sh / ch / ng

The Letter Pairs Sh, Ch and Ng

Level 1

sh is the sh of shoe: shahar (city). ch is the ch of chair: choy (tea). ng is the ng of sing: ming (thousand).

How It Works

The official spelling rules list sh, ch and ng as letter combinations that each stand for one sound. In the dictionary they come after oʻ and gʻ: the order ends ... z, oʻ, gʻ, sh, ch, ng. When a word is split at the end of a line, each pair stays together: pi-choq (knife), de-ngiz (sea).

  • sh: shahar (city), bosh (head), ish (work).
  • ch: choy (tea), uch (three), chiroyli (beautiful). Uzbek has no letter c on its own, so ch is the only way to write this sound.
  • ng: ming (thousand), tong (dawn), dengiz (sea), yangi (new). The g is never said as a separate hard g.

You will meet ng constantly in endings for you: kitobingiz (your book), keling (please come). See your: -(i)ngiz and polite commands.

Once in a while s and h really are two sounds side by side. Then the spelling puts the sign ʼ between them so they do not read as sh: Isʼhoq (the name Isaac). See the apostrophe sign.

A reform approved by the Senate on 10 September 2026 would write sh and ch as ş and ç. This course uses the 1995 spellings sh and ch.

Examples (5)

  1. Toshkent katta shahar.

    Tashkent is a big city.

    Sh appears twice, in Toshkent and shahar.

  2. Choy issiq.

    The tea is hot.

    Word by Word: Tea hot.

    Ch in choy is the ch of chair.

  3. Bu yangi kitob.

    This is a new book.

    Word by Word: This new book.

    Yangi sounds like ya-ngi, with no hard g.

  4. Dengiz juda chiroyli.

    The sea is very beautiful.

    Word by Word: Sea very beautiful.

    Ng in dengiz and ch in chiroyli are each one sound.

  5. Kitobingiz qayerda?

    Where is your book?

    Word by Word: Book-your where?

    The ending -ingiz (your) contains ng.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the ʼ when s and h are two separate sounds.

    Ishoq keladi.
    Isʼhoq keladi.

    Without the sign, sh reads as one sound. The name Isʼhoq keeps s and h apart with ʼ.

How It Connects

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

sh / ch / ngLevel 1The Letter Pairs Sh, Ch and Ng

Learn This First

Builds on The Uzbek Latin Alphabet.

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Patterns that build on this one.