Turkish

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Basic Turkish

To help you enjoy your holiday, you may want to learn some basic Turkish. Turkish people will love the fact that you have tried, even if you haven't fully mastered it. English is taught in primary and secondary schools, so you can usually find a helpful soul to translate for you.

We have also provided a reminder below that you may wish to print out and take with you on your trip.

ENGLISH TURKISH PRONUNCIATION

Hello

Merhaba

MEHR-hah-bah

Good morning, good day

Günaydın

gew-nahy-DUHN

Good evening

Iyi akşamlar

EE ahk-shahm-LAHR

Good night

Iyi geceler

EE geh-jeh-LEHR

Goodbye

Allaha ısmarladık

ah-LAHS-mahr-lah-duhk

Bon voyage/Bye

Güle güle

gew-LEH gew-LEH

What is your name?

Adınız ne?

AH-duh-NUHZ neh

My name is…

Adım…

Ah-DUHM…

How are you?

Nasılsınız?

NAHS-suhl-suh-nuhz

I'm fine, thank you.

Iyiyim, teşekkür ederim

ee-YEE-yihm, tesh-ek-KEWR eh-dehr-eem

Pardon me

Affedersiniz, pardon

af-feh-DEHR-see-neez, pahr-DOHN

Yes/no

Evet/hayır

eh-VEHT/HAH-yuhr

Please.

Lütfen

LEWT-fehn

Help yourself.

Buyurun(uz)

BOOY-roon-(ooz)

Thanks.

Teşekkürler.

Sag Ol

Mersi

t eh-sheh-kewr-LEHR.SOWL.mehr-SEE

You're welcome.

Bir şey değil

beer SHEHY deh-YEEL

Friend

Arkadaş

Ar-kah-DAHSH

What?

Ne?

NEH

How?

Nasıl?

NAH-suhl

Who?

Kim?

KEEM

Why?

Niçin, neden?

NEE-cheen, NEH-dehn

When?

Ne zaman?

NEH zah-mahn

Which one?

Hangisi?

HAHN-gee-see

What's this?

Bu ne?

BOO neh

How much/many?

Kaç/kaç tane?

KAHCH/tah-neh

What does it mean?

Ne demek?

NEH deh-mehk

Give me ...

... bana verin

bah-NAH veh-reen

I want ...

... istiyorum

ees-tee-YOH-room

...this

...bu(nu)

...boo(NOO)

...that

...şu(nu)

...shoo(NOO)

...the other

...o(nu)

...oh(NOO)

hot/cold

sıcak/soğuk

suh-JAHK/soh-OOK

big/small

büyük/küçük

bew-YEWK/kew-CHEWK

new/old

yeni/eski

yeh-NEE/ehss-KEE

open/closed

açık/kapalı

ah-CHUHK/kah-pah-LUH

not ...

... değil

deh-YEEL

It exists/doesn't exist

Var/yok

VAHR/YOHK

And/or

Ve/veya

VEH/veh-YAH

Good/bad

iyi/fenah

EE-ee/ feh-NAH

Beautiful/ugly

Güzel/çirkin

gew-ZEHL/cheer-KEEN

Where is a/the ... ?

... nerede?

NEH-reh-deh

__railway station

__Gar/istasyon

__GAHR, ees-tah-SYOHN

__bus station

__Otogar

__OH-toh-gahr

__cheap hotel

__Ucuz bir otel

__oo-JOOZ beer oh-TEHL

__toilet

__Tuvalet

__too-vah-LEHT

__restaurant

__Lokanta

__loh-KAHN-tah

__post office

__Postane, PTT

__POHSS-tah-neh, peh-teh-TEH

Room

Oda

OH-dah

Shower

Duş

DOOSH

Bath

Banyo

BAHN-yo

Turkish bath

Hamam

Hah-MAHM

Soap

Sabun

Sah-BOON

Toilet paper

tuvalet kağıdı

too-vah-LEHT kyaah-uh-duh

Hot water

Sıcak su

Suh_JAHK soo

Luggage

Bagaj

Bah-GAHZH

Clean

Temiz

The-MEEZ

Laundry

Çamaşır

Chah-mah-SHUR

Light(s)

Işık(lar)

Uh-SHUK(-LAHR)

