1. 

Basic Turkish Phrases

Notice that Turkish has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is more than one meaning to "you" in Turkish (as well as in many other languages). The informal you is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal you is used when talking to someone who is older than you or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example).

As in many Romance languages, personal pronouns can be omitted, and they are only added for emphasis.

Turkish has Vowel Harmony. That’s why we have given a choice of suffixes in the example “I live in…”. This will be dealt with in later sections.

In the examples used, we have used a vowel lengthener sign (as in ā, ī and ū) to differentiate between short and long vowels. Note that it does not show the stress; rather it shows that the vowel is pronounced longer.

The “^” sign is used to soften the consonant that precedes it.

The length and the softening of vowels is conveyed through this one sign “^” in standard writing. Even then it is only used in certain words or phrases nowadays. For that reason we have used two different signs and have put it at every point where needed, to help the new learner.

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2. Pronunciation

 

Turkish is a very phonetic language, so pronunciation is very easy.  Most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled.

ü is exactly pronounced like “u” in French, like “tu”.

ğ is in most cases a silent letter. It has a unique sound to it when pronounced separately

(The closest would be the “r” sound in French, but ğ is not a guttural letter).

Today, ğ is used:

·         as a vowel lengthener, that is, it lengthens the vowel that precedes it.

Dağ (“da:”) “mountain”

Ağlamak (“a:lamak”) “to cry”

Ağaç (“a:ch”) “tree”

·         in the middle of two vowels to connect them.

Eğilmek “to stoop”, eğitim “education”.

ı is pronounced like the “e” sound of “kommen” in German. It is an undotted i in appearance.

kâ is pronounced like the “qua” sound in “quatre” in French.

gâ is pronounced in a similar way, similar to “gare” in French.

lâ is pronounced like the “la” sound in French.

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3. Subject Pronouns 

The plural you, siz, is also used for formal address. The subject pronouns for the third person singular and plural (o and onlar) are generally replaced by the noun they specify (i.e. the person, the object) in the spoken language.

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4. General Vocabulary       Useful Words in Turkish

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5. Asking Questions in Turkish

Nereden biliyorsun?   How do you know?
Kimi tanıyorsun?    Whom do you know?
Kaç dil öğreniyorsun?  How many languages are you learning?
Hangi üniversitede okuyorsun?    In which university are you studying?
Niye gülüyorsun?      Why are you laughing?

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6. The suffix “to be” and Vowel Harmony

The suffixes –dur and –dırlar are mostly omitted in speech, and they can sometimes be left out in the written language.

The vowels used in the suffix “to be” shifts with Vowel Harmony. Vowel Harmony is easy to learn. The vowels are divided into two groups for this:

The A-undotted group and the E-dotted group.

Note: Instead of memorizing the subtleties of each rule, it is more helpful to study the examples below by writing them down and repeating them with a loud voice, thus gaining a sense of the language.

The A-undotted group includes the vowels a,ı,o,u.

The vowel used in the last syllable of a word defines the way vowel harmony is constructed.

·         If the last vowel is a or ı, then the vowel(s) of the suffix is ı.

arkadaş >> arkadaş + ız >> Biz arkadaşız.  “We are friends.”

hasta >> hasta + sınız >> Hastasınız. “You are ill.”

·         If the last vowel is o or u, then the vowel(s) of the suffix is u.

tok >> tok + um >> Tokum.  “I am full.”

The E-dotted group consists of the vowels e,i,ö,ü.

·         If the last vowel is e or i, then the vowel(s) of the suffix is i.

ben >> ben + im >> Benim.  “It’s me.” (lit. “I am.”)

·         If the last vowel is ö or ü, then the vowel(s) of the suffix is ü.

üzgün >> üzgün + sün >> Üzgünsün. “You are upset.”

·         If the word ends in a vowel, y is added before suffixes for “I” and “we”.

hasta >> hasta + y + ım >> Hastayım. “I’m ill.”

evde >> evde + y + iz >> Evdeyiz. "We are at home."

It should be noted that there are words that end with a soft L. In this case, the endings take E –dotted vowels instead.

meşgūl >> meşgūl+üz >> Meşgūlüz. “We are busy.”

