To express the initial boundary for a durative event or state, i.e. ‘since’ clauses, the following
participial constructions are used: V-dIXcA ‘since’; V-(y)AndAn bəri, V-(y)AndAn sora, V-
(y)AndAn bu yana – these three, meaning ‘since’, share the same sentence structure. -(y)AndAn
sora of the ‘after’ clause is also used to code the initial boundary, when the main event or state
is durative.
(16) a. Ata-mız qocal-dıxca, lap xəsisləş-ib.

father-1P.PO [get.old-since] very become.stingy-3S.PF
‘Our father, since he got old, has become very stingy.’
b. Sən-i axırıncı dəfə gör-əndən bəri harada ol-musan?

[you-ACC last time see-since] where be-2S.PF
‘Where have you been since I saw you last?’
c. Bizim Lalə, boyli ol-andan sora baş-i

our Lale [pregnant be-since] head-3S.PO
həy dərd-də i-di.

much pain-LOC be-3S.PA
‘Our Lale has had a lot of problems, since she became pregnant.’
f. ‘Till’ clauses
To express the terminal boundary for a durative event or state, i.e. ‘till’ clauses, the
postpositions—lexical qədər ‘till’ and suffixal V-cAn/-cAX/-dək ‘till’—are used in conjunction
with the preceding dative case marking. The suffixal postpositions are attached to a participial
or relativized nominal phrase with vaxt/zaman ‘time’ as the head noun. qədər is used
periphrastically, with a participial construction of the form "V-(y)AnA qədərə ‘till Verb’, or
within a finite adverbial clause of the form "o vaxta qədər ki +Subord.CL" ‘till the time
that+Subord.CL’.
(17) a. Şah-ın yan-ı-na gəl-ən-ə qədər

[king-GEN side-3S.PO-DAT come-PTC-DAT till]
heç söz de-mə-di.

no word say-NEG-3S.PA
‘Until he came to the king, he didn’t say anything.’
b. O vaxt-a qədər ki, təpə baş-ı-na çat-di,

[the time-DAT till SUB hill top-3S.PO-DAT reach-3S.PA]
heç istirahat elə-mə-di.

no rest do-NEG-3S.PA
‘Until he reached the hill top, he didn’t take any rest.’
c. Şah-ın yan-ı-na gəl-ən-ə-cən

[king-GEN side-3S.PO-DAT come-PTC-DAT-till]

d. Şah-ın yan-ı-na gəl-ən vaxt-a-can

[king-GEN side-3S.PO-DAT come-PTC time-DAT-till]

When participial-nominalized ‘till’ clauses are not specifically marked by the temporal noun
vaxt/zaman but followed by a locative expression in the main clause, these constructions code
also a locative adverbial clause, i.e. ‘until, as far as’.
(18) Təbriz-ə çat-an-a qədər hansı yol-lar-dan keç-din?

[Tabriz-DAT arrive-PTC-DAT till] which road-PL-ABL pass-2S.PA
‘Which roads did you take until you arrived in Tabriz?’
12.1.3. Locative clauses
There are two ways of constructing locative adverbial clauses: (a) pre-posed clauses with a
cataphoric interrogative pronoun "hara+Case suffix", expressing ‘wherever’, followed by a
resumptive anaphoric pronoun "ora+Case suffix" ‘there’; (b) pre-posed relative clauses with a
generic head noun yer ‘place’ (cf. 11.6), like temporal clauses explained in the above section, as
in the examples (b.) and (c.) below:
(19) a. Hara əl at-ıram, ora-dan bir əngəl çıx-ır.

[where hand throw-1S.PR] there-ABL a obstacle come.out-3S.PR
‘Wherever I throw my hand, there comes out an obstacle.’
b. Qar əri-yən yer-lər-də su-yun

[snow melt-PTC place-PL-LOC] water-GEN
Şaqqıltı-sı-ndan dur-max ol-m-ur.

roar-3S.PO-ABL stand-INF be.possible-NEG-3S.PR
‘Because of the roar of water it’s not possible to stand
where the snow is melting.’
c. O yer-də ki, ürək var, məhəbbət də ora-da var.

[the place-LOC SUB heart be.3S.PR] love also there-LOC be.3S.PR
‘Where the heart is, love is there also.’
12.1.4. Manner clauses
Manner clauses are formed by the following three devices of different structural types. The
order below suggests the relative frequency of their use.
(i) Participial-nominalized constructions+the postposition kimi ‘like, as, as if’: the past
participle "V-dIX+Person+kimi" is used for the manner of the past, while its negative is often
expressed by the negative perfect participle -mAmIş, as in:
(20) a. Firni-satan qoca həmişə ol-duğ-u kimi

rice.cake-seller old.lady [always be-PTC-3S.PO like]
bu dəfə də arx-ın qırağ-ı-nda otur-muş-di.

this time also ditch-GEN edge-3S.PO-LOC sit-PF-3S.PA
‘The old lady selling rice cakes sat at the edge of the ditch,
as she always used to be.’
b. Böyük öğl-i heç nə ol-ma-miş kimi

eldest son-DEF [nothing happen-NEG-PF.PTC as.if]
ata-sı-na de-di.
father-3S.PO-DAT say-3S.PA
‘The eldest son said to his father as if nothing had happend.’
(ii) Pre-posed finite manner clauses with the interrogative pronoun necə ‘how’, nə cür ‘what
way, how’ or nə təhər ‘what way, how’: these manner clauses are followed by the main clause
with an optional word or phrase such as elə ‘that manner/way’ or o cür ‘that way’. Sometimes
the particle dA ‘also’ is added after the subject of the main clause, as in:
(21) Qari necə de-miş-di, Fatma da o cür elə-di.

[old.lady how say-PF-3S.PA] Fatma also that way do-3S.PA
‘Fatma also acted in such a way, as the old lady had said.’
Necə may be followed by ki, i.e. necə ki, when the construction comes before the subject, thus
the above example may be recast as Necə ki qarı de-miş-di, Fatma da ... with the same
meaning.
(iii) This device makes use of the iterative aspectual construction "V-(y)A–V-(y)A" in the
manner clause, expressing the repetitive manner of the main event, as in:
(22) Həsən bağ-ı gəz-ə–gəz-ə çarhovuz-un

Hasan [garden-ACC roam-SS–roam-SS] pool-GEN
yan-ı-na çat-di.
side-3S.PO-DAT arrive-3S.PA
‘Hasan arrived at the pool, as he roamed about the garden.’
12.1.5. Reason and result clauses
Reason clauses are formed by means of three structural types: (i) juxtaposition of independent
clauses; (ii) the use of the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib; (iii) finite clauses with the subordinator ki
‘that’ or çünki ‘because’; (iv) nominalized constructions. The main clause of a reason clause
generally functions as a result clause, i.e. in a reason—result relationship.
(i) Independent clauses are paratactically juxtaposed to express the reason-result relationship
between the clauses, as in:
(23) Məməd yuxu-dan ayıl-ıb quş-i gör-di, çox qorx-di.

Memed sleep-ABL wake.up-CS bird-ACC see-3S.PA very be.afraid-3S.PA
‘Memed woke up from sleeping and saw the bird, he was very afraid.’
The first two events, ‘woke up and saw’, become the reason or cause of the last event ‘be
afraid’. That the clauses are independent indicates that the reason events may not be logically
linked to the result but that the result owes something to the emotional attitude of the subject
person.
(ii) The use of the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib: it may border between subordination and
coordination. Nevertheless, the semantic relationship between the two events connected by -
(y)Ib may signal the reason—result relationship, as in:
(24) At su-dan qorx-ub su iç-mə-di.

horse water-ABL fear-CS water drink-NEG-3S.PA
‘The horse was afraid of the water, so he didn’t drink the water.’
(iii) Finite reason clauses with the subordinator ki ‘that’, cün ‘because’ or çünki ’because’:
these subordinators are used singly or periphrastically, such as o səbəbdən ki ‘because, for the
reason that’, ona görə ki ‘because that’, ona görə... ki ‘because, seeing... that’. The generic
subordinator ki indicates a less strong logical relationship between the two events than the
reason subordinator çünki or other periphrastic phrases do. O səbəbdən ki is in a form of
relative clause with a generic head noun səbəb ‘cause, reason’. The Persian loanword çünki is
interchangeable with another Persian loanword çün but çünki is used more frequently. These are
some examples:
(25) a. Padşah oğl-u-nun aln-ı-ndan öp-üb,

king son-3S.PO-GEN forehead-3S.PO-ABL kiss-CS
Şükr elə-di ki, o sağ-səlamət-di.

thanks do-3S.PA [SUB he safe.and.healthy-be.3S.PR]
‘The king kissed the forehead of his son and thanked God,
because he was safe and healthy.’
b. Đnəy-i öldür-mək istə-di, çünki iş-lər-in

cow-ACC kill-INF want-3S.PA [because matter-PL-GEN
baş-i o i-di.
head-3S.PO it be-3S.PA]
‘He wanted to kill the cow, because it was the head of the matter.’
c. O səbəb-dən ki, iş-lər-in baş-i

[that reason-ABL SUB matter-PL-GEN head-3S.PO
inək i-di, o-ni öldür-mək istə-di.

cow be-3S.PA] it-ACC kill-INF want-3S.PA
‘Because the cow was the head of the matter, he wanted to kill it.’
d. O-na göre inəy-i öldür-mək istə-di ki,

that-DAT for cow-ACC kill-INF want-3S.PA [SUB
iş-lər-in baş-i o i-di.

matter-PL-gEN head-3S.PO it be-3S.PA]
‘Seeing that the cow was the head of the matter, he wanted to kill it.’
The structure of the sentence with ona görə ki is syntactically the same as that with o səbəbdən
ki. Thus, the example (c.) above may be recast with ona göre ki like this: Ona görə ki, iş-lər-in
baş-i inək i-di, o-ni öldür-mək istə-di.
(iv) Nominalized constructions make use of the past participle -dIX in two or three ways, with
the person and case suffixes, ablative or dative, attached to the verb of the adverbial clause, with
or without the postposition üçün or görə: "V-dIX+Person -dAn(ABL)" ‘because’; "V-
dIX+Person üçün" ‘because’; "V-dIX+Person-A(DAT) görə" ‘because, for’, as in:
(26) a. Çoban o-nun səs-i-ni

shepherd [he-GEN voice-3S.PO-ACC
eşit-mə-diy-i-ndən gəl-ə bil-mə-di.

hear-NEG-PTC-3S.PO-ABL] come-be.able-NEG-3S.PA
‘The shepherd was unable to come, because he didn’t hear his voice.’
b. Yorğun ol-duğ-um üçün tez yat-dım.

