The Circassian words people look up most are the ones you need on the first day: hello, thank you, how are you, happy birthday, and the words for mom and grandma. Here they are in both written forms of the Circassian language: Kabardian (East Circassian) and Adyghe (West Circassian), side by side.
Every phrase on this page comes from the Circassian app’s own lessons and audio course, and most of them have a listen button that plays the same audio the lessons use. Nothing here is machine translated. Where the lessons don’t teach a phrase yet, the page says so instead of guessing.
The I in words like ФIэхъус is the palochka, a Circassian letter that looks like a capital I. Not sure which dialect your family speaks? Kabardian vs Adyghe explains the difference.
How to say hello in Circassian
In Kabardian the everyday hello is ФIэхъус (F'eĥus). The Adyghe lessons teach Сэлам, the same greeting you hear in Turkish and Arabic, and the warmer Уимафэ шIу!, which the course translates as “Hello!” or “Good day!”.
Put the two “good day” greetings next to each other and you can already see how close the dialects are. Уи махуэ фIыуэ and Уимафэ шIу! are built around the same word for day: махуэ in the east, мафэ in the west.
How are you? in Kabardian and Adyghe
The very first Kabardian lesson in the app teaches a whole little conversation, in this order:
Kabardian · lesson 1
In Adyghe, the audio course answers Сыдэу ущыт? with Сыпсау, оры?, “I’m fine, and you?”. Another reply from the lessons is ЗэкIэ дэгъу. Опсэу., “Everything is fine, thank you.”
Adyghe · audio course
How to say thank you in Circassian
Thank you in Kabardian is short and easy: Упсэу (Upsew). The Kabardian–Russian dictionary built into the app gives it a second meaning as well, “be well”, and lists it as a reply to a greeting. To say “you’re welcome”, answer Упсэуж. “No, thank you” is Хьэуэ, упсэу!.
In Adyghe the full form is Тхьауегъэпсэу (Thauyeghepseu), and the lessons also use the short Опсэу. Look closely and you can see that Kabardian упсэу and Adyghe опсэу are close cousins.
How to say happy birthday in Circassian
Happy birthday in Kabardian is Укъыщалъхуа махуэмкIэ сынохъуэхъу!. Word for word it is close to “on the day you were born, I wish you well”. Махуэ is day, and хъуэхъу, the heart of the last word, means a good wish or a toast in the Kabardian dictionary.
The Adyghe course doesn’t include the birthday wish itself yet, so it isn’t printed here. You will find the word for birthday inside the question it does teach: Укъызыхъугъэ мафэр хэта зыдэбгъэмэфэкIыгъэр?, “With whom did you celebrate your birthday?”.
Mom and dad in Circassian
Mother is анэ in Kabardian and нанэ in Adyghe. Father is адэ and татэ. To say “mother and father” together, the Kabardian lessons use the word икIи, “and”: Анэ икIи адэ. The Adyghe audio course shows another way to join a pair: the “and” becomes a little ending on each word, Нанэрэ татэрэ.
One word, two meanings. In Adyghe, нанэ means mother. The Kabardian–Russian dictionary in the app lists the same word, нанэ, as “grandmother” and “old woman”. So in a mixed family, one person’s mom can sound like another person’s grandma.
Grandma and grandpa in Circassian
Kabardian builds grandma from mom: анэшхуэ is анэ plus the ending -шхуэ, the same ending that turns унагъуэ (family) into унагъуэшхуэ, a big family. Grandpa works the same way: адэшхуэ. In Adyghe, grandmother and grandfather are нэнэжъ and тэтэжъ.
To point someone out, the audio course uses Мор си анэшхуэщ in Kabardian and Мор синэнэжъ in Adyghe, both meaning “That is my grandmother.”
How to say I love you in Circassian
Circassian talks about love with the verb “to see”. In the Kabardian dictionary, лъагъун means to see, and фIыуэ лъагъун, literally “to see well”, is to love: фIыуэ зэрылъагъун is “to love each other”. Adyghe builds it on its own verb for seeing, лъэгъун: the Adyghe dictionary in the app lists шIу лъэгъун as “to love”.
The Kabardian lessons teach Сэ ар фIыуэ солъагъу!. Ар means he, she or it, so the same sentence says “I love him!” and “I love her!”. The noun love is лъагъуныгъэ in Kabardian and шIулъэгъу in Adyghe.
The exact words “I love you” aren’t in the lessons yet, and this page only uses phrases the lessons teach, so there is no guess here. If you want to say it to someone special, ask in the app’s community chats, where Circassians from Turkey, Jordan, Russia and beyond talk every day.
