How to Learn Kurmancî Kurdish

Short answer: Learn the 31-letter alphabet first — it takes a few days and makes every word afterwards readable, because Kurmancî is written exactly as it sounds. Then memorise about twenty core sentences. Then learn three pieces of grammar: the endings of bûn (to be), the prefix di- for the present tense, and na- for the negative. With those three you can already build hundreds of sentences. Twenty minutes a day gets most people to a simple conversation in two to three months.

This guide lays that out as a twelve-week path, with real examples from our own Kurmancî textbooks.

What you get here

• The 31 letters, and the six that don't exist in English
• Twenty sentences that cover most first conversations
• The three grammar pieces that carry everything else
• Why the verb goes at the end, and what that changes
• Five mistakes that are specific to Kurmancî learners
• A week-by-week plan you can actually follow

Before you start

One assumption: you have already decided on Kurmancî. If you are not sure whether Kurmancî, Soranî or Badinî is right for you, read which Kurdish dialect you should learn first — choosing wrong costs months.

Kurmancî, also called Northern Kurdish, is spoken as a native language by roughly 15 to 17 million people: in Turkey around Amed, Van, Hakkâri and Şırnak, in Syria around Qamişlo, Kobanê and Afrin, in northern Iraq and northern Iran, in Armenia and Georgia, and across the European diaspora. It is written in Latin script. If you can read this page, you can already read Kurmancî letters.

Week 1: The alphabet

This feels like a detour. It is the single highest-return week of the whole plan.

The modern Kurmancî alphabet was developed in the 1930s by Celadet Alî Bedirxan, based on Latin script and expanded to carry Kurdish sounds. His magazine Hawar, published in Syria, is the milestone of modern written Kurdish. It has 31 letters:

a b c ç d e ê f g h i î j k l m n o p q r s ş t u û v w x y z

Eight are vowels — a, e, ê, i, î, o, u, û — and 23 are consonants. There are no silent letters. Every letter is pronounced, every time. That is why one week here saves you months of guessing later: once you know the letters, you can read aloud any Kurmancî word you have never seen and be right.

The six that aren't in English

Letter	Sounds like	Example	Meaning
ç	"ch" in church	çav	eye
ê	long closed "e", as in they	hêvî	hope
î	long "ee", as in see	nîv	half
ş	"sh" in shoe	şev	night
û	long "oo", as in food	bûn	to be
x	a "ch" from deep in the throat	xwarin	food, to eat

Two more sounds worth getting right early: q is a "k" formed further back in the throat, harder and deeper than the English one. And w is the English w in water — round and soft — not a German v.

Vowel length changes meaning

This is the part beginners skip and regret. A short vowel and a long vowel are different words:

• min (me) is not mîn
• ser (head) is not sêr

Stress usually falls on the last syllable, though it varies by region and shifts in poetry. Don't chase perfect stress in week one — pronounce every letter clearly and completely, and the rhythm follows.

Most Kurmancî words follow a simple shape: consonant + vowel (+ consonant). Çav, şev, dar (tree). Once you hear that pattern, words stop looking like walls of letters.

Week 2: Twenty sentences

Don't collect random vocabulary. Learn these, in this order, and say them out loud:

English	Kurmancî
Hello!	Silav!
Welcome!	Bi xêr hatî!
Good morning!	Sibê baş!
Good evening!	Êvar baş!
How are you?	Tu çawa yî?
I'm fine, thank you.	Ez baş im, spas.
Yes / No	Erê / Na
Please / You're welcome	Ji kerema xwe re
What is your name?	Navê te çi ye?
My name is Zîn.	Navê min Zîn e.
Where are you from?	Tu ji ku derê yî?
I come from Germany.	Ez ji Almanya me.
I am Kurdish.	Ez Kurd im.
I speak Kurdish.	Ez bi Kurdî diaxivim.
I am a student.	Ez xwendekar im.
I am a teacher.	Ez mamoste me.
He / she is at home.	Ew li malê ye.
What are you doing?	Tu çi dikî?
Goodbye.	Bi xatirê te.
Thank you very much.	Gelek spas.