tired be-PTC-1S.PO for quickly sleep-1S.PA
‘I fell asleep quickly, because I was tired.’
c. Çox tələs-diy-i-nə görə körpü-dən keç-əndə

[very hurry-PTC-3S.PO-DAT for] bridge-ABL pass-when
başmağ-ı-nın bir tay-ı-ni sal-di su-ya.

shoe-3S.PO-GEN one side-3S.PO-ACC drop-3S.PA water-DAT
‘Because she hurried very much, when she crossed the bridge,
she dropped a shoe into the water.’
In Azerbaijani, reason clauses often share the same construction with purpose clauses, e.g. ki
‘that’ or ona görə... ki ‘... seeing that’. This is in agreement with a universal observation: "Both
purpose and reason clauses can be seen as providing explanations for the occurrence of a given
state or action. They differ in that purpose clauses express a motivating event which must be
unrealized at the time of the main event, while reason clauses express a motivating event which
may be realized at the time of the main clause event." (Thompson and Longacre 1985:185). In
Azerbaijani, these differences are expressed by the use of different markings: reason clauses use
realis verb forms, while purpose clauses use irrealis verb forms, specifically two forms – the
subjunctive and infinitive. The following is a simple comparison; the reason clause takes the
realis past participle-nominalizer, while the purpose clause takes the irrealis infinitive:
(27) a. Reason clause:

Gəl-diy-i üçün zəng elə-di.
[come-PTC-3S.PO for] phoning do-3S.PA
‘He phoned, because he came.’
b. Purpose clause:
Gəl-mək üçün zəng elə-di.
[come-INF for] phoning do-3S.PA
‘He phoned to come.’
12.1.6. Purpose clauses
Purpose clauses are formed by means of two structural types: (i) Finite clauses with the
subordinator ki ‘that’, ta (ki) ‘so that’, or məbada ‘lest, I hope not’; (ii) Nominalized
constructions. As noted in the above section, purpose clauses are characterized in that they use
only two irrealis verb forms: the subjunctive in finite clauses and the infinitive in non-finite
nominalized clauses.
(i) Finite clauses with the subordinator ki ‘that’, ta (ki) ‘so that’, or məbada ‘lest’. Məbada
marks negative purpose clauses and it comes at the head of the subordinate clause, preceded by
the subordinator ki. In addition, the periphrastic phrase ona görə... ki is also used to form
purpose clauses.
(28) a. Əjdaha ağac-a dırmaş-ır-di ki, genə

dragon tree-DAT climb-PROG-3S.PA [SUB again
Zümürrüd-ün bala-lar-ı-ni ye-sin.

Zümürrüd-GEN baby-PL-3S.PO-ACC eat-3S.SJNCT]
‘The dragon was climbing up the tree to eat the babies of Zümürrüd.’
b. Diqqət inən daniş-di, ta ki onun söz-lər-i-n

care with talk-3S.PA [so.that his word-PL-3S.PO-ACC
anla-sınlar.
understand-3P.SJNCT]
‘He talked carefully so that they could understand his words.’
c. O-na görə bu adam-ı gətir-ib-sən ki, biraz

that-DAT for this man-ACC bring-PF-2S [SUB a.little
diş-im-in dib-i-ni dəyiş-im.

tooth-1S.PO-GEN bottom-3S.PO-ACC change-1S.SJNCT]
‘You have brought this man so that I could change the taste of my mouth
for a little.’
d. Qoyun-i öz ev-i-nə gətir-ib ki,

sheep-ACC self house-3S.PO-DAT bring-3S.PF [SUB
məbada ginə qurd gəl-ib apar-sın.

lest again wolf come-CS take.away-3S.SJNCT]
‘He has brought the sheep to his own house lest the wolf should
come again and take it away.’
It may be notable that there is another use of məbada ‘lest, I hope not’ as a negative wish: it
may be placed either in the beginning of an independent clause or after another clause which
does not have ki at the end. Clauses with məbada take the optative-subjunctive form of the verb,
as in:
(29) a. Məbada o-na əl vur-asan.

lest he-DAT hand hit-2S.OPT
‘I wish/expect you will not hit him.’
b. Siz-ə bir vəsiyyət-im var, məbada on-i

you.PL-DAT a testament-3S.PO be.3S.PR I.hope.not it-ACC
yad-ız-dan çıxard-asız.
memory-1P.PO-ABL take.out-2P.OPT
‘I have a testament for you. I hope you will not forget it.’
(ii) Nominalized constructions make use of the infinitive -mAX plus the postposition üçün
‘for’ or ötri ‘for’; with ötri, the infinitive takes the ablative case, thus: "V-mAX üçün" ‘for the
purpose of’ and "V-mAX-dAn ötri" ‘for the sake of’.
(30) a. Ana-m-ın yan-ı-nda ol-max üçün

mother-1S.PO-GEN side-3S.PO-LOC be-INF for
ürəy-im əs-ir-di.
heart-1S.PO tremble-PROG-3S.PA
‘My heart was trembling to be with my mother.’
b. Mən elə bu div-i öldür-mək-dən ötri bura gəl-miş-əm.

I thus [this giant-ACC kill-INF-ABL for] here come-PF-1S
‘Thus I have come here to kill this giant.’
12.1.7. Conditional clauses
Conditional adverbial clauses express open or simple irrealis conditions and hypothetical or
counterfactual conditions. Conditional clauses, being unreal by nature and implying an event
with a potential to be realized in the future, typically have their main clauses marked with
irrealis verb forms, such as the aorist -(y)Ar, the future -(y)AcAX, or the imperative.
Conditional clauses in Azerbaijani are formed in several structural types: (a) the
grammaticalized conditional suffix -sA (see 4.2.2.1 for personal endings) or the optative-
subjunctive -(y)A, in combination with or without the conditional subordinator əgər ‘if’; (b)
periphrastic phrases, mostly forming finite subordinate clauses; (c) juxtaposition of independent
clauses with a specific intonation contour.
12.1.7.1. Simple irrealis conditions
The most typical device to construct open or simple irrealis conditions is "(əgər)... V-sA" ‘if...
Verb’; here əgər ‘if’ is optional, because -sA alone can indicate conditional, as in the examples
(a.) and (b.) below. If əgər is present, the conditional feature gets enforced. An alternative to
this is "əgər...V-(y)A", i.e. the optative verb form -(y)A is employed in place of the conditional
suffix; here əgər is obligatory, as in (c.) below. əgər is pronounced əyə(r) in natural speech. The
main clauses are typically marked by the aorist (indefinite future or habitual) or less frequently
by the future, as in (c.) below, or the imperative, as in (b.) below, as the speech situation
demands.
(31) a. Əgər bir səhv iş-im ol-sa

[if a wrong thing-1S.PO be-3S.COND]
boyn-um-i vur-dur-a bil-ər-sən.

neck-1S.PO-ACC strike-CAUS-be.able-AOR-2S
‘If there is any wrong with me, you can have my neck struck.’
b. Usta gəl-sə, yer-iz-ə əyləş-in.

[teacher come-3S.COND] place-2P.PO-DAT sit-2P.IMP
‘If the teacher comes, sit in your place.’
c. Əgər sən bu adam-a toxun-asan, sən-nən ömürlük

[if you this man-DAT harm-2S.OPT] you-COM lifetime
düşmən ol-acağ-am.
enemy be-FUT-1S
‘If you harm this man, I will become a lifetime enemy to you.’
d. Əgər bu iş-i gör-ək, yalançi ol-arıx.

if this thing-ACC see-1P.OPT liar become-1P.AOR
‘If we do this thing, we will become liars.’
The past tense-aspect marker -dI and the inferential marker -mIş may be attached both to the
conditional clause and to the main clause; as -sAydI (Conditional + Past), -dIsA (Past +
Conditional), -sAymIş (Conditional + Inferential), with the epenthetic y in between the
morphemes. -sAydI expresses an advanced degree of irrealis and constructs hypothetical or

counterfactual conditionals, which will be discussed in 12.1.7.4. below. -dIysA expresses more
realis than irrealis, and it codes either reality conditionals or concessive conditionals.
Concessive conditional clauses are discussed in 12.1.8. Reality conditionals with -dIsA express
that the event in the conditional clause has indeed occurred in the past but is not specified at the
moment of the speech. Their main clauses are marked by a realis tense-aspect marker, typically
the past -dI, as in:
(32) Ürəy-im-də nə söz-üm var i-di-sə,

[heart-1S.PO-LOC what word-1S.PO existent be-PA-3S.COND]
sənə de-dim.
to.you say-1S.PA
‘I told you whatever word I had in my heart.’
-sAymIş indicates a highly unrealistic nature of the event, as its irrealis feature is doubled by the
conditional and the inferential, as in:
(33) Bu alma-ni hər kəs ye-sə-ymiş

[this apple-ACC every person eat-COND-3S.INFR]
on beş yaş-ı-nda oğlan ol-ar-mış.

ten five age-3S.PO-LOC boy become-HAB-3S.INFR
‘They say if anyone ate this apple, he would become a fifteen-year-old boy.’
(ii) There are other less typical ways to construct conditional clauses: (a) a group of
constructions that are related to temporal clauses. This is separately dealt with in the following
section 12.1.7.2.; (b) the participial construction "V-An halda" ‘in case that...’; (c) post-posed
finite conditional clauses with the cataphoric postpositional phrase bu/o/bir şərt inən ‘with
this/that/a condition’ in the main clause. Here are examples:
(34) a. Qurd-lar gəl-ən hal-da, çoban çomağ-ı-ynan vur-ar.

