Turkish linguistics

Begginer Level Lessons

Introduction

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 similar to Turkish are 'Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Kazak, Uzbek, Tatar, Manchu'. Compared to English, the most fundamental differences in Turkish grammar can be listed as:

• 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.

• Kalbimdesin [You are in my heart]

Once you get to 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.

Alphabet

Turkish alphabet consists of 29 letters - 8 vowels and 21 consonants. Each letter has exactly one associated sound which never changes.Three letters of the English alphabet are missing

in the Turkish alphabet.

1. (Q-q) 2.(W-w) 3.(X-x)There are seven additional characters not found in the English alphabet.

1. (Ç-ç) 4.(İ-i) 7.(Ü-ü)2. (Ğ-ğ) 5.(Ö-ö)3. (I-ı) 6.(Ş-ş)

The letters of Turkish alphabet and the sounds associated with these are in the following table...

Letter Pronunciation Letter Pronunciation

A a like the a in car M m like the m in man

B b like the b in bet N n like the n in neighbor

C c like the g in gender O o like the a in ball

Ç ç like the ch in chance Ö ö like the u in urge

D d like the d in debt P p like the p in pen

E e like the e in less R r like the r in rent

F f like the f in felony S s like the s in send

G g like the g in game Ş ş like the sh in shed

Ğ ğ this is a very weak sound, not pronouncing at all will be ok

T t like the t in tennis

H h like the h in hello U u like the oo in good

I ı like the e in halted Ü ü like the u in nude

İ i like the ee in keen V v like the v in vent

J j like the ge in garage Y y like the y in yes

K k like the k in kelly Z z like the z in zen

L l like the l in lamb

Syllables

The general rule is in Turkish is that every vowel will take the consonant before it to form a syllable, so apart from the first syllable of a word, every syllable in a pure Turkish word begins with a consonant. This applies also when suffixes are added to a word and when two or more words form a single unit.

Examples:bil-gi-sa-yar - computerma-sa - tablebar-dak- glasska-lem - pencilki-tap - bookte-le-fon - phonea-dam - mandef-ter - notebook

Stress in words

Turkish words are usually stressed on their last syllable. The common exceptions to this rule are place names, adverbs, compound words, certain foreign borrowings, and some words denoting relatives and living creatures. Some suffixes are not stressed but usually when a suffix is added the stress moves to the last syllable of the resultant word:

ar-ka-daş (friend)ar-ka-da-şım (my friend)ar-ka-da-şı-ma (to my friend)

ma-sa (table)ma-sa-da ( on the table) Na-sıl-sı-nız?(How are you?) İ-yi-yim (I'm fine.)

Numbers

Constructing numbers in Turkish is simple and straightforward. The rule is to line up the parts in decreasing magnitude like in English, but without putting any conjunctive words in between. For example, direct translation of 1256 from Turkish would be 'thousand two hundred fifty six'. Let's continue to construct numbers after you take a look at the table below. The numbers from 0 to 10 definitely need to be learned without any rule, as well as 10, 20, ..., 100 and 1,000-1,000,000-1,000,000,000.... After that, it's all about applying the simple-straightforward rules and practicing.

0 sıfır 10 on 20 yirmi 100 yüz

1 bir 11 on bir 21 yirmi bir 137 yüz otuz yedi

2 iki 12 on iki 22 yirmi iki 200 iki yüz

3 üç 13 on üç 30 otuz 300 üç yüz

4 dört 14 on dört 40 kırk 1 000 bin

5 beş 15 on beş 50 elli 2 000 iki bin

6 altı 16 on altı 60 altmış 10 000 on bin

7 yedi 17 on yedi 70 yetmiş 25 000 yirmi beş bin

8 sekiz 18 on sekiz 80 seksen 1 000 000 bir milyon

9 dokuz 19 on dokuz 90 doksan 1 000 000 000 bir milyar

Looking at the table above, let us see how some numbers are read in different cases:

58 --> elli sekiz 63 --> altmış üç 97 --> doksan yedi

104 --> yüz dört 148 --> yüz kırk sekiz 752 --> yedi yüz elli iki

1,765 --> bin yedi yüz altmış beş48,392 --> kırk sekiz bin üç yüz doksan iki

305,018 --> üç yüz beş bin on sekiz

4,762,345,258 --> dört milyar yedi yüz altmış iki milyon üç yüz kırk beş bin iki yüz elli sekiz

Now, practice time...

Number Turkish spelling Number Turkish spelling

4 dört 1785 bin yedi yüz seksen beş

14 on dört 1 000 003 bir milyon üç

44 kırk dört 328 üç yüz yirmi sekiz

174 yüz yetmiş dört 1 919 bin dokuz yüz on dokuz

629 altı yüz yirmi dokuz 2 004 iki bin dört

724 yedi yüz yirmi dört 1 789 bin yedi yüz seksen dokuz

Another point to note here is how to read fractions. The most commonly used form, 'x.5', is read as the whole part of the number followed by buçuk. The only exception to this is the 0,5 case, which is read like the other fractions. For the other fractions, the whole part of the number is read first, and then the fractional part is read as if it is a seperate number after saying 'virgül'. Acually virgül means comma, and this word is used for separating the whole part and the fractional part of a number because in Turkish convention fractions are separated by comma. Here are some examples:

2.5 -> iki buçuk274.5 -> iki yüz yetmiş dört buçuk

0.5 -> sıfır virgül beş

104.25 -> yüz dört virgül yirmi beş 14.8 -> on dört virgül sekiz 7.52 -> yedi virgül elli iki

1.705 -> bir virgül yedi yüz beş48,012 -> kırk sekiz virgül sıfır on iki

305,008 -> üç yüz beş virgül sıfır sıfır sekiz

Now, let us take a look at how order is indicated using the numbers. The suffix used for order is -inci. Adding this at the and of any number will give the meaning of order. An important point to pay attention here, as always, is that this suffix changes according to vowel harmony.

1st --> birinci 2nd --> ikinci (not ikiinci, one vowel falls when there is two next to each other)

3rd --> üçüncü 4th --> dördüncü

5th --> beşinci 6th --> altıncı (again, not altııncı because one of the double ı's falls)

7th --> yedinci 10th --> onuncu

25th --> yirmi beşinci 50th --> ellinci (note the same vowel fall here)

I want to finish this part by giving the translations of fraction denoting adjectives. These are:

Half --> Yarım (Be careful that this is used only as an adjective, the word buçuk is used instead when you are reading numbers)

Quarter --> Çeyrek

Some sentences and prases using these adjectives would be:

Half an hour --> yarım saat

Buy half a bread. --> Yarım ekmek al.

Joe made a foul in the last quarter. --> Joe son çeyrekte bir faul yaptı.

Pronouns 1

Personal Pronouns

Here are the Turkish translations of the personal pronouns. However, these pronouns are generally omitted in sentences since person is implied in the adjectives or the verbs in sentences. They are often used to stress the person.

i ben i am adjective ben adjective-im

you sen you are adjective sen adjective-sin

he/she/ito

he \she\it is adjectiveo adjective

we biz we are adjective biz adjective-iz

you siz you are adjective siz adjective-siniz

they onlar they are adjectiveonlar adjective-ler

güzel --> beautiful

I am beautiful. --> Ben güzel-im. --> Güzelim. (Personal pronoun is implied)

You are beautiful. --> Sen güzel-sin. --> Güzelsin.

He/she/it is beautiful. --> O güzel. --> Güzel.

We are beautiful. --> Biz güzel-iz. --> Güzeliz.

You are beautiful. --> Siz güzel-siniz. --> Güzelsiniz.

They are beautiful. --> Onlar güzel-ler. --> Güzeller.

kötü --> bad

I am bad. --> Ben kötü-y-üm. --> Kötüyüm. (Note how kötü and -üm are connected with the fusion consonant 'y'.)

You are bad. --> Sen kötü-sün. --> Kötüsün.

He/she/it is bad. --> O kötü. --> Kötü.

We are bad. --> Biz kötü-y-üz. --> Kötüyüz.

You are bad. --> Siz kötü-siniz. --> Kötüsünüz.

They are bad. --> Onlar kötü-ler. --> Kötüler.

geliyor --> coming (present continuous tense)

I am coming. --> Ben geliyor-um. --> Geliyorum.

You are coming. --> Sen geliyor-sun. --> Geliyorsun.

He/she/it is coming. --> O geliyor. --> Geliyor.

We are coming. --> Biz geliyor-uz. --> Geliyoruz.

You are coming. --> Siz geliyor-sunuz. --> Geliyorsunuz.

They are coming. --> Onlar geliyor-lar. --> Geliyorlar.

For nouns other than these pronouns, you must use the third person case.

Marzena is beautiful. --> Marzena güzel.

Marzena is very beautiful. --> Marzena çok güzel.

Joe is bad. --> Joe kötü.

Joe is coming. --> Joe geliyor.

Demonstrative pronouns

These are the pronouns used for obects instead of people.

this bu these bunlar

that (between this and that) şu those (between these and those) şunlar

that o those onlar

kitap --> book

Bu bir kitap. --> This is a book. Bunlar kitaplar. --> These are books.

Şu bir kitap. --> That is a book. Şunlar kitaplar. --> Those are books.

O bir kitap. --> That is a book. Onlar kitaplar. --> Those are books.

Possessive Pronouns Personal posessive pronouns:

my ben-im my noun ben-im noun-im

your sen-in your noun sen-in noun-in

his/her/its o-n-un his \her noun\its O-n-un noun-i

our biz-im our noun biz-im noun-imiz

your siz-in your noun siz-in noun-iniz

their onlar-ın their noun onlar-ın noun-leri

Notice his/her/its is o-n-un instead of o-un. Since two vowels don't come together in Turkish, one fusion consonant is added in between. It is 'n' in this case. Either a fusion consonant is added in between, or one of the vowels is dropped whenever a vowel is followed by another vowel. Which technique must be used changes among different rules, but it is consistent in a single rule. This will be mentioned in different lessons when necessary.

ev --> house

my house --> ben-im ev-im --> evim (personal pronoun is implied)

your house --> sen-in ev-in --> evin

his/her/its house --> o-n-in ev-i --> onun evi --> evi

our house --> biz-im ev-imiz --> evimiz

your house --> siz-in ev-iniz --> eviniz

their house --> onlar-ın ev-leri --> evleri

araba --> car

my car --> ben-im araba-m --> arabam (the suffix -im becomes -m when added after a vowel, since two vowels don't come together in Turkish)

your car --> sen-in araba-n --> araban

his/her/its car --> o-n-in araba-s-ı --> onun arabası --> arabası (Instead of dropping one vowel, here the fusion consonant 's' is added between vowels since the suffix is only a single vowel.)

our car --> biz-im araba-mız --> arabamız

your car --> siz-in araba-nız --> arabanız

their car --> onlar-ın araba-ları --> arabaları

For nouns other than these pronouns, always the third person form is used.