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7. To Read, Study and to Learn

Türkçe öğreniyorum.   I’m learning Turkish.
Ne okuyorsun? What are you reading / Which subject are you studying?
Edebiyat okuyorum.    I’m studying Literature.
Harry Potter okuyorum.    I’m reading Harry Potter.

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8. Respect Words

There are respect words that are used in daily life. Instead of addressing a teacher or a professor with siz, students would prefer the word Hocam(which means app. ‘my master’ or ‘my teacher’). Amca, is used to address a male who is older than the speaker. It can also be added to the name of people who are known to the person. In formal situations, the words Bey and Hanım are used after the name. They are also used to address people who are totally unknown to the speaker. In less formal situations, the endings for informal you, sen, can be used, as in the first example.

Ahmet Bey, meşgul müsün?  Mr. Ahmet, are you busy?
İpek Hanım, misāfiriniz var.   Ms. İpek, you have a visitor/guest.
Merhabā Ömer amca, nasılsın?    Hello Ömer amca, how are you?
Merhabā Hocam, nasılsınız?     Hello Professor, how are you?

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9. To Know People and Facts

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10. Numbers / Ordinals

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11. The Present Tense Şimdiki Zaman

 

The Present Tense covers the uses of the Present Continuous Tense in English. Furthermore, it also covers some uses of the Simple Present Tense, especially in the oral language. It is constructed by adding the suffixes above to the verb stem. Yet, a vowel that connects the verb stem to the suffix is added in between, following the rules of Vowel Harmony. The construction is the same with the suffix “to be”.

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the verb stem is a or ı, then the vowel is ı, making    –ıyor.

açmak “to open”                         aç- >> aç + ı + yor >> açıyor  “he/she/it is opening”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is o or u, then the vowel is u, making –uyor.

olmak “to become, to happen”               ol- >> ol + u + yor >> oluyor  “it is happening”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is e or i, then the vowel is i, making –iyor.

içmek “to drink”                      iç- >> iç + i + yor >> içiyor  “he/she/it is drinking”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is ö or ü, then the vowel is ü, making –üyor.

gülmek “to laugh”                  gül- >> gül + ü + yor >> gülüyor  “he/she/it is laughing”

·         Verb stems ending in a vowel either drop this vowel to avoid vowel clusters,

anlamak “to understand”                 anla- >> anl + ı + yor >> anlıyor  “he/she/it understands”

·         or the final vowel mingles with the vowel and they become one. This happens if the final vowel is u, ü, ı or i.

okumak “to read / to study”                    oku- >> ok + u + yor >> okuyor “he/she/it is reading”

In all cases the ending –yor and the personal suffixes always remain the same in all verbs in the Present Tense.

Ne yapıyorsun?         What are you doing?
Şimdi uyuyor.            He/she/it is sleeping now.
Yunus Emre’yi tanıyorum.    I know Yunus Emre.
Hemen geliyorum.     I’m coming right now.

The verbs gitmek (to go) and etmek (to do) go through a consonant mutation when conjugated. The final consonant of the verb stem t softens to d. 

git- >> gid + i + yor >> gidiyor “he/she/it is going”               et- >> ed + i + yor >> ediyor  “he/she/it is doing”

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12. Days of the Week

To say “on Monday”, the expression pazartesi günü is used. It means literally “on the day of Monday”. This is true for other days of the week (salı günü, cuma günü etc.). Days of the week are not capitalized; unless they are used in an exact date, as in 19 Ocak Salı (January 19^th, Tuesday).

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13. Possessive Suffixes

To say “my school”, “his car” in Turkish, we add certain suffixes to the word.

 

Possessive suffixes follow the rules of Vowel Harmony. The construction is quite similar to the suffix “to be”.

·         For the suffixes “my” and “your”, words ending in a vowel get –m and –n respectively, without the need of an additional vowel.

