Learn how to say "to be able to"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Gabriella: Hello and welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, season 1, lesson 5, “Can you Take My Turkish Order?” I’m Gabriella. |
| Feyza: Merhaba! And I’m Feyza! |
| Gabriella: In this lesson you'll learn how to place an order, and ask for things in a restaurant. |
| Feyza: This conversation takes place at the restaurant. |
| Gabriella: It’s between Hakan and a waitress. |
| Feyza: And the speakers don’t know each other, so their speech is formal. Ok, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Garson: İyi akşamlar. |
| Hakan: İyi akşamlar, menü alabilir miyim? |
| Garson: Elbette. |
| Hakan: Ayrıca, su alabilir miyim lütfen? |
| Garson: Hemen efendim. |
| Hakan: Sipariş de vermek istiyorum. |
| Garson: Evet, buyurun... |
| Gabriella: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Garson: İyi akşamlar. |
| Hakan: İyi akşamlar, menü alabilir miyim? |
| Garson: Elbette. |
| Hakan: Ayrıca, su alabilir miyim lütfen? |
| Garson: Hemen efendim. |
| Hakan: Sipariş de vermek istiyorum. |
| Garson: Evet, buyurun... |
| Gabriella: Now, let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Garson: İyi akşamlar. |
| Waiter/Waitress: Good evening. |
| Hakan: İyi akşamlar, menü alabilir miyim? |
| Hakan: Good evening, can I get a menu? |
| Garson: Elbette. |
| Waiter/Waitress: Sure. |
| Hakan: Ayrıca, su alabilir miyim lütfen? |
| Hakan: Also, can I get water please? |
| Garson: Hemen efendim. |
| Waiter/Waitress: Right away. |
| Hakan: Sipariş de vermek istiyorum. |
| Hakan: Could you take my order as well? |
| Garson: Evet, buyurun... |
| Waiter/Waitress: Yes, please? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Gabriella: As we know, Turkish cuisine is rich and varied so people visiting Turkey would probably like to sample it all. What kinds of challenges might visitors face in restaurants though? |
| Feyza: Well, in tourist places and big cities, almost every restaurant has an English menu or a menu that has pictures, and the restaurant staff are happy to try to communicate. |
| Gabriella: You might be surprised by their foreign language skills! |
| Feyza: (laughs) Yes, they will definitely try their best at least. In Turkey, hospitality is generously embedded in the service sector. |
| Gabriella: Good to hear! So what types of restaurants can our listeners expect to find in Turkey? |
| Feyza: Well if we skip street parlors and small kiosk-like buffets, then we have meat, fish, pastry and tradesman restaurants. |
| Gabriella: What is a tradesman's restaurant, Feyza? I have never heard of anything like that... |
| Feyza: Well, they are unique to Turkey. The concept of tradesmens restaurants is similar to that of a family restaurant. They produce fresh and cheap food sets at affordable prices. |
| Gabriella: Ah, that sounds good! Do you give an order to a waiter like in a usual restaurant? |
| Feyza: No, usually there’s an open counter, and you can pick whatever you want and pay for it at the cashier. |
| Gabriella: That way, you can actually see the food. Do they usually serve fusion food or Western-style like french fries and hamburgers? |
| Feyza: Definitely not! They serve what we call local “sulu yemek” which is basically a “dish with broth”. |
| Gabriella: So it’s a home-made dish? |
| Feyza: Pretty much! You can pick one rice-based, one meat-based and one olive oil based-vegetable dish plus a Turkish dessert - some yoghurt or ayran. |
| Gabriella: That sounds like a feast! |
| Feyza: Yes, and the reason we call it a tradesman's restaurant is that all the artisans, craftsmen, and other blue collar workers go there to eat. It’s satisfying, both appetite and budget wise. |
| Gabriella: So listeners, we definitely recommend you try tradesmans restaurants for an original, local experience! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Gabriella: The first word we shall see is... |
| Feyza: akşam [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: evening |
| Feyza: akşam [slowly - broken down by syllable] akşam [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: menü [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: menu |
| Feyza: menü [slowly - broken down by syllable] menü [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: alabilmek [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to be able to receive,can receive |
| Feyza: alabilmek [slowly - broken down by syllable] alabilmek [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: elbette [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: of course, certainly, sure, by all means |
| Feyza: elbette [slowly - broken down by syllable] elbette [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: ayrıca [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: also, besides, furthermore, additionally |
| Feyza: ayrıca [slowly - broken down by syllable] ayrıca [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: su [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: water |
| Feyza: su [slowly - broken down by syllable] su [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: hemen [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: instantly, immediately, prompt, right away. |
| Feyza: hemen [slowly - broken down by syllable] hemen [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: efendi (genderless) [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: sir, ma’m/ master |
| Feyza: efendi (genderless) [slowly - broken down by syllable] efendi (genderless) [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: Next |
| Feyza: sipariş [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: order |
