-miz

We Are: -miz

Level 1

-miz means we are: Biz tayyormiz (We are ready), Biz talabamiz (We are students).

How It Works

How it attaches

  • Noun: talaba + -miz → talabamiz (we are students).
  • Adjective: och + -miz → ochmiz (we are hungry).
  • Place: bozor + -da + -miz → bozordamiz (we are at the bazaar).

Since -miz already says we, biz is often left out: Tayyormiz! (We are ready!)

Questions and negatives
With we, -mi comes after the ending, as it does with I: tayyormizmi? (are we ready?). To say we are not, move -miz onto emas: Biz och emasmiz (We are not hungry).

Same sound, different job
The possessive ending -(i)miz means our, and after a vowel it looks the same: talabamiz can mean "we are students" or "our student". The sentence tells you which: Biz talabamiz (We are students), Bu bizning talabamiz (This is our student).

The same -miz on verbs
Present-tense verbs use it too: boramiz (we go, we will go), ketyapmiz (we are going).

Examples (6)

  1. Biz tayyormiz.

    We are ready.

    Word by Word: We ready-we-are.

  2. Biz talabamiz.

    We are students.

    Word by Word: We student-we-are.

    The noun can stay singular; Biz talabalarmiz means the same.

  3. Biz hozir bozordamiz.

    We are at the bazaar now.

    Word by Word: We now bazaar-at-we-are.

  4. Biz aka-ukamiz.

    We are brothers.

    Word by Word: We older-brother-younger-brother-we-are.

  5. Tayyormizmi? — Ha, tayyormiz!

    Are we ready? — Yes, we are!

    Word by Word: Ready-we-are-Q? — Yes, ready-we-are!

    With we, -mi comes after -miz.

  6. Biz och emasmiz.

    We are not hungry.

    Word by Word: We hungry not-we-are.

    In the negative, -miz moves onto emas.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding a linking i before -miz when you mean we are friends.

    Biz doʻstimiz.
    Biz doʻstmiz.

    The we-are ending never takes a linking i: doʻst + -miz → doʻstmiz (we are friends). Doʻstimiz, with i, is the possessive our friend.

  • Putting -mi before -miz in a question.

    Biz tayyormimiz?
    Biz tayyormizmi?

    With we and I, the question particle comes after the personal ending. With you, textbooks put it first.

How It Connects

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

-mizLevel 1We Are: -miz

Learn This First

Builds on We and I Am: -man.