Gizem's house --> Gizem'in evi

Gizem's car --> Gizem'in arabası

My mother's house --> Annemin evi

Demonstartive posessive pronouns:

of this bu-n-un of these bunlar-ın

of that (between this and that) şu-n-un of those (between these and those) şunlar-ın

of that o-n-un of those onlar-ın

Bunun evi --> The house of this

Şunun evi --> The house of that

Onun evi --> The house of that

Bunların evleri --> The house of these.

Şunların evleri --> The house of those.

Onların evleri --> The house of those.

For nouns other than these pronouns, always the third person form is used.

The room of the house --> Evin odası

Cat's food --> Kedinin yemeği

Reflexive Pronouns

The way reflexive pronouns are constructed in Turkish is very similar to the way we do it in English. The Turkish word for self is kendi. The reflexive pronouns hence are as follows:

myself kendi-im kendim ourselves kendi-imiz kendimiz

yourself kendi-in kendin yourselves kendi-iniz kendiniz

himself/herself/itself kendi-si kendisi themselves kendi-leri kendileri

Pronouns 2

In the previous lesson on pronouns, we covered the basic pronouns. The topics covered were:

• Personal pronouns (ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar)

• Demonstrative pronouns (bu, şu, o, bunlar, şunlar, onlar)

• Possessive pronouns

• Personal possessive pronouns (benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların)

• Demonstrative possessive pronouns (bunun, şunun, onun, bunların, şunların, onların)

• Reflexive pronouns (kendim, kendin, kendisi, kendimiz, kendiniz, kendileri)

There are also other pronouns used for many different situations, like everybody, nothing... Let's now see the Turkish meanings for these pronouns.

Basic components of these pronouns

English Turkish English Turkish

every her one, a bir

thing şey some bazı

none hiç all bütün

any herhangibir everything herşey

somethıng birşey(singular)birşey(plural)

somebody birisi(singular)birileri(plural)

nothing hiçbir şey all of these (bunların) hepsi

anything herhangibir şey all of those (onların) hepsi

everybody herkes all of us hepimiz

anybody herhangi birisi all of you hepiniz

nobody hiç kimse none of these (bunların) hiçbiri

none of those (onların) hiçbiri some of these (bunların) bazıları

none of us hiçbirimiz some of those (onların) bazıları

none of you hiçbiriniz some of us bazılarımız

some of you bazılarınız

In English, some of these pronouns that have negative meanings are used in positive sentences. For example, There is nobody here. (Instead of there isn't nobody here)

In Turkish, you never do this. If the meaning of a pronoun is negative, it must always be used in a negative sentence. Similarly, pronouns with positive meanings must always be used in positive sentences.

There is nobody here. --> Burada hiçkimse yok.

Now, let's use some of these pronouns in sentences:

Every flower does not smell. --> Her çiçek kokmaz.

What is this thing? --> Bu şey ne? There is none left. --> Hiç kalmadı.

Some students are here. --> Bazı öğrenciler burada. Everything's ok. --> Herşey yolunda.

All students are here. --> Bütün öğrenciler burada. Ask something. --> Birşey sor.

Everything is here. --> Herşey burada. Somebody came. --> Birisi geldi.

I saw nothing. --> Hiçbir şey görmedim. Nobody came. --> Hiç kimse gelmedi.

Is there anything? --> Herhangibir şey var mı? Is everybody here? --> Herkes burada mı?

Anybody can come. --> Herhangi birisi gelebilir. All of these are mine. --> Bunların hepsi benim.

Date and Time

Let's start with simple dialogue sentences about time, the question and different answers.

Time - English Turkish (Parantheses for explanation only)

What time is it? Saat kaç?

It is ten o'clock. Saat on (10).

It is five past ten. Saat onu (10-i) beş (5) geçiyor.

It is five past five. Saat beşi (5-i) beş (5) geçiyor.

It is five past six. Saat altıyı (6-[y]-i) beş (5) geçiyor.

It is five past three. Saat üçü (3-i) beş (5) geçiyor.

It is quarter past ten. Saat onu (10-i) çeyrek (quarter) geçiyor.

It is ten twenty. Saat onu (10-i) yirmi (20) geçiyor.

It is half past ten. Saat on (10) buçuk (half).

It is ten thirty five. Saat on bire (11-e) yirmi beş (25) var.

It is ten forty. Saat on bire (11-e) yirmi (20) var.

It is quarter to eleven. Saat on bire (11-e) çeyrek (quarter) var.

It is ten to eleven. Saat on bire (11-e) on (10) var.

It is eleven. Saat on bir (11).

Now, time to explain the words and phrases used in this table. Let's start with the question, 'Saat kaç?'. Word by word:

Saat --> Hour

Kaç --> How many

It is not perfectly logical, but the question sentence used for asking the time is 'Saat kaç?'. Then, you may say, how do you ask how many hours? To say 'How many hours?' you would say 'Kaç saat?'. 'Saat kaç?' is a special phrase for asking the time which otherwise would not be very meaningful. More or less the same is true for the answer. The best thing is to try to learn the main phrase instead of trying to learn the logic, because the logic used here does not apply to other cases in the language. You basically say "Saat xxx.".

From the exact hour to half past, you say the time as minutes past hour. From half past to the next hour, convention is to sat the time as minutes to hour.

• The word for past is 'geçiyor'.

• The word for to is 'var'.

• The word for half is 'buçuk'.

• The word for quarter is 'çeyrek'.

The general phrase for "It is minutes past hours" is:

Saat hours-i minutes geçiyor. (Note the vowel harmony rules for the suffix -i)

And the general phrase for "It is minutes to hours" is:

Saat hours-e minutes var. (Note the vowel harmony rules for the suffix -e)

2. Date

Let's start with the days of the week and months:

English Turkish

Days of the week

Sunday Pazar

Monday Pazartesi

Tuesday Salı

Wednesday Çarşamba

Thursday Perşembe

Friday Cuma

Saturday Cumartesi

Months

English Turkish English Turkish

Months Months

January Ocak July Temmuz

February Şubat August Ağustos

March Mart September Eylül

April Nisan October Ekim

May Mayıs November Kasım

June Haziran December Aralık

2.1. Day of the week

A simple conversation about the day of the week would be like the following:

English Turkish

A. What's the day?A. Bugün günlerden ne?

B1. Today is Monday. B1. Bugün günlerden pazartesi.

B2. Monday. B2. Pazartesi.

Let's examine the parts of the question sentence first:

bu --> this bugün --> today ne --> what

gün --> day günler --> days

günlerden --> from the days (also means among the days)

Putting all these words together, the direct translation of 'Bugün günlerden ne?' would be 'Today among the days what?'. Funny? That's the way you ask the day of the week. After these explanations and translations, the answer sentence should be clear.

2.2. Whole Date

To ask the date, you say: Vocabulary:

-Bugünün tarihi ne? bugün --> today ne --> what

-14 Temmuz 2004. tarih --> date bugünün tarihi --> today's date

Using these, the direct translation of the question sentence would be: 'Today's date what? '. Actually, this is how you form a regular question sentence in Turkish. You shouldn't worry about this yet, we'll cover it later in another lesson.

The answer doesn't need much explanation. The day number, followed by month's name, and finally the year. The day number and the year are both read as a regular numbers. For reading years, it is always read as a whole as a single number. Years are never read as two parts like it is done in English in the case of 1996 (nineteen ninety six). The way you read this year in Turkish would be 'bin dokuz yüz doksan altı' (one thousand nine hundred ninety six).

3. Seasons Let's see the words used for seasons in Turkish:

spring bahar or ilkbahar fall, autumn sonbahar or güz

summer yaz winter kış

Love

Turkish English Turkish English

aşkım my love tatlım my sweety (used for girls)

canım my life güzelim my beautiful (used for girls)

bi tanem my only one çiçeğim my flower (used for girls)

hayatım my life gülüm my rose (used for girls)

sevgilim my darling meleğim my angel (used for girls)

balım my honey

Now, let's see some common love phrases in Turkish and their meanings:

Turkish English

Seni seviyorum. I love you.

Seni çok seviyorum. I love you very much.

Senden çok hoşlanıyorum. I like you very much.

Benimle çıkar mısın? Would you like to go out with me?

Benimle dans eder misin? Would you like to dance with me?

Benimle evlenir misin? Will you marry me?

Evlenme teklifi. Marriage proposal.

Nişanlı Fiancee

Rüyalarımın erkeğisin/kadınısın. You are the man/woman of my dreams.

Seninle olmak istiyorum. I want to be with you.

Seninle kalmak istiyorum. I want to stay with you.

Seni çok özlüyorum. I am missing you very much.

Seni çok özledim. I missed you very much.

Biraz daha kalabilir misin? Can you stay a little longer?

Seni bir daha ne zaman göreceğim? When will I see you next?

Bir yerlerde buluşalım. Let's meet somewhere.

Seni görmek istiyorum. I want to see you.

Çok güzelsin. You are very beautiful.

Antonyms

A set of important antonyms you need to know...