| Feyza: sipariş [slowly - broken down by syllable] sipariş [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: And last... |
| Feyza: istemek [natural native speed] |
| Gabriella: to want |
| Feyza: istemek [slowly - broken down by syllable] istemek [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gabriella: Let’s take a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. Feyza, what’s the first one? |
| Feyza: “alabilmek” |
| Gabriella: This is used to politely indicate that you want something, right? |
| Feyza: That’s right. This literally means ‘to be able to get something.’ |
| Gabriella: And it is a modal verb like “can” in English? |
| Feyza: Yes! “-ebilmek” or “-abilmek” are two suffixes that make the most common modal verb in Turkish, and it means “to be able to” or “can” |
| Gabriella: Very useful! But we’ll learn more grammatical explanations about this later on. What’s our next word? |
| Feyza: “Elbette”. |
| Gabriella: Meaning “of course, certainly, by all means” |
| Feyza: And also “you bet...” |
| Gabriella: So it has various meanings depending on its context. You can use it to confirm a request or action, right? |
| Feyza: Yes, literally it is something like “It is understood.” |
| Gabriella: So it’s an adverb that signifies certainty and is frequently used in colloquial Turkish. Feyza, can you use it in a sentence for us? |
| Feyza: Sure. “Gelirken ekmek alır mısın?” |
| Gabriella: Meaning “Can you buy bread (on your way back)?” |
| Feyza: Elbette! |
| Gabriella: Meaning “of course”. Listeners, please check our lesson notes for more examples. Let’s move on to our final word. |
| Feyza: “hemen” It has both the meanings of “Immediately” and “Right away” . |
| Gabriella: Is it an adverb? |
| Feyza: Yes, “hemen” is an adverb. |
| Gabriella: And usually it signifies a duration or an immediate action, but sometimes we duplicate this adverb and the meaning changes to “more or less” |
| Gabriella: Let’s see it in an example. |
| Feyza: Ok, imagine a child being scolded by her mother: “Hemen özür dile!” |
| Gabriella: Meaning “Apologize, right away!” |
| Feyza: Yes, here it shows an immediate action. However let’s say you’re doing your Turkish homework and you’ve completed 90% of it. Then you say, “Türkçe ödevim hemen hemen bitti.” |
| Gabriella: Meaning “My Turkish homework is more or less finished” |
| Feyza: It becomes an adverb of approximation. |
| Gabriella: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Gabriella: In this lesson, you’ll learn about the most basic modal verb in Turkish which means “to be able to” or “can” |
| Feyza: We have two suffixes that give this meaning: “-ebilmek” or “-abilmek” . Which of these you use depends on Turkish vowel harmony rules. |
| Gabriella: Listeners, please see the lesson notes, because these rules are explained and illustrated with examples there. |
| Feyza: “-ebilmek” and “abilmek” are suffixes that are kind of similar to the function of English modal verb |
| “can”. For example, yap-abiliyor-um shows the general ability or possibility to do something. |
| Gabriella: It means “I can do (something)” or “ I am able to do (something)” |
| Feyza: That’s right. These suffixes also add a level of politeness when you combine them with the appropriate adverb or phrases, and the suffix of second person singular: -siniz, -sınız |
| Gabriella: What do you mean by the appropriate adverb or phrases? |
| Feyza: Like “lütfen” meaning “please” or “rica etsem” meaning “if I may request” or “acaba” meaning.. |
| Gabriella: “I wonder if!” Can you use it in a sentence for our listeners? |
| Feyza: Sure! “Rica etsem, uzatabilir misiniz?” literally meaning “Could you pass it, if I may request” |
| Gabriella: This is a very useful phrase for when you’re passing money to the driver in a yellow jitneys. |
| Feyza: (laughs) You know them too well! |
| Gabriella: So here, instead of “can” or “to be able to” we see a more informal expression almost like “could” right? |
| Feyza: That’s correct Gabriella. “-ebilmek,-abilmek” is equivalent to one of the most essential meanings of “could”. |
| Gabriella: Which you can use to make a polite request. |
| Feyza: There is one more thing though. Like the other function of “could”, the “-ebilmek, -abilmek” modal suffixes can be used to show a possibility in theory or presumption. Like for example “Çok sisli. Feribot iptal edilebilir.” which means “It’s very foggy. The ferry could be canceled” |
| Gabriella: Does that happen a lot in Istanbul? |
| Feyza: It does happen a lot during winter, which is a problem for the many people who commute from Anatolia to the European side each day for their work. |
| MARKETING PIECE |
| Feyza: Listeners, do you know the powerful secret behind rapid progress? |
| Gabriella: Using the entire system. |
| Feyza: Lesson notes are an important part of this system. |
| Gabriella: They include a transcript and translation of the conversation... |
| Feyza: ...key lesson vocabulary... |
| Gabriella: and detailed grammar explanations. |
| Feyza: Lesson notes accompany every audio or video lesson. |
| Gabriella: Use them on the site or mobile device or print them out. |
| Feyza: Using the lesson notes with audio and video media, will rapidly increase your learning speed. |
| Gabriella: Go to TurkishClass101.com, and download the lesson notes for this lesson right now. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gabriella: Okay listeners, that’s all for this lesson. You will find detailed explanations, many different examples, and conjugations of modal verbs in the lesson notes. |
| Feyza: So be sure to read them. |
| Gabriella: Thanks for listening, everyone! Bye! |
| Feyza: Hoşçakalın |
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