Goodbye, good morning, good night and welcome
| English | Kabardian | Adyghe |
|---|---|---|
| goodbye | ФIыкIэF'yk'e | ХъяркIэKhyark'e |
| good morning | Уи пщэдджыжь фIыуэWi pshchedzhyzh f'ywe | Уипчэдыжь шIу!Wipchedyzh sh'u! |
| good night | Уи жэщ фIыуэWi zheshch f'ywe | Уичэщ шIуWicheshch sh'u |
| welcome! | Къеблагъэ!Qyeblaghe! | Къеблагъ!Qyeblagh! |
| enjoy your meal! | Фи хьэлэлщ!Fi helelshch! | – |
| this is delicious! / delicious | Мыр IэфIщ!Myr 'ef'shch! | IэшIу дэд'esh'u ded |
“Welcome!” comes from the audio course, where a guest arrives at the door: Къеблагъэ! in Kabardian and Къеблагъ! in Adyghe. It is one of the first things a Circassian host says. More about that in the post on Circassian hospitality.
All the phrases at a glance
| English | Kabardian | Adyghe |
|---|---|---|
| hello | ФIэхъусF'eĥus | СэламSelam |
| how are you? | Дауэ ущыт?Dawe ushchyt? | Сыд фэдэу ущыт?Syd fedeu ushchyt? |
| thank you | УпсэуUpsew | ТхьауегъэпсэуThauyeghepseu |
| you’re welcome | УпсэужUpseuzh | – |
| happy birthday! | Укъыщалъхуа махуэмкIэ сынохъуэхъу!Uqyshchalhkhwa makhwemk'e synokhwekhw! | – |
| mother | анэane | нанэnane |
| father | адэade | татэtate |
| grandmother | анэшхуэaneshkhwe | нэнэжъnenezh |
| grandfather | адэшхуэadeshkhwe | тэтэжъtetezh |
| love | лъагъуныгъэlaghunyghe | шIулъэгъуsh'ulheghw |
| goodbye | ФIыкIэF'yk'e | ХъяркIэKhyark'e |
A dash means the lessons don’t teach that phrase in that dialect yet. For the next steps, the 50 essential Circassian words cover more everyday vocabulary, and Circassian numbers shows how each dialect counts to one hundred.
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Circassian phrases: frequently asked questions
How do you say thank you in Circassian?
In Kabardian (East Circassian), thank you is Упсэу (upsew). In Adyghe (West Circassian) it is Тхьауегъэпсэу, and the short form Опсэу is also used.
How do you say hello in Circassian?
Kabardian says ФIэхъус. The Adyghe lessons teach Сэлам and Уимафэ шIу!, which means hello or good day.
How do you say happy birthday in Kabardian?
Укъыщалъхуа махуэмкIэ сынохъуэхъу! Word for word it is close to “on the day you were born, I wish you well”.
What is mother and grandmother in Circassian?
Mother is анэ in Kabardian and нанэ in Adyghe. Grandmother is анэшхуэ in Kabardian and нэнэжъ in Adyghe. In Kabardian, нанэ itself can mean grandmother.
How do you say I love you in Circassian?
Circassian says “to love” as “to see well”: фIыуэ лъагъун in Kabardian, шIу лъэгъун in Adyghe. The lessons teach Сэ ар фIыуэ солъагъу!, “I love him!” or “I love her!”.
Is Circassian one language or two?
Circassian has two written standards, Kabardian (East) and Adyghe (West). They share a lot, but many everyday words differ, which is why the Circassian app has a separate course for each.
Sources
- Circassian app, Kabardian (East) and Adyghe (West) courses, version 5.2 (September 2026): the lessons Basic Greetings, Politeness, Pronouns & Identity, Parents & Siblings, Extended Family, People and Character, and the course phrase banks.
- Circassian app audio course, Eastern and Western dialects: lesson 2 (how are you), lesson 11 (family), lesson 15 (joining words with “and”), lesson 29 (a guest at the door) and lesson 30 (review).
- Kabardian–Russian dictionary built into the app’s Translate screen (24,190 entries): упсэу (p. 455), нанэ (p. 332), лъагъун (p. 297), фIыуэ (p. 474), хъуэхъу (p. 551), ар (p. 25).
- Adyghe dictionary built into the app’s Translate screen (3,499 entries, from dovlet.info): тхьауегъэпсэу, шIу лъэгъун, лъэгъун.
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