How to Learn Azerbaijani, Step by Step

To learn Azerbaijani, spend your first week or two on the letters, because every ending you learn later depends on hearing its vowels. Azerbaijani was the first language of about 24 million people in 2022, and Azerbaijan's constitution names it the state language. The country switched its alphabet from Cyrillic to Latin in 1991.

How to Learn Azerbaijani, Step by Step

Steps 1 and 2 are about letters and sounds. Steps 3 to 6 help you build words and sentences and start using them.

• 🔤Learn the New Letters FirstStart with ə, ğ, ı, ö, ü, ç and ş, the letters English doesn't have. Çörək (bread) uses three of them.
• 🎶Choose -lar or -lərThe plural ending is -lar or -lər, and the word's last vowel picks which one, so qız (girl) becomes qızlar (girls) and göz (eye) becomes gözlər (eyes).
• 🧱Read Long Words as Building BlocksAzerbaijani adds suffixes one after another, so dost (friend) can grow into dostlarımı (my friends, as the object).
• ➡️Put the Verb LastThe verb usually ends the sentence, as in Gələn il uşaq məktəbə gedəcək (next year the child will go to school).
• 🔗Use Turkish as a Head StartIf you know some Turkish, many words will look familiar with a small change, like daş (stone), which is taş in Turkish.
• 🗣️Greet People PolitelySay Axşamınız xeyir (good evening) to be polite, or axşamın xeyir to one friend. Try both with a tutor.

For step 1, Bubblegum's Azerbaijani alphabet course covers the letters that trip up English readers, with audio for each word. The Peace Corps language manual begins with the letters and the vowel rules, and italki lists Azerbaijani tutors. To choose what to study for your goal, read the best way to learn Azerbaijani, and to learn whether Azerbaijani is easy and how close it is to Turkish, read the easiest way to learn Azerbaijani.

Find Where You Are

Bubblegum is a language app with Azerbaijani lessons for six levels. Poppy, your AI tutor, writes them on topics you pick, and each line has audio. Start with the alphabet row if ə, ğ or ı still looks strange.

1. Start With the Alphabet

   I can't read the Azerbaijani alphabet yet.

   Go through the course's two chapters, and repeat each word after you hear it.

   Azerbaijani alphabet course →
2. Level 1

   I'm just starting out or know only a few words.

   Read a short tea-house dialogue, and listen for how each ending follows the word's vowels.

   A Level 1 lesson about meeting a friend in a tea house →
3. Level 2

   I can handle simple exchanges.

   Work through a Peace Corps manual lesson, and build three words of your own from one root.

4. Level 3

   I follow conversations on familiar topics.

   Watch Azerbaijani Fairy Tales, and talk about one story with a tutor or partner.

5. Level 4

   I understand most content but miss some nuance.

   Read short reports on BBC News Azərbaycanca, and underline the last word of each sentence, which is usually the verb.

6. Level 5

   I read complex topics but rare words slow me down.

   Read longer stories on Azadlıq Radiosu, and split each long word into its suffixes.

7. Level 6

   I can read almost anything.

   Read Azerbaijani novels and essays, and talk them over with your tutor.

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