[wolf-PL come-PTC case-LOC] shepherd rod-3S.PO-with strike-3S.AOR
‘In case wolves come, the shepherd would strike them with his rod.’
b. Sən-i bu şərt inən qəbul ed-ir-əm ki,

you-ACC this condition with acceptance do-PR-1S [SUB
keç-ib ged-ən-lər-i kamil unud-asan.

pass-CS come-PTC-PL-ACC completely forget-2S.OPT]
‘I accept you with this condition that you shall forget all the bygone things.’
(iii) Juxtaposition of two independent clauses: the first clause functions as the conditional
clause, the second as the apodosis or main clause. Two clauses are connected with an intonation
contour which indicates that the two clauses together form a grammatical unit: the first clause
ends with a rising pitch, while the second ends with a falling pitch signalling the end of the
sentence, as in the following example: (H - high pitch, L - low pitch, / - rising pitch, \ - falling
pitch)
(35) H LL LL LL-/H LH LL H\L

Bir kasa azlıx elə-yir, yeddi kasa ye.
one bowl insufficiency do-3S.PR seven bowl eat.2S.IMP
‘If one bowl isn’t enough, eat seven bowls.’
12.1.7.2. Conditional and temporal clauses
A close relationship between conditionals and temporal clauses is found in many languages of
the world (Thompson and Longacre 1985:193, ). In Azerbaijani, four such kinds of
constructions are registered: (a) "nə/hər vaxt/zaman V-sA" ‘whenever’, (b) "indi ki+CL" ‘now
that, (c) "nə qədər ki+CL" ‘as long as’, (d) "V-mAyIncA" ‘when not, unless’. Nə vaxt ‘when’
can alternatively take the conditional -sA, i.e. "nə vaxt/zaman V-sA+Person", as in the example
(b.) below. -mAyIncA is the negative of -(y)IncA ‘after, when’, when the time of the main event
is future. However, -(y)IncA does not function as a positive conditional. In general, these
conditional constructions do not take the conditional suffix -sA but realis verb forms.
(36) a. Hər vəxt istə-sən gəl o yer-ə,

[every time want-2S.COND] come.2S.IMP the place-DAT
orada bir cüt qızıl başmax tap-ar-san.

there a pair gold shoe find-AOR-2S
‘Whenever you want, come to the place, and there you will find
a pair of gold shoes.’
b. Nə vaxt bu bıçağ-ın ağz-ı-ndan qan

[when this knife-GEN mouth-3S.PO-ABL blood
dam-sa, bil ki, mən dar-da-yam.

drop-3S.COND] know.2S.IMP SUB I trouble-LOC-be.1S.PR
‘Whenever this knife drops blood from its mouth, know that I am in trouble.’
c. Đndi ki, razı ol-m-ur-san, bari

[now.that satisfied be-NEG-PR-2S] at.least
bu de-dik-lər-im-ə qulax as.

this say-PTC-PL-1S.PO-DAT listen-2S.IMP
‘Now that you are not satisfied, at least listen to these things that I say.’
d. Nə qədər ki, bel-in-də-dir,

[as.long.as SUB waist-2S.PO-LOC-be.3S.PR]
heç kim sən-ə bat-a bil-məz.

no one you-DAT overcome-can-3S.AOR.NEG
‘As long as it is on your waist, no one can overcome you.’
e. Düşmən-i yıx-mayınca heç qayıt-m-arıx.

[enemy-ACC destroy-unless] never return-NEG-1P.AOR
‘We will never return, unless we have destroyed the enemy.’
As noted from the above examples (a.) and (b.), a type of conditional construction expresses
indefinite adverbial clauses, such as ‘whenever’ in (a.) and (b.). This is constructed by
combining an interrogative pronoun and a conditional construction. Further, this type of
construction expresses ‘whatever’, ‘whoever’, ‘however much’ etc. Here are some more
examples:
(37) a. Hər kim məni yıx-sa, o-na ged-əcəy-əm.

[whoever me overcome-3S.COND] he-DAT go-FUT-1S
‘Whoever wins over me, I will marry to him.’
b. Hər nə elə-səm, "of" de-mi-yəsən.

[whatever do-1S.COND] "ouch" say-NEG-2S.OPT
‘Whatever I do, you shouldn’t say "ouch!"’
c. Nə ye-səz, mən ver-ər-əm.

[what eat-2P.COND] I give-1S.AOR
‘Whatever you (want to) eat, I will give.’
d. Yol-da hər kim-i dar-a düş-müş

[way-LOC whoever-ACC trouble-DAT fall-PF.PTC
gör-əsən, xilas elə.

see-2S.OPT] rescue do.2S.IMP
‘Whoever you see on the way has fallen in trouble, rescue him.’
e. Bu şərab-i nə qədər iç-sən, yenə də

this wine-ACC however.much drink-2S.COND again also
qurtar-mi-yacax.
finish-NEG-3S.FUT
‘However much you drink this wine, it still will not finish.’
12.1.7.3. Negative conditionals
Negative conditionals are formed by adding the negative marker -mA before the conditional -
sA or before tense-aspect markers in the verb, as in:
(38) a. Hava yaxşılaş-ma-sa, mən get-mə-yəcəy-əm.

[weather clear-NEG-3S.COND] I go-NEG-FUT-1S
‘If the weather does not clear, I will not go.’
b. Əgər məni toxtad-a bil-mə-sən,

[if me heal-can-NEG-2S.COND]
boyn-un-i vur-dur-acağ-am.
neck-2S.PO-ACC strike-CAUS-FUT-1S
‘If you can not heal me, I will have your neck struck.’
On rare occasions, the Persian negative conditional subordinator məgər ‘if not, unless’ is
used. It is equivalent to əgər ...-mA, as in: [Məgər məni toxtad-a bil-əsən,] boyn-un-i vur-dur-
acağam. This example is a reconstruction of the above example (b.) with the same meaning,
taken for the purpose of comparison. )
12.1.7.4. Counterfactual conditionals
Counterfactual conditionals encode events that the speaker perceives as highly hypothetical:
either the unrealized conditions of the past events or the hypothetical and controversial
conditions of the present events.
Counterfactual conditional clauses for unrealized conditions of the past events are constructed
by adding the past tense-aspect marker -dI to the typical irrealis conditional construction, i.e.
"(əgər)...V-sAydI" ‘if Verb[Past-Perfect]’. Their main clauses are marked by adding the past
tense-aspect marker to the aorist, future or other verb forms. The imperative form does not
appear in this construction, as the event is already beyond any manipulation. Here are examples:
(39) a. O ol-ma-sa-ydi, düşmən bizi qır-ıb

[he be-NEG-COND-3S.PA] enemy us destroy-CS
qurtar-ar-di.
finish-HAB-3S.PA
‘If he had not been there, the enemy would have finished destroying us.’
b. Əgər bu quzu-nun sahib-i çıx-sa-ydi,

[if this lamb-GEN owner-3S.PO appear-COND-3S.PA]
nə biabırçılıq ol-acaq i-di?

what shame be-INTENT be-3S.PA
‘If the owner of this lamb had appeared, what shame would there have been?’
c. Mən də orada yat-malı ol-sa-ydım,

[I also there sleep-NECES be-COND-1S.PA]
ata-m-ı oyat-malı i-dim.

father-1S.PO-ACC awaken-NECES be-1S.PA
‘If I also had had to sleep there, I should have awakened my father.’
Another kind of counterfactual conditional is observed; it encodes hypothetical and

controversial conditions of the present events. Here the speaker perceives that the projected
condition is contrary to his understanding or desire or is controversial. It is formed by using the
present tense-aspect after the conditional subordinator əgər: "əgər V-(y)Ir" ‘if Verb’. Its main
clause is irrealis, taking a form like subjunctive or rhetorical question, as in:
(40) a. Əgər ata-m məni ər-ə ver-ir,

[if father-1S.PO me husband-DAT give-3S.PR]
qoy öz rəsm-imiz inən ver-sin.

let self ceremony-1P.PO with give-3S.SJNCT
‘If my father is to marry me off to a husband, let him do it with our ceremony.’
b. Əgər mən Bakı-dan gəl-ir-əm, bəs mənim

[if I Baku-ABL come-PR-1S] then my
gəl-diy-im təyyarə niyə London-dan qalx-ır?

come-PTC-1S.PO airplane why London-ABL take.off-3S.PR
‘If I come from Baku, why, then, does the airplane by which I come take off
from London?’
In the example (a.) above, the hypothetical-counterfactual conditional construction indicates

that the girl/daughter does not want to get married but hypothetically concedes to the pressure
of her father. Its open/simple conditional version will be Əgər atam məni ərə versə (or verə),
qoy... versin. In (b.) above, the speaker argues that he does not come from Baku with a proof
that his airplane took off from London. Thus, that he comes from Baku is contrary to the factual
reality.
12.1.7.5. Optative conditionals
Optative conditionals express a wishful condition, which the speaker desires it to be realized
but the reality is normally to the contrary, i.e. unrealistic or unfulfilled. The particle kaş(ki) ‘I
wish, if only’ is added in the clause initial position with the verb in the optative (-(y)A) plus the
past (-dI): "kaş... V-(y)AydI+Person". The apodosis also takes the same form of verb, as in:
(41) a. Kaş Mahmud mənim qulağ-ım-ın dib-i-ndən

[if.only M. my ear-1S.PO-GEN bottom-ABL
vur-a-ydi, mən də əsəbiləş-ib ona de-yə-ydim.

hit-OPT-3S.PA] I also get.angry-CS to.him say-OPT-1S.PA
‘If only Mahmud hit me by the bottom of my ear, I would get angry
and say/swear to him.’
b. Kaş qar dənə-si-nin dil-i ol-a-ydi,

[I.wish snow piece-3S.PO-GEN tongue-3S.PO be-OPT-3S.PA]
öz sərgüzəşt-i-ni mənə daniş-a-ydi.

own adventure-3S.PO-ACC to.me talk-OPT-3S.PA
‘I wish a snowflake had a tongue and could tell me its own adventures.’
12.1.8. Concessive clauses
Concessive clauses presuppose a contrastive relationship between the two events: the
concessive adverbial clause codes a concession to which the main event is an unexpected
outcome. There are two types of concessive clauses: (i) those with conditional constructions, i.e.
the concessive conditionals; (ii) those with non-conditionl constructions. Both types show the
overall structure "Concession—Counterexpectation". The contrastive relationship is either
syntactically marked by the use of the negative marker -mA in one of the two clauses or by the
contrastive meaning of the two propositions.
(i) Concessive conditional clauses are constructed by the combination of the conditional -sA
and the particle dA ‘also’ or belə ‘so’, or the postpositional phrase nə qədər ‘how much/many’:
thus, (a) "V-sA+Person dA" ‘even if/though’; (b) "Verb-sA+Person belə" ‘even if’; (c) "nə qədər
V-sA+Person (da)" ‘no matter how much/many Verb (still)’. Here are examples:
(42) a. Sat-malı ol-sa-ydı-lar da, o-nu al-mağa

[sell-NECES be-COND-PA-3P also] it-ACC buy-PURP
biz-də o qədər pul harada-ydı?

we-LOC that much money where-3S.PA
‘Even if they had had to sell it, where did we have the money to buy it?’
b. Qabağ-ımız-i dar ağac-lar-ı-ndan meşə-lər

[before-1P.PO-ACC scaffold tree-PL-3S.PO-ABL jungle-PL
kəs-sə belə, mübarizə ruh-umuz qır-ıl-mi-yacax.

block-3S.COND so] fighting spirit-1P.PO destroy-PASS-NEG-3S.FUT
‘Even if jungles of scaffolds block our way, our fighting spirit won’t get destroyed.’
c. Nə qədər "yan-dım! yan-dım!" de-səm,

[what much get.burnt-1S.PA get.burnt-1S.PA say-1S.COND]
qulax as-ma-yın.
listen-NEG-2P.IMP
‘No matter how much I say "I’ve got burnt, I’ve got burnt!",
(still) do not listen to me (i.e. do not come to help me).’
In the example (a.) above, the negative contrast to the positive concessive clause is marked in
the main clause by a rhetorical question, with an intended meaning ‘we hadn’t (enough) money
to buy it.’
(ii) There are three ways to construct concessive clauses other than in the conditional pattern:
(a) the finite concessive clause is marked by the particle hərçənd ‘although’ or gərçi ‘even
though’, at the beginning or in the middle of the concessive clause, optionally with
amma/lakin/ancax ‘but’ or sometimes yenə ‘still’ in the main clause; (b) finite subordinate
clauses introduced by nə qədər ‘how much/many’ without -sA; (c) the participial-nominalized
construction "Verb-dIX+Person + halda (‘in condition’)" is used to express concessive. Here
are examples:
(43) a. Oğlan hərçənd gənc-dir, amma gücli və igid-dir.

