Learn some common phrases you may hear every day while traveling in Turkey
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Ece: Merhaba, I’m Ece. |
| Gina: Hello everyone, welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is All-About, Lesson 5 - Top 5 Must-Know Phrases for Learning Turkish. I’m Gina. |
| Ece: In this lesson, you’ll learn five practical phrases that you can comfortably use in various situations. |
| Gina: And you’ll not only learn the phrases, but more importantly, where and how to use them. You’ll have time to repeat after us, so that hopefully in the end of the lesson you’ll know them all! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Ece: Alright… Let’s begin simply with “hello” - ‘Merhaba’! |
| Gina: This is how Ece has been starting every lesson of this series, so I’m sure you’ve gotten used to it. |
| Ece: ‘Merhaba’ Gina! |
| Gina: ‘Merhaba’ Ece! Yes listeners, now it’s your turn to greet us back. |
| Ece: ‘Merhaba’ listeners! |
| [PAUSE] |
| Gina: How did you do? For your convenience, let’s break it down by syllable. |
| Ece: Mer-ha-ba. Merhaba. |
| Gina: I’m guessing that the listeners have just realized how it is spelled as well. So Ece, what type of “hello” is ‘merhaba’? |
| Ece: Merhaba is a neutral greeting phrase. |
| Gina: What do you mean by that? |
| Ece: Like all languages, Turkish has many different greetings, which change according to the time of the day or the occasion. However, ‘merhaba’ can fit in anytime and anywhere. The person you are greeting or the formality of the situation don’t affect ‘merhaba’. |
| Gina: Okay, got it. But there are more than one way to say ‘merhaba’, no? |
| Ece: Yes, for example you can add the plurality suffix at the end, and then it’ll sound like “Greetings” - (slow) ‘Merhabalar’. Merhabalar. |
| Gina: What’s the difference between using singular and plural? |
| Ece: It doesn’t really change anything in the meaning or usage. But the plural one might be preferable for example when greeting someone after a long time. |
| Gina: Now for another very important phrase - let’s learn how to thank someone. |
| Ece: To be honest, on almost every other occasion, there’s another way of showing appreciation in Turkish culture. We usually use small prayers and kind wishes with each other when we thank people. |
| Gina: That sounds nice. But can you suggest a “neutral” way of thanking people too, something that can be used in any situation by our beginner-level listeners? |
| Ece: Sure. Teşekkürler. |
| Gina: Does it mean “thank you” exactly? |
| Ece: It literally means “thanks”, and can be used with everyone and for everything. |
| Gina: That’s a big word, it has four syllables! |
| Ece: And of course it should be a big word! Thanking people is very important, and the longer the word, the longer the time you are thanking them for! |
| Gina: Ah, yes, I remember the reasoning. Let’s repeat it. |
| Ece: Teşekkürler. Te-şek-kür-ler. |
| Repeat after me! [PAUSE] Teşekkürler. |
| Gina: I feel like saying ‘you’re welcome’, you’ve thanked me so much. |
| Ece: (laughs) Let’s move on to our third phrase, which is “please”. It is Lütfen. Lüt-fen. Repeat after me, listeners. Lütfen. |
| [PAUSE] |
| Gina: Is it used to kindly ask a person to do something? |
| Ece: For that kind of situation, it’s not used as often as in English actually. |
| Gina: How come? Isn’t it rude to make a request without saying please? |
| Ece: Ah, nothing like that. It’s because the kindness is already built in at the ends of the verbs, as honorific suffixes or corresponding tenses. |
| Gina: Ahh, I see. What does the word itself mean though? |
| Ece: ‘Lütfen’ literally means “As a blessing from your side” or “If you don’t mind doing this kindness”. But as a phrase, ‘lütfen’ corresponds to English “please” perfectly. It can be used alone, too. Then it refers to meanings like “Do not even ask me, do as you please.” or “I insist”. |
| Gina: Alright. Then let’s move on to “Excuse me”. |
| Ece: As this is imperative tone, it’ll differ when addressing someone who’s your senior, a stranger, or in a formal situation, or simply when showing your good manners. |
| Gina: Let’s go with the kinder one. |
| Ece: It’s Afedersiniz. A-fe-der-si-niz. Can you do it, listeners? Let’s try together now. Please repeat Afedersiniz. |
| [PAUSE] |
| Gina: As usual, it’s a long word! But don’t worry - I know why. What exactly does it mean? |
| Ece: As a phrase, it corresponds to “Excuse me” or “Pardon me” in English, but literally it means “I hope you'll pardon me.” or “I believe you are kind enough to pardon me.” |
| Gina: Okay, let’s close this lesson out with the last phrase of the day, which is “Sorry”. |
| Ece: At this point I’d like to go easy with our listeners and give them the good news - that ‘Afedersiniz’ can be used to say “sorry” as well. |
| Gina: Can we use it after we make a mistake or caused an mishap, for example? |
| Ece: Totally! But please do note that there are tons of ways to apologize depending on the greatness of the fault, the person speaking, or having done it without thinking or accidentally. |
| Gina: I bet there are. |
| Ece: But there’s a slight difference between saying ‘Afedersiniz’ to ask for attention and making an apology. |
| Gina: How? |
| Ece: When you say it to mean “Excuse me”, there is more intonation: ‘Afedersiniz?’ But when you say it to mean “Sorry”, the intonation falls toward the end, like this - ‘Afedersiniz…’ |
| Gina: I understand. Well listeners, we’ve covered a lot in this lesson! |
| Ece: But you’ll need these phrases in all kinds of daily situations, so it’s good that you stayed with us to the end of the lesson. |
Outro |
| Gina: That’s all for this lesson. Please join us for the next. Until then, bye everyone! |
| Ece: Hoşça kalın! |
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