Learn how to ask where something is located in someone's house
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hello, and welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner season 1, lesson 13, Looking For A Bathroom in Turkey. I’m Gabriella. |
| Feyza: Merhaba And I’m Feyza! |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask where something is in someone’s house. |
| Feyza: It's one of the basic things you need to know when invited somewhere in general. |
| Gabriella: So let’s get started! |
| Feyza: We’ve chosen a conversation that takes place in Hakan’s living room. |
| Gabriella: The dialogue is between Merve and Hakan. |
| Feyza: And they know each other well, they’re using informal language. Ok, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Merve: Ee.. Affedersin, banyo nerede acaba? |
| Hakan: Orada. Koridorun sonunda soldaki kapı. |
| Merve: Teşekkürler. |
| Hakan: Dolapta temiz havlu var! |
| Gabriella: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Merve: Ee.. Affedersin, banyo nerede acaba? |
| Hakan: Orada. Koridorun sonunda soldaki kapı. |
| Merve: Teşekkürler. |
| Hakan: Dolapta temiz havlu var! |
| Gabriella: Now, let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Merve: Ee.. Affedersin, banyo nerede acaba? |
| Merve: Umm, excuse me. Where's the bathroom, I wonder? |
| Hakan: Orada. Koridorun sonunda soldaki kapı. |
| Hakan: Over there. Left door at the end of the corridor. |
| Merve: Teşekkürler. |
| Merve: Thanks. |
| Hakan: Dolapta temiz havlu var! |
| Hakan: There's clean towel in the cupboard. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: Feyza, I noticed that there are two different toilets in a typical Turkish house. Why’s that? |
| Feyza: Actually, the first one is a bathroom equipped with a toilet, cupboards, and a shower or bathtub. |
| Gabriella: Well then how about the mini one? What function does it have in a Turkish house? |
| Feyza: Well, the mini one is called tuvalet because it consists of only a toilet, mirror, and a sink. And the usage is usually restricted to family members because it’s nothing fancy, to be honest (laughs). |
| Gabriella: Oh, I get it. So what do you call the main one? |
| Feyza: Banyo. Naturally, as a guest, you’ll be guided to this one. |
| Gabriella: "Main bathroom" right? |
| Feyza: Yes, that is a good translation. |
| Gabriella: So what awaits us in a Turkish bathroom? |
| Feyza: Well, clean towels just for you to begin with. Then, lemon or lavender scented eau de Cologne. |
| Gabriella: For refreshment right? |
| Feyza: Yes! Oh, and one last thing, a non-Turkish person might be surprised by the bidet. |
| Gabriella: Oh yes, I was wondering about that small metal pipe in the middle of the toilet bowl was. |
| Feyza: Yes that one! It’s a water pipe. Turkish people use it for sanitation after using the toilet. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: The first word we shall see is... |
| Feyza: banyo [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: bathroom |
| Feyza: banyo [slowly - broken down by syllable] banyo [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: nerede [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: where |
| Feyza: nerede [slowly - broken down by syllable] nerede [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: acaba [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: I wonder, is that so? |
| Feyza: acaba [slowly - broken down by syllable] acaba [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: orada [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: over there, at that place |
| Feyza: orada [slowly - broken down by syllable] orada [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: koridor [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: hallway |
| Feyza: koridor [slowly - broken down by syllable] koridor [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: sol [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: left |
| Feyza: sol [slowly - broken down by syllable] sol [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: kapı [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: door |
| Feyza: kapı [slowly - broken down by syllable] kapı [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: var [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to be available, to exist, to be |
| Feyza: var [slowly - broken down by syllable] var [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. You've seen our first word in previous lessons, usually combined with questions. How do we say it, Feyza? |