English Turkish English Turkish

big-small büyük-küçük right-wrong doğru-yanlış

fast-slow hızlı-yavaş old-new eski-yeni

quick-slow çabuk-yavaş old-young yaşlı-genç

full-empty dolu-boş first-last ilk-son

easy-difficult kolay-zor beautiful-ugly güzel-çirkin

heavy-light ağır-hafif free-busy serbest-meşgul

open-shut açık-kapalı good-bad iyi-kötü

better-worse daha iyi-daha kötü cheap-expensive ucuz-pahalı

the best-the worst en iyi-en kötü near-far yakın-uzak

early-late erken-geç here-there burada-orada

right-left sağ-sol high-low yüksek-alçak

tall-short uzun-kısa open-closed açık-kapalı

dark-light koyu-açık thin-thick ince-kalın

slim-fat zayıf-şişman

Quantity Words

English Turkish English Turkish

a little, some biraz too much, too many çok fazla

very, much, many çok too fazla

enough yeterli more daha fazla, daha çok

any, no, none hiç less daha az

few az a few birkaç (tane)

Colors

English Turkish English Turkish

Color Renk Color Renk

Black Siyah Purple Mor

White Beyaz Pink Pembe

Red Kırmızı Brown Kahverengi

Blue Mavi Yellow Sarı

Orange Turuncu Grey Gri

Green Yeşil Light Açık

Dark Koyu

The question for asking colors is constructed similar to the way it's done in English:

Eng: What color is XXX?

Tr: XXX ne renk? (Here, ne is what and renk is color)

The answer is also simple:

Eng: XXX is red.

Tr: XXX kırmızı.

However, note the difference in word ordering when you want to add a color (or any adjective) to an indefinite noun.

Eng: A red XXX.

Tr: Kırmızı bir XXX. (Not 'Bir kırmızı XXX')

Now, try to understand the following sentences. Hold the mouse pointer on a sentence to see its English translation.

- Bu araba açık mavi. - Gözlerin ne renk?

- Evim koyu kırmızı. - Beyaz bir gömlek aldım.

Family

English Turkish

father baba

mother anne

brother (erkek) kardeş

sister (kız) kardeş

elder brother abi

elder sister abla

son oğul - erkek çocuk

daughter kız - kız çocuk

aunt (mother side) teyze

aunt (father side) hala

grandfather dede - büyükbaba

English Turkish

grandmother nine - büyükanne

grandmother (mother side) anneanne

grandmother (father side) babaanne

nephew, niece yeğen

uncle (father side) amca

uncle (mother side) dayı

cousin kuzen

father-in-law kayınbaba - kayınpeder

mother-in-law kaynana - kayınvalide

sister-in-law baldız

sister-in-law's husband bacanak

son-in-law damat

daughter-in-law gelin

sister's husband enişte

grandson, granddaughter, grandchild torun

twin ikiz

twin brother, twin sister ikiz kardeş

wife eş, hanım, karı

husband koca

step mother üvey anne

step father üvey baba

Fruits and vegetables

English Turkish English Turkish

Fruits --- Meyveler Vegetables --- Sebzeler

banana muz lettuce marul

apple elma eggplant patlıcan

orange portakal zucchini kabak

grape üzüm cucumber salatalık - hıyar

cherry kiraz parsley maydanoz

tangerine mandalina potato patates

sour cherry vişne onion soğan

pear armut tomato domates

avocado avokado pepper biber

pineapple ananas cabbage lahana

strawberry çilek cauliflower karnıbahar

currant kuşüzümü lemon limon

grapefruit greyfurt

fig incir

watermelon karpuz

melon kavun

English Turkish English Turkish

Fruits --- Meyveler Vegetables --- Sebzeler

apricot kayısı

kiwi kivi

mulberry dut

raspberry ahududu

blackberry böğürtlen

plum erik

Weight is measured with kilograms in Turkey like in Europe, unlike pounds used in America. Some sentences useful for buying fruits and vegetables would be:

Sentences for request:

A. Bir kilo domates alabilir miyim? (Can I get one kilogram tomatoes?)

A. İki kilo elma verir misiniz? (Can you give me two kilograms of apple?)

A. Yarım kilo çilek alacaktım. (Something like "I would like to buy half a kilogram of strawberries.")

Possible response of the seller:

B. Tabi, buyrun.(Sure, here you are)

B. Hemen. (Immediately)

B. Buyrun, afiyet olsun. (Here you are, good appetite)

Reply to the seller before leaving:

A. Teşekkürler. (Thank you)

A. Hayırlı işler. (Something like "Have a fruitful work day")

A. İyi günler. (Have a nice day)

Another point worth noting if you are in Turkey is that bargaining is very common :) You can buy many things under the display price with some bargaining. However, this is not true if you are shopping from a supermarket where you buy things and pay to the cashier.

Body parts

English Turkish English Turkish

Vücudumuz --- Our Body Organs --- Organlar

foot ayak vein damar - toplardamar

finger parmak blood kan

index finger işaret parmağı brain beyin

thumb baş parmak heart kalp

eye göz lung akciğer

ear kulak liver karaciğer

hair saç kidney böbrek

nail tırnak stomach mide

nose burun

mouth ağız

tooth diş

tongue dil

cheek yanak

chin çene

throat boğaz

neck boyun

eyelash Kirpik

eyelid göz kapağı

eyebrow kaş

forehead alın

temple şakak

wrist bilek - kol bileği

ankle ayak bileği

heel topuk head kafa - baş

elbow dirsek body vücut - gövde

knee diz arm kol

lip dudak leg bacak

moustache bıyık hand el

beard sakal

shoulder omuz

waist bel

toe ayak başparmağı

abdomen karın

Animals

English Turkish English Turkish

Animals --- Hayvanlar Animals --- Hayvanlar

animal hayvan dolphin yunus

lion aslan shark köpek balığı

tiger kaplan octopus ahtapot

sheep koyun insect, bug böcek

cow inek bee arı

bull boğa ant karınca

ox öküz wolf geyik

hen tavuk deer geyik

rooster horoz bat yarasa

pig domuz beaver kunduz

horse at gull martı

donkey eşek hawk şahin

turkey hindi hedgehog kirpi

dog köpek squirrel sincap

cat kedi stork leylek

mouse fare vulture akbaba

fish balık worm kurt - solucan

whale balina wasp eşek arısı

millipede kırkayak penguin penguen

hyena sırtlan spider Örümcek

grasshopper çekirge crocodile timsah

zebra zebra lizard kertenkele

Fox tilki turtle kaplumbağa

snake yılan rabbit tavşan

elephant fil bird kuş

bear ayı fish balık

giraffe zürafa frog kurbağa

monkey maymun

House and furniture

English Turkish English Turkish

House --- Ev Furniture --- Eşyalar

door kapı fork çatal

room oda spoon kaşık

front door ön kapı plate tabak

back door arka kapı bottle şişe

window pencere glass bardak

kitchen mutfak pan tava

bedroom yatak odası computer bilgisayar

English Turkish English Turkish

House --- Ev Furniture --- Eşyalar

garden bahçe table masa

basement bodrum bookcase kitaplık

ground floor zemin kat chair sandalye

garage garaj wardrobe gardrop

terrace teras shelf raf

yard avlu armchair koltuk

upper floor/story üst kat sofa koltuk - kanepe

loft tavan arası shower duş

cellar Kiler trash bin çöp kutusu

stairs merdiven ashtray kül tablası

step basamak bathtub küvet

lift, elevator asansör door mat paspas

wall duvar tap musluk

roof çatı heating kalorifer

fireplace şömine candle mum

living room oturma odası key anahtar

dining room yemek odası lamp Lamba

chıldren's room çocuk odası frame çerçeve

bathroom banyo socket priz

toilet tuvalet plug fiş

balcony balkon mirror ayna

corridor koridor door bell kapı zili

radio radyo

television televizyon

Illness- Sicknesses

English Turkish English Turkish

sick hasta, rahatsız cancer kanser

headache baş ağrısı to faint bayılmak

to catch a cold soğuk almak hiccups hıçkırık

flu grip migraine migren

measles nezle heart attack kalp krizi

tootache diş ağrısı itch kaşıtı

stomach ache karın ağrısı to itch kaşınmak

contagious bulaşıcı angina anjin

ulcer ülser bronchitis bronşit

Now, some sentences for telling you or somebody is sick.

- I am very sick. (Çok hastayım.)

- I have a toothache. (Dişim ağrıyor.)

- I have measles. (Nezleyim. or Nezle oldum.)

- I don't feel well. (Kendimi iyi hissetmiyorum. )

- My foot is itching. (Ayağım kaşınıyor.)

If somebody tells you that he is sick or somebody close to him is sick, you say:

- Geçmiş olsun. (This is like wishing for recovery.)

Major Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words generally obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More important than the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful sentences.

1. Major Vowel Harmony

The 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet are separated into two groups called hard vowels and soft vowels. There are 4 hard vowels and 4 soft vowels.

Hard vowels: a, ı, o, u

Soft vowels: e, i, ö, ü

Words of Turkish origin generally (not always) have all hard or all soft vowels. This is just a generalization that you won't use for constructing Turkish words and sentences. Words that have hard and soft vowels together are said to violate the major vowel harmony. A word that violates the major vowel harmony probably has been adopted from another language or has been changed in the lifetime of the Turkish language.

Each of the hard vowels are the hard counterparts of one soft vowel (and vice versa). Following this rule, vowels can be paired with their counterparts as follows:

Hard Soft

a e

ı i

o ö

u ü

A Turkish word is either a hard word or a soft word depending on its last vowel.

ev[home] is a soft word since its last and only vowel, e, is a soft vowel.

okul[school] is a hard word since its last vowel, u, is a hard vowel.

kahve[coffee] is a soft word since its last vowel, e, is a soft vowel.

Now, try to guess if the following words are hard or soft. Move the mouse over the right table cell of the word to see the answer.

Word Hard or Soft

Meslek [job] SOFT

Araba [car] HARD

Güzel [beautiful] SOFT

Yemek [food] SOFT

Gülümse [smile] SOFT

Çabuk [quick] HARD

Gül [rose] SOFT

Göl [lake] SOFT

Gidelim [let's go] SOFT

Telefon [telephone] HARD

Major vowel harmony states that:

• Any suffix appended to a hard word must have hard vowels• Any suffix appended to a soft word must have soft vowels

As an example to this rule let's consider the suffix -de. When added to a noun, this suffix gives the meaning of "at/in the location expressed by that noun". When added to a soft word like ev[home], this suffix is -de. However, when added to a hard word like okul[school], the soft vowels in this suffix are replaced by their hard counterparts and the suffix becomes -da. Hence:

at home --> evde in the car --> arabada

at school --> okulda at the lake --> gölde

Minor Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words generally obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More important than the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful sentences.

