The linguistic study of speech acts is very relevant in modern linguistics. The aim of this article is to study the speech act of curses in the Tatar language space and their functional and pragmatic functions. The study material is speech expressions extracted from works of modernist literature, as well as paroemiological statements. The study used descriptive and stylistic methods and techniques of selection and systematization, observation and generalization. The analysis shows that in the Tatar language the curse - malice (kargyshlar) is represented as a form of speech act, which is a negative emotional response of a linguistic personality.The main functional and pragmatic features of the speech act of curse are a deliberate wish for misfortune, financial failure, poorness, family misfortune, discord within the family, harm to health, a difficult life, death, damage to the addressee’s appearance and discontent, malice, anger, annoyance at anyone. The main means of expressing the speech act of cursing are optative sentences with the form of the imperative and desirable moods.