[boy although young-be.3S.PR] but strong and brave-be.3S.PR
‘Although the boy is young, he is strong and brave.’
b. Nə qədər arzuman pəhləvan-lar ged-ir-lər,

[what many confident warrior-PL go-PR-3P]
on-i öldür-ə bil-m-ir-lər.

he-ACC kill-be.able-NEG-PR-3P
‘No matter how many confident warriors go (there), they are unable to kill it.’
c. Uşax ol-duğ-u hal-da o qədər ağılli i-di.

child be-PTC-3S.PO condition-LOC that much wise be-3S.PA
‘Although he was a child, he was so wise.’
12.1.9. Correlative degree clauses
A correlative degree clause marks the point of degree with which the main event in the main
clause is compared. Correlative constructions are formed by two structural types: (i) pre-posed
correlative clauses; (ii) post-posed correlative clauses. Both are finite clauses.
(i) Pre-posed correlative degree clauses are formed with the interrogative pronominal phrase
such as nə qədər (ki) ‘what/how much, the more...’ or hər nə qədər ‘however much, the more’.
Following main clauses have an optional anaphoric phrase such as (bir) o qədər (də) ‘(at least)
that much (also)’ or bir elə ‘at least that way’. Sometimes the verb in the degree clause takes the
conditional form, as in the example (b.) below, thus the clause holds the senses of both
correlative degree and conditional.
(44) a. Nə qədər işlə-yər-sən, o qədər də puldar ol-ar-san.

[what much work-AOR-2S] that much also rich become-AOR-2S
‘The more you work, the more you will become rich.’
(Lit. ‘What much you work, that much you will become rich.’)
b. Nə qədər çox oxu-san, o qədər çox bil-ər-sən.

[what much very read-2S.COND] that much very know-AOR-2S
‘The more you read, the more you will know.’
(Lit. ‘What very much you read, that very much you will know.’)
(ii) Post-posed correlative degree clauses are formed with the introduction of the subordinator
ki, expressing the point of comparison, i.e. ‘as much...’. Preceding main clauses have the
cataphoric pronoun or phrase, elə ‘that manner/way’ or o qədər ‘that much, that way’. Degree in
this construction is of suppositional nature. Sometimes the degree clause begins with the phrase
elə bil ‘as if’ intensifying its suppositional nature.
(45) a. Elə gözəl ol-di ki, misl-və-bərabər

that.way beautiful become-3S.PA [SUB likeness-and-equal
tap-ıl-ma-di.
find-PASS-NEG-3S.PA]
‘She became so beautiful that a match could not be found.’
b. Dərzi-yə o qədər xəl'ət ver-di-lər ki, çək-ib

tailor-DAT that much reward give-PA-3P [SUB hold-CS
apar-a bil-mə-di.
take.away-be.able-NEG-3S.PA]
‘They gave so much reward to the tailor that he was unable to hold it
and take it away.’
c. Bağ elə gözəl i-di ki, elə bil

garden that.manner beautiful be-3S.PA [SUB as if
dünya-nın bütün gözəlliy-i bu bağ-a yığiş-ıb.

world-GEN all beauty-3S.PO this garden-DAT gather-3S.PF]
‘The garden was as beautiful as if all the beauty of the whole world gathered
together in this garden.’
12.2. Coordinate clauses
In complex sentences, clauses can be connected to each other, or coordinated, without one
being overtly subordinated to the other in their structure or function. Coordination in
Azerbaijani is formed basically with three kinds of devices: (a) the juxtaposition of clauses; (b)
the use of the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib; (c) the use of conjunctions, such as və ’and’ and həm
də ‘moreover’. Only with -(y)Ib are coordinate clauses non-finite. Further, coordination may be
classified into four types according to function: paraphrase, coupling, contrast, and
disjunction.102 The phenomenon of ellipsis is also described in this section.
12.2.1. Paraphrase
Paraphrase is a rhetorical device of conjoining clauses whereby the first conjunct clause is
restated in the second clause with a different structure or wording but with the same or similar
meaning. In Azerbaijani, paraphrases are often signalled by the reiterative particle yə’ni, demək,
or deməli ‘that is (to say)’ or ‘it means’. This paraphrasing device is usually employed in
expository discourse. Further, at least four subtypes of paraphrase are identified in Azerbaijani
according to the relationship between the two clauses: (a) equivalence paraphrase; (b) generic-
specific paraphrase; (c) amplification paraphrase; (d) affirmative-negative paraphrase. Here are
examples:
(46) a. Equivalence paraphrase:

Mən özüm anadan ol-muş-am düz otuz il bu-ndan
I myself be.born-PF.1S exactly thirty year this-ABL
102This classification broadly follows the models of Longacre (1976:101ff., 1985:235ff.) and Givón
(1990:847ff.).
irəli, yə’ni mən-im düz otuz yaş-ım var.

before that.is I-1S.PO exactly thirty age-1S.PO existent.3S.PR
‘I was born exactly thirty years ago, that is, I am exactly thirty years old.’
b. Generic-specific paraphrase:
Siz hazır-sız, demək, ged-ə bil-ər-ik?
you ready-be.2P.PR it.means go-be.able-AOR-1P
‘Are you ready, it means, can we go?’
c. Amplification paraphrase:
De-yə bil-mi-yəcəy-əm, yə’ni
say-can-NEG-FUT-1S that.is
de-məyə ixtiyar-ım yox-dur.

say-PURP power-1S.PO non-existent-be.3S.PR
‘I will not be able to say, that is, I don’t have any power to say.’
d. Affirmative-negative paraphrase:
Qılınc çox ağır i-di, deməli, heç
sword very heavy be-3S.PA that.is never
qaldır-a bil-məz i-di.

raise-be.able-AOR.NEG be-3S.PA
‘The sword was very big, that is, it was not possible to raise it.’
12.2.2. Coupling
Coupling encodes the close thematic coherence across the conjunct clauses in the sentence.
Three basic kinds of device are all employed to construct coordinate clauses in this type, i.e. (a)
the juxtaposition of clauses; (b) the use of the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib; (c) the use of
conjunctions. Occasionally these three kinds of device are used all together in one sentence. The
closeness of the thematic coherence or continuity is a matter of degree, so the devices reflect the
degree.
In general, the coordinative suffix -(y)Ib indicates the highest degree of closeness between the
conjuncts, with a sense of temporal sequence in relation with the following conjunct clause.
When the verb with -(y)Ib is directly followed by another verb, their relation is most coherent
and continuous, approximating to a serial verb construction, as in (a.) below. Other clausal
elements may appear in between the two verbs, as in (b.) below:
(47) a. Onun ağac-ı-ni götür-üb qaç-di.

her staff-3S.PO-ACC take-CS run-3S.PA
‘It took her staff and ran.’
b. Yel onun əl-ağac-ı-ni götür-üb

wind her staff-3S.PO-ACC take-CS
bir baca-dan sal-di.

a chimney-ABL drop-3S.PA
‘The wind took her staff and dropped it down a chimney.’
The juxtaposition of clauses seems to have two functions. In one way, it signals a relatively
longer temporal interval between the events than those with -(y)Ib, but there is still thematic
coherence, as in the example (a.) below. On other occasions, it may indicate a relationship of
contrast (‘but’) or paraphrase between the two clauses, as in (b.) below:
(48) a. Ayrı yeməli bir şey-lər apar-ar-lar, yığiş-ar-lar,

other delicious a thing-PL take-AOR-3P store-AOR-3P
de-yər-lər, gül-ər-lər.
say-AOR-3P laugh-AOR-3P
‘They would take other delicious things, and they would gather together,
talk and laugh.’
b. Mən ev-dən çöl-ə çıx-ma-miş-am,

I home-ABL outside-DAT go.out-NEG-PF-1S
sən buyur-duğ-un iş-lər-in dalıca ol-muş-am.

you order-PTC-2S.PO work-PL-GEN behind be-PF-1S
‘I haven’t gone out from home, I have been working on the things you ordered.’
Two conjunctions və ‘and’ and "həm(i) də" ‘moreover, and also’, and the particle dA ‘also’,
are mostly used to coordinate clauses. In a coupling coordination, the particle dA is always used
as a pair, appearing after the conjunct clause, i.e. "A dA, B dA" ‘A and also B’. dA functions to
coordinate clauses, though it does not appear directly after the verb but after the noun phrase.
Həm is sometimes used doubly as "həm A həm(i) də B" ‘A and also B’, to intensify the
coherence of the conjoined propositions. These conjunctions are used normally to conjoin finite
clauses, but sometimes are used with the tense and person markers being deleted, as explained
in 12.2.3. below. The degree of thematic coherence is less close with this mode than with -(y)Ib.
Və is sometimes added to a sentence with three or more juxtaposed clauses, being placed before
the last conjunct, to boost the thematic coherence in the sentence, as in the example (c.) below:
(49) a. Bir gün Fatma-nın ana-si naxoşla-yır

one day F.-GEN mother-3S.PO get.ill-3S.PR
və qız-ı-na de-yir.
and daughter-3S.PO-DAT say-3S.PR
‘One day Fatma’s mother gets ill and says to her daughter.’
b. Kiçik qardaş Həsən böyük qardaş-lar-ı-ndan

little brother Hasan big brother-PL-3S.PO-ABL
(həm) ağıllı-y-di, həm də gücli i-di.

