Learn how to make a simple phone call and ask after someone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Hi everyone, and welcome back to TurkishClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 6 - Making a Phone Call in Turkey. Eric here. |
| Elif: Merhaba. I'm Elif. |
| Eric: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk to someone on the phone and inquire about the well-being and whereabouts of other family members. The conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Elif: It's between Zeynep and Ahmet. |
| Eric: The speakers are friends, so they'll use informal Turkish. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| : (telefon çalmaktadır) |
| Zeynep: Alo. Ahmet, nasılsın? |
| Ahmet: Zeynep? İyiyim, sağol. Sen nasılsın? |
| Zeynep: Ben de iyiyim. Merak ettim. Yolculuk nasıl geçti? Annenler nasıllar? |
| Ahmet: Yorucuydu biraz. Herkes iyi. Biraz önce yemekten kalktık. Hepsi selam söylüyor sana. |
| Zeynep: Sağ olsunlar. Sen de söyle. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| : (telefon çalmaktadır) |
| Zeynep: Alo. Ahmet, nasılsın? |
| Ahmet: Zeynep? İyiyim, sağol. Sen nasılsın? |
| Zeynep: Ben de iyiyim. Merak ettim. Yolculuk nasıl geçti? Annenler nasıllar? |
| Ahmet: Yorucuydu biraz. Herkes iyi. Biraz önce yemekten kalktık. Hepsi selam söylüyor sana. |
| Zeynep: Sağ olsunlar. Sen de söyle. |
| Eric: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| : (phone ringing) |
| Zeynep: Hello Ahmet. How are you? |
| Ahmet: Zeynep? I am fine, thanks. How are you? |
| Zeynep: I am fine as well. I was curious, how was your trip? How is your family? |
| Ahmet: A little tiring. Everyone is alright. We just had dinner. They are all saying "hi". |
| Zeynep: Thanks. Send my regards as well. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Elif, are family gatherings common in Turkey? |
| Elif: It depends, but in general, family members live far away from each other these days, so religious holidays are the perfect occasions for family gatherings, since almost everyone gets time off. These holidays also create a nostalgic environment where everyone tries to forgive each other and strengthen their bonds. |
| Eric: That seems very traditional. What are the most common activities on these occasions? |
| Elif: During the holidays, new family members are introduced, graves are visited, special food and desserts are served, and they visit friends who live close by. |
| Eric: Which are the most important holidays? |
| Elif: Ramazan Bayramı, which is "Ramadan Eid," and Kurban Bayramı, which is "Sacrifice Eid," are the most important religious holidays. In addition to religious holidays, 23 Nisan, which is "April 23," foundation of the Parliament and children's day, and Yılbaşı, which is "New Year's," are other holidays that people enjoy. |
| Eric: Can you suggest any useful expressions to be used on these occasions? |
| Elif: Bayramınız mübarek olsun. Use this expression to wish others well on religious holidays |
| Eric: It means "Happy Eid.” Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Elif: sağol [natural native speed] |
| Eric: thank you |
| Elif: sağol[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: sağol [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Elif: merak etmek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to wonder/worry/be curious |
| Elif: merak etmek[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: merak etmek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Elif: yolculuk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: trip |
| Elif: yolculuk[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: yolculuk [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Elif: annenler [natural native speed] |
| Eric: your parents |
| Elif: annenler[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: annenler [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Elif: yorucu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: tiring |
| Elif: yorucu[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: yorucu [natural native speed] |
| Eric: Next we have.. |
| Elif: herkes [natural native speed] |
| Eric: everyone |
| Elif: herkes[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: herkes [natural native speed] |
| Eric: And last.. |
| Elif: selam söylemek [natural native speed] |
| Eric: to say 'hi' (to someone for someone else) |
| Elif: selam söylemek[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Elif: selam söylemek [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Eric: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Elif: merak etmek |
| Eric: meaning "to wonder,” “to worry,” and “to be curious." |
| Elif: "Curiosity, worry, and wonder" are the main translations of the noun merak. To form a meaningful verb phrase, the auxiliary verb etmek, meaning "to do," is added. |
| Eric: This verb phrase is the perfect way to ask about how someone's travel, exam, doctor's visit, or interview went or how an event unfolded. Also, you can use it to ask about how a person is doing. |
| Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Elif: Sure. For example, you can say.. Nerede olduğunu merak ediyorduk. |
| Eric: ..which means "We were wondering where you were." |