āile >> āile+m >> āilem  “my family”

araba >> araba+m >> arabam  “my car”

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the word is a or ı, then the vowel of the suffix is ı.

araba >> araba+mız >> arabamız  “our car”

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the word is o or u, then the vowel of the suffix is u.

uyku >> uyku+su>> uykusu  “his/her/its sleep”

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the word is e or i, then the vowel of the suffix is i.

kedi >> kedi+niz >> kediniz  “your cat” (plural)

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the word is ö or ü, then the vowel of the suffix is ü.

türkü >> türkü+müz >> türkümüz “our folk song”

·         The suffix for “their” is either –ları or –leri, depending on the last vowel of the word being an A-undotted vowel or an E-dotted vowel.

arabaları   “their car(s)”          

 

·         When the word ends in a consonant, a vowel is added before the suffix. This is the same vowel with the one in the suffix, as can be seen in the examples below.

ev >> ev + i + miz >> evimiz “our house”

köy >> köy + ü + nüz >> köyünüz “your village” (plural)

·                 If the word ends in a consonant, the letter s is omitted from the suffix for “his/her/its”.

at >> at + ı >> atı “his/her/its horse”

·         The suffix for “their” –leri/–ları remains unchanged even if the word ends in a consonant.

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14. Months of the Year

To say “In May” for instance, the expression mayıs ayında is used. It translates as “in the month of May”. The same expression is used for all months, thus; ekim ayında etc. Months are not capitalized; unless they are included in an exact date, as in 20 Mart 2002 (March 20, 2002).

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15. Seasons

To say “in the summer” or “in the winter”, the words yazın and kışın are used. For “in the spring” and “in the autumn”, the locative suffix is used. Thus baharda and ilkbaharda.

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16. Directions

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17. Colors and the Indefinite Article

kırmızı elma     red apple

yeşil yapraklar   green leaves

beyaz kapı      white door

There is no definite article in Turkish.

The indefinite article bir comes after the adjective. In poetry and creative writing, it can sometimes precede the adjective as well, but this is rare in the spoken language.

Bahçemizde yeşil bir ağaç var.      There’s a green tree in our garden.
Gümüş rengi bir saatim var.           I have a silver-colored watch.

Also note that it might be left out in some places where it is used in English.

Öğrenciyim.     I’m a student.

Most of the time, the last consonant of bir is not pronounced in daily life.

Bi hafta sonra geliyorum.  I’m coming in a week.
Bi saat önce buradaydı. He was here an hour ago.

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18. Formation of Plural Nouns

Formation of plural nouns is fairly easy in Turkish. To make words plural, add –ler or –lar to the word, according the vowel in the last syllable. If the vowel in the last syllable is an E-dotted vowel it gets –ler, if it is an A-undotted vowel it gets –lar.

evler   houses

arabalar   cars

okullar   schools

hastalar   patients

insanlar    people

There are some exceptions as well that can be memorized without much difficulty:

saatler    hours  

festivaller    festivals

Galler   Wales (i.e. the country)

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19. Time

It is also common to give the hour and the minute simply, an easier way to tell the time (the two examples signed with parentheses show this).

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20. Weather

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21. Family and Animals

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22. To Have and There is / are

The meaning of “There is, there are” is conveyed through the word var. It means “there is / it exists”.

Otoparkta beş araba var.       There are five cars in the parking lot.
Bahçemizde üç ağaç var.      There are three trees in our garden.

 

To say “There aren’t, there isn’t”, the word yok is used, which means “there isn’t / it doesn’t exist”.

Apartmanımızda hiç Amerikalı yok.      There are no Americans in our apartment.

 

Saying you have something is fairly easy in Turkish. For this purpose, the possessive suffixes and the word var are used together.

Küçük bir kaplumbağam var.      I have a (lit. “my”) small tortoise.
     Sāhilde evi var.        He/she has a (lit. “his/her”) house by the seaside.

 

For negation, yok is used in the same way.

Kedimiz yok.               We don’t have a (lit. “our”) cat.

 

To ask questions like “do you have, don’t you have”, var and yok are used with the question particle, making var mı and yok mu.

    Arabanız var mı?       Do you have a (lit. “your [pl. or formal] car”) car?
Bilgisayarları yok mu?     Don’t they have a computer of their own?