(both) wise-be-3S.PA and.also strong be-3S.PA
‘The youngest brother Hasan was wiser than his elder brothers
and he was also stronger.’
c. Qabaxca ağ su-da çim-di, sora qara su-da

first white water-LOC bathe-3S.PA after black water-LOC
saç-lar-ı-ni yu-di və qırmızi su-dan

hair-PL-3S.PO-ACC wash-3S.PA and red water-ABL
yanaq-lar-ı-ni sürt-di.
cheek-PL-3S.PO-ACC rub-3S.PA
‘First she bathed in the white water, afterward washed her hair
in the black water, and then rubbed her cheeks with the red water.’
d. Bizim də üz-ümüz ağ ol-sun, ana-n-ın da.

our also face-1P.PO bright be-3S.IMP mother-2S.PO-GEN also
‘Let our face shine bright as well as your mother’s.’
In the example (d.) above, only the genitive/possessor phrases bizim and ana-n-ın are
structurally conjoined, but semantically the two clauses are conjoined as a whole. Note that the
possessed clause üz-i ‘her face’ and the verb phrase ağ olsun are deleted under identity in the
second clause.
Occasionally, depending on the individual speaker’s style and often in the Urmia dialect, və is
additionally supplied after the -(y)Ib coordination, as a result, giving a sense of slightly longer
temporal interval than without the və:
(50) Malla naçar qal-ıb və qabul elə-di.

mullah helpless remain-CS and acceptance do-3S.PA
‘The mullah remained helpless, and then he accepted.’
12.2.3. Ellipsis
In sentences with conjoined clauses, certain elements in conjunct clauses are deleted, when
their identity is recoverable from the other conjunct clause. Ellipses occur in all the types of
coordination but paraphrase; however, coupling coordination more frequently takes ellipsis than
other types, while contrast coodination takes ellipsis rather rarely.
The position of the deleted element in the sentence may be either (a) sentence-initial, such as
with the conditional subordinator əgər ‘if’ in the example (a.) below; (b) sentence-medial, such
as with the whole verb phrase or some elements of the verb as in (b.) below. Also the deletion
of equi-subject or object noun phrases is among those common sentence-medial ellipses; (c)
sentence-final, such as with the whole verb phrase as in (c) below. Ellipsis most frequently
takes place in sentence-medial position. Here are some examples: (The gap left by the deleted
element is signified by Ø; the anaphoric element is made bold.)
(51) a. Əgər malla tab gətir-mi-yə və

if mullah endurance bring-NEG-3S.OPT and
(əgər) (malla) isti yer-ə qayıd-a,

Ø Ø warm place-DAT return-3S.OPT
‘If the mullah doesn’t endure and returns to a warm place,’
b. Qabaxca bir ağ su Ø, bir qara su

first one white water one black water
Ø və sora bir qırmızi su çıx-acax.

and after one red water come.out-3S.FUT
‘First white water, then black water, afterwards red water will come out.’
c. Alt dodağ-i yer süpür-ür, üst dodağ-i göy Øf

lower lip-3S.PO land sweep-3S.PR upper lip-3S.PO sky
‘Her lower lip was sweeping the land, her upper lip the sky.’
d. Bu-na da ağla-yıb(/Ø) göz-ün-ün yaş-ı-ynan

this-DAT also weep-CS eye-2S.PO-GEN tear-3S.PO-with
doldur-ar-san.
fill-AOR-2S
‘You shall also weep and fill this with your tears.’
e. Fatma səbr el-ir(Ø), (Fatma) hər gün qara

Fatma patience do-PROG Ø every day black
inəy-i apar-ır-mış otar-mağa.

cow-ACC take-PROG-3S.INF graze-PURP
‘It was said that Fatma was persevering and every day she was taking out
the black cow for grazing.’
f. Çox şey-lər-i eşid-ir-ik, Ø gör-ürük, lakin...

many thing-PL-ACC hear-PR-1P see-1P.PR but
‘We hear and see many things, but...’
The deleted elements are varied; some of the major ones are: (a) the whole verb phrase, when
there are different subjects sharing the same action/verb, as in the example (b.) above; (b) with -
(y)Ib, all the tense-aspect-modality markings of the verb phrase, where the same subject takes
all the sequential actions, as in (d.) above; (c) the tense and person markers of the verb, while
the aspect marker is marked in each verb, where the same subject takes different actions/verbs
in the same temporal context, as in (e.) above; (d) the noun phrase of subject or object, as in
malla in (a.) and çox şeyləri in (f.) above.
12.2.4. Contrast
Contrastive coordination encodes thematic contrasts across the conjunct clauses in the
sentence. The devices of (a) juxtaposition and (b) conjunctions, such as amma ‘but’, lakin ‘but’,
ancax ‘but only/just’ and the particle yox ‘not’ are used to code contrastive coordination.
Contrastive conjunct clauses are mostly finite clauses, except those with yox.
Juxtaposed clauses like the example below show a contrastive relationship.
(52) Çox gəz-di-lər tap-amma-dı-lar.

very walk.about-PA-3P find-IMPOS-PA-3P
‘They walked about very much (but) were unable to find (it).’
Contrastive conjunctions may be used in between conjunct clauses within a sentence or in a

sentence initial position to signal a contrast with the previous sentence. The typical contrastive
conjunction amma expresses the most clear-cut contrast, while its synonym lakin indicates still
clear-cut but less than amma; ancax has a sense of ‘only’ in addition to contrast. These three
conjunctions are positioned at the beginning of the second conjunct clause.
(53) a. Sənin baş-ın dolu-di bit-birə inən,

your head-2S.PO full-3S.PR lice with
amma nənə-m-in baş-i çox təmiz-di.

but grandmother-1S.PO-GEN head-3S.PO very clean-be.3S.PR
‘Your head is full of lice, but my grandmother’s head is clean.’
b. O-ni axtar-dı-lar lakin tap-a bil-mə-di-lər.

he-ACC search-PA-3P but find-be.able-NEG-PA-3P
‘They searched for him, but were unable to find.’
c. Mən-ə var-dövlət lazım deyil,

I-DAT wealth necessary be.NEG.3S.PR
ancax bir xahiş-im var.

but.only a request-1S.PO existent.3S.PR
‘I don’t need wealth, but only I have a request.’
The denial particle yox ‘not’, positioned at the end of the first conjunct clause, negates the
first conjunct, thus establishes a contrastive relation between the two conjunct clauses, as in:
(54) O, sən-i öldür-məyə yox, sən-ə kömək elə-məyə gəl-ir

he you-ACC kill-PURP not you-DAT help do-PURP come-3S.PR
‘He is coming not to kill you but to help you.’
12.2.5. Disjunction
Disjunction coordination encodes a choice among two or more possible alternatives. There
are two subtypes of disjunction: (a) disjunction with only two possible alternatives; (b)
disjunction with more than two possible alternatives.
(i) Disjunction with two possible alternatives: this typical disjunctive coordination is formed
by the conjunction yaxud ‘or’ or yoxsa ‘or, otherwise’. və ‘and’ is usually added to yaxud, thus
used as və yaxud.
(55) a. Adam-lar papruz çək-ir-lər, və yaxud papruz

man-PL cigarette smoke-PR-3P or cigarette
adam-lar-i çək-ir.
man-PL smoke-3S.PR
‘People smoke cigarettes, or cigarettes smoke the people.’
b. Şükr et bu hal-ə, yoxsa

thanks do.2S.IMP this condition-DAT or
gəl-ər bir bəla sənə.

come-3S.AOR a disaster to.you
‘Give thanks for this condition, otherwise a disaster may come.’
Occasionally the coupling construction "A dA, B dA" is employed to form disjunctive
alternatives in combination with the conditional structure using -sA, thus as "A da -sA, B dA –
sA" ‘whether A or B’, as in:
(56) Yer-də də ol-sa, göy-də də ol-sa,

earth-LOC also be-3S.COND heaven-LOC also be-3S.COND
gərək bu saat paslı qılınc-i gətir-əsiz.

necessary this hour rusty sword-ACC bring-2P.OPT
‘Whether it’s on earth or it’s in heaven, you must bring
the rusty sword right now.’
(ii) Disjunction with more than two possible alternatives: the complex conjunctions "ya... ya
da" and "nə... nə də" are employed to form disjunction with two or more alternatives,
respectively forming positive and negative alternatives: "ya A, (ya B,) ya da C" ‘either A, (or
B), or C’; "nə A, (nə B,) nə (də) C" ‘neither A, (nor B,) nor C’. Of course, the number of
alternatives can be larger than two or three. Here are examples:
(57) a. Döyüşçü-lər bu müharibə-də ya qalib gəl-məli,

soldier-PL this war-LOC either victory come-NECES
ya öl-məli, ya da təslim et-məli-dir.

or die-NECES or also surrencer do-NECES-3S.PR
‘In this war the soldiers either have to come out victorious,
or die, or surrender.’
b. Vəzir nə ye-di, nə iç-di, nə də danıs-di.

minister neither eat-3S.PA nor drink-3S.PA nor also speak-3S.PA
‘The minister neither ate, nor drank, nor spoke.’
Occasionally when there are three or more alternative clauses using ya but without da before
ya in the third alternative clause, the first two alternatives form a macro alternative which is
placed as an alternative to the third clause: it may be schematized as "A[a~b]~B". After the
macro alternative, there is a longer pause. Here is an example:
(58) Ya buyur cəllad-a, ya çəkdir

either sentence.2S.IMP executioner-DAT or make.pull.2S.IMP
dar-a; ya yetir dərman-a,

scaffold-DAT or carry.2S.IMP cure-DAT
üz-ün bürü-mə!
face-2S.PO cover-NEG.2S.IMP
‘Sentence (me) to the executioner, or let them pull (me) up to the
scaffold; otherwise carry (me) to the cure, don’t cover up your face!’
256 13. Non-declarative speech acts
Chapter 13
Non-declarative speech acts
There are three major sentence types: declarative, imperative, interrogative. The grammatical
description until now has been of the declarative type, which in fact is the most frequent in
texts. This chapter describes the remaining two major sentence types, i.e. imperative and
interrogative types. In addition, a brief description of three minor sentence types—
exclamations, imprecatives and optatives—follows.
These sentence types perform the forces of speech acts or human communicative activities;
(a) to give information (declarative), (b) to make orders or give requests (imperative), (c) to gain
information (interrogative), (d) to express the speaker’s feelings (exclamations), and (e) to
express wishes or hopes, whether positive or negative (optatives). Various structural forms are
used to encode these types. In general, there are typical syntactic constructions for each speech
act type; however, it is also the case that one type is expressed by constructions which ordinarily
express different sentence types. For instance, the clause Bura gələcəksən ‘You shall come
here’ is declarative in a typical sense, but it may also be a mild version of command or request.
13.1. Imperative
The word "imperative" is used here as a generic label for several subcategories of
manipulative speech acts, such as commands, orders, requests, suggestions, and pleas. As these
speech acts attempt to make the hearer respond to do something, the interaction between the
speaker and the hearer becomes highly socially-oriented. Here the factors of power, status and
distance are involved to determine the level of formality/politeness and, as a result, the forms of
imperative expression: from subjectless bare-stem imperative form, to optative-subjunctive form
with the subject and other elements of the sentence, and even to the form of questions.
The speaker may be socially either higher or lower and may be either distant from or close to
the hearer in their socio-personal relationships: when the speaker is lower, the imperative in fact
represents a plea, pleading or prayer; when the relationship is distant, the imperative becomes
more formal and in general the construction becomes longer. Therefore, the relationship
between the speaker and the hearer is multi-dimensional, both horizontally and vertically. The
many ways to express imperatives are simply a reflexion of the many situations of relationship
between the speaker and the hearer. The following description begins with the construction of
the canonical imperative sentence, then describes some other ways to construct imperative
sentences and prohibitives.
13.1.1. The canonical imperative sentence
In Azerbaijani, the canonical imperative sentence is constructed by the imperative form of the
verb, which is the bare-stem form of the verb. This form is typically used with the second
persons without overtly marking the subject, as in:
(1) a. Gəl!
come.2S.IMP
‘Come!’
b. Gəl-in!
come-2P.IMP/2H.IMP
‘Come!’
c. Qara inəy-imiz-i özün otar-ginan!

