Word banks

Themed reference lists, from the words you'll need first to the ones you'll grow into.

• Pronouns

  The personal pronouns, one small table per case — with notes on when each case is used. The full reference table is at the bottom. (6 cases)

• Question words

  The interrogatives. A question built around one of these does not take the question particle -mı — the word itself carries the question. (11 entries)

• Greetings & courtesy

  What to say when you meet, thank, and leave — the glue of every conversation. (11 entries)

• The little words

  Connectors, particles, yes and no — tiny words that hold whole sentences together. (10 entries)

• Pointing words

  This, that, here, there — the words that point, with hand and chin. (11 entries)

• Numbers

  Counting words — and how to stack them into any number you need. (27 entries)

• Time words

  Days, parts of the day, and the little words that anchor a sentence in time. (16 entries)

• Days of the week

  The seven days, each built on kün (day) — name the first word and you've named the day. (7 entries)

• Opposite pairs

  Everyday describing words, learned two at a time — each one pins down the other. (10 entries)

• Family

  Kin words. You will almost always hear them wearing an owner: atam — my father, atañ — your father, atası — his or her father. (14 entries)

• Body parts

  Head to foot — the words you point at yourself with. (15 entries)

• Food & drink

  What's on the table — including the dishes the Karachay are famous for. (14 entries)

• Animals

  Herd, yard, and mountain — the animals the culture was built around. (14 entries)

• Nature & weather

  Mountains, weather, and the outdoors — the landscape the language grew up in. (12 entries)

• Colors

  Six colors, all of them ordinary adjectives — they sit in front of the noun and never change shape. (6 entries)

• Parts of a house

  The house itself, and the things you open, close and lock. (8 entries)

• The face, in detail

  Past the eyes and nose of the body bank — the smaller parts of a face. (6 entries)

• Hand tools

  Things with a handle — what you pick up to do a job. (3 entries)

• Small creatures

  The insects and crawling things — smaller than anything in the animals bank. (5 entries)

• Birds

  Birds of the field and the sky, and the two words every bird needs. (5 entries)