Learn about time-related expressions: checking, confirming, and asking about time
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hello, and welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner season 1, lesson 19, Asking the Time in Turkish. I’m Gabriella. |
| Feyza: Merhaba! And I’m Feyza! |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask, check, and confirm the time! |
| Feyza: This conversation takes place at Bora and Merve’s place. |
| Gabriella: They're getting ready for an appointment with their friend... |
| Feyza: ...Hakan! |
| Gabriella: As you already know, they're a married couple, so they’re using informal language. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Merve: (from the bathroom) Bora, Hakan'la buluşmamız tam olarak ne zaman? |
| Bora: On buçukta. |
| Merve: Peki şimdi saat kaç? |
| Bora: Dokuzu beş geçiyor. Acele et de geç kalmayalım! |
| Merve: Tamam! Sadece bir dakika daha! |
| Bora: (walking nervously) Hep öyle söylersin ama yine de her zaman geç kalırsın... |
| Gabriella: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Merve: (from the bathroom) Bora, Hakan'la buluşmamız tam olarak ne zaman? |
| Bora: On buçukta. |
| Merve: Peki şimdi saat kaç? |
| Bora: Dokuzu beş geçiyor. Acele et de geç kalmayalım! |
| Merve: Tamam! Sadece bir dakika daha! |
| Bora: (walking nervously) Hep öyle söylersin ama yine de her zaman geç kalırsın... |
| Gabriella: Now, let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Merve: (from the bathroom) Bora, Hakan'la buluşmamız tam olarak ne zaman? |
| Merve: Bora, what time exactly is the meeting with Peter? |
| Bora: On buçukta. |
| Bora: It's at half past ten. |
| Merve: Peki şimdi saat kaç? |
| Merve: And what's the time now? |
| Bora: Dokuzu beş geçiyor. Acele et de geç kalmayalım! |
| Bora: It's five past nine. Hurry up so that we won't be late. |
| Merve: Tamam! Sadece bir dakika daha! |
| Merve: Yee-s! Just one more minute! |
| Bora: (walking nervously) Hep öyle söylersin ama yine de her zaman geç kalırsın... |
| Bora: (walking nervously) You always say so, but every time you are late anyway. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: Since the topic for this lesson is time, I want to ask something that’s related. A shared problem for all big cities… how’s the traffic in Turkey? And should our listeners expect to lose hours in traffic in Istanbul, for example? |
| Feyza: I’m afraid so. Commuting is time-consuming and a little complicated in big cities in Turkey. And Istanbul takes the lead. |
| Gabriella: So what's safe timing for people who are commuting alone? |
| Feyza: An extra thirty minutes is necessary, especially during rush hour. |
| Gabriella: I assume there are a variety of options for public transportation, since Istanbul is divided by the Bosphorus. Which is the most punctual one? |
| Feyza: Ferries and sea buses are punctual. And I truly recommend them, because there's almost always a bridge traffic jam in Istanbul. |
| Gabriella: What's a "bridge traffic jam" Feyza? |
| Feyza: (laughs) Well, Köprü trafiği, meaning "bridge traffic jam," is the special name for the road traffic jam that peaks near the two bridges that connect Asia to Europe in Istanbul. |
| Gabriella: Wow! It even has a special name! So, when should we expect a massive traffic jam? |
| Feyza: I'm afraid all day long, especially if we're talking about Istanbul. It's a very densely populated city. But, if I have to be specific, during rush hours, at the weekends, during Ramadan just an hour before the fast-breaking, and before and after a football game near a stadium. |
| Gabriella: And what’s the worst scenario? I mean, how many hours can I spend in traffic daily in Istanbul? |
| Feyza: Well, one time a friend of mine was stuck in traffic for more than three hours when commuting from Ataturk airport to her home on the Anatolian side. |
| Gabriella: Okay, that’s a long time. But how many hours does it take normally? |
| Feyza: Without traffic, she would be home in 30-40 minutes. |
| Gabriella: Oh my! Hearing that, I'll definitely take a book with me! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gina: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Feyza: buluşma [natural native speed] |
| Gina: meeting, appointment |
| Feyza: buluşma [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: buluşma [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: tam olarak [natural native speed] |
| Gina: exactly |
| Feyza: tam olarak [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: tam olarak [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: şimdi [natural native speed] |
| Gina: now, at the moment, right away |
| Feyza: şimdi [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: şimdi [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: acele etmek [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to hurry, to rush |
| Feyza: acele etmek [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: acele etmek [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: geç kalmak [natural native speed] |
| Gina: to be late |
| Feyza: geç kalmak [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: geç kalmak [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: sadece [natural native speed] |
| Gina: only, just |
| Feyza: sadece [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: sadece [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: daha [natural native speed] |
| Gina: more, further |
| Feyza: daha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: daha [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: hep [natural native speed] |
| Gina: always |
| Feyza: hep [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: hep [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Feyza: öyle [natural native speed] |
| Gina: thus, so, as such |
| Feyza: öyle [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: öyle [natural native speed] |
| And Last: |
| Feyza: yine de [natural native speed] |
| Gina: still, nevertheless |
