Kurmanji is a Western Iranian language, which comes from the Indo-Iranian language family, which makes it an Indo-European language. Other Western Iranian languages include Sorani, and Gorani.

Who Speaks Kurmanji?

Kurmanji dialect has been spoken by 60% of all ethnic Kurds. Kurmanji is the most widely spoken dialect (some consider it its own language with a set of mutually intelligible dialects) of the Kurdish people. There are even some estimates claiming it to be spoken by as many as 80% of the Kurdish population.

Kurdish Kurmanji  is also referred to as Northern Kurdish as it is the primary dialect spoken in eastern and south eastern Turkey, which constitutes the northern portion of the Kurdish diaspora. 

What is the Kurmanji Alphabet?

Kurmanji is primarily written in the Latin alphabet. Of course, it has its differences and native English speakers would probably struggle to decipher not only the meaning but the pronunciation of words.

While many Kurmanji natives will utilize the Latin alphabet, there has been no standard alphabet amongst the Kurdish people (given that they don’t have an official country). So it’s not uncommon to see Kurmanji being written in the Cyrillic and Arabic scripts. Some Kurdish languages, albeit not Kurmanji, can be seen written using the old Yazidi script.

A Quick Overview of Kurmanji Grammar

Kurmanji grammar is quite complex and intricate, especially to us English speakers. Kurmanji nouns can fall into the following four cases: nominative, oblique, vocative, and construct.

Kurmanji nouns are also either masculine or feminine. This will dictate how the words are written and pronounced. Keep in mind that words borrowed from their Arab neighbors do not exactly translate in gender. For instance the word “Kitêb” in Kurmanji is a feminine noun, however the same word (Kitaab) in Arabic is a masculine noun. So keep this in mind when studying Kurmanji.

Best Resources to Learn Kurmanji

Check out our article “6 Books to Help You Master Kurmanji” to find the best books to learn this difficult language!

As always, please be sure to share this article with your friends and family to show your support for these lesser known languages.

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