2. Minor Vowel Harmony

We saw that the 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet are divided into two groups as hard and soft vowels. Besides this grouping, the 8 vowels are divided into two groups as round vowels and flat vowels. There are 4 flat and 4 round vowels. A vowel's being round or flat is actually determined from the shape of the mouth when pronouncing that vowel, but it can also be seen in the shape of the capital characters.

Flat vowels: A, E, I, İ

Round vowels: O, Ö, U, Ü

A Turkish word is either a round word or a flat word depending on its last vowel.

ev[home] is a flat word since its last and only vowel, e, is a flat vowel.

okul[school] is a round word since its last vowel, u, is a round vowel.

kahve[coffee] is a flat word since its last vowel, e, is a flat vowel.

Now, try to guess if the following words are round or flat. Move the mouse over the right table cell of the word to see the answer.

Word Round or Flat

Meslek [job] FLAT

Araba [car] FLAT

Güzel [beautiful] FLAT

Yemek [food] FLAT

Gülümse [smile] FLAT

Çabuk [quick] ROUND

Gül [rose] ROUND

Göl [lake] ROUND

Gidelim [let's go] FLAT

Telefon [telephone] ROUND

Minor vowel harmony states that:

If a suffix starting with -i is appended to a round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -u or -ü. This depends on whether the word is hard or soft. The major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony apply to words simultaneously. This means:

• If a suffix starting with -i is added to a hard and round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -u. • okul --> school [a hard vowel]

• suffix we will add is -im (gives the meaning my)

• my school --> okulum [the suffix -im changes according to vowel harmonies and becomes -um]

• If a suffix starting with -i is added to a soft and round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -ü. • gül --> rose

• suffix we will add is -im (gives the meaning my)

• my rose --> gülüm [the suffix -im changes according to vowel harmonies and becomes -üm]

my telephone --> telefonum

my beautiful --> güzelim

my lake --> gölüm

Notes on Vowel Harmony

Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words generally obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More important than the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful sentences.

3. Practical notes about vowel harmony rules

As far as vowel harmony is concerned, we can separate all the suffixes in Turkish into two main groups. Thinking in terms of these two cases simplifies these seemingly complicated rules. These are:

1. The suffixes with first vowel -i (the suffixes -i, -di, -iyor, -im, -in ...)2. suffixes with first vowel -e (the suffixes -e, -de, -den, -erek, ...)

All suffixes you see used in words with first vowel -i, -ı, -u, -ü fall into the first group, and they are different forms of this case modified according to vowel harmony rules.

All suffixes you see in words with first vowel -e, -a fall into the second group, and they are different forms of this case modified according to vowel harmony rules.

No suffixes have -o or -ö as the first vowel. Actually, no suffix has the letter -ö in it and there is only one suffix that has the vowel -o (this is the suffix for present continuous tense, -iyor and this -o does not change according to any vowel harmony rules).

The suffixes in the first case are affected from both the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. For example, the suffix -di can become -di, -dı, -du or -dü depending on the word at which it is appended.

The suffixes in the second case are affected by only the major vowel harmony rule. For example, the suffix -erek can become -erek or -arak depending on the word at which it is appended.

Vowel Rules

Besides the vowel harmony rules, there are other basic rules that affect the way suffixes are used. A vowel following another is never allowed in Turkish, and there are rules to avoid these situations when they occur as a result of other rules. There are also rules about consonant harmony, that make some consonants change in certain cases.

1. When two vowels come together

In Turkish, two vowels can never come together. So, what do we do when we need to add a suffix that starts with a vowel at the end of a word that ends with a vowel? There are two cases here:

1.1. Dropping a vowel

To say my house, you append the suffix meaning my (-im) to the word meaning house (ev). Simple enough, 'my house' --> evim.

You want to say 'my car'. Car is araba and the suffix that gives the meaning my is -im. Change the suffix according to vowel harmony rules so that is can be appended to araba (a hard and flat word) and -im becomes -ım. So, to put it together, my car becomes 'araba-ım = arabaım'. However, two vowels can not come together in Turkish. Trouble...

To avoid this, we drop one of the vowels in this case. If both of the vowels are in the group "-i, -ı, -u, -ü" than these two vowels have to be the same (look at the vowel harmony rules to understand why). Since the two vowels are the same, it does not matter which one we drop in this

case. However, if one of the vowels is in the group "-i, -ı, -u, -ü" but the other is not (meaning that it is one of "a, e, o, ö") then generally the vowel in the group "-i, -ı, -u, -ü" is dropped. There are some exceptions to this, however, and these exceptions will be noted when necessary.

Applying these rules, 'my car' becomes 'arabam'.

1.2. Adding a fusion consonant in between

You are asked where you are going. You want to say "(to) home". Note that for home, the direction proposition is omitted in English but not in Turkish. Hence, you append the suffix giving the direction meaning (-e) to the word meaning home (ev) and your reply becomes "eve".

However, if you are going to the car and you want to tell this to your friend, life is not that simple for you:

• First, change the suffix -e according to vowel harmony rules according to araba and it becomes -a.

• Now, add this suffix -a at the end of our word araba, and get arabaa.

Two vowels together!! Drop one? Unfortunately, not this time.

In this case, we need to add a fusion consonant between the two vowels. There is not a simple rule to tell why. Sometimes one of the two vowels is dropped, sometimes one fusion consonant is added in between. However, what you do is consistent for a given suffix. If you are adding the suffix -e to a word that ends with a vowel (like araba), you always add the fusion consonant 'y' in between. Saying 'to the car' then becomes arabaya. Too much effort spent to say a very simple word? More to come. Let's practice on a few other words:

Coast --> Kıyı | To the coast --> Kıyı-e --> Kıyıya

Room --> Oda | To the room --> Oda-e --> Odaya

Ship --> Gemi | To the ship --> Gemi-e --> Gemiye

This may take some time to get used to, but you can sure do that. But unfortunately, that's not everything. The fusion consonant is not 'y' every time. 'y' is the most common one, so you can put 'y' whenever you don't remember which one to put, chances are high you'll be right. The other consonants that are sometimes used as fusion consonants are 's' and 'n'.

Let's see different cases where these fusion consonants are used:

- The suffix -i

If the suffix -i is used as the -i form of a noun, making it a direct object (like the in English), then the fusion consonant y is used.

araba-i sat -> araba-y-ı sat -> arabayı sat (sell the car)yazı-i oku -> yazı-y-ı oku -> yazıyı oku (read the text)

If the suffix -i is used as the third person posessive (his-her-its), then the fusion consonant s is used.

araba-i -> araba-s-ı -> arabası (his-her-its car)para-i -> para-s-ı -> parası (his-her-its money)kedi-i -> kedi-s-i -> kedisi (his-her-its cat)* Note that the word for water (su) is an exception for this case, the fusion consonant y is used with the word su (water).

su-i -> su-y-u -> suyu (his-her-its water)

- The suffix -e (direction suffix, adds the meaning of preposition to)

When the direction suffix -e is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant y is added in between.

araba-e -> araba-y-a -> arabaya (to the car)konu-e -> konu-y-a -> konuya (to the topic)pencere-e -> pencere-y-e -> pencereye (to the window)

- The suffix -in (gives the genitive meaning, like Andy's)

When the suffix -in is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant n is added in between.

araba-in -> araba-n-ın -> arabanın (of the car, the car's)konu-in -> konu-n-un -> konunun (of the topic)pencere-in -> pencere-n-in -> pencerenin (of the window)ÖbrÇ * Note that the suffix -in is also used with the second person posessive meaning.

If the suffix -in used as second person possessive is added to a word that ends with a vowel, than the letter i of the suffix is dropped. The same is true for the first person possessive suffix, -im, first person plural possessive suffix, -imiz and second person plural possessive suffix, -iniz.

araba-im -> araba-m -> arabam (my car)kedi-in -> kedi-n -> kedin (your cat)kapı-imiz -> kapı-mız -> kapımız (our door)para-iniz -> para-nız -> paranız (your (plural) money)pencere-im -> pencere-m -> pencerem (my window)

There are also other uses of fusion consonants besides separating two vowels.

- The suffix -le (with, by)

When the suffix -le is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant y is added in between. araba-le git -> araba-y-la git -> arabayla git (go by car)kedi-le oyna -> kedi-y-le oyna -> kediyle oyna (play with the cat)gemi-le gel -> gemi-y-le gel -> gemiyle gel (come by ship)

- The suffix -de (location, like propositions at, in, on) and the suffix -den (proposition from)

When the suffix -de or -den is added to a word as the first suffix, no fusion consonant is used. But when one of -de or -den/ is added to a word that already has a suffix or a series of suffixes that end with a vowel, the fusion consonant n is added in between.

araba-de -> araba-da -> arabada (in the car)kedi-den -> kediden (from the cat)araba-si-de -> araba-sı-n-da -> arabasında (in his-her-its car)kedi-in-ki-den -> kedi-n-in-ki-n-den -> kedininkinden (from the cat's)gemi-leri-den -> gemi-leri-n-den -> gemilerinden (from their ship)

Consonant Harmony

Besides the vowel harmony rules, there are other basic rules that affect the way suffixes are used. A vowel following another is never allowed in Turkish, and there are rules to avoid these situations when they occur as a result of other rules. There are also rules about consonant harmony, that make some consonants change in certain cases.

2. Consonant Harmony

Vowel harmony rules cause the vowels of suffixes to be modified when they are added to some words. There are similar rules about consonants. However, you may feel that all these rules are too many just for a simple start. Then, I advice you to omit the consonant harmony rules when you want to say or write something, just for the start. You will still be understood. Consonant harmony is mainly for making speech more fluent, it does not have a major effect on understandability. You will eventually learn these if you decide to continue learning Turkish, as you read sentences or listen to Turkish speakers.