| Elif: Instead of etmek, duymak, meaning "to hear," is coupled with merak when you feel an interest in or have become curious about things. Merak duymak has a stronger connotation of curiosity. A sentence that you may want to memorize is Seni merak ettim |
| Eric: “I worried about you,” or "I was curious about you." |
| Elif: This is a perfect sentence to show that you care a lot about how a person is doing. Be careful to not overuse it. |
| Eric: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Elif: selam söylemek |
| Eric: meaning "to say hi." |
| Elif: Stemming from Arabic, selam originally meant "greeting." Over time, selam came to mean "hi," so when paired with söylemek for "to say," this verb phrase has the meaning "to say hi" when passing on greetings to someone else. |
| Eric: Use this phrase if you want to greet someone through someone else. |
| Elif: In Turkey, it's polite phone and Skype manners to use this phrase to greet other people in the presence of the person you're talking to. |
| Eric: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Elif: Sure. For example, you can say.. Dün Aysel'e selam söylediniz mi? |
| Eric: .. which means "Did you say hi to Aysel yesterday?" Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Eric: In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk to someone on the phone and inquire about the well-being and whereabouts of other family members. |
| Elif: A polite way to ask how someone is is Nasılsınız. A more casual way is Nasılsın or N’aber. |
| Eric: Similar to the English "How are you?", Turkish people almost always ask this question, especially on the phone and even to people they meet every day. |
| Elif: It’s considered impolite to jump ahead with the conversation without asking how the other person is doing. In the lesson Zeynep asked Ahmet in a casual and friendly way, Nasılsın? and Annenler nasıllar?, "How are you?” and “How is your family?" |
| Eric: How would these questions change in a formal setting? |
| Elif: Nasılsınız? and Aileniz nasıllar? |
| Eric: How would we answer these questions? |
| Elif: You can answer these questions by saying İyiyim, teşekkür ederim and Onlar da iyiler. |
| Eric: Respectively meaning "I'm fine thank you" and “They are fine as well.” |
| Elif: In the lesson, Ahmet answered with İyiyim, sağol and Herkes iyi |
| Eric: Respectively meaning “I’m fine, thanks,” and "Everyone is alright." |
| Elif: A compact way of answering these two questions at the same time is to say İyiyiz, sağolasın, meaning "We are fine, thanks." Finally, you can ask Ya sen nasılsın? |
| Eric: which means "How about you?" Ok, now let’s move on and look closely at the past tense, which can be useful when making a phone call. Turkish has two different past tense forms: the regular past tense and the story past tense. In this lesson, we're going to talk about the regular past tense. |
| Elif: We form a past tense verb with the suffix -di when talking about an action that took place in the past. This suffix -di can be replaced with other suffixes according to the vowel harmony rules. |
| Eric: Let's make an easy sentence in the past tense using one of these given suffixes. |
| Elif:For example biçti |
| Eric: meaning, "He/she/it mowed." |
| Elif: This is formed with the root biç-, meaning "to mow," and the suffix -di to make it past tense. We used -di because the root had i. And -di changed into -ti because of the consonant harmony rule. |
| Eric: This rule can also be applied to nouns and adjectives. |
| Elif: Right. When translating those in English, we will need to use “were” or “was,” though there isn’t a direct correspondent in the Turkish version. |
| Eric: Could you give us an example? |
| Elif: For example, Tavan alçak becomes Tavan alçaktı |
| Eric: Respectively meaning “The ceiling is low” and "The ceiling was low." |
| Elif: O katı becomes O katıydı. |
| Eric: Respectively meaning "He is strict" and "He was strict." Finally, let’s see how to form the plural, which can be useful when asking about other family members. |
| Elif: The Turkish plural is constructed by attaching -ler or -lar plural conjugations to the verbs, nouns or adjectives depending on the Turkish vowel harmony rules. |
| Eric: Let’s see how to make nouns plural and change the rest of the sentence accordingly. |
| Elif: All nouns can be made plural by attaching -ler or -lar suffixes. Figuring out which one to use depends on the last vowel of the noun in question. If the last vowel is a, ı, o or u, then -lar is used. For e, i, ö or ü, -ler is used. |
| Eric: In Turkish, the subject gets the plural suffix in all cases. In cases involving human subjects, the verb also needs to be attached with a plural suffix. |
| Elif: That’s right. |
| Eric: Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson with some sample sentences. |
| Elif: Anneannenler nasıllar? |
| Eric: "How is your grandmother?" |
| Elif: Babam sana selam söylememi istedi. |
| Eric: "My father told me to say hi to you." |
| Elif: Tüm aile burada. |
| Eric: "The entire family is gathered here." |
Outro |
| Eric: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Elif: Hoşçakalın. |
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