Grammar is definitely a must when you want to learn a language properly. However, it takes some time to have good command of this crucial factor. Unfortunately, life doesn’t wait for anyone. You might be in a foreign country now, and need to ask for directions or the time—you might even need to know where the closest hospital is. 

Theory doesn’t help much when you need to communicate effectively. This is where practicality kicks in. And by “practicality,” I mean certain patterns you can use in daily conversations.

In this article, we’ll show you ten different Turkish sentence patterns. We’ll start with an easy Turkish sentence pattern and move on to more complex ones. Most of the sentences that you’ll hear, write, or speak will follow these basic sentence patterns. Until you have a good grasp of grammar, the examples provided here will help you understand the basic Turkish sentence structure and sentence patterns.

They’ll not only help you express yourself better and fulfill your needs more quickly in daily life, but they’ll also enable you to speak Turkish sooner and serve as a foundation on which you can build your grammar knowledge.

Let’s get started with some Turkish sentence examples.

Table of Contents

1. Sentences Linking Two Nouns
2. Describing Things
3. Possession and Ownership
4. Expressing “Want”
5. Expressing Needs
6. Expressing Obligations
7. Likes and Dislikes
8. How to Request Something
9. Asking for Permission
10. Question Patterns
11. More Practice with TurkishClass101.com

1. Sentences Linking Two Nouns

This is an easy Turkish sentence pattern, where two nouns are linked to each other.

	Turkish	English
1	Dan benim erkek arkadaşım(dır).	“Dan is my boyfriend.”
2	Mary İngilizce öğretmeni(dir).	“Mary is an English teacher.”
3	Şu büyük ev arkadaşımın eviydi.	“That big house was my friend’s house.”
4	Bu kitap babamın doğum günü hediyesiydi.	“This book was my father’s birthday gift.”
5	Ablamın en sevdiği oyuncağı bu bebek(tir).	“My elder sister’s favorite toy is this doll.”

Please note that the third person singular pronoun doesn’t have to take the “to be” suffix; you can leave it blank. That’s why I’ve put the suffix in parentheses. You’ll encounter some more of these throughout the article.

Let’s see how you can make variations of this Turkish sentence pattern:

In all of the sentences, you can replace the subject with anything you want. For example: annem (“my mother”); bu araba (“this car”); şu kısa boylu çocuk (“that short child”).

1. In this example, erkek arkadaşım (“my boyfriend”) can be replaced with: öğretmenim (“my teacher”); babam (“my father”); ev arkadaşım (“my roommate”).

2. In the second example, İngilizce öğretmeni(dir) can be replaced with any other occupation: mühendistir (“is an engineer”); teknisyendir (“is a technician”); öğrencidir (“is a student”).

2. Describing Things

Describing people, places, things, and so on, is something we do a lot in our daily lives. There’s also an easy Turkish sentence pattern you can use to do this. Here are some examples of how to form Turkish sentences using adjectives.

1- People

Would you like to tell others what you think about the people in your life? Here you are: below are some Turkish sentence patterns you can use:

	Turkish	English
1	Kızım çok güzel(dir).	“My daughter is very pretty.”
2	Mark çok akıllı(dır).	“Mark is very smart.”
3	Rock Hudson çok yakışıklıydı.	“Rock Hudson was very handsome.”
4	Sinemada gördüğümüz çift gerçekten çok mutlu(dur).	“The couple we saw at the cinema is really very happy.”
5	Bana aldığın hediye benim için çok değerli.	“The present you bought me is very precious to me.”

You can replace the subject with any name or noun, and then you can replace the adjective accordingly.

2- Places

How about describing places in Turkish? You can use the following Turkish sentence patterns when you need to talk to someone about a certain place:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu ev çok büyük(tür).	“This house is very big.”
2	Benim odam çok karanlık(tır).	“My room is very dark.”
3	Bu cadde çok kalabalık(tır).	“This street is very crowded.”
4	Bahçemiz muhteşemdi.	“Our garden was gorgeous.”
5	Sana gösterdiğim bina çok eski(dir).	“The building I showed you is old.”