There are two cases consonant harmony takes affects:

The trouble making consonants in this case are 'p', 'ç', 't' and 'k'. Whenever a word ends with one of these consonants and you want to add some suffix to that word, stop there and think twice. Try to find a different way of expressing your thoughts. If you can't do that, if you really need to use that word and add a suffix to it, then follow the guidelines I will present now:

Let's call the words that end with one of 'p', 'ç', 't' or 'k' the trouble words. But be careful, this is not an officially used term.

CASE A - Word mutation.

Two conditions must be satisfied for suffix mutation to occur:

1. You have a word ending with one of 'p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş'.

2. You want to add this word a suffix that starts with 'c' or 'd'.

In this case, the first letter of the consonant changes.

• c becomes ç• d becomes t

Examples to this would be:

Leh --> Polish (people)

Leh-ce --> Lehçe --> Polish (language)

Türk --> Turkish (people)

Türk-ce --> Türkçe --> Turkish (lanuage)

yap --> do

yap-di --> yaptı --> he did

Infinitives and Plurals

1. Infinitives

Verbs in Turkish, when used alone, have the imperative meaning as in English.

do --> yap go --> git sleep --> uyu

come --> gel drink --> iç

In order to make a verb infinitive, the suffix -mek is used.

to do --> yapmak (changes to -mak since yap[do] is a hard word)

to come --> gelmek to go --> gitmek to sleep --> uyumak

to drink --> içmek

The following are examples to the use of infinitives in Turkish:

It is good to sleep. --> Uyumak iyi(dir).

It is difficult to study. --> Çalışmak zor(dur).

I want to go. --> Gitmek istiyorum.

I want to walk. --> Yürümek istiyorum.

2. Plurals

To make plurals of nouns, the suffix -ler is used. Below are some examples, note how the suffix -ler becomes 'sometimes -ler, sometimes -lar' obeying the rules of vowel harmony.

road(s) --> yol --> yollar house(s) --> ev --> evler

tree(s) --> ağaç --> ağaçlar room(s) --> oda --> odalar

rose(s) --> gül --> güller job(s) --> meslek --> meslekler

Negatives

1. Negatives of nouns and adjectives

To make a noun or adjective negative, add the word değil at the end of the adjective or noun.

Positive Negative

Bu bir araba. [This is a car.] Bu bir araba değil. [This is not a car]

O bir ev. [That is a house.] O bir ev değil. [That is not a house]

O çok güzel. [She is very beautiful.] O çok güzel değil. [She is not very beautiful.]

Bu araba beyaz. [This car is white.] Bu araba beyaz değil. [This car is not white]

2. Negatives of verbs

To make a verb negative, add the suffix -me at the root of the verb.

to come --> gel-mek

not to come --> gel-me-mek (the negating suffix is always added at the verb root)

Note how the suffix is added at the root. This is always the case. A verb may have many suffixes, but the negating suffix is always immediately after the verb root. All the other suffixes follow as if they are being added to the positive of the verb.

gel-di --> geldi --> he came

gel-me-di --> gelmedi --> he did not come

ol-mak ya da ol-ma-mak --> olmak ya da olmamak --> to be or not to be

3. There is, there is not

In Turkish, there are special words for there is and there is not. In particular:

there is --> var

there is not --> yok

Let's make sentences with these words:

There is a book on the table. --> Masada bir kitap var.

There isn't a table in this room. --> Bu odada (bir) masa yok.

The words 'var' and 'yok' are more important than this, since they are used when you want to say "I have" or "I don't have" as well. In Turkish, to say "I have something", you say "There is my something". Let's give examples:

I have a book. --> (Benim) kitabım var.

Aylin has a car. --> Aylin'in arabası var.

This woman has seven cats. --> Bu kadının yedi kedisi var. (Like saying "There is this woman's seven cats")

I don't have a car. --> (Benim) arabam yok.

My uncle does not have a daughter. --> Amcamın kızı yok.

Noun states

In Turkish, a noun has 5 fundamental states, produced using suffixes, that correspond to meanings of some prepositions in English. It is not necessary to learn these as the states of nouns, but learning these suffixes is important since they are very commonly used.

State Meaning

Nothing state (no suffix) Just the plain noun.

-i state Marks the noun as the subject of an action.

-e state Adds the meaning of direction (very similar to the proposition to)

-de state Adds the meaning of position (Used for the prepositions in, at, on)

-den state Adds the meaning of from, used for this preposition

An important thing to note here is the use of the -i form. It is used to denote the subject of an action, and adds the meaning of "being known, specified" just as the meaning given by "the". This will be more clear after looking at the sentences below. (bir --> one, kedi --> cat, gördüm --> I saw)

Bir kedi gördüm. --> I saw a cat. (Note that although cat is the object of the action here, the -i form of kedi is not used since it is not known, i.e. it is a cat, not the cat)

Kediyi gördüm. --> I saw the cat. (Note that kedi has the suffix -i, but the two -i's are separated by the fusion consonant 'y'.)

Now, example sentences for all the cases.

• Nothing state:

• This is a house. --> Bu bir ev.

• -i state:

• I saw the house. --> Evi gördüm.

• -e state:

• Go home. --> Eve git. (House and home are the same word in Turkish, 'ev'.)

• -de state:

• The pen is on the table. --> Kalem masada.

• Joe is at school. --> Joe okulda.

• Your mother is in that room. --> Annen o odada.

• -den state:

I came from home. --> Evden geldim.

To be

The verb to be (for the ´is´ in English) is handled in a special way, it is different from the other verbs. This is also the case in Turkish, the use of the verb to be is very unique. Unlike all the other verbs, to be is expressed with suffixes. It can be in one of present tense or past tense. Let´s see it in present tense and past tense for different cases of personal pronouns.

English Turkish Suffix

Present tense to be

i am xxxben xxx-im -im

you are xxx sen xxx-sin -sin

he \ she \ it is xxxo xxx

-(none) or-dir

we are xxx biz xxx-iz -iz

you are xxx siz xxx-siniz -siniz

they are xxxonlar xxx or onlar xxx-ler None or -ler

Past tense to be

i was xxxben xxx-dim -dim

you were xxx sen xxx-din -din

he \ she\ it was xxxo xxx-di -di

we were xxx biz xxx-dik -dik

you were xxx siz xxx-diniz -diniz

they were xxx Onlar xxx(-y)-diler(-y)-diler

NOTE 1

For the third person of the present tense to be, there are two cases. One with no suffix and one with -dir. If you are making a personal statement or you are talking in a casual way, you use the no suffix case. However, if you want to make a definitive or informative statement like one in an encyclopedia, you use the suffix -dir. Both have the same meaning, and sometimes can be used interchangeably. Let´s see examples to this.

This house is very big. --> Bu ev çok büyük.

That is my house. --> O benim evim.

He is a student. --> O bir öğrenci.

Spider is an animal. --> Örümcek bir hayvandır. (The -dir case is used since this is an informative statement)

Sun is larger than earth. --> Güneş dünyadan daha büyüktür. (Again, this is an informative statement)

NOTE 2

When constructing the third person plural past tense form of to be, the suffix -ler can be ommitted in some cases.

These are explained below:

a. Humans or objects that have no individuality take singular conjugation for third person plural. But if the speaker

wants to give objects individuality then he can use plural. This would be a poetic sentence.

b. Humans and other things that have individuality (for instance animals that have names) can take either singular or

plural conjugation. Usually if the subject is defined (if we known them) then we use plural conjugation. If the subject

is undefined then we use singular conjugation.

NOTE 3

Since the verb to be is different for each personal pronoun, personal pronouns can be omitted in speech or writing. The meaning of person is given with this verb. To say "I am beautiful." you can use one of:

"Ben güzelim."

"Güzelim.".

Using the personal pronoun adds the meaning of stressing person. We will use the personal pronoun in parenthesis to indicate that it is optional.

Now, let´s see where to be is used:

1. To construct a sentence with a noun or adjective instead of a verb, like in English. The verb to be is the implicit verb here.

• You are beautiful. --> (Sen) güzelsin.

• You were beautiful. --> (Sen) güzeldin.

• This is a house. --> Bu bir ev.

• That was a house. --> O bir evdi.

To construct verbs in different tenses, the suffix for each tense is used with either present tense of to be or

past tense of to be. Actually, it is present tense of to be in all cases except the regular past tense.

Adjective and noun clauses

In this lesson, we will learn how adjective clauses (for describing a noun using an adjective, like beautiful girl) and

noun clauses (for describing ownership relationships between nouns, like car's door) are formed in Turkish. First, let's

start with the adjective clauses which is simpler and then we'll look at noun clause construction.

Adjective clauses

Constructing adjective clauses in Turkish is very simple and straightforward, almost the same as in English. The only thing you need to do is to put the correct adjective before the noun.

beautiful girl ==> güzel kız slow train ==> yavaş tren thick book ==> kalın kitap

fast car ==> hızlı araba hard lesson ==> zor ders

big house ==> büyük ev high building ==> yüksek bina

If you don't add the adjective before the noun but use it as the main expression in the sentence, the word order changes in English and it changes the same way in Turkish.

This girl is beautiful. --> Bu kız güzel

This car is fast. --> Bu araba hızlı.

Ahmet is tall. --> Ahmet uzun.

I am tall. --> Ben uzunum. (Note the use of verb to be with the adjective)

You are tall. --> Sen uzunsun.

However, note that when you want to say a beautiful girl, the word for a (bir) is placed between the adjective and the noun.

a small piece ==> küçük bir parça

a greedy man ==> açgözlü bir adam

a blue book ==> mavi bir kitap

a short tree ==> kısa bir ağaç

a long movie ==> uzun bir film

Let's now apply what we've learned in the construction of a few sentences.

This is a red rose. ==> Bu kırmızı bir gül.

Joe is a quiet kid. ==> Joe sessiz bir çocuk.

Joe is a very quiet kid. ==> Joe çok sessiz bir çocuk.

