Learn all you need to know about greetings in Turkish
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How do you greet someone at different times of the day? |
| Dilek: And are there any alternatives? |
| Michael: At TurkishClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In the following scenario, Ben Lee is greeting his friend, Nilgun, but he hasn't noticed how late it became. Ben says, |
| "Good morning!" |
| Ben Lee: Günaydın! |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Günaydın! |
| Nilgün Nevşehirli: Saat çoktan öğlen 1 olmuş. Tünaydın. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Günaydın! |
| Michael: "Good morning!" |
| Nilgün Nevşehirli: Saat çoktan öğlen 1 olmuş. Tünaydın. |
| Michael: "It's already 1 PM. Good afternoon!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to greet someone in Turkish at different times of the day. Just like in most cultures, Turkish uses time-sensitive greetings. That said, if you want to greet someone with a "Good morning," you say, |
| Dilek: Günaydın |
| Michael: If you want to greet someone with "Good day," you say, |
| Dilek: İyi günler |
| Michael: When nighttime falls, you use the greeting |
| Dilek: İyi akşamlar |
| Michael: which means "Good evening." Now, what if you want to greet someone with a "good afternoon?" In that case, you can say, |
| Dilek: Tünaydın. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says "Good morning?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Selin as Ben Lee: Günaydın! |
| Michael: This Turkish word literally means "bright day." When greeting someone with "Good morning!" in Turkish, you're actually saying, "May your day be bright." |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Now let's take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Nilgun answers "It's already 1 PM. Good afternoon?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Selin as Nilgun Nevsehirli: Saat çoktan öğlen 1 olmuş. Tünaydın. |
| Michael: Nilgun realizes that it's already 1 o'clock and corrects Ben Lee by telling him that his greeting is supposed to be "Good afternoon" already and no longer "Good morning." Here, we can see that, like in most cultures, Turkish uses an afternoon greeting once it's past noon time. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In today's lesson, we learned that Turkish, similar to English, has three time-related greetings, which are |
| Dilek: Günaydın, |
| Michael: "Good morning," |
| Dilek: Tünaydın, |
| Michael: "Good afternoon" |
| Dilek: İyi akşamlar, |
| Michael: "Good evening." |
| It's important to note that, unlike in some cultures,Turkish doesn't have a specific greeting during noon time, which is between 12 o'clock and 1 o'clock, but instead uses the same greeting for "Good afternoon." And if you want to greet someone at any time during daytime, you can also say, |
| Dilek: İyi günler |
| Michael: which means "Good day." |
| Expansion |
| Michael: Are there any alternatives to the four greetings we've already discussed? The good news is: there are! There are two other ways to greet in Turkish other than the time-sensitive greetings we've learned. There's the formal way and the informal way. Whenever you're in doubt, always use formal greetings, such as |
| Dilek: Merhaba efendim |
| Michael: This means, "Hello, Madam," or "Hello, Sir." This greeting is used in formal settings and is also preferred when addressing a woman or an elderly person. An elegant follow-up to this greeting would be |
| Dilek: Tanıştığımıza memnun oldum. |
| Michael: "I'm pleased to meet you." In less formal situations, you can say, |
| Dilek: Selamün aleyküm |
| Michael: This is derived from the Muslim greeting, which means "May peace be upon you." However, this is seldom used nowadays because of its religious connotation. A version that the younger generation would often use is |
| Dilek: Selam, |
| Michael: which means "Peace." This is the same way as saying "Hi" or "Hey." |
| Cultural Insight |
| Michael: Body language plays a huge role in the Turkish way of communicating. Cultures that don't use a lot of body language in communication may see these as odd, but they help Turkish people understand one another. If you're studying Turkish as a language and a culture, you should also take time to study Turkish body language. In Turkish, a slight nod of the head means |
| Dilek: Seni kabul ediyorum. |
| Michael: or, "I acknowledge you," which also means you are showing respect to the other person. Aside from the nod, there's also the wave or raised hand. And, between friends, showing wide open arms is appreciated. It's like saying, |
| Dilek: Sana sarılmama izin ver! |
| Michael: or "Let me give you a hug!" And then there's the famous, Turkish kiss, or |
| Dilek: Türk öpücüğü, |
| Michael: which is the act of giving each other a kiss on both cheeks. This is mostly done between two people of the same gender, however, and is only a common manner of greeting between close friends and relatives. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dilek: Hoşçakalın! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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