yoki

Or

Level 2

Yoki means or: choy yoki qahva (tea or coffee). Yo … yo means either … or: yo bugun, yo ertaga (either today or tomorrow).

How It Works

Yoki joins two choices, just like English or. It can join words or whole sentences: choy yoki qahva (tea or coffee), Ertaga yoki indinga kelaman (I'll come tomorrow or the day after).

Choice questions. A question that offers two choices uses -mi together with yoki. Put -mi on the first option:

  • Choy ichasizmi yoki qahva? (Will you have tea or coffee?)
  • Avtobusda borasizmi yoki taksida? (Are you going by bus or by taxi?)

You can also put -mi on both options. This is very common with short nouns: Bu Timurmi yoki Ahmadmi? (Is this Timur or Ahmad?)

Either … or. Put yo before each choice: Yo bugun, yo ertaga qoʻngʻiroq qilaman (I'll call either today or tomorrow). Yoki … yoki is used the same way.

Or versus and. Va means and, so it adds things together. Yoki offers a choice. To say neither … nor, Uzbek uses na … na.

In older and formal texts you may also see yoxud, which means the same as yoki.

Examples (6)

  1. choy yoki qahva

    tea or coffee

  2. Choy ichasizmi yoki qahva?

    Will you have tea or coffee?

    Word by Word: Tea drink-you-? or coffee?

    -mi goes on the first choice.

  3. Bu Timurmi yoki Ahmadmi?

    Is this Timur or Ahmad?

    Word by Word: This Timur-? or Ahmad-?

    Here both choices take -mi.

  4. Ertaga yoki indinga kelaman.

    I'll come tomorrow or the day after.

    Word by Word: Tomorrow or day-after-tomorrow come-I.

  5. Yo bugun, yo ertaga qoʻngʻiroq qilaman.

    I'll call either today or tomorrow.

    Word by Word: Either today, either tomorrow call do-I.

    Yo goes before each choice.

  6. Avtobusda borasizmi yoki taksida?

    Are you going by bus or by taxi?

    Word by Word: Bus-by go-you-? or taxi-by?

Common Mistakes

  • Using va when you mean or.

    Choy va qahva ichasizmi? (meaning: tea or coffee?)
    Choy ichasizmi yoki qahva?

    Va means and, so the first question asks whether you drink both. To offer a choice, use yoki.

  • Using yo only once.

    Yo bugun, ertaga kelaman.
    Yo bugun, yo ertaga kelaman.

    Yo … yo needs yo before each choice, like either … or.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

yokiLevel 2Or

Learn This First

Builds on Yes-No Questions With -mi and And.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

yoki