Noun clauses

Two nouns form a clause in three different ways in Turkish:

Case1:

The first noun tells what the second noun is made of (i.e. metal box, plastic plate...). In this case, you just write these nouns in the same order as you do in English without adding any suffixes.

metal box ==> metal kutu

plastic plate ==> plastik tabak

Case2:

The first noun describes the second noun, wıth any relationship except for the made-of relationship we saw above and

the specific ownership relationship. Examples to this case can be car key, book shelf, garden door, window glass... In

this case, you write the nouns in the same order as English, but add the suffix -i at the end of the second noun. If the

noun to which you append suffix -i already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant -s between these vowels

to separate the two vowels. The third example below demonstrates this case.

car key ==> araba anahtarı

book shelf ==> kitap rafı

garden door ==> bahçe kapısı (note the fusion consonant s here)

window glass ==> pencere camı

Case 3:

There is a specific ownership relationship between the two nouns (the key of the car, the door of the garden, Kemal's daughter, the door of the car). In this case, you write the describing noun first and the described noun second as it was done in the preceding two cases. However, you add the suffix -in to the first noun and the suffix -i to the second noun. If the noun to which you append the suffix -in already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant n between the two vowels to separate them. For the suffix -i, the fusion consonant is same as told in the previous case. You add the consonant s to separate the word ending with a vowel from the suffix -i.

the key of the car ==> arabanın anahtarı (note the use of fusion consonant n here for the first noun, araba)

the door of the garden ==> bahçenin kapısı

Kemal's daughter ==> Kemalin kızı

the door of the car ==> arabanın kapısı (note the use of fusion consonant n for the first noun and the fusion consonant s for the second noun)

exception: The word for water, su, is an exception for the fusion consonants in noun clauses. The fusion consonant for water (su) is always 'y'.

color of water --> su-in renk-i --> suyun rengi (not sunun rengi)

water of Kemal --> Kemal-in su-i --> Kemal'in suyu. (not Kemal'in susu)

(Note that ' is used in Turkish to separate the suffixes from private words that need to be always capitalized, like

Kemal in this case)

Intermediate Level Lessons

Present Continuous Tense

Tenses

There are 5 fundamental tenses in Turkish. These are:

1. Present simple tense (Geniş zaman)

2. Present continuous tense (Şimdiki zaman)

3. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)

4. Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tense

5. Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) --> Also called the story past tense

In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense and the future tense. Rest will be covered in the intermediate level lessons.

To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings:

gelmek --> to come beklemek --> to wait kaynamak --> to boil

gitmek --> to go yemek --> to eat vermek --> to give

okumak --> to read çalışmak --> to work konuşmak --> to talk

kapatmak --> to close aramak --> to call koşmak --> to run

The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense:

• The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

• The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.

• Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense + present tense to be

• This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.

1. Present continuous tense (Şimdiki zaman)

The suffix for present continuous tense is -iyor. Present continuous tense is used, very much like the one in English:

• To tell what you are currently doing

• I am working now. --> Şimdi çalışıyorum.

• I am eating ice cream. --> Dondurma yiyorum.

• To tell something you will do in the close future

• Wait, I'm coming in 5 minutes. --> Bekle, 5 dakika içinde geliyorum.

Present continuous tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.

Present continuous tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + (negative) + iyor + present tense to be

If the verb you want to add the suffix -iyor ends with a vowel, drop the last vowel and add -iyor. Otherwise, just simply add -iyor. Be careful about the vowel harmony rules for the 'i' of -iyor. Let's see how a verb is put into present continuous tense on the following examples:

gel-iyor --> geliyor --> he is coming ye-me-iyor --> yemiyor --> he is not eating

git-iyor-im --> gidiyorum --> i am going ver-me-iyor --> vermiyor --> he is not giving

oku-iyor --> okuyor --> he is reading konuş-iyor --> konuşuyor --> he is talking

kapat-iyor-iz --> kapatıyoruz --> we are closing koş-iyor --> koşuyor --> he is running

ara-iyor-sin --> arıyorsun --> you are calling

gel-me-iyor-siniz --> gelmiyorsunuz --> you are not coming (plural you)

And let's see how present continuous tense is used with different cases of person.

English Turkish

to come --> gelmek

i am coming (ben) geliyor-im --> geliyorum

you are coming (sen) geliyor-sin --> geliyorsun

he \ she \it is coming (o) geliyor

we are coming (biz) geliyor-iz --> geliyoruz

you are coming (siz) geliyor-siniz --> geliyorsunuz

they are coming (onlar) geliyor-ler --> geliyorlar

Future Tense

To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings:

gelmek --> to come beklemek --> to wait vermek --> to give

gitmek --> to go yemek --> to eat konuşmak --> to talk

okumak --> to read çalışmak --> to work aramak --> to call

kapatmak --> to close kaynamak --> to boil koşmak --> to run

The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense:

• The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

• The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.

• Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense + present tense to be

• This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.

2. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)

The suffix for future tense in Turkish is -ecek. There are not two different cases like in English will and is going to. Future tense is always constructed using the suffix -ecek. The uses of the Turkish future tense is just like a union of the uses of will and going to in English.

• To express any action that will take place in the future.

Future tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.

Future tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + (negative) + ecek + present tense to be

When you want to append the suffix -ecek to a verb that ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant 'y' between the verb and the suffix to separate the two vowels. Otherwise, just simply add the suffix -ecek. Be careful about the harmony rules though, as always. Let's see how future tense is obtained using some example verbs:

gel-ecek --> gelecek --> he will come

git-ecek-im --> gideceğim --> I will go

oku-ecek-sin --> okuyacaksın --> you will read

kapat-ecek-iz --> kapatacağız --> we will close

koş-ecek-siniz --> koşacaksınız --> you will run (plural you)

ara-ecek-ler --> arayacaklar --> they will call

konuş-me-ecek --> konuşmayacak --> he will not talk

ver-me-ecek-sin --> vermeyeceksin --> you will not give

To see the use of future tense with different cases of person, check the following table:

English Turkish

to close --> kapatmak

i will close (ben) kapatacak-im --> kapatacağım

you will close (sen) kapatacak-sin --> kapatacaksın

he \she\it will close(o) kapatacak

we will close (biz) kapatacak-iz --> kapatacağız

you will close (siz) kapatacak-siniz --> kapatacaksınız

they will close (onlar) kapatacak-ler --> kapatacaklar

Questions

Question Sentences

Question sentences in Turkish can be classified into two groups like in English:

1. Yes-no questions

2. Regular questions

There are also question tags, i.e. questions of the form "You are coming, aren't you?".

In this lesson, we will see how these different types of questions can be asked in Turkish.

Before looking at how questions are constructed, let's see the question words in Turkish.

English Turkish English Turkish

what? ne? when? ne zaman?

who? kim? how? nasıl?

which? hangi? where? nere?

Now, let's see how different types of question sentences can be constructed.

1. Yes-no questions

In Turkish, yes-no questions are constructed with the question suffix '-mi'. It is important to note, however, the question suffix -mi is written separate from the word it is appended to. You can ask at this point: "Why is it a suffix instead of a separate word if it is written separately?". The reason question suffix -mi is regarded as a suffix is that it has to satisfy the major and minor vowel harmony rules for the word it is appended to. Let's see some example sentences demonstrating the use of the question suffix -mi.

A. This is a book. --> Bu bir kitap.

B. Is this a book? --> Bu bir kitap mı? (Note how the regular sentence is turned into a yes-no question sentence by the addition of the question suffix -mi)

A1. Yes, this is a book. --> Evet, bu bir kitap.

A2. No, this is not a book. This is a notebook. --> Hayır, bu bir kitap değil. Bu bir defter.

A. His name is Ahmet. --> Onun adı Ahmet.

B. Is his name Ahmet? --> Onun adı Ahmet mi?

A1. Yes, his name is Ahmet.

A2. No, his name is not Ahmet. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır, onun adı Ahmet değil. Onun adı Mehmet.

A3. No. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır. Onun adı Mehmet.

A. This is my house. --> bu benim evim

B. Is this your house? --> Bu senin evin mi?

A1. Yes, this is my house. --> Evet, bu benim evim.

A2. No, this is not my house. This is my mother's house. --> Hayır, bu benim evim değil. Bu annemin evi.

2. Regular questions

Regular questions are the ones constructed using the question words listed above and the answers to these questions are not simply yes or no. In English, there is a certain word order for regular question sentences. The question word comes first, and the rest of the sentence elements follow it. In Turkish, however, questions are constructed in a quite different way. To learn how to construct a question, a simple way is to follow the following steps. This will work in most cases:

1. Construct the answer sentence.2. Locate the word or phrase that is the actual answer to the question. 3. Just replace that word or phrase with the appropriate question word.

Let's apply this on an example. The question we want to ask is, "Who is this?".

1. The answer sentence will be something like "This is my brother. --> Bu benim kardeşim."

2. The answer to the question is the phrase "my brother --> benim kardeşim".

3. Replace this phrase with the question word "who --> kim" and the question sentence becomes "Bu kim?".

To summarize, a question sentence has the same word order as a regular sentence. The difference is that the part of the sentence that is asked is replaced by the appropriate question word. The question word takes all the suffixes of the word it is replaced for.

Consider the sentence "Ahmet eve gidiyor. --> Ahmet is going home."

Who is going home? --> Kim eve gidiyor? (Ahmet in the regular sentence is replaced by who. The rest of the sentence is the same.)

Where did Ahmet go? --> Ahmet nereye gitti? (ev in the regular sentence is replaced by nere. Note that the question word nere also takes the suffix -e of the word ev and becomes nereye, meaning 'to where')

What is Ahmet doing? --? Ahmet ne yapıyor? (The phrase 'eve gidiyor' in the original sentence is replaced by "ne yapıyor --> what's he doing")

Note that to make a question sentence asking a verb, we use :

"What + to be (in the appropriate tense) + object + to do (in the appropriate tense)"

Ex1: What are you doing?

Ex2: What did Ahmet do?

In Turkish, this structure becomes:

"Object + ne + yapmak (in the appropriate tense and person)"

Ex1: (Sen) ne yapıyorsun?

Ex2: Ahmet ne yaptı?

This is simply the regular sentence where the action is replaced by "ne + yapmak", which is consistent with our rule for constructing question sentences.

3. Question tags

Question tags are the questions of the form:

You are home, aren't you?

He did his homework, didn't he?

Mehmet will come today, won't he?

