“Kurdish Grammar: SORANI Reference Book” by Murat Baran

I’ve been looking forward to the chance to review Kurdish Grammar: SORANI Reference Book, by Murat Baran, because it’s one of the single best resources available today for students of Sorani Kurdish. If you’re studying Sorani Kurdish and you don’t own this book, you should pick up a copy right away.

As the title suggests, this is not a text book that teaches the language. It’s a reference book that gives a comprehensive, quick-reference guide to Sorani Kurdish grammar. Want to understand how to conjugate a verb? Need a reminder of how to pluralize a noun or form a question? You can find help at a glance by looking inside Kurdish Grammar: SORANI Reference Book.

Kurdish Grammar: SORANI Reference Book is also available on Kindle, so you can purchase and begin using it immediately wherever you are.

The book covers all word types, but in particular it is helpful for Sorani verbs. Examples of full conjugations for each Sorani verb tense are given, including how to use the verb tense in the negative and in a question. Transitive, intransitive, and modal verbs are especially tricky in Sorani, and these are included along with examples.

This example verb paradigm is from the Kindle edition of the book. Pages of the paperback version are black and white.

The author has selected the most important aspects of Sorani Kurdish grammar, and summarized them in a clear and organized manner. Students learning Sorani can turn to this book to find clarity on many tricky or confusing parts of the language. Because of this, it’s recommended as a tool for learners studying Sorani using the Growing Participator Approach who may not receive formal instruction on Kurdish grammar.

Grammar tips go well beyond just the verbs and include all important aspects of the language, as seen in this example.

The quality of this book speaks for itself, but to make it even more user-friendly, the author has made it available in several formats: Separate versions are available with the Sorani text in Latin or Kurdish scripts1. And, in addition to the paperback version, Kurdish Grammar: SORANI Reference Book is also available on Kindle, so you can purchase and begin using it immediately wherever you are. German translations of all of these versions are available too.

  1. Kurdish Central recommends that serious students use the Kurdish script edition, but the Latin version can be helpful for very beginners. ↩︎