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23. Work and School

doctor dentist lawyer professor teacher engineer architect writer journalist musician artist pharmacist banker carpenter barber mechanic salesman electrician postman policeman soldier pilot secretary poet nurse

doktor diş hekimi / dişçi avukat profesör öğretmen mühendis mīmar yazar gazeteci müzisyen ressam eczācı bankacı marangoz berber makine ustası satıcı elektrikçi postacı polis asker pilot sekreter şāir hasta bakıcı

history math algebra geometry science physics chemistry zoology botany geography music art drawing (noun) painting (noun) linguistics languages drawing (verb) painting (verb)

tārih matematik cebir geometri fen fizik kimyā zooloji                              botanik coğrafya müzik sanat çizim resim dilbilim diller            çizim yapmak resim yapmak

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24. Also and To Be at a Place

The meaning of being at/in one place is conveyed through the particle –de or –da in Turkish. Either of these endings is added to the word, according to the vowel in the last syllable. An E-dotted vowel will get –de, and an A-undotted vowel will get –da, similar to the plurals.

arabada   in the car

evde     at home

okulda   at school

Note that there is also –te and –ta, used if the last letter of the word is a hard consonant (one of these letters: f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p).

işte   at work

Note: Proper nouns are separated from suffixes by an apostrophe in Turkish.

New York’ta   in New York

The particle de/da also means “too, also”. It is then written separate from the word and is not bound with hard consonant rules.

Arkadaşım da İngilizce biliyor.  My friend knows English too.
Gökay da gelmek istiyor.      Gökay also wants to come.  
Biz de bilmiyoruz.  We don’t know either.

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25. Fruits, Vegetables and Meat

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26. Negative Sentences

Negation in verbs is conveyed through the suffix –me or –ma. This suffix is added to the verb stem, forming the negative infinitive.

vermek    “to give”                                  ver- >> ver + me >> vermemek    “not to give”

almak     “to take”                                   al- >> al + ma >> almamak         “not to take”

 

To form the negative verb in the Present Tense, the vowels a and e in –ma and –me change into the vowels ı,u or i,ü through Vowel Harmony.

·         If the last vowel (or the only vowel) of the verb stem is a or ı, then the vowel is ı, making    –mıyor.

ağla- >> ağla + mı + yor >> ağlamıyor   “he/she/it is not crying”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is o or u, then the vowel is u, making –muyor.

ol- >> ol + mu + yor >> olmuyor  “it is not happening, not working”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is e or i, then the vowel is i, making –miyor.

iç- >> iç + mi + yor >> içmiyor  “he/she/it is not drinking”

·         If the last vowel of the verb stem is ö or ü, then the vowel is ü, making –müyor.

gül- >> gül + mü + yor >> gülmüyor  “he/she/it is not laughing”

·         Verb stems ending in a vowel do not drop this vowel, unlike the positive conjugation.

anla- >> anla + mı + yor >> anlamıyor  “he/she/it does not understand”

Bugün okula gitmiyoruz.        We’re not going to school today.
Sigara içmiyorum.                I don’t smoke.
Çocuklar bir şey yemiyorlar.    The children aren’t eating anything.

Consonant mutation does not occur in the verbs gitmek (to go) and etmek (to do), unlike the positive conjugation.

git- >> git + mi + yor >> gitmiyor “he/she/it is not going”

et- >> et + mi + yor >> etmiyor  “he/she/it is not doing”

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27. Double Negation

Double negation is observed in Turkish.

Hiçbir şey bilmiyorum.        I don’t know anything (lit. “I don’t know nothing.”)
New York’a hiç gitmedim.         I’ve never been to New York (lit. “I haven’t never went to New York .”)
Bana hiç kimse yardım etmiyor.       No one is helping me.  (lit. “No one is not helping me.”)

There is one exception to this rule: Sentences in which the particles "ne.....ne (de)" are used. "ne....ne (de)" has the meaning of "neither....nor" in English.

 

Ne o ne de kardeşi Almanca biliyorlar.     Neither he, nor his brother know German.

Ne kalmak istiyorlar, ne bir şey yemek istiyorlar.    They neither want to stay, nor want to eat something.

 

Yet, it should also be noted that some speakers still observe double negation with "ne....ne (de)". In either case, the meaning (neither...nor) does not change (that is, the sentence pertains the negative meaning).

 

Ne ben ne de oğlum hiçbir şey hatırlamıyoruz.   Neither me, nor my son remember anything.

 

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28. To and From Places

The meaning of the particles “to, into” in English is conveyed through the suffix –e or –a in Turkish. An E-dotted vowel (one of e,i,ö,ü) in a word’s last (or the only) syllable gets –e, an A-undotted vowel (one of a,ı,o,u)   gets –a.

eve      to the house

okula     to school

İstanbul’a      to Istanbul

arkadaşıma      to my friend  

If the word ends in a vowel, y is included between the word and the suffix.

arabaya     to the car

hastāneye       to the hospital

Fransa’ya      to France  

The meaning of the particle “from” in English is conveyed through the suffix –den or –dan, while the construction remains the same.

evden       from the house

üniversiteden      from the university

kütüphāneden       from the library  

Note that there are also –ten and –tan, used if the last letter of the word is a hard consonant (one of these letters: f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p).