black cow-our-ACC yourself graze-2P.IMP
‘(Darling,) graze our black cow yourself!’
The second person plural form of the imperative, as in (b.) above, is used both ordinarily for
multiple hearers and honorifically for a single or multiple hearers whose social status is higher
than and who are socially distant from the speaker. The rarely used second person imperative
form -ginan expresses the imperative with a display of affection between close participants such
as a mother and her daughter.
In pragmatic use of the canonical imperative form, the second person subject is often
expressed to make the imperative more personal, by way of (a) below the personal pronoun sən
or siz, (b) titles or names of occupation in the vocative, or (c) names in the vocative. Use of the
personal pronoun may decrease the level of politeness, but the use of titles or names usually
increases the level, as in:
(2) a. Sən bir mənə bax!

you one to.me look.2S.IMP
‘You give me a look!’
b. Yel baba, əl-ağac-ım-i ver, baba!

wind grandpa staff-1S.PO-ACC give.2S.IMP grandpa
‘Grandpa Wind, give (me) my staff, grandpa!’
c. Eşiy-ə gəl, Mahmud!

outside-DAT come.2S.IMP Mahmud
‘Come out, Mahmud!’
Most ordinarily the bare-stem imperative is used by socially higher speakers. But in
Azerbaijani, socially lower speakers can also use the bare-stem imperative, as in the above
example (a.), in case his/her relational distance from the hearer is considered close or intimate
enough, as with many Indo-European languages. Thus, one can use the bare-stem form to speak
to one’s father or king, or to God in prayer. This bare-stem imperative is used to the king, but a
eulogistic idiom opens the speech, such as (Pad)şah sağ olsun! ‘Long live the king!’ in the
following example:
(3) Şah sağ ol-sun, sən-dən heç zad istə-m-irəm.

king alive be-3S.IMP you-ABL none thing want-NEG-1S.PR
Mən-ə qırx şəqqə ət ver.

I-DAT forty lump meat give-2S.IMP
‘Long live the king! I don’t want anything from you, only give me
forty lumps of meat.’
The first and third person forms of the imperative are also used. With the first person singular,
the speaker gives orders to himself, indicating a sense of intention or promise-making which is
weaker than the intentive -(y)AcAX. This first person imperative may be termed "the intentive
imperative". With the first person plural, the speaker includes himself together with the hearer
to exhort the hearer, i.e. the hortative use. With the third persons, the speaker gives orders
indirectly to the third person(s), i.e. the jussive use, as in:
(4) a. Ata, sənə fəda ol-um.

father to.you sacrifice be-1S.IMP
‘Father, let me be a sacrifice for you.’ or ‘ Father, I will
sacrifice myself for you.’
b. Ged-ək!
go-1P.IMP
‘Let’s go!’
c. Gəl-sin!
come-3S.IMP
‘Let him come!’
d. Gəl-sinlər!
come-3P.IMP
‘Let them come!’
13.1.2. Other forms of imperative sentences
There are other grammatical forms to express manipulative speech acts in various situations
and relationships between the speaker and the hearer.
The second person future, -(y)AcAXsAn (SG) and -(y)AcAXsIz (PL), is used also to code an
obligatory command in a polite and softened manner. The speaker’s moral intention is usually
involved in this construction, as in:
(5) Ata-n-a hörmət görsəd-əcək-sən.

father-2S.PO-DAT respect show-FUT-2S
‘You shall respect your father.’
The second person aorist (or indefinite future), -(y)ArsAn (SG) and –(y)ArsIz (PL), is used to
code a mild form of imperative or polite suggestion which the addressee is highly expected to
carry out in the course of events in the future, as in:
(6) Ged-ər-sən, qara su-da çim-ər-sən, ağ su-da

go-AOR-2S black water-LOC bath-AOR-2S white water-LOC
baş-ı-ni yu-yar-san.
head-2S.PO-ACC wash-AOR-2S
‘Go, bathe in the black water, wash your head in the white water.’
Lit. ‘You shall go, you shall bathe in the black water, you shall
wash your head in the white water.’
Devices for deontic obligation modality (8.3.5.1.) are used to code obligatory imperative
sentences or requests: (a) "V-malı/məli+Person"; (b) "gərək+V-2.SJNCT" ‘you should Verb’. In
typical constructions, gərək is used with the second person optative-subjunctive, i.e. "gərək V-
(y)AsAn (SG)/-(y)AsIz (PL)".
(7) a. Bu iş-i qurtar-malı-san.

this matter-ACC finish-NECES-2S
‘You must finish this matter.’
b. Gərək qırx şəqqə ət gətir-əsən.

necessary forty lump meat bring-2S.OPT
‘You must bring forty lumps of meat.’
The second person optative-subjunctive form "V-(y)AsAn (SG)/–(y)AsIz (PL)", without gərək,
codes a friendly request or suggestion. This construction is somehow connected with wish or
desire, as in:
(8) Bu adres-ə namə yaz-asız.

this address-DAT letter write-2P.OPT
‘Please write a letter to this address.’ or, ‘We hope you could write to us.’
Other periphrastic constructions such as "qoy+V[1/3 Person.IMP]" ‘let me/him/her/them

Verb’ and "V[2 Person.IMP]+görüm/görək" ‘let me see/let us see, Verb[IMP]’ are also
employed to construct imperative sentences. Qoy is used with the hortative (the first person) and
the jussive (the third person) forms, i.e. "qoy V-(y)Im (1S)/-(y)AX (1P)" or "qoy V-sIn(lAr)
(3S/3P)". With the first person, the manipulative force is weak, coding a suggestion or request.
On the other hand, görüm/görək is used with the second person imperative, coding a friendly
request or suggestion. Occasionally, the second person optative form görəsən is used instead of
görüm/görək. Here are some examples:
(9) a. Qoy əvvəl sənin bel-in-ə ip bağla-yım.

let first your waist-2S.PO-DAT rope bind-1S.IMP
‘Let me first bind a rope around your waist.’
b. Qoy Fatma bir yan-a get-sin.

let Fatma one side-DAT go-3S.IMP
‘Let Fatma go to one side.’
c. Oğlan, de gör-üm mən-dən nə ist-ir-sən?

boy say.2S.IMP see-1S.IMP I-ABL what want-PR-2S
‘Boy, will you please tell me what you want?’
When the manipulative force is weak and the speaker intends to express a high level of
politeness, the sentence syntactically takes the form of question; thus the speech act borders
between imperative and interrogative. In the following example, the intended message of the
speaker is "please sell (or even give) me a sheep.":
(10) Salam, çoban qardaş, mənə bir qoyun sat-ar-san?

peace shepherd brother to.me a sheep sell-AOR-2S.Q
‘Hello, brother shepherd, will you sell me a sheep?’
As an initial attempt, the following scale of continuum is suggested to indicate the relative
formality characteristics and manipulative force of some imperative constructions (the forms
take get- ‘go’ as the base):
(11) Formal Neutral Informal

| | |
get/gedin getsin(lər) gedim gedək
gedəcəksən gedərsən
getməli gərək gedəsən gedəsən
qoy getsin qoy gedim/gedək get görüm/görək
gedərsən?
The parameter of formality is generally parallel with the parameter of politeness, but not always
so. The bare-stem imperative is used both for formal and informal relations.
Imperative copular clauses are formed with the use of the process copula ol- ‘become, be,
happen’ instead of the state copula i- ‘be’ in declarative copular clauses, as in:
(12) Biz-im üçün padşah ol!

1P-GEN for king be.2S.IMP
‘Be a king for us!’
13.1.3. Prohibitives
Prohibitives or negative imperatives are constructed by simply adding the negative marker -
mA in any imperative form of the verb. In pragmatic use, prohibitives appear most frequently
with the canonical imperative sentence type. Some examples:
(13) a. Gəl-mə!
come.NEG.2S.IMP
‘Don’t come!’
b. Görsət-mi-yəcək-sən!
show-NEG-FUT-2S
‘You shall not show!’
c. Gərək gətir-mi-yəsən!
necessary bring-NEG-2S.OPT
‘You must not bring!’
d. Gəl-mə-sin!
come-NEG-3S.IMP
‘Let him not come!
13.2. Interrogative
As in most languages, the interrogative sentence type can be classified into two major types:
yes-no questions and WH (or "constituent") questions. A minor type of alternative questions is
similar in its construction to that of yes-no questions in that it lacks question words. At the end
of this section, the non-interrogative use of questions is briefly described.
13.2.1. Yes-no questions
The construction of yes-no questions in Iranian Azerbaijani broadly follows the pattern of
yes-no questions in Persian. There are two ways to construct yes-no questions: (i) the use of
interrogative intonation contour, and (ii) the interrogative particle aya.
(i) Azerbaijani yes-no questions are basically phonologically organized: they are marked by a
rising intonation at the end of the sentence. The intonation actually falls immediately before the
last syllable, and then rises at the last syllable to the high pitch level at which the sentence ends,
as the following examples show: (H - high pitch, L - low pitch, / - rising intonation, \ - falling
intonation)
(14) a. L H L H L-/H
Belə də iş ol-ar?
such also thing be.possible-3S.AOR
‘Is anything like this also possible?’
b. L-H\ /H
Sigar var?
cigar existent.3S.PR
‘Do you have a cigar?’
c. LH HH L-H\ /H
Lətif, yuxu gör-ür-sən?
Latif dream see-PR-2S
‘Latif, are you dreaming?’
(ii) The other device to construct yes-no questions is placing the interrogative particle aya, a
Persian borrowing, in the sentence-initial position. Questions with aya sometimes signal a sense
of surprise, which is a function of the rhetorical question. The intonation contour is the same as
in yes-no question sentences without aya.
(15) Aya bu iş-dən bir şey çıx-acax?