Constructing question phrases in Turkish is very simple and straightforward. You just add "değil mi" at the end regardless of the sentence. The translations for the question tags above are then:

Evdesin, değil mi?

Ödevini yaptı, değil mi?

Mehmet bugün gelecek, değil mi?

Imperatives - Let

Making a verb imperative for the second singular person (sen), is the same as it is done in English. Just use the plain verb without any suffix or change. When you want to order something to a single person listening to you, you just say the plain verb. Examples:

Come! --> Gel! Stand up! --> Kalk! Sit down! --> Otur! Go! --> Git! Read! --> Oku!

However, different from English, there is an imperative form for different cases of person. Let´s see now how these are constructed:

Personal PronounSuffix

Ben No first person singular form

Sen- (no suffix)

O -sin

Biz No first person plural form

Siz -in

Onlar -sinler

Now, let´s see the meaning of each case using the verb to go (gitmek).

CaseMeaning

(sen) gitgo! (singular, to a single person)

(o) git-sin --> gitsinlet him go (not like "allow him to go", this has the meaning that you want him to go in an imperative way)

(siz) git-in --> gidin go! (plural, to multiple people)

(onlar) git-sinler --> gitsinlerlet them go (again, the meaning is not like "allow them to go", gitsinler means that you want them to go and you are expressing this in an imperative way)

As you can see, a commonly used clause, "let´s", is included in the imperative definition. If you want to say "Let´s go to the movie", it becomes "Sinemaya gidelim" in Turkish. Now, let´s see how the example verbs we used above are made imperative with respect to different cases of person.

Personal Pronoun gelmek - to

comegitmek - to go

okumak - to read

oturmak - to sit down

kalkmak - to stand up

sengel

git oku otur kalk

o gelsin gitsin okusun otursun kalksın

siz gelin gidin okuyun oturun kalkın

onlar gelsiler gitsinler okusunlar otursunlar kalksınlar

There is no first person singular or first person plural form of the imperatives, but there is another form called wish clause that gives a similar meaning for the first person singular and plural. Note that only the first person singular and first person plural forms of the wish clause are used in practice. Here is how the wish clause is constructed:

Personal pronoun Suffix

Ben -eyim

Biz -elim

Case Meanıng

(ben)git-eyim--gideyim Let me go

(biz)git-elim--gidelim Let's go

Personal Pronoun Gelmek-to come Gitmek-to come Okumak-to read Oturmak-to sıt down

Kalkmak-to stand up

Ben Geleyim gideyim okuyayım oturayım kalkayım

Biz Gelelim gidelim okuyalım oturalım kalkalım

Degrees of Adjectives

Comparatives and superlatives are constructed in a very straightforward way in Turkish. Besides these, there is a special way of making adjectives stronger in Turkish and this is not very trivial. I this lesson, we will cover all these topics.

1. Comparatives

1.1. More, Less

faster --> daha hızlı more beautiful --> daha güzel

slower --> daha yavaş more hardworking --> daha çalışkan

more intelligent --> daha zeki

If you want to say less beautiful or less hardworking, then replace the word 'daha' with 'daha az'.

less fast --> daha az hızlı less hardworking --> daha az çalışkan

less intelligent --> daha az zeki less beautiful --> daha az güzel

Now, let's see how the comparative form of an adjective is used in sentences.

I am beautiful. --> (Ben) güzelim. This is a fast car. --> Bu hızlı bir araba.

I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha güzelim. This is a faster car. --> Bu daha hızlı bir araba.

You are more beautiful. --> (Sen) daha güzelsin. This car is faster. --> Bu araba daha hızlı.

She is more beautiful. --> (O) daha güzel.

1.2. More than

If you want to compare two nouns with respect to an adjective, the structure used in English is as follows:

noun1 is more adjective than noun2

Ex1: Ahmet is more hardworking than Mehmet.

Ex2: I am more intelligent than you.

The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows:

noun1 noun2-den daha adjective

Ex1: Ahmet Mehmet'ten daha çalışkan. (Note that the ' sign is used to separate private names from their suffixes)

Ex2: Ben senden daha zekiyim.

Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression.

- Beril is beautiful. --> Beril güzel.

- Gökçe is more beautiful. --> Gökçe daha güzel.

- Gökçe is more beautiful than Beril. --> Gökçe Beril'den daha güzel.

- He is more hardworking than me. --> O benden daha çalışkan.

- My car is faster than your car. --> Benim arabam senin arabandan daha hızlı.

- US is larger than Turkey. --> Amerika Türkiye'den daha büyük.

1.3. As ... as

If you want to say that two nouns are equal with respect to an adjective, the strıctıre used in English is:

noun1 is as adjective as noun2

Ex1: Beril is as beautiful as Gökçe.

Ex2: I am as beautiful as you.

The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows:

.noun1 noun2 kadar adjective

or

noun1 de noun2 kadar adjective

Both of these expressions have the same meaning, you will understand the very slight difference as you see them used. One point to note here is that if noun2 is a simple pronoun (like ben, sen, bu, şu) then it is used in possessive form (like benim, senin, bunun, şunun).

Ex1: Beril de Gökçe kadar güzel.

Ex2: Ben de senin kadar güzelim.

Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression.

- Beril is beautiful. --> Beril güzel.

- Gökçe is also beautiful. --> Gökçe de güzel. (de means 'also', 'as well')

- Gökçe is as beautifl as Beril. --> Gökçe de Beril kadar güzel.

- He is as hardworking as me. --> O da benim kadar çalışkan.

- My car is as fast as your car. --> Benim arabam da senin araban kadar hızlı.

- US is almost as large as China. --> Amerika neredeyse Çin kadar büyük. (neredeyse means almost)

2. Superlatives

Superlatives are also straightforward in Turkish, like it is in English. Instead of 'the most', you use 'en', and all superlatives are constructed using this word.

the fastest --> en hızlı

slower --> en yavaş

the most intelligent --> en zeki

the most hardworking --> en çalışkan

the most beautiful --> en güzel

Now, let's see how the superlative form of an adjective is used in sentences.

I am beautiful. --> (Ben) güzelim.

I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha güzelim.

When you want to use the superlative form in a sentence, there are two different cases:

I am the most beautiful. --> (Ben) en güzelim. (This has the meaning of describing yourself, like an answer to the question "What are your traits?")

I am the most beautiful. --> En güzel benim. (This has the meaning of the answer to the question "Who is the most beautiful?")

I am the most beautiful girl. --> En güzel kız benim.

I am the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız benim.

You are the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız sensin.

She is the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız o.

3. Making an adjective stronger

3.1. Very

In English, when you want to make an adjective stronger, you use the word 'very'. Saying very fast is a stronger statement than just saying fast. The same method is applied also in Turkish, and the word for very is 'çok'. Hence:

very fast --> çok hızlı

very slow --> çok yavaş

very intelligent --> çok zeki

very hardworking --> çok çalışkan

very beautiful --> çok güzel

You are very beautiful. --> (Sen) çok güzelsin.

She is a very beautiful girl. --> (O) çok güzel bir kız.

This girl is very beautiful. --> Bu kız çok güzel.

3.2. Too

Another way of making an adjective stronger, but this time giving the meaning extreme, is to use the word too. Saying something is too fast gives the meaning that it is extremely fast and should be slower. The word for too in Turkish is 'fazla'.

too fast --> fazla hızlı We are too fast. --> (Biz) fazla hızlıyız. too beautiful --> fazla güzel

too slow --> fazla yavaş too hardworking --> fazla çalışkan

too intelligent --> fazla zeki This car is too fast. --> Bu araba fazla hızlı.

3.3. Other ways

A third way commonly used in Turkish (which is not seen in English) to make an adjective stronger is adding a modified form of the first syllable before the adjective. Important points to note here are:

• There is not a rule for how this first syllable should be modified, which makes this rule hard to learn.

• This gives the same meaning as using the word 'very' and makes the adjective stronger.

• All adjectives can't be made stronger using this method, and there is not a rule to understand for which adjectives this method can be used. A group of adjectives you can always use this method is colors, to express that the color is strong. However, there is no rule to exactly say which adjectives can be made stronger like this.

• Because there is not a well-defined rule, it will be very difficult to go over adjectives and see what the stronger form of each adjective is. I think you should not try to learn this for each adjective at this step. The best strategy here would be to note that there is a rule like this and when you see it used, you will understand what it means. In your sentences, you simply can use 'çok + adjective' instead and you will be clearly understood.

Let's see some examples to this rule:

hızlı --> fast kalın --> thick

hıphızlı --> very fast kapkalın --> very thick

sarı --> yellow çabuk --> quick

sapsarı --> very yellow, strong yellow çarçabuk --> very quick

mavi --> blue beyaz --> white

masmavi --> very blue, strong blue bembeyaz --> very white, strong white

Another way to make an adjective stressed and stronger is to repeat it twice. Again, this is not done with all adjectives and the best way to learn for which adjectives this rule is applicable is to note when you hear an adjective used like this. Don't be afraid by these rules, you will learn how to use them if you start reading Turkish texts or if you speak to native speakers. You can still express yourself without using these methods for making adjectives stronger. Simply use the word 'çok' before the adjective. I am giving these rules now so that you know the meaning when you see such a usage somewhere.

büyük büyük evler --> big houses, the property big is stressed

sarı sarı elmalar --> yellow apples, the property yellow is stressed

There is also another way to stress an adjective and make it stronger. That is, adding a modified form of the adjective after the original form. This is again an irregular rule and you don't need to know this completely, just understand it when you see this usage. Sometimes, an adjective followed by the modified form of that adjective may have a slightly different meaning.

yaşlı --> old (for people)

yaşlı başlı --> old, mature

eski --> old (for objects)

eski püskü --> very old and useless

Present simple tense (Geniş zaman)

The present simple tense is used, very much ike the one in English:

• To make general statements

• Water boils at 100 degrees. --> Su 100 derecede kaynar.

• To mention things you do regularly

• I run every morning. --> Her sabah koşarım.

Present simple tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.