Here is what a first conversation actually sounds like:

A: Silav! Tu çawa yî?
Hello! How are you?

B: Ez baş im, spas. Tu çi dikî?
I'm good, thank you. What are you doing?

A: Ez mamoste me. Navê min Ali ye.
I am a teacher. My name is Ali.

B: Ez xwendekar im. Navê min Zîn e.
I am a student. My name is Zîn.

Weeks 3–4: The three pieces that carry everything

Kurmancî grammar has a reputation it does not deserve. Three things do most of the work.

1. The endings of bûn (to be)

Not a separate word — a small ending that changes with the person:

Pronoun	Ending	Example
Ez (I)	im	Ez baş im. — I am fine.
Tu (you)	î	Tu baş î. — You are fine.
Ew (he/she/it)	e	Ew nexweş e. — He/she is sick.
Em (we)	in	Em mamoste in. — We are teachers.
Hûn (you, plural)	in	Hûn baş in. — You are fine.
Ew (they)	in	Ew Kurd in. — They are Kurdish.

Learn that column and you can describe yourself, your family, your job and where everyone is.

2. The prefix di- for the present tense

Present tense = di + verb stem + personal ending. With xwarin (to eat):

English	Kurmancî
I eat	Ez dixwim
You eat	Tu dixwî
He / she eats	Ew dixwe
We eat	Em dixwin
You (plural) eat	Hûn dixwin
They eat	Ew dixwin

Five verbs will carry you a long way: xwarin (to eat), xwendin (to read), kirin (to do, to make), herin (to go), hatin (to come).

3. The prefix na- for the negative

Swap di- for na-. The ending never changes.

• Ez dixwim → Ez naxwim. (I eat → I do not eat.)
• Tu diçî → Tu naçî. (You go → You do not go.)

That is genuinely most of what you need to start speaking in the present tense.

Weeks 5–6: Word order and questions

English puts the verb in the middle. Kurmancî puts it at the end.

• English (Subject–Verb–Object): I see the dog.
• Kurmancî (Subject–Object–Verb): Ez se dibînim. — literally "I dog see."

Add time and place and the order becomes time – place – object – verb:

Di sibê de li dibistanê ez pirtûkek dixwînim. — "In the morning at school I a book read."

You can move a part to the front for emphasis, but the verb stays at the end. Always.

Question words

English	Kurmancî	Example
Who?	Kî?	Ev kî ye? — Who is that?
What?	Çi?	Tu çi dikî? — What are you doing?
When?	Kengî?	Ew kengî tên? — When are they coming?
Where?	Li ku?	Tu li ku yî? — Where are you?
Where from?	Ji ku derê?	Tu ji ku derê yî? — Where are you from?
How?	Çawa?	Tu çawa yî? — How are you?
Why?	Bo çî?

For yes/no questions you have two options. Raise your intonation, exactly like English — Tu xwendekar î? — or put ma at the front: Ma tu xwendekar î? The second is slightly more formal and leaves no doubt that you are asking.

Answers are worth knowing in their shades: erê is the neutral yes, belê means "yes, exactly", baş e is a casual "yes, alright", and na is no.

Weeks 7–8: Numbers, time and family

Numbers are the easiest win in the language, and they open up prices, dates and ages all at once: yek, du, sê, çar, pênc, şeş, heft, heşt, neh, deh.

Weekdays follow a clear logic once you spot it — most are built on a counting pattern: Duşem (Monday), Sêşem (Tuesday), Çarşem (Wednesday), Pêncşem (Thursday), Înê (Friday), Şemî (Saturday), Yekşem (Sunday).

Family words come early because they are the reason most people are learning:

English	Kurmancî
Father / Mother	Bav / Dê
Parents	Dê û bav
Son / Daughter	Kur / Keç
Brother / Sister	Bira / Xwişk
Grandfather / Grandmother	Kal (Bapîr) / Pîrik
Uncle (mother's side) / Aunt (mother's side)	Xal / Xalîk

To say something belongs to someone, add the possessive: min (my), te (your), wî/wê (his/her), me (our), we (your, plural), wan (their). So: Birayê min bîst salî ye. — My brother is twenty years old.

