An introduction to Turkish

An introduction to Turkish
Who speaks Turkish?
•
Approximately 70 million inhabitants of Turkey.
•
A few million people in Northern Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and other parts of the
Balkans.
•
A few million members of Turkish communities in western countries.
•
In addition to this, there are approximately 100 million people who speak closely
related Turkic languages in countries such as Iran, China, Turkmenistan, Russia,
and several other Asian and eastern European countries.
How easy is it to learn?
Turkish is easy
•
Turkish is written exactly as it is said. There are no silent letters, and each letter is always
pronounced in the same way. You should always know how to pronounce any Turkish
words that you see, and should always know how to spell any Turkish word that you know.
Turkish does not have anything like the “ough” of English that can have at least 10 different
pronunciations (e.g. cough, though, through, plough, etc)!
•
Words do not have different genders. Unlike many European languages, such as French
or German, you do not need to remember whether words are male or female.
•
Turkish is very regular. Once you know a rule there are usually no exceptions.
•
Once you know a few words and a handful of rules it’s easy to make new words and to
work out the meaning of words you’ve never seen before.
Turkish is difficult
•
Turkish is very different to English. It comes from a completely different language family,
and so is completely unrelated to western European languages.
•
The word order in Turkish is different to English and can seem odd.
•
Turkish uses a feature called “vowel harmony” which is completely unheard of in English.
•
Where English uses separate words, Turkish adds endings on to existing words.
Turkish For Beginners
Page 1
Lesson 1
The Alphabet
There are 29 letters in the Turkish alphabet, most of which are pronounced exactly the same as in
English.
Letter
A a
B b
C c
Ç ç
D d
E e
F f
G g
Ğ ğ
H h
I ı
İ i
J j
K k
L l
M m
N n
O o
Ö ö
P p
R r
S s
Ş ş
T t
U u
Ü ü
V v
Y y
Z z
Pronunciation (if different to English)
Like a Londoner would say the u in bus.
Like the j in jam.
Like the ch in chair.
Like the e in egg.
Not pronounced. Lengthens the vowel immediately before the ğ.
Like the er in butter.
Like the i in it.
Like a French j or the s in treasure.
Like the o in pop.
Like the i in bird.
Like the sh in sheep.
Like the u in pull.
Like a German ü or the French u in tu.
All vowels in Turkish are short – e.g. the vowel u is pronounced like in supper, not super.
The letter ğ is called yumuşak g, which means soft g. It has no sound on its own and can not start
a word. It always comes after a vowel and turns that vowel into a long sound – e.g. sağ is
pronounced saa.
Every letter in Turkish always has the same sound and is always pronounced.
•
In English we do not always pronounce vowels, but in Turkish every vowel is pronounced –
e.g. the e in bale. In Turkish the word bale is pronounced baleh.
•
We sometimes drop consonants in English, but in Turkish they are always pronounced –
e.g. the h in hello is sometimes dropped to give ‘ello, but in Turkish you could never drop
the h in hesap to give ‘esap!
Turkish For Beginners
Page 2
Lesson 1
Greetings, basic phrases and farewells
Greetings
Merhaba
Günaydın
İyi günler
İyi akşamlar
Hello
Good morning
Good day
Good evening
Basic phrases
Adınız ne?
Adım ___
Nasılsınız?
İyiyim
Ya siz?
Ben de iyiyim
Memnun oldum
Ben de memnun oldum
Teşekkür ederim
Teşekkürler
What’s your name?
My name is ___
How are you?
I’m fine
And you?
I’m fine too
Nice to meet you
Nice to meet you too
Thank you
Thanks
Farewells
İyi günler
İyi akşamlar
İyi geceler
Hoşça kalın
Turkish For Beginners
Good day
Good evening
Good night
Goodbye
Page 3
Lesson 1
Other phrases
Evet
Hayır
İsminiz ne?
İsmim ___
İyi misiniz?
İngiliz misiniz?
İngilizim
Türk müsünüz?
Türküm
Sağolun
Bir şey değil
Allahaısmarladık
Güle güle
Yes
No
What’s your name?
My name is ___
Are you well?
Are you English?
I’m English
Are you Turkish?
I’m Turkish
Thanks
You’re welcome
Goodbye (said by the person who is leaving)
Goodbye (said by the person who is staying behind)
Phrase
Feeling expressed
Rough translation
Aman!
Aa!
Ay!
Be!
Eyvah!
Ha!
Hadi! / Haydi!
Öf! / Üf!
Ya!
Uf!
Being fed up
Surprise
Surprise
Annoyance
Exasperation
Triumph
Impatience
Being fed up
Disbelief and annoyance
Disgust
Oh no!
Well I never!
Oh!
Right, mate!
Good grief
Gotcha! Right then!
Come on!
Oh no! Come of it!
Come off it!
Ugh!
Turkish For Beginners
Page 4
Lesson 1
Conversations
Listen to the following conversations
1. Merhaba!
Murat:
Gamze:
Murat:
Gamze:
Murat:
Gamze:
Merhaba!
Merhaba!
Benım adım Murat, sizin adınız ne?
(Benim adım) Gamze.
Memnun oldum.
Ben de memnun oldum.
2. Günaydın!
Öğrettmen:
Tony:
Öğrettmen:
Tony:
Öğrettmen:
Tony:
Günaydın!
Günaydın!
Senin adın ne?
Benim adım Tony.
Memnun oldum.
Ben de memnun oldum.
3. İyi günler!
Öğretmen:
Olga:
Öğretmen:
Olga:
Öğretmen:
Olga:
İyi günler!
İyi günler!
Senin adın ne?
Benim adım Olga.
Memnun oldum.
Ben de memnun oldum.
4. Nasılsınız?
Murat:
Gamze:
Murat:
Gamze:
Murat:
Aaa, Gamze Hanım merhaba.
Merhaba Murat Bey.
Nasılsınız?
İyiyim, teşekkür ederim. Siz nasılsınız?
Teşekkürler, ben de iyiyim.
Turkish For Beginners
Page 5
Lesson 1
Exercises
Fill in the blanks in the following conversations.
1. _______:
Merhaba İbrahim.
İbrahim:
Merhaba. ___________________ ne?
_______:
Adım Hasan.
İbrahim:
Nasılsınız?
_______:
İyiyim, teşekkürler.
2. Korhan:
İyi akşamlar!
Cengiz:
İyi _________________! Nasılsınız?
Korhan:
İyiyim. Ya _____________?
Cengiz:
Ben de iyiyim.
Korhan:
Hoşça kalın.
Cengiz:
Hoşça kalın.
3. Melek:
Merhaba!
Burak:
_______________________!
Melek:
Benim _____________ Melek, sizin _______________ ne?
Burak:
_______________________________________.
Melek:
Memnun oldum.
Burak:
Ben de __________________________.
Melek:
Nasılsınız?
Burak:
_________________________, iyiyim, siz _____________________?
Melek:
_________________________, ben _______________________.
Burak:
Allaha ısmarladık!
Melek:
___________________________________________.
Turkish For Beginners
Page 6
Lesson 1