Teksas’tan       from Texas

Mehmet’ten     from Mehmet

kitaptan    from the book

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29. Noun Compounds

When two nouns come together (like “school bag”), they form a noun compound. Noun compounds are used very often in Turkish. In a noun compound, the first element is the possessor, and the second one is the possessed. In Turkish, the possessed noun in an indefinite noun compound takes a suffix. This is the same with the possessive suffix for the third person singular (“his/her/its”).

 

öğrenci >> öğrenci + si >> üniversite öğrencisi   “university student”

If the word ends in a consonant, the letter s is omitted from the suffix, as explained in possessive suffixes.

otobüs >> otobüs + ü >> okul otobüsü    “the school bus”

adam >> adam + ı >> iş adamı      “businessman”

If the possessed noun is in plural, it takes the possessive suffix for “their”.

yemek >> yemek + leri >> Türk yemekleri    “Turkish dishes”

There are certain cases where no suffix is needed. Some of them are:

·         If the first word is an adjective.   

beyaz at “white horse”, yüksek dağlar “high mountains”

·         If the first word is a name of a material.

altın yüzük “golden ring”, tahta masa “wooden table”

Üniversite öğrencisiyim.       I am a university student.
İş adamları bu akşam İstanbul’da toplanıyorlar.     Businessmen are meeting in Istanbul this evening.
Türk yemekleri çok lezzetli.     Turkish dishes are very delicious.

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30. Countries and Nationalities

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31. To Do or Make

The verbs yapmak and etmek both mean “to do / to make” in English. While yapmak is used more as a stand-alone verb, etmek has many uses as an auxiliary verb. As noted earlier, the verb etmek goes through a consonant mutation: t turns into d when conjugated.

Common verbs with etmek:

reddetmek – to refuse
hapsetmek – to imprison
kabul etmek – to accept
emretmek – to command
fark etmek – to notice
hak etmek – to deserve

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32. Commands

The imperative form is constructed simply by dropping the infinitive suffix from the verb root, and adding the necessary suffixes. There are no exceptions.

The imperative for you (sen) does not get a suffix, as it is complied of the verb root. Vowel Harmony is observed. Studying the earlier mentioned rules of Vowel Harmony is sufficient to master the imperative construction.

As in the Present Tense, t in the verbs etmek and gitmek softens to d, in the imperative form for siz.

 

Sabırlı ol! Be patient!

Buraya gelin! Come here! (formal / plural)

Acele edin, lütfen! Please hurry up! (formal / plural)

Çocuklar uyusunlar. Let the kids sleep.

Şuna bak! Look at that!

 

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33. Food and Meals

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34. Holiday Phrases

Yeni yılınız kutlu olsun! / Yeni yılın kutlu olsun! (formal / informal) Happy New Year!

Doğum gününüz / günün kutlu olsun! (formal / informal) Happy Birthday!

Anneler gününüz / günün kutlu olsun! Happy Mothers’ Day!

Ramazan bayramınız / bayramın kutlu olsun! Happy Ramadan Bayram (Eid-al-Fitr)!

Noel bayramınız / bayramın kutlu olsun! Merry Christmas!

Kurban bayramınız / bayramın kutlu olsun! Happy Feast of Sacrifice (Eid-al-Adha)!

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35. Nature

air	hava
bay	koy
beach	sahil
branch	dal
bridge	köprü
cave	mağara
city	şehir
climate	iklim
cloud	bulut
daisy	papatya
darkness	karanlık
dust	toz
soil	toprak
grass	çimen
moon	ay
mountain	dağ
water	su

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36. Parts of the Body

eye	göz
arm	kol
ear	kulak
mouth	ağız
eyebrow	kaş
face	yüz
finger	parmak
hand	el
foot	ayak
forehead	alın
hair	saç
head	baş
leg	bacak
knee	diz
nose	burun
shoulder	omuz
tongue	dil

 

Basic Turkish Phrases

https://ielanguages.com/turkish-phrases.html

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