Lesson 1

Contents:

Introduction to the alphabet

Work with vocabulary

First of all, let's learn to greet!

Мшыбзи'а! Good day! Hello! Literally: the day is good!
Бзи'а(ра) уба'аит! Answer greeting (to a man). Literally: yes to see you (a man) is good!
Бзи'а(ра) бба'аит! Answer greeting (to a woman). Literally: yes to see you (a woman) is good!

(The brackets show an optional part, i.e. in any situation we can read бзиара убааит the same as бзиа убааит).

And now we will introduce the Abkhazian alphabet.

Abkhazian has 6 vowels and 56 consonants. In total 62. Of these 26 are from the Russian alphabet, i.e. all letters except ё, й, щ, ю, я, э, ъ are included in the Abkhazian alphabet.

АҦСУА   АЛФАВИТ ABKHAZIAN   ALPHABET
А	Ҕ	Ж	И	ҚӘ	Н	Т	Х	ЦӘ	Ҿ	Џ
Б	ҔЬ	ЖЬ	К	Ҟ	О	ТӘ	ХЬ	Ҵ	Ш	ЏЬ
В	ҔӘ	ЖӘ	КЬ	ҞЬ	П	Ҭ	ХӘ	ҴӘ	ШЬ	Ь
Г	Д	З	КӘ	ҞӘ	Ҧ	ҬӘ	Ҳ	Ч	ШӘ	Ә
ГЬ	ДӘ	Ӡ	Қ	Л	Р	У	ҲӘ	Ҷ	Ы
ГӘ	Е	ӠӘ	ҚЬ	М	С	Ф	Ц	Ҽ	Ҩ

And so you're already familiar with 26 letters of the Abkhazian alphabet, including all the vowels - а, е, и, у, о, ы. Using your current knowledge you can learn a few words and expressions, for example:

абзи'а - good
агы'лара - to stand up
ацара' - to go; to leave
сара' - I
абара' - to see
бзи'а абара' - to love
ача' - bread
аб - father
ан - mother
а'мра - sun
аа'хәара - to buy
амш - day, weather
амшы'н - sea
ашко'л - school

Let's learn a few common phrases.

Сара' сцо'ит - I'm going, I'm leaving
Сара' сгы'лоуп - I'm standing up
Сара' избо'ит - I see
Сара' бзи'а избо'ит са'ни са'би - I love my mother and father
Сар'а иаа'схәоит ача' - I am buying bread

At the end of the alphabet are two letters - Ь (soft sign) and Ә (rounding sign). These symbols don't have their own sound, but in combination with other letters form new sounds.
Compare:

к - кь - кә
г - гь - гә
х - хь - хә

Soft consonants in Abkhazian (except ч, ҷ) are accompanied by a soft sign.

The sounds кь, гь, хь are pronounced approximately  the same as the Russian consonants к, г, х + vowel sound и. For example: Abkhazian гь - Russian combination ги (гиря); Abkhazian кь - Russian ки (кино); Abkhazian хь - Russian хи (хитрый).

Adding the soft sign ь to the letter к gives the letter кь.
For example:
а'нкьа - before (earlier) (a long time ago)
макьа'на - still (for the time being)

Adding the rounding sign ә to the letter к gives the letter кә.
Unlike the Russian combination ку, this sound is pronounced together кә.
акәа'ц - meat
а'кәашара - to dance

And so: к - кь - кә

And similarly for the other letters. For example:

г - гь - гә
агара' - to take, to take away
агьа'ма - taste
агәы' - heart

х - хь - хә
ахы' - head
иахьа' - today
ахь - to (suffix)
ахә - price

(If the suffix ахь follows a word that ends in a vowel (а,ы), then it is written together with the word it follows. Compare: ашкол ахь, but аусурахь "(to go) to work" (аусура + ахь)).

Read these sentences following the soundtrack:

Сара' кьы'лак акәа'ц аа'схәоит - I buy a kilogram of meat
Сара' иахьа' ашко'л ахь сцо'ит - today I go to school
Акәа'ц агьа'ма бзи'оуп - meat tastes good
Иахьа' амш бзи'оуп - today is good weather
Сара' сцо'ит - I am going / leaving
Сара' сгы'лоуп - I stand up (to stand up)
Сара' избо'ит - I see
Сара' бзи'а избо'ит са'ни са'би - I love my mother and father
Сара' иаа'схәоит ача' - I buy bread
Лара' амшы'н ахь дцо'ит - she's going to the sea

And so we have familiarised with new sounds of the Abkhazian alphabet. Remember how they sound.
кь
а'нкьа - before (earlier)
макьа'на - still (for the time being)
акьы'ла - kilogram
кә
акәа'ц - meat
гь
агьа'ма - taste
гә
агәы' - heart
хь
иахьа' - today
хә
ахә - price

Exercise 1
Translate these phrases and sentences.

1. Иахьа' амш бзи'оуп.
2. Макьа'на амш бзи'оуп.
3. Ача' агьа'ма бзи'оуп.
4. Сара' акәа'ц аа'схәоит.
5. Сара' сцо'ит.
6. Сара' са'ни са'би бзи'а избо'ит.
7. Сара' сгы'лоуп.
8. Сара' избо'ит.
9. Сара' амшы'н бзи'а избо'ит.

(Answers)

Абзи'араз! All the best! Goodbye!