Weeks 9–12: From describing to talking

By now you can say what is. The last stretch is about saying what happened, what you can do, and what you prefer — the three things that turn description into conversation.

What it does	Kurmancî	Meaning
The past	Duh min gelek xebitî.	Yesterday I worked a lot.
Ability	Ez dikarim bi Kurdî biaxivim.	I can speak Kurdish.
Obligation	Divê em sibê bixebitin.	We must work tomorrow.
Wanting	Ez dixwazim…	I want to…
Liking	Ez hez dikim…	I like…
Comparing	Ew ji min mezintir e.	He is taller than me.
The most	herî baş	the best

Notice the comparative: add -tir to an adjective and you have "more". Put herî in front and you have "most". Two rules, no exceptions to memorise.

And to join two thoughts: lê (but), ji ber ku (because), ku (that). Ez ditirsim, ji ber ku se diqewime. — I am scared, because the dog is barking.

Five mistakes Kurmancî learners make

1. Treating vowel length as decoration

Min and mîn are different words. So are ser and sêr. Because Kurmancî spelling is consistent, getting this right early costs nothing and fixes every word you learn afterwards.

2. Pronouncing x like a soft German ch

Kurmancî x comes from deeper in the throat. It appears in words you will use constantly — xwarin, xwendin, xwişk — so a wrong x is audible in almost every sentence.

3. Leaving the verb in the middle

English word order is the hardest habit to break. Say the sentence in your head with the verb last before you open your mouth. After a few weeks it stops feeling backwards.

4. Forgetting the ending on bûn

Ez baş im, not Ez baş e. The ending changes with the person, and using the wrong one is the single most common beginner slip.

5. Studying in bursts

Three hours on Sunday builds less than twenty minutes a day. This is true of every language, and it is the actual reason most learners stall — not difficulty.

How long will this take?

Goal	Roughly
Greeting and introducing yourself	1–2 weeks
Simple conversations	2–3 months
Everyday communication	around 6 months
Speaking comfortably	9–12 months

These are the milestones we see with learners who practise several times a week. Treat them as orientation, not a promise — the variable is not talent, it is how often you show up.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kurmancî hard to learn?

Less than people expect. Spelling is consistent, there are no silent letters, and the present tense follows one pattern. The harder parts are a few sounds that don't exist in English and fewer polished learning resources than for Spanish or French — which is why a structured path matters more here.

How many letters does the Kurmancî alphabet have?

31 — eight vowels and 23 consonants, in Latin script.

Can I learn Kurmancî on my own?

Yes, and most of our learners do. What self-study needs is a resource that puts the material in order so you are not guessing what comes next, and a fixed daily slot so the habit survives busy weeks.

Is Kurmancî the same as Badinî?

Badinî is a regional form of Kurmancî, spoken around Duhok, Zaxo and Amêdî. It shares the alphabet and most vocabulary, but differs in pronunciation and some structures — the present tense uses yêt- where standard Kurmancî uses di-.

Do I need Arabic script for Kurmancî?

No. Latin script is the standard for Kurmancî today, in Turkey, Syria and across Europe. Arabic script is the standard for Soranî.

I understand Kurmancî but can't speak it. Where do I start?

Skip ahead to week 2 and week 3. Your listening is already built; what is missing is active recall. Take the twenty sentences, say them aloud daily, and add the bûn endings. Most passive speakers are three weeks of speaking practice away from a real conversation.

Start with the alphabet, today

Twelve weeks sounds long until you notice that week one is just 31 letters, and week two is twenty sentences you can read aloud in five minutes.

The learners who get there are not the fastest ones. They are the ones who did twenty minutes on a Tuesday when they didn't feel like it.

The complete beginner's guide to Kurdish · Which dialect should you learn? · All Kurmancî books

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Written by The Kurdish Academy · Language reviewed by a native Kurmancî speaker on our team · Last updated 12 September 2026
All Kurmancî words, sentences and grammar examples in this article are taken from our own textbooks, Kurmancî A1 — Your First Steps and Kurmancî A2 — Your Next Steps.