Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish

Watch video and learn about greetings, shopping, food, dining out, weather, education, literature, holiday traditions, and more. With our specially designed video player for language learning you can pause the video at any point and scroll the transcription. Read annotations about culture and grammar. Click on almost any word or sentence to hear it spoken, along with translations.

This course can be used either by independent learners or by students in a traditional or self-instructional classroom setting, and is the equivalent of the material covered in a one-year college course.

Classroom-Tested and Peer-Reviewed

Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish was peer-reviewed by Kurdish language experts Michael Chyet, PhD and Polus Goriel. It was originally published as part of the highly reviewed University of Arizona Critical Languages Series. We have added many new mobile-friendly features. The course contains 20 lessons featuring 25 videos of native speakers with transcriptions, translations, and hundreds of annotations. It includes 9,000 native-speaker word and sentence audio recordings. Here is an index of all 1,800 words and the lessons they occur in, and a demonstration video showing how our searchable audio glossary works.

Multiple Choice, Fill in the blank, and Listening Dictation exercises are provided for each lesson. A searchable audio glossary with thousands of words and translations helps you find every occurrence of a word or part of a word in all of the lessons.

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Our Interactive Video Player for Language Learning

Kurmanji Alphabet

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Table of Contents and Free Sample Lessons with Video, Transcriptions, Annotations

1. Tu bi xêr hatî Kurdistanê (Welcome to Kurdistan), try a Listening Dictation, Audio Flashcards, Drag the Words, or Fill in the Blanks
2. Tu çi karî dikî? (What do you do?), try a Listening Dictation
3. Li Mêvanxaneya Zanîngehê (At the University Guesthouse)
4. Li nêzîk dikan hene? (Are there stores nearby?)
5. Şîv hazir e (Dinner is ready)
6. Ew bi çendê ye? (How much is it?)
7. Ev pirtûkxaneya me ye (This is our library)
8. Dilê te diçe çi? (What would you like to eat?)
9. Ka em herin qawexaneyê (Let’s go to the cafeteria)
10. Şîler diçe postexaneyê (Şîler goes to the post office)
11. Ez xwe baş nabînim (I don’t feel well)
12. Em ê herin Seyranê (We will go on a picnic)
13. Te îro çi kir? (What did you do today?)
14. Dîroka Dihokê (The History of Dihok)
15. Newroz Pîroz! (Happy Newroz!)
16. Di derbarê jîyana li Silêmanîyê de (About life in Suleimania)
17. Li Zanîngeha Silêmanîyê (At the University of Suleimania)
18. Wêjeya kurdî (Kurdish Literature)
19. Baran dibare (It is raining)
20. Li Sekingeha Basê (At the bus depot)

Grammar Topics

1. Nominative Case of Personal and Demonstrative Pronouns
2. Present Tense Copulas (am, is, are)
3. Oblique Case of Personal Pronouns
4. Ezafeh (Noun Connector)
5. Indefinite Nouns
6. Indefinite Nouns with Ezafeh (Noun Connector)
7. The Existential Verb “Hebûn” (to exist / to have / there is / there are)
8. Cardinal Numbers
9. The Imperative
10. Kurmanji Prepositions and Circumpositions (Ambipositions)
11. Oblique Case of Demonstrative Pronouns
12. Present Tense
13. Compound Verbs
14. The Negative Form of the Verb “bûn” (to be)
15. Interrogative Sentences with Interrogative Determiners
16. The Comparative and Superlative Degrees of Adjectives
17. The Reflexive Pronoun “Xwe”
18. Ordinal Numbers
19. The Negative Form of the Present Tense
20. Polite Commands
21. Relative Clause
22. Nationalities, Languages, Countries, Cities
23. Where are you from?
24. What language do you speak?
25. The Present Tense of the Subjunctive Mood
26. The Negative Form of the Present Tense Subjunctive Mood
27. Future Tense
28. A Few Kurmanji Expressions
29. Diminutive
30. The Simple Past Tense with Intransitive Verbs
31. The Negative Form of the Simple Past Tense
32. Different Uses of the Preposition “Bi”
33. The Secondary Ezafeh Construction
34. The Simple Past Tense with Transitive Verbs
35. The Negative Form of the Simple Past Tense with Transitive Verbs
36. The Numbers in the Oblique Case
37. The Existential Verb “Hebûn” in the Past Tense
38. The Past Continuous Tense
39. The Negative Form of the Past Continuous Tense
40. The Seasons, Months, Days, and the Periods of the Day
41. The Adverbial Use of the Seasons, Months, Days, and the Periods of the Day
42. Subordinating Clauses
43. Passive Voice
44. Telling the Time
45. Some Kurdish Expressions
46. The Present Tense to Convey the Present Progressive Meaning
47. Weather Conditions
48. Vocative Case
49. Using Infinitives as Nouns

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What Our Students are Saying

“I love that in your lessons, I can click on each word individually for both pronunciation and meaning in English. I really need the pronunciation aspect in my language learning, and this is so helpful…”

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About the Author

Deniz Ekici is a linguist and a language instructor. He holds a Ph.D. in Kurdish Studies from the University of Exeter. He has taught Kurdish language courses at institutions such as Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Exeter, and is currently a lecturer at UC Berkeley, where he teaches Kurmanji-Kurdish courses. His professional experience has been in educational and learning technologies. His Kurmanji-Kurdish Reader, a multi-level reference tool with an extensive grammar section, was published by Dunwoody Press in 2007. He also led two large projects to compile and edit a Kurmanji bilingual lexicon for use in machine translation software. His research interests include language variation, language acquisition, cultural studies, technology in teaching and learning, sociolinguistics, and Linguistic Human Rights.

Other Kurdish Resources

• Language Canvas Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish News
• Kurmanji-English Dictionary: Ferhenga Birûskî, by Dr. Michael L. Chyet
• Kurdish Identity, Islamism, and Ottomanism, by Deniz Ekici
• Kurdish Language – Wikipedia
• Vimeo Showcase for this Course

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Course materials © 1995–2026 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona. Used under license.

Frequently asked questions

How much material does Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish cover?

Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish covers the equivalent of a full year of college-level Kurmanji Kurdish instruction — roughly 120 hours of material — delivered as structured video lessons with full transcriptions and translations.

Do I need any prior experience to take Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish?

No. Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish starts from the very beginning — the alphabet, sounds, and essential phrases — and assumes no prior knowledge of Kurmanji Kurdish.

How are the lessons delivered?

The course is fully online and self-paced. You learn from native-speaker videos with on-screen transcriptions and translations, then practice with interactive exercises — on any device, on your own schedule.

How much does Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish cost?

Access is $9.99/month with a three-month minimum, and one subscription unlocks the entire course.

Who created Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish?

Beginning Kurmanji Kurdish was originally created by the University of Arizona Critical Languages Program as part of the Critical Languages Series. It was designed by Deniz Ekici, PhD, published by Language Canvas, and used under license.