3- Things

We use so many different adjectives when talking about objects, food, feelings, etc. These are some examples of the Turkish sentence construction you can use to describe things:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu kolye çok uzun.	“This necklace is very long.”
2	Bu koltuk hiç rahat değil(dir).	“This armchair is not comfortable at all.”
3	Sınav gerçekten zordu.	“The exam was really hard.”
4	Tatlı çok lezzetliydi.	“The dessert was delicious.”
5	Dün aldığın gömlek çok şık.	“The shirt you bought yesterday is very trendy.”

3. Possession and Ownership

We frequently talk about what we have or what we own. Here are some examples of the Turkish language sentence structures for talking about possession and ownership:

	Turkish	English
1	Büyük bir ailem var.	“I have a big family.”
2	Bir evim ve iki arabam vardı.	“I had a house and two cars.” (“I owned a house and two cars.”)
3	Hiç vaktim yok.	“I don’t have any time.”
4	Senin beğendiğin o kitap bende yok.	“I don’t have that book you liked.”
5	Alışveriş merkezine yürüme mesafesinde bir ofisim var.	“I have an office within walking distance of the shopping center.”

4. Expressing “Want”

In our daily lives, we often talk about the things we want or the activities we want to do. Following are some Turkish sentence patterns that will help you express what you want (and what you don’t want):

	Turkish	English
1	Bir fincan kahve istiyorum.	“I want a cup of coffee.”
2	Bir soru sormak istiyorum.	“I want to ask a question.”
3	Şu adrese gitmek istiyorum.	“I want to go to this address.”
4	Seninle konuşmak istemiyorum.	“I don’t want to talk to you.”
5	Deniz kenarında bir ev istiyorum.	“I want to have a house by the seaside.”
6	En yakın hastanenin nerede olduğunu öğrenmek istiyorum.	“I want to know where the closest hospital is.”

Let’s see how you can make variations of this Turkish sentence pattern:

1. In this example, bir fincan kahve (“a cup of coffee”) can be replaced with: bir dilim ekmek (“a slice of bread”); bir şişe şarap (“a bottle of wine”); bir bardak süt (“a glass of milk”).

2. – 5. The object is placed at the beginning, followed by the infinitive form of the verb that describes the action you want to do, and then the conjugated form of the verb istemek (“to want”).

5. Expressing Needs

Knowing how to express your needs in a foreign language is very important, especially in emergencies.

Here are five Turkish sentence patterns about needs that will be useful in your daily conversations:

	Turkish	English
1	Bir kaleme ihtiyacım var.	“I need a pen.”
2	Bir eczane bulmam lazım.	“I need to find a pharmacy.”
3	Pratik yapmam gerek.	“I need to practice.”
4	Burada olmana gerek yok.	“You don’t need to be here.”
5	Ayılmak için bir fincan kahveye ihtiyacım var.	“I need a cup of coffee to get sober.”

6. Expressing Obligations

There are many times when we need to tell people what we have to do. Here are some useful Turkish sentences for beginners:

	Turkish	English
1	İşe gitmeliyim.	“I must go to work.”
2	Tuvaleti kullanmak zorundayım.	“I have to use the restroom.”
3	Hemen bir doktor bulmalıyım.	“I must find a doctor immediately.”
4	Sigara içmemelisin.	“You mustn’t smoke.”
5	Toplantının sonuna dek kalmak zorunda değilsin.	“You don’t have to stay until the end of the meeting.”

7. Likes and Dislikes

There are so many things (or people) that we like or dislike in life. One way or the other, we frequently talk about these likes and dislikes. Now, let’s see which Turkish sentence patterns can help us express these two feelings.

	Turkish	English
1	Köpekleri çok severim.	“I like dogs a lot.”
2	Seni beğeniyorum.	“I like you.”
3	Türkçe öğrenmeyi seviyorum.	“I like learning Turkish.”
4	Futbol oynamayı sevmiyorum.	“I don’t like playing soccer.”
5	Annemin aldığı elbiseyi beğenmedim.	“I didn’t like the dress my mother bought.”