Money

Para

PAH-rah

Water

Su

SOO

Tea

Çay

CHAH-yee

street, avenue

sokak, cadde(si)

soh-KAHK, JAHD-deh

Left/right

Sol/ sağ

SOHL/SAAH

straight (on)

doğru

doh-ROO

Here/there/over there

Burada/
şurada/
orada

BOO-rah-dah/
SHOO-rah-dah/
OH-rah-dah

Near/far

Yakın/uzak

yah-KUHN/oo-ZAHK

map

harita

HAH-ree-TAH

ticket

bilet

bee-LEHT

one-way/round- trip

gidiş/gidiş-dönüş

gee-DEESH/ gee-DEESH-dur-NEWRSH

airplane

uçak

oo-CHAHK

airport

havaalanı

Hah-VAH-ah-lah-nuh

train

tren

TREHN

ship

gemi

GEH-mee

bus

otobüs

Oh-toh-BEWSS

car

araba

AH-rah-bah

Day, daily

gün, hergün

GURN, HEHR-gurn

today

bugün

BOO-gurn

tomorrow

yarın

YAHR-uhn

week

hafta

hahf-TAH

Sunday

Pazar

pah-ZAHR

Monday

Pazartesi

pah-ZAHR-teh-see

Tuesday

Salı

sah-LUH

Wednesday

Çarşamba

char-shahm-BAH

Thursday

Perşembe

pehr-shehm-BEH

Friday

Cuma

joo-MAH

Saturday

Cumartesi

joo-MAHR-teh-see

month

ay

AHY

year

sene, yil

SEH-neh, YUHL

January

Ocak

oh-JAHK

February

Şubat

shoo-BAHT

March

Mart

MAHRT

April

Nisan

nee-SAHN

May

Mayıs

mah-YUSS

June

Haziran

HAH-zee-RAHN

July

Temmuz

teh-MOOZ

August

Ağustos

AH-oo-STOHSS

September

Eylül

ehy-LEWL

October

Ekim

eh-KEEM

November

Kasım

kah-SUHM

December

Aralık

AH-rah-LU

Grammar

Turkish grammar is simplistic once you get used to the style. However, it can seem to be very difficult since the grammatical structure is totally different from the Indo-European languages. This is because Turkish is from a different language family called Ural-Altaic languages. Some languages supposedly similar to Turkish are ' Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Kazak, Uzbek, Tatar, Manchu '. Compared to English, the most fundamental differences in Turkish grammar are: -

Ordering of sentence parts

A typical Turkish sentence is ordered as ( subject + object + verb )
Arkadaşım [My friend --> subject] araba [car -->object] aldı [bought-->verb].

No gender

There are no articles in Turkish, and no gender associated with words
No gender in personal pronouns (the Turkish word for 'he', 'she' and 'it' is 'o').

Vowel harmony

Harmony of vowels is a very fundamental property of Turkish. The rules concerning vowel harmony need to be learned as one of the first steps because they affect the way almost all the other rules are applied.

Use of suffixes

Suffixes are very widely used in Turkish. The meaning of prepositions, personal pronouns and tenses are all countered by adding suffixes to word roots.
Kalbımdesin [You are in my heart].

Once you get these differences and learn the basic harmony rules, the rest of the grammar is quite simple. Almost everything follows well defined, simple rules.

Sounds

Another important point is the way you read a written text. There is exactly one sound for each character in Turkish. A character always represents the same sound, regardless of its position in a word or the characters next to it. Therefore, it is straightforward to pronounce a word that you see for the first time once you are familiar with the characters in the Turkish alphabet.

Vocabulary

Once you are comfortable or at least familiar with the harmony rules, the main challenge will be the vocabulary. Turkish vocabulary can be very challenging since the words have no resemblance to the European languages except the few words adapted directly from these languages.

The fun begins

Now you can slap a lot of suffixes together and get Afyonkarahisarlilaştiramadiklarimizdan misiniz? It's actually a word, and also a complete sentence! But, it must be admitted, it was made up just to show off the agglutinative facility of Turkish.

What does it mean? "Are you from among that group of people whom we attempted to make to resemble the citizens of Afyonkarahisar , but were unable to do so?"

Try www.turkishclass.com or for more info put Learn Turkish in a search engine or download an app to your phone or tablet!

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