| Feyza: yine de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Feyza: yine de [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. All three vocabulary words are related to time. What’s first? |
| Feyza: It's şimdi |
| Gabriella: Meaning, "now." It's a time adverb of Turkic origin, usually used with a verb in present continuous tense in Turkish. Imagine your friend is calling you from your meeting point, and she asks worriedly... |
| Feyza: Ne zaman geliyorsun? |
| Gabriella: “When will you be coming?” You, on the other hand, are walking and about to arrive, so you reply... |
| Feyza: Şimdi geliyorum |
| Gabriella: "I'm coming now” |
| Feyza: Before moving on to our second word, I want to introduce şimdilik. It's a word that’s constructed with şimdi, meaning "now" and a derivational affix which will be introduced in the beginner series. |
| Gabriella: Oh, it sounds similar. Are they different in meaning? |
| Feyza: Yes they are. Şimdilik means “as of now” or “only for now.” |
| Gabriella: Okay, what is our next word? |
| Feyza: acele etmek |
| Gabriella: A great example of a Turkish auxiliary verb! |
| Feyza: It is! This verb is made up of two components, with acele being a noun of Arabic origin. |
| Gabriella: Meaning “hurry” or “haste” and… |
| Feyza: etmek being an auxiliary verb of Turkic origin. |
| Gabriella: And it means “to do.” Let’s hear an example. |
| Feyza: Toplantıya yetişmek için acele etmem gerek! |
| Gabriella: "I need to hurry up in order to make it to the meeting." Let’s hear our final word! |
| Feyza: geç kalmak |
| Gabriella: It means "to be late" |
| Feyza: It's also made of two components where both parts are of old Turkic origin. geç means... |
| Gabriella: "lateness," and.. |
| Feyza: kalmak means... |
| Gabriella: "to stay," "to remain," or "to be." Let’s hear one final example. |
| Feyza: Geç kalmak istemiyorum. |
| Gabriella: "I don’t want to be late!" Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about different ways to tell and understand the time in Turkish. |
| Feyza: We strongly suggest you follow along with us with the lesson notes open. You know what that means already! |
| Gabriella: That’s right, we’ll study more about Turkish harmony rules. And it consolidates your understanding when you’re both listening and seeing how these suffix changes are combined! Ok! Let’s begin. |
| Feyza: To simply ask about time you say, Saat kaç? |
| Gabriella: "What time is it?" |
| Feyza: saat is a noun of Arabic origin, meaning "hour." |
| Gabriella: Oh, right. Because two vowels can't exist together in a Turkish word right? |
| Feyza: Yes, a consonant must definitely interfere. |
| Gabriella: So what does the second word mean? |
| Feyza: kaç is a word of Turkic origin, and it corresponds to "how much?" or "how many?" One more time, altogether, Saat kaç? |
| Gabriella: "What time is it?" |
| Feyza: Saat iki. |
| Gabriella: "It’s 2 o’clock." |
| Feyza: Saat sekiz. |
| Gabriella: "It’s 8 o’clock." That sounds very simple. There are no suffixes. Now let’s look at what happens when we want to talk about a certain time past the hour. |
| Feyza: This gets a little complicated. First you say, saat |
| Gabriella: Meaning "hour," and then you add one of the following vowels, |
| Feyza: i, ı, u, or ü depending on the vowel harmony rules. |
| Gabriella: Let’s not forget the case with our buffer letter y. |
| Feyza: Yes, the buffer letter y is only added if the last letter of the previous word is a vowel. |
| Gabriella: The final word is the verb. |
| Feyza: geçiyor |
| Gabriella: It's the present continuous tense of... |
| Feyza: geçmek |
| Gabriella: Meaning "to pass." Please check the formula in our lesson notes before listening to our examples. Okay Feyza, let’s give an example based on the essential points we’ve just talked about. |
| Feyza: Saat beşi on geçiyor. |
| Gabriella: "It’s ten past five." How about another one. |
| Feyza: Saat on ikiyi yirmi geçiyor. |
| Gabriella: "It’s twenty past twelve." Great, so let’s move on to our third point, which will be fairly easy compared to the others. How do we say "half past" the hour in Turkish? |
| Feyza: Just add buçuk. |
| Gabriella: Meaning "half." |
| Feyza: For example, dört buçuk |
| Gabriella: "half past four." Feyza, 12: 30 has a special name in Turkish right? |
| Feyza: Yes. Our listeners should keep in mind that sometimes they'll hear yarım, meaning "half" when it's 12: 30 am or pm in Turkish. |
| Gabriella: Now let’s study how to tell the time remaining until the hour. |
| Feyza: Saatz, meaning "hour," comes first, followed by the time. Don’t forget to attach either ye or ya depending on the vowel harmony rules. |
| Gabriella: As we explained earlier in this lesson, the buffer letter y is only added if the last letter of the previous word is a vowel. What's our final word Feyza? |
| Feyza: var |
| Gabriella: Meaning "there is" |
| Feyza: To say "quarter to," put çeyrek, meaning "quarter," where the minutes would go. |
| Gabriella: Please check the formula in the lesson notes for how to say "minutes to the hour" in Turkish. Now let’s hear some examples. |
| Feyza: Sekize on var. |
| Gabriella: "It’s ten to eight." |
| Feyza: İkiye çeyrek var. |
| Gabriella: "It’s quarter to two." So how can our listeners give a specific time for an appointment? |
| Feyza: In English, this is usually achieved by the preposition "at." |
| Gabriella: Yes, for example, how can you say "let’s meet at quarter past two" in Turkish? |
| Feyza: İkiyi çeyrek geçe buluşalım. Here, geçe means "past," but it signifies a meaning similar to "at" in this context. |
| Gabriella: However, keep in mind that most people use another expression after half past the hour. |
| Feyza: Yes, after the first thirty minutes, we use kala, meaning "at… to" |
| Gabriella: Okay, I am a little confused. Let’s see it in an example. |
| Feyza: Sure! Bire çeyrek kala… |
| Gabriella: "At quarter to one…" Ah, Now I see. |
| Feyza: And again, please check the lesson notes for further explanations. |
Outro |
| Gabriella: That’s all for this lesson! Thank you for joining us, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Feyza: Hoşçakalın! |
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