Q this matter-ABL a thing come.out-3S.FUT
‘Will something come out of this matter?’
The construction of negative yes-no questions is the same as that of negative declarative
sentences, either adding the negative marker -mA in verbal clauses or using the negative
predicate adjective deyil ‘not, it is not’ or the negative adjective yox ‘non-existent’ in copular
clauses, as described in 8.4.1. "Standard negation in simple clauses". The interrogative particle
aya is seldom used in negative questions. Here are some examples:
(16) a. Siz-ə görə o adam-ın iş-i əcib deyil?

you-DAT according the man-GEN work-3S.PO strange it.is.not
‘Isn’t the man’s work strange to you?’
b. Siz-in ev-də ayri bir qız yox-di?

2P-GEN house-LOC other a girl non.existent-3S.PR
‘Isn’t there any other girl in your house?’
c. Təzə ayaqqabı istə-m-irsən?

new shoes want-NEG-2S.PR
‘Don’t you want new shoes?’
13.2.2. Alternative questions
The disjunctive conjunction yoxsa ‘or’ or ya ‘or’ is used to mark an alternative question,
where the hearer is invited to choose one out of two or more alternatives. The second alternative
may be a complete clause, as in (a.) below, or the focused element, as in (b.) below, where the
predicate yaxçidir is deleted. The intonation contour receives a high pitch level before yoxsa or
ya.
(17) a. Dava sal-ax, yoxsa danışmağ-ınan həll ed-ək?

fight cast-1P.OPT or talking-with solution do-1P.OPT
‘Should we fight, or solve with talking?’
b. Mənim baş-ım yaxçi-dir ya

my head-1S.PO good.looking-be.3S.PR or
ana-n-ın baş-i?
mother-2SPO-GEN head-3S.PO
‘Is my head looking good, or your mother’s head?’
When the alternative choice is binary between an affirmative and its corresponding negative,
there are two ways to construct: (a) the denial particle yox ‘no’ is added to ya ‘or’ to mark the
negation of the focused element; (b) the negative predicate adjective deyil ‘it is not’ mainly to
mark the negation of the whole proposition, usually forming a set phrase with elə ‘like that’ or
belə ‘like this’, thus elə/belə deyil ‘isn’t it so/true?’. This construction may be called "tag
question".
(18) a. Eldar bazar-a get-di ya yox?

Eldar market-DAT go-3S.PA or not
‘Did Eldar go to the market or not?’
b. Adam ürəy-i istə-diy-i-ni al-a bil-ir,

man heart-3S.PO want-PTC-3S.PO-ACC get-can-3S.PR
belə deyil, ata?

like.this it.is.not.3S.PR dad
‘Man can get what his heart wants, itn’t it true, dad?’
13.2.3. WH questions
The speaker using WH (or ‘constituent’) questions wants to gain from the hearer a missing
piece of knowledge in the proposition. That missing element is turned into the focus of the WH
question and appears as one of the question words. Since the missing element that the speaker
enquires may be any kind of thing, the object of WH questions can also be diverse, taking
diverse semantic case-roles, such as the subject, object, verb, adverb, time, place, manner,
reason. (Givón 1990:793). Here are some examples:
(19) a. Declarative:
Dünən çöl-də birdən bir quldur çıx-ıb
yesterday field-LOC suddenly one robber appear-CS
qoyun-i apar-di.
sheep-ACC take.away-3S.PA
‘Yesterday a robber suddenly appeared in the field and took a
sheep away.’
b. Subject WH question:
Kim qoyun-i apar-di?
who sheep-ACC take.away-3S.PA
‘Who took the sheep away?’
c. Object WH question:
Quldur nə-yi apar-di?
robber what-ACC take.away-3S.PA
‘What did the robber take away?’
d. Manner WH question:
Quldur necə çıx-di?
robber how appear-3S.PA
‘How did the robber appear?’
e. Time WH question:
Nə vaxt quldur çıx-di?
when robber appear-3S.PA
‘When did the robber appear?’
f. Place WH question:
Quldur hara-da çıx-di?
robber where-LOC appear-3S.PA

‘Where did the robber appear?’
g. Verb WH question:
Quldur qoyun-a nəynə-di?
robber sheep-DAT do.what-3S.PA
‘What did the robber do to the sheep?’
In Azerbaijani, there are a number of question words beginning with the basic interrogative
pronoun nə ‘what’, as described in 5.1.6. "interrogative pronouns". Some of the question words
are listed in Table 13.1. below with their semantic/syntactic characteristics:
Table 13.1. Question words
Question Semantic/syntactic Case

Word Gloss characteristics suffixes
nə ┌what –human yes (full)
└why reason, rebuke no
nəmənə what –human yes (full)
kim who +human yes (full)
hara where locative yes (full)
hansı ┌which one ±human yes (full)
└which determiner no
necə/nə cür how manner no
neçə ┌some people +human yes (full)
└how many quantifier (count) no
nə qədər how much quantifier no
nə vaxt/zaman when temporal yes (DAT,
ABL, LOC)
haçan when temporal yes (DAT,
ABL, LOC)
niyə why reason no
nədən why reason no
nə üçün why reason no
nəynə-103 do.what predication no
The case marking of question words depends on the case role of the questioned element.
Those with case suffixes are very versatile in case marking; others are used with fixed case
roles. hansı and neçə possess dual functions: as interrogative pronouns they take case suffixes;
but as interrogative manner or quantifier they do not take case suffixes. The temporal question
words nə vaxt/zaman and haçan take only three case suffixes (DAT, ABL, LOC). Some are
examplified here:
103
nəynə- may also be written nəylə-, as standardized in the North.
(20) a. Nə istə-yir-sən?
what(NOM) want-PR-2S
‘What do you want?’
b. Bu kim-in ev-i-dir?
this who-GEN house-3S.PO-be.3S.PR
‘Whose house is this?’
c. Qız hansı oğlan-i bəyən-di?

girl which boy-ACC like-3S.PA
‘Which boy did the girl like?’
d. Hansı-ni istə-yir-sən?
which.one-ACC want-PR-2S
‘Which one do you want?’
e. Qiymət-i neçə-dir?
price-3S.PO how.much-be.3S.PR
‘How much is the price?’
Note nə has dual functions: as an interrogative pronoun "what" and a reason question word
"why"; its sense of reason is weaker than niyə, nədən, or nə üçün ‘why’. In the following
example, it rather expresses rebuke as a rhetorical question.
(21) Gecə-nin bu vaxt-i bura-da nə gəz-ir-sən?

night-GEN this time-3S.PO here-LOC why roam-PR-2S
‘Why are you wandering around here at this time of the night?’
In Azerbaijani, the position of the questioned element in the question sentence is simply the
same as its position in the declarative. The questioned element (or the question word) naturally
attracts contrastive focus. On the other hand, when the questioned element is topicalized, it is
marked by fronting the element, as far as the word-order constraints allow. For example, the
question (c.) above will be recast as Hansı oğlan-i qız bayan-di?, with the object noun phrase
hansı oğlan-i ‘which boy (OBJ)’ topicalized; the question (e.) as Neçə-dir qiymət-i?, with the
questioned predicate phrase neçə-dir ‘how much is?’ topicalized.
13.2.4. Embedded WH-clauses
WH-clauses are sometimes embedded as complements in complex sentences. Such WH

complement clauses are oriented by perception-cognition-utterance verbs, such as gör- ‘see’,
bil- ‘know’, de- ‘say’. WH complements appear as either finite clauses or nominalized clauses,
as (d.) below:
(22) a. Gör-m-ür-sən nə gün-də-dirlər?

see-NEG-PR-2S [what day-LOC-be.3P.PR]
‘Don’t you know what days they are in?’
b. Bil-ir-sən malikanə nə demək-dir?

know-PR-2S [Malikane what mean-be.3S.PR]
‘Do you know what Malikane means?’
c. De gör-üm ayaqqabı-lar-i sənə kim al-ıb?

say.2S.IMP see-1S.IMP [shoe-PL-ACC for.you who buy-3S.PF]
‘Tell me please who bought the shoes for you.
d. Nə danış-dığ-ın-i bil-irsən?!
[what talk-PTC-2S.PO-ACC] know-2S.PR
‘Do you know what you said?’
13.2.5. Non-interrogative use of questions
Questions described until now are "real" questions, of which the function is to gain
104
information. In addition, questions are sometimes used for other kinds of function. Among
others, the use as rhetorical questions is well developed in Azerbaijani.
With rhetorical questions the speaker does not expect an answer; rather s/he expresses her/his
own intentions, opinions or feelings. Cross-linguistically many functions of rhetorical questions
105
are reported. In Azerbaijani, these three functions of rhetorical questions are most
frequently used: (a) emphasis, (b) surprise, (c) rebuke.
The rhetorical use of questions is basically detected and interpreted from the context;
however, there are a few markers that signal the rhetorical interpretation such as (i) the use of
106
the particle aya; (ii) the negative conjunction məgər ‘not’. The interrogative particle aya
sometimes signals that the question may have to be interpreted as a non-real question. The
negative conjunction məgər emphasizes the negative truth value of the proposition, expecting a
resounding "no!" to the question. Occasionally the double punctuation "?!" is put at the end of
the question to orthographically mark rhetorical questions in written texts. The three functions
of rhetorical questions are explained with examples below.
(a) Emphasis: to emphasize the truth value of the proposition, which may be factual or
suppositional. The emphasis works by irony, i.e. if the question is put in the affirmative, being
introduced by məgər, it emphasizes the negative truth value of the proposition; if the question is
put in the negative, it emphasizes the positive truth value of the proposition, as in:
(23) a. Məgər ölü də diril-ir?

but dead also become.alive-3S.PR
‘But, does a dead man come back to life?’ (i.e. "of course not!")
104
Levinson (1983:274) suggests, “Thus interrogatives can be used with the illocutionary forces of
‘real’ questions, ‘exam’ questions, rhetorical questions, requests, offers, suggestions, threats and
for many other functions.”
105
Larson (1984:234ff.) explains some major functions of rhetorical questions and notes their
implications for meaningful cross-linguistic translation.
106
Brown and Levinson (1987:223ff.) explain that the use of rhetorical questions is a politeness
strategy and register some devices forming rhetorical questions.
b. Mahmud, sənə de-mə-dim? Ha, ha, ha!

