-san

You Are (Familiar): -san

Level 1

-san means you are, said to one person you call sen: Sen talabasan (You are a student), Sen mening doʻstimsan (You are my friend).

How It Works

Who gets -san
-san goes with sen: close friends, children, and younger brothers and sisters. With an adult you do not know, a teacher or an older relative, it sounds too familiar; use -siz instead.

How it attaches

  • Noun: doʻst + -im + -san → doʻstimsan (you are my friend).
  • Adjective: haq + -san → haqsan (you are right).
  • Place: qayer + -da + -san → qayerdasan (where are you?).

Questions and negatives
In a noun sentence, -mi comes before -san: talabamisan? (are you a student?), Yaxshimisan? (Are you well?). This is the order textbooks teach; in everyday speech you will also hear -mi after -san, as in Yaxshisanmi? With I and we it comes after, so learn the you-forms on their own. To say you are not, move -san onto emas: Sen kasal emassan (You are not ill).

The same -san on verbs
Familiar you uses the same ending on present-tense verbs: kelasan (you come), ketyapsan (you are going).

Examples (6)

  1. Sen talabasan.

    You are a student.

    Word by Word: You student-you-are.

  2. Sen mening doʻstimsan.

    You are my friend.

    Word by Word: You my friend-my-you-are.

  3. Yaxshimisan?

    How are you? (to a friend)

    Word by Word: Well-Q-you-are?

    Here -mi comes before -san, the order textbooks teach.

  4. Sen qayerdasan?

    Where are you?

    Word by Word: You where-at-you-are?

  5. Sen haqsan.

    You are right.

    Word by Word: You right-you-are.

  6. Sen kasal emassan.

    You are not ill.

    Word by Word: You ill not-you-are.

    In the negative, -san moves onto emas.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting -san before the place ending.

    Sen qayersanda?
    Sen qayerdasan?

    The place ending comes first and the personal ending last: qayer + -da + -san.

  • Mixing the familiar pronoun with the polite ending.

    Sen talabasiz.
    Sen talabasan.

    Sen goes with -san and siz goes with -siz. Keep the pronoun and the ending matched.

  • Using sen and -san with a teacher (a register mismatch, not a grammar error).

    Ustoz, sen tayyormisan?
    Ustoz, siz tayyormisiz?

    A teacher or an older person is addressed with siz and -siz.

How It Connects

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

-sanLevel 1You Are (Familiar): -san

Learn This First

Builds on You (Familiar) and I Am: -man.

Words in This Pattern