Speak like a native

It’s time to really up your Tatar game! If you want to sound just like a Tatar native speaker, we've prepared these phrases and words for you to help you sound as natural as possible:

şıldımı? – got it? (añlaşıldımı?)

xə – now / in a bit (xəzer) 

iye – yes (əye)

ime? – right? (әyeme?)

yəme? – okay?

apkilü, apçığu, etc. – to bring, to take out, etc. (alıp kilü, alıp çığu, etc.)

iyem – was (idem)

mikən – I wonder if (mı ikən)

məytəm – I say/ said (min əytəm)

bn – w/ (belən)

rxmt – thnx (rəxmət)

Some frequently used words and phrases:

çınlapmı? – really?

yağni? – as in? namely?

şunnan? – and? so what?

qısqası – in short

içmasam – at least

axrısı – probably

möğayın – perhaps

hiçşiksez – absolutely

Şunısı qızıq,... – What’s interesting is…

Bolay ğına əytəm. – I’m just saying.

Nərsə/ni buldı? – What happened?

Bula torğan xəl. – Stuff happens.

Şulayraq toyıla. – It seems so.

Miña barıber. – I don’t care.

Alay ikən… – I see

The expletives ni and kem

The expletive ni serves to fill pauses during speech, aiding speakers in moments of forgetfulness, hesitation, or when searching for the right words. It's commonly paired with the word tege, like tege ni (that thing) or tege nine bir əle (give me that thing):

Oy, xarap ta yaratam şul futbolnı. Kiçə niçek uynadılar, televizordan qaradıq. Tege nilər belən... Angliyələr uynadı. ... (Rəisə İşmoratova, “Yəşlər qanat cəygəndə”)

Oh, I am terribly fond of soccer. How they played yesterday! We watched it on television. They played with, er... what do you call them, the English...

Kem is used when addressing or mentioning someone not present, helping to bridge pauses in speech when the speaker is trying to recall or doesn't know the person's name:

Uzeñneñ nixəl soñ, kem, isemeñne də soramadım buğay. (Mirsəy Əmir, “Minem xatın”)

And how are you then, er ... I think I didn’t even ask your name.