Sylheti language

ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠤ
Silôṭi maṭ
Syloti language

Subject classification: this is a language-learning resource.

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: Deliberately incomplete for educational purposes.

Who is this course for?

This course is intended to teach the Sylheti language. This is a comprehensive course for people who want to develop linguistic (lexical, grammatical and phonetic) and communication skills in the Sylheti language.

Name of the language

Language	Native	Mundari (Austroasiatic)	Bengali	Hindi	Sanskrit
Original words	[silɔʈi]	[silhɛʈi]	[sileʈi]	[silahat]	[srihattia]
Anglicized spellings	Syloti	Sylheti	n/a	n/a	n/a

First contact

Let's dive straight into some simple Sylheti sentences to give you a first impression of how Sylheti is structured.

Sentence 1 : I speak Syloti.

mu•i	si•lo•ṭi	ma•ti
(Subject)	(Direct Object)	(Verb)
(I)	(Syloti)	(speak)

Note : The simple affirmative present tense Syloti sentence follows the Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order.

Sentence 2 : I do not speak Syloti.

mu•i	si•lo•ṭi	ma•ti	naa
(Subject)	(Direct Object)	(Verb)	(Negative marker for present)
(I)	(Syloti)	(speak)	(not)

Note : The simple negative present tense Sylheti sentence adds the negative marker -naa after the verb to make it negative.

Note :

1. As the subject changes from mui (I) to tumi (You), observe that the form of the present tense verb changes. To learn more about this, see Verbs

List of Grammar Lessons (not in order)

• Lesson x. Pronouns
• Lesson x. Nouns
• Lesson x. Verbs
• Lesson x. Adjectives
• Lesson x. Adverbs
• Lesson x. Degree Modifiers for adjectives, adverbs and verbs
• Lesson x. Comparison with nouns, adjectives, adverbs and verbs
• Lesson x. Object Pronouns
• Lesson x. Word Order
• Lesson x. Postpositions
• Lesson x. Expressing temporal information (When or how often something happens)
• Lesson x. Expressing locative information (Where something happens)
• Lesson x. Expressing Obligation with Verb (modal auxiliary "zoruri")
• Lesson x. Expressing Possibility with Verb (modal auxiliary "fara")
• Lesson x. Expressing Ability or Knowhow with Verb (modal auxiliary "zana" or "fara")
• Lesson x. Expressing Want with Verb (modal auxiliary "saua")
• Lesson x. Expressing Need with Verb (modal auxiliary "dorkhar" or "laga")
• Lesson x. Expressing Cause (Why something happens)
• Lesson x. Expressing Consequence
• Lesson x. Expressing Goal (For what something happens)
• Lesson x. Expressing Opposition (how to say but, on the contrary, however, etc.)
• Lesson x. Expressing Addition of Ideas (how to say and, moreover, etc)
• Lesson x. Expressing Conditions (how to say if, unless, depends etc)
• Lesson x. Expressing Anteriority, Posteriority and Simultaneity (how to say before, after, during etc)
• Lesson x. Characterizing using relative clauses (how to add information using who, which, where, whose, that etc)
• Lesson x. Asking Questions

List of Vocabulary Lessons (not in order)

• Lesson x. Greetings and basic polite expressions
• Lesson x. Numbers
• Lesson x. Measurements and Quantities
• Lesson x. Characteristics of Objects: Size, Shape, Material, Texture, Color
• Lesson x. Geography and nationalities
• Lesson x. Languages
• Lesson x. Human Body
• Lesson x. Movements, Gestures and Postures
• Lesson x. Cycle of Life
• Lesson x. Family
• Lesson x. Relationships
• Lesson x. Personal Information
• Lesson x. Daily activities
• Lesson x. Housing
• Lesson x. Appearance and Clothing
• Lesson x. Places in the city
• Lesson x. Directions
• Lesson x. Traveling, roads and transport
• Lesson x. Personal Objects
• Lesson x. Education
• Lesson x. Work and Workplaces
• Lesson x. Shops and shopping
• Lesson x. Vacation
• Lesson x. Leisure activities
• Lesson x. Animals
• Lesson x. Plants and Trees
• Lesson x. Food
• Lesson x. Eating out
• Lesson x. Cooking, Recipes and Gastronomy
• Lesson x. Shops and shopping
• Lesson x. Graphic Arts
• Lesson x. Theater
• Lesson x. Cinema
• Lesson x. Music
• Lesson x. Architecture
• Lesson x. Photography
• Lesson x. Sports and games
• Lesson x. Post office and other services
• Lesson x. Media
• Lesson x. Computers and Internet
• Lesson x. Books and literature
• Lesson x. Intellectual life
• Lesson x. Communication
• Lesson x. Feelings and Emotions
• Lesson x. Health and Medicine
• Lesson x. Fashion
• Lesson x. Money and Banking
• Lesson x. Character and Personality
• Lesson x. Science and Research
• Lesson x. Crime, Law and Justice
• Lesson x. Environment
• Lesson x. Weather and Climate
• Lesson x. Economy and Finances
• Lesson x. Politics
• Lesson x. Social Issues
• Lesson x. Morality
• Lesson x. Mind and psychology
• Lesson x. Time
• Lesson x. The Past
• Lesson x. The Future
• Lesson x. Belief and religion

Appendices

• Appendix x. Foreign words

See Also

Following resources can be helpful. It may give a basic understanding of Syloti (endonym) or Sylheti (exonym) - language and writing:

• Syloti-Nagri alphabet - Omniglot
• Syloti - Endangered Alphabets
• Sylheti phrases - Useful phrases in Sylheti
• Sylheti language lessons - SOAS University of London
• Sylheti numbers - Proposal to encode in Unicode.
• Learn Sylheti – Audio - Listen to basic words and sentences in Sylheti language
• Audio recordings available in Sylheti - Global Recordings Network