Present simple tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + ir or er + present tense to be

The suffix for constructing the present simple tense of a verb is not always the same. The suffix is sometimes -ir, sometimes -er. This is the only tense with this irregularity, but there are certain rules that will tell you which one to choose most of the time. The rules that will help you choose which one of -ir or -er to use as suffix are as follows:

1. If the verb ends with a vowel, the vowel of the suffix falls and you add only -r.

• ara-r --> arar --> he calls

• oku-r --> okur --> he reads

2. If the verb has more than one syllable, use -ir

• kapat-ir --> kapatır --> he closes

• konuş-ir --> konuşur --> he talks

3. If the verb has only one syllable:

• If the vowel of this syllable is 'a' or 'e' and if the verb ends with 'l', 'n' or 'r' then use -ir

• gel-ir --> gelir --> he comes

• ver-ir --> verir --> he gives

• Use -er for the other single syllable cases

• git-er --> gider --> he goes

• koş-ar --> koşar --> he runs

Now, let's look at how the present simple tense is used with different personal pronouns:

English Turkish

Example 1 to come --> gelmek

i come (ben) gelir-im --> gelirim

you come (sen) gelir-sin --> gelirsin

he \she\it comes(o) gelir

we come (biz) gelir-iz --> geliriz

you come (siz) gelir-siniz --> gelirsiniz

they come (onlar) gelir-ler --> gelirler

English Turkish

Example 2 to talk --> konuşmak

i talk (ben) konuşur-im --> konuşurum

you talk (sen) konuşur-sin --> konuşursun

he \she \it talks(o) konuşur

we talk (biz) konuşur-iz --> konuşuruz

you talk (siz) konuşur-siniz --> konuşursunuz

they talk (onlar) konuşur-ler --> konuşurlar

The negative of present simple tense is a little different than just adding the negative-making suffix -me. Construction of negatives of present simple tense is given in the table below. The negative-making suffix becomes -mez except for I and we. Moreover, when negative suffix is used, the present simple tense suffix is not used.

English Turkish

Example 1 to come --> gelmek

i don't come (ben) gel-me-im --> gelmem

you don't come (sen) gel-mez-sin --> gelmezsin

he \she \it doesn't come(o) gel-mez --> gelmez

we don't come (biz) gel-me-iz --> gelmeyiz

you don't come (siz) gel-mez-siniz --> gelmezsiniz

they don't come (onlar) gel-mez-ler --> gelmezler

Present simple tense is the most irregular tense in Turkish, it's not simple as the name implies.

Past Tense

Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tense

There is no suffix for the regular past tense. The only point is that you must use the past tense form of to be. Be careful about the harmony rules though, as always. The use of the past tense with -di is almost the same as the English past tense.

• To tell an action that took place in the past.

• He came. --> Geldi.

• To make a statement that was true in the past.

She was beautiful. --> Güzeldi.

The same way regular past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives using the past tense form of to be. The meaning in this case is the same as the meaning of 'was' in English.

He was good. --> İyiydi.

I was successful. --> Başarılıydım.

Regular past tense of a word is constructed this way:

word root + (negative) + past tense to be

Let's see how a verb is used in regular past tense on the following examples:

gel-di --> geldi --> he came ye-diler --> yediler --> they ate

git-me-di --> gitmedi --> he did not go koş-din --> koştun --> you ran

oku-di --> okudu --> he read kapat-dik --> kapattık --> we closed

ara-diniz --> aradınız --> you called (plural you) ver-me-dim --> vermedim --> I did not give

konuş-me-di --> konuşmadı --> he did not talk çalış-ma-dik --> çalışmadık --> we did not work

bekle-me-diler --> beklemediler --> they did not wait

Note that making the past tense of a verb and making the past tense of a noun or adjective is the same, but only as long as they are positive. The negative suffix for verbs is -me, but negatives of nouns and adjectives are constructed using değil. Değil is not a suffix, it is used as a seperate word. Let's see a few examples to how nouns and adjectives are expressed in past tense.

She was beautiful. --> Güzeldi.

She was not beautiful. --> Güzel değildi. (Note what we did is just to replace the suffix -me for verbs with the word değil in the case of nouns and adjectives. The ordering is still the same. Past tense of to be, which followed -me for verbs, is now put after değil)

You were not kids. --> Çocuk değildiniz.

Let's see how these personal suffixes are used on some example verbs:

English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek

i waited (ben) bekle-dim --> bekledim

you waited (sen) bekle-din --> bekledin

he \she\it waited(o) bekle-di --> bekledi

we waited (biz) bekle-dik --> bekledik

you waited(siz) bekledi-niz --> beklediniz

they waited (onlar) bekle-diler --> beklediler

to work --> çalışmak

i worked (ben) çalış-dim --> çalıştım

you worked (sen) çalış-din --> çalıştın

he \she \it worked(o) çalış-di --> çalıştı

we worked (biz) çalış-dik --> çalıştık

you worked(siz) çalış-diniz --> çalıştınız

they worked (onlar) çalış-diler --> çalıştılar

Story Past Tense

Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) ==> Also called the story past tense

To obtain the story past tense of a verb, we append the suffix -miş to the verb. Be careful about the harmony rules.

Past tense with -miş is used:

• To talk about something you learned from somebody else or some other resource, there is some uncertainty in the statement. If you use the story past tense when talking about something, it implies that you are not the source of the information and you shouldn't be responsible for the mistakes.

• I talked to his mother. He went to school. --> Annesiyle konuştum. Okula gitmiş. (The part about talking to the mother is your direct experience, so you tell it using regular past tense. However, the part about he going to school is information you got from the mother, so you tell it using story past tense.)

• To talk about something you just learned or understood

• Is this your daughter? She is very beautiful. --> Bu senin kızın mı? Çok güzelmiş. (You just noticed that she is beautiful, and you express this using story past tense)

Simple stories are written and told in using this tense.

Story past tense of a word is constructed this way:

word root + (negative) + miş + present tense to be

The same way story past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives.

I talked to Kemal about her. She is sick. --> Kemal'le onun hakkında konuştum. Hastaymış. (You learned that she is sick from Kemal)

Prime minister was in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün Fransadaymış. (You use story past tense because you learned this from somebody else or from the news)

Prime minister was not in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün Fransada değilmiş. (Remember that negatives of non-verbs are made with değil)

Let's see the use of story past tense on some example verbs.

gel-miş --> gelmiş --> he came

git-miş-siniz--> gitmişsiniz --> you went (plural you)

oku-miş-sin--> okumuşsun --> you read

kapat-miş-ler--> kapatmışlar --> they closed

koş-me-miş--> koşmamış --> he did not run

ara-me-miş-sin--> aramamışsın --> you did not call

konuş-me-miş-ler--> konuşmamışlar --> they did not talk

ver-miş-iz--> vermişiz --> we gave

Finally, let's see how a verb is used in the story past tense with different personal pronouns.

English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek

i waited (ben) beklemiş-im --> beklemişim

you waited (sen) beklemiş-sin --> beklemişsin

he \she\it waited(o) beklemiş

we waited (biz) beklemiş-iz --> beklemişiz

you waited(siz) beklemiş-siniz --> beklemişsiniz

they waited (onlar) beklemiş-ler --> beklemişler

Must, Have to, Need to, Want to

1. Must

The best counterpart in Turkish for the meaning of necessity that is given with 'must' in English is the suffix '-meli'. The skeleton for using a verb with this suffix is as follows:

verb-meli-to be

I must go --> git-meli-im --> gitmeliyim (note the use of the fusion consonant y)

We must study --> çalışmalıyız (note that the suffix -meli becomes -malı due to the major vowel harmony)

You must sit down (plural) --> oturmalısınız

You must go home now. --> Şimdi eve gitmelisin.

We can show how to express the necessity of a verb the for different cases of person:

Personal Pronoun Suffix

Ben -meliyim

Sen -melisin

O -meli

Biz -meliyiz

Siz -melisiniz

Onlar -meliler

2. Have to

The meaning of formal obligation that 'have to' gives in English is best given by the word 'lazım' in Turkish. The structure for using this construct is as follows:

verb-me-possession (blank space) lazım

This might seem confusing, let us explain how this structure works. The suffix -me allows a verb to be used like a noun, it is similar to a gerund. You might ask at this point, wasn't the suffix -me used for negating verbs? That is right, but the suffix for negating verbs and the suffix for using a verb like a noun are the same. So, okuma can mean either don't read or reading according to the context in which it is used. In this case, we are concerned about the second meaning. So, in the phrase okumam lazım, the part okumam means my reading and the part lazım means required. When we put these together, it becomes my reading is required and this is what we use for I have to read in Turkish. Let's look at a few examples to clarify this further:

I have to go to school tomorrow. --> Yarın okula gitmem lazım.

I have to work now. --> Şimdi çalışmam lazım.

We have to get ready. --> Hazırlanmamız lazım.

You have to go. --> Gitmen lazım.

3. Need to

This is very similar to the use of have to, both in meaning and structure. The word we use to give the meaning of need to is 'gerekiyor'. It is similar to 'have to' in meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably with have to (lazım). It is similar in structure, which can be seen in the structural skeleton:This is very similar to the use of have to, both in meaning and structure. The word we use to give the meaning of need to is 'gerekiyor'. It is similar to 'have to' in

meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably with have to (lazım). It is similar in structure, which can be seen in the structural skeleton:

verb-me-posession (blank space) gerekiyor

The following examples will clarify this further:

I need to go home. --> Eve gitmem gerekiyor.

You need to be here at 2. --> Saat ikide burada olman gerekiyor.

You need to sleep early. --> Erken uyuman gerekiyor.

She needs to see a doctor. --> Doktora gitmesi gerekiyor.

4. Want to

The use of want to is logically almost identical to the English counterpart. One important difference is that you use the verb 'to want' in present continuous tense instead of present simple. The turkish verb for to want is istemek. The structure goes as follows:

verb(infinitive) (blank space) istiyor-to be

I want to go. --> Gitmek istiyorum. What do you want? --> Ne istiyorsun?

I want to sleep. --> Uyumak istiyorum. Konuşmak istiyor musun? --> Do you want to talk?

I want to take a rest. --> Dinlenmek istiyorum.

I want to go home. --> Eve gitmek istiyorum.