Mahmud to.you say-NEG-1S.PA ha ha ha
‘Mahmud, didn’t I tell you? Ha, ha, ha!’ (i.e. "I told you clearly.")
(b) Surprise: to express surprise, as in:
(24) a. Ata-si de-di: belə də iş ol-ar?

father-3S.PO say-3S.PA such.as.this also thing be.possible-3S.AOR
‘His father said, "Is a thing such as this possible at all?"
(i.e. "It’s a great surprise that such a thing has happened.")
b. Dəvən-in qanad-ı yox-dur, o necə uç-a bil-ər?!

camel-GEN wing-3S.PO non.existent-3S.PR it how fly-can-3S.AOR
‘A camel doesn’t have a wing, how then can it fly?’
(c) Rebuke: to rebuke (or exhort) someone that he should change his attitude or position. This is a
kind of manipulative speech act, as explained in 13.1.2., to rebuke the hearer quite strongly but still
short of an assertive condemnation, as in:
(25) a. Heykəl kimi nə dayan-mısan? Rədd ol

statue like why stand-2S.PF expelled be.2S.IMP
maşın-ın qabağ-ı-ndan!
car-GEN front-3S.PO-ABL
‘Why have you been standing like a statue? Get away from the
front of the car!’
b. Ay uşax, dəli ol-ubsan?

Hey baby crazy become-2S.PF
‘Hey baby, have you become crazy?’
13.3. Minor sentence types
Besides the three major sentence types, three minor sentence types—exclamations,
imprecatives and optatives—are explained here. Imprecatives and optatives are treated as one
unit, for they are semantically a positive-negative pair and also are similar in their construction.
13.3.1. Exclamations
The speaker uses the exclamatory sentence type, one of the four sentence types of traditional
grammar together with the three major types, to add a strong emotional comment to the
proposition in the declarative type (Sadock and Zwicky 1985:162f).
In Azerbaijani, exclamatory sentences are constructed in the following four ways, at least: (i)
the use of ordinary declarative sentence structures; (ii) the use of the signal particles; (iii) the
use of interjections; (iv) the use of the interrogative pronoun nə ‘what’. As a convention, the
exclamation mark "!" is used at the end of the written exclamatory sentences.
(i) Exclamations often use the ordinary declarative sentence structures, but they are further
marked by the presence of the subject, though the subject is anaphorically identifiable by the
personal ending of the verb. The primary stress falls on the penultimate syllable, while the
secondary stress falls on the topicalized subject in the sentence; the overall pitch level is higher
than in the declarative sentence, which in fact is true for all exclamations.
2
(26) a. O mənim1ki-dir!
it[SUB] mine-be.3S.PR
‘It is mine!’
2
b. Sən bu ayaqqabı-lar-ı oğurla-1mısan!
you[SUB] this shoe-PL-ACC steal-2S.INFR
‘(I guess) You have stolen these shoes!’
(ii) The signal particle budur/budi, odur/odi ‘look!, behold!’ (literally, ‘this is!’ or ‘that is!’)
or bax ‘look!’ is used to signal exclamations, which is typically positioned sentence-initially, as
in:
(27) Bax! ağ qoç-unan qara qoç döyüşə-döyüşə gəl-ir.

look white goat-with black goat while.fighting come-3S.PR
‘Look! A white goat and a black goat are coming fighting!’
(iii) Interjections, such as afərin!, ahan!, bəh-bəh! as explained in 5.10,, often accompany
exclamation sentences, as in:
(28) a. Afərin sənə, bala-m!

well.done to.you baby-1S.PO
‘Well done, my baby!’ (Lit., Bravo to you my baby!’)
b. Bəh-bəh! bu çelo-kəbab çox yeməli gör-ün-ür.

nice this chelo-kebab very delicious look-PASS-3S.PR
‘Nice! This chelo-kebab looks very delicious.’
(iv) Two question words are used to form exclamatory sentences: (a) the interrogative
pronoun nə ‘what’ is used as an indefinite quantity adverb, which modifies an adjective; (b) the
107
interrogative quantifier nə qədər ‘how much’. nə is more frequently used than nə qədər.
(29) a. Nə pis iy verir.

what bad smell give-3S.PR
‘What a bad smell it smells!’
107
The connection between exclamations and interrogatives seems a universal phenomenon, using
basically two question words “what” and “how”: Some languages prefer “what”; some others
“how”; many of them use both. This phenomenon is attested in Turkic languages, Korean,
Japanese, Hebrew, Greek, Chinese, English, German, Russian. (Cf. Sadock and Zwicky
1985:163).
b. Oğlan o qız-i nə qədər ist-ir!

boy the girl-ACC how.much love-3S.PR
‘How much the boy loves the girl!’
13.3.2. Imprecatives and optatives
Azerbaijani, partly owing to the Middle Eastern tradition, has a rich inventory of optative
expressions; whether negative wishes/curses (imprecatives) or positive wishes/blessings
(optatives). There are some semantic-syntactic peculiarities in marking optative expressions.
(i) The use of the subjunctive form of the verb: typically imprecative/optative sentences are
formed by the third person imperative-subjunctive -sIn; less frequently the second person
optative-subjunctive -(y)AsAn is used; in rare cases the first person imperative-subjunctive -
(y)Im is used, mainly for optatives; the first person is not used for imprecatives if not in such an
idiomatic phrase as səni görüm ‘I wish I could see you’ (see below (iii)).
(30) a. Imprecatives:
a1. Sağ ged-ib salamat qayıt-mi-yasan.
wholesome go-CS health return-NEG-2S.OPT
‘May you go out wholesome and not come back in good health!’
a2. Ev-in-ə od düş-sün.

house-2S.PO-DAT fire fall-3S.SJNCT
‘May fire fall upon your house!’
b. Optatives:
b1. Həmişə sən-i şən gör-üm.
always you-ACC joyful see-1S.SJNCT
‘I wish I could see you be joyful always!’
b2. Qaranlığ-a düş-mi-yəsən.

darkness-DAT fall-NEG-2S.OPT
‘May you not fall into the darkness!’
b3. Ev-in-də şadlıx ol-sun.

house-2S.PO-LOC happiness be-3S.SJNCT
‘May happiness be in your house!’
(ii) The word Allah ‘God’ is idiomatically used, much more frequently in optatives than in
imprecatives:
(31) a. Allah vur-sun sən-i.

God strike-3S.SJNCT you-ACC
‘May God strike you!’
b. Allah hamı-z-dan razı ol-sun.

God all-2P.PO-ABL pleased be-3S.SJNCT
‘May God be pleased with all of you!’
(iii) Some idiomatic expressions, such as səni görüm ‘I wish I could see you, let me see you’,
o gün olsun ‘I wish the day come, let the day come’, or ümidvaram ki ‘I hope that’ are
frequently used. səni görüm is used extensively both for imprecatives and optatives; o gün
olsun is used mostly for optatives, as in:
(32) a. Imprecatives:
Sən-i gör-üm lal ol-asan.
you-ACC see-1S.SJNCT dumb become-2S.OPT
‘I wish I could see you become dumb!’
b. Optatives:
b1. Sən-i gör-üm bəxtəvər ol-asan.
you-ACC see-1S.SJNCT blessed be-2S.OPT
‘I wish I could see you be blessed!’
b2. O gün ol-sun murad-a çat-asan.

the day be-3S.SJNCT wish-DAT arrive-2S.OPT
‘May the day come when your wishes come true!’
b3. Ümidvaram ki bayan-mış ol-asız.

I hope that enjoy-PF.PTC be-2H.OPT
‘I hope that you have enjoyed!’
271 Bibliography
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A Grammar of

A thesis submitted for the degree

SOOMAN NOAH LEE DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

A GRAMMAR OF IRANIAN AZERBAIJANI

3.2.2.1. Lexical nominalization ..........................................................39

5. Other word classes.....................................................................................................60

5.2.1.1. Prototypical adjectives ..........................................................68

6. Simple clauses ...........................................................................................................91

6.3.3. Locative clauses ...................................................................................101

7. Noun phrases ...........................................................................................................124

7.6.2. Relationship between elements within the possessive

8. Tense, aspect, modality, and negation.....................................................................145

8.3.4.2. Evidential ............................................................................167

9. Voice and transitivity...............................................................................................177

10. Complement clauses..............................................................................................193

10.6. Utterance verbs...................................................................................................204

11. Relative clauses .....................................................................................................208

12. Inter-clausal connections .......................................................................................228

13. Non-declarative speech acts ..................................................................................256

ABIL abilitative NECES necessitative

1.1. The people

1.2. The language

1.3. Previous research

1.4. The data base

1.5. Aims of this grammar

(1) Bir lisan, bir insan; iki lisan, iki insan.

(a) Word (meaning)

The syntactic structure is composed of four coding devices:

(a) Inflectional morphology

1.6. Linguistic characteristics

Category (1): Casual contact: lexical borrowing only

(3) a. onu → oni ‘him (OBJ)’

(4) Az.: a. danişqah-ın reis-i

Pe.: b. reis-i danışqah

(5) Pe.: a. beraye in ki

Pe./Az.: b. beraye bu ki (bu is Azerbaijani )

Az.: c. bu-nun üçün

1.7. Azerbaijani alphabets and orthography

Table 1.1. Azerbaijani alphabets

Form Cyrillic Name IPA Arabo-Persian

2.1. The Azerbaijani phonemes

Table 2.1. Azerbaijani consonant phonemes

(1) /p/ /p#k/ pak ‘clean’, /t p / təpə ‘hill’, /ip/ ip ‘rope’

The overall distribution of consonants shows a remarkable symmetry on the parameter of

(2) /k/ → ┌ [%] / __# (word finally)

(3) sa’at [s#"#t] ‘time’

(4) sa’at [s#"#t] > [s#h#t] > [s#&#t] ‘time’

Thus, the weakening (or lenition) process may be expressed as14:

(5) Stop ["] > Fricative [h]> Zero [Ø]

The nine vowel phonemes are presented in the following table:

14Lass (1984:177) explains the lenition processes as:

(6) /i/ /it/ it ‘dog’, /iti/ iti ‘sharp’

(7) [+high] vowels: i, ı, ü, u (high vowels)

2.2. The syllable structure and word

(8) V o ‘he’, a-(yax) ‘foot’

(9) qurd (CVCC) → qut (CVC) ‘wolf’

(10) qurd+un ‘GEN’ → qur.dun (CVC.CVC) ‘of a wolf’

2.3. Stress and intonation

(11) al'ma ‘apple!’ vs. 'alma ‘Don’t buy!’

(1) /p/ /p#k/ pak ‘clean’, /tp/ təpə ‘hill’, /ip/ ip ‘rope’