8. How to Request Something

Another set of Turkish phrases you need to know are those for making requests. These can take the form of sentences or questions.

1- In sentence form

The following example sentences will show you how to word your requests:

	Turkish	English
1	Lütfen otur.	“Please sit down.”
2	Lütfen beni dinle.	“Please listen to me.”
3	Soruma cevap ver lütfen.	“Answer my question, please.”
4	Lütfen toplantıya geç kalma.	“Please don’t be late to the meeting.”
5	Senden sessiz olmanı rica ediyorum.	“I’m requesting you to be quiet.”

2- As a question

I’m sure these example sentences will give you an idea of how to ask people what you want them to do (or not do).

	Turkish	English
1	Ayağa kalkabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you stand up, please?”
2	Işıkları söndürebilir misin lütfen?	“Can you turn off the lights, please?”
3	Ödevini yapabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you please do your homework?”
4	Pencereyi kapatabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you close the window please?”
5	Rica etsem kapıyı açabilir misin lütfen?	“May I request you to open the door, please?”

9. Asking for Permission

Here’s how to make Turkish sentences for asking permission:

	Turkish	English
1	İçeri girebilir miyim?	“May I come in?”
2	Bir bardak su alabilir miyim lütfen?	“May I get a glass of water, please?”
3	Telefon numaranı alabilir miyim?	“May I get your phone number?”
4	Toplantıya katılabilir miyim?	“May I join the meeting?”
5	Bir soru sorabilir miyim?	“May I ask a question?”

10. Question Patterns

Have you ever thought about how many questions you ask a day? I’m pretty sure you haven’t. I haven’t either, but I’m just guessing and the answer is probably “many.” There are “what,” “when,” “where,” “how,” “why,” and other types of questions. In this section, we’ll show you examples of how to form the most commonly used questions.

1- What?

Below are some example questions:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu nedir?	“What is this?”
2	Adın ne?	“What is your name?”
3	Ne oldu?	“What happened?”
4	Ne dedin?	“What did you say?”
5	Dün Türk restoranında sipariş ettiğin içecek neydi?	“What was the drink you ordered at the Turkish restaurant yesterday?”

2- What Time? / When?

Here are some patterns you can use: 

	Turkish	English
1	Saat kaç?	“What time is it?”
2	Saat kaçta geleceksin?	“At what time will you come?”
3	Toplantı ne zaman?	“When is the meeting?”
4	Uçak ne zaman kalkacak?	“When will the plane take off?”
5	Ne zaman gideceksin?	“When will you go?”

3- Where?

Below are some examples:

	Turkish	English
1	Nerelisin?	“Where are you from?”
2	Tuvalet nerede?	“Where is the restroom?”
3	Postane nerede?	“Where is the post office?”
4	Dün işten sonra nereye gittin?	“Where did you go after work yesterday?”
5	Nerede yemek yemek istersin?	“Where would you like to eat?”

4- Other Questions

Here are some more examples for other types of questions: 

	Turkish	English
1	Havaalanına nasıl gidebilirim?	“How can I go to the airport?”
2	Bu halı kaç para?	“How much is this carpet?”
3	Neden sordunuz?	“Why did you ask?”
4	Kaç tane bilet alacaksın?	“How many tickets will you buy?”
5	Otobüsten hangi durakta inmeliyim?	“At which stop should I get off of the bus?”

11. More Practice with TurkishClass101.com

How does it feel to know at least ten Turkish sentence patterns? Do you think you’ll be able to express your needs, likes, and dislikes better? Will you be able to ask the most pressing questions? I’m sure you’ll do better than you’ve done in the past!

How about doing even better than today? All you need to do is visit TurkishClass101.com and utilize all of our free resources, including our dictionary!

You can also download the app for free and use it wherever you are.

Don’t forget that there’s also MyTeacher, the premium TurkishClass101 service that you can use to practice the Turkish sentence structure and sentence patterns with a private teacher.

Please don’t neglect to share your experience with us about the services offered at TurkishClass101.com!

Happy learning!