| Feyza: Acaba |
| Gabriella: An adverb meaning "I wonder..." or "Is that so?" |
| Feyza: In the former, "I wonder" meaning, it adds politeness to your interrogative sentence. |
| Gabriella: And it highlights the fact that you're asking the other party for their response with a degree of uncertainty. |
| Feyza: Yes, because you're in need of guidance and help. |
| Gabriella: How about the latter, "Is that so?" meaning? |
| Feyza: That's more or less a functional role. |
| Gabriella: Adding this adverb at the end of your sentence makes the speech melodic. Let’s give examples for both meanings. |
| Feyza: OK. Say you lost your way in the middle of Ankara, and had to ask a stranger about the place you are looking for, you might say Kızılay Meydanı nerede acaba? |
| Gabriella: "Where is the Kızılay square, I wonder?" |
| Feyza: Notice the tone of uncertainty signifying the degree of politeness. |
| Gabriella: Hmm, and for the latter, more functional example? |
| Feyza: Imagine that you took an exam that you’ve prepared hard for. You wonder dreamily, Geçer miyim acaba... |
| Gabriella: "I wonder if I’ll pass or not…" |
| Feyza: Our next word is sol. |
| Gabriella: It means "left." It can either be a directional adverb or an adjective depending on the context. So how do you say, "right" in Turkish? |
| Feyza: Sağ |
| Gabriella: How do you make it an adjective? |
| Feyza: Simple, just put a noun after it. |
| Gabriella: For instance? |
| Feyza: Sol ayak. |
| Gabriella: "Left foot" |
| Feyza: In this example, the noun ayak, meaning "foot," is described by adding sol. That’s why sol, meaning "left" functions as an adjective here. |
| Gabriella: Listeners, please check our lesson notes for detailed examples and more cultural insights about this key vocabulary. Feyza, let’s hear our final word! |
| Feyza: It’s banyo. |
| Gabriella: A loanword from Italian meaning “bathroom” in Turkish. The listeners need to know that just because the contemporary name is borrowed from another language, that doesn’t mean that “bathing culture” was foreign to Turkish people in the past. Feyza, what's the old word for "bathroom"? |
| Feyza: It’s hamam |
| Gabriella: Hammam is now only used for “public Turkish bath house.” |
| Feyza: Please see our lesson notes for more about the use and function of hammam in the Ottoman times. |
| Gabriella: I'm already very curious! Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the condition of existence implied with... |
| Feyza: var |
| Gabriella: And let’s not forget about non-existence... |
| Feyza: yok |
| Gabriella: I heard both words a lot in daily language in Turkey. Both are frequently used verbs that correspond to "there is" and "there are" or "there isn't" and "there aren't." |
| Feyza: And both var and its antonym yok are used for singular and plural cases. |
| Gabriella: Let’s see it in an example… |
| Feyza: O okulda iyi öğretmenler var. |
| Gabriella: "There are good teachers in that school." |
| Feyza: Notice that öğretmen, meaning "teacher" is in its plural form öğretmenler, meaning "teachers." |
| Gabriella: Yet, the verb remains singular. |
| Feyza: var |
| Gabriella: And how do we make them interrogative, Feyza? |
| Feyza: Our listeners should look back at the lesson notes for lesson 9 and remember the interrogative suffixes mı, mi, mu, and mü. |
| Gabriella: So you simply choose one suffix depending on the vowel harmony rules, and add it right after your verb. Let’s hear an example from Feyza. |
| Feyza: Paran var mı? |
| Gabriella: "Do you have money?" |
| Feyza: Notice that mı, our interrogative suffix, comes right after var, meaning "there is," or "do you have?" in this context. |
| Gabriella: How about the antonym? |
| Feyza: yok shows the condition of being non-existent. |
| Gabriella: So it corresponds to "there isn’t" or "there aren’t" in English, right? |
| Feyza: That’s correct. For example, Evde yemek yok. |
| Gabriella: "There's no food in the house." Let’s make this example interrogative, Feyza. |
| Feyza: Sure! Evde yemek yok mu? |
| Gabriella: "Is there no food in the house?" |
| Feyza: Notice that the same alignment rules apply here. mu, the interrogative suffix, comes right at the end. And yok comes right before. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gabriella: Okay listeners, we’ve come to the end of lesson 13. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Feyza: Hoşçakalın! |
Comments
Hide