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seni and sana
1.       Johnk
468 posts
 26 Jun 2014 Thu 09:31 pm

I am a little confused about how to use sana and seni in turkish.

 

Can anyone explain and maybe give some examples of sentences please?

2.       tomac
975 posts
 26 Jun 2014 Thu 10:18 pm

My attempt as learner at explaining this follows

 

I think this really depends on which particular verb you want to use.

 

Typically, nouns ending with -i/-ı/-u/-ü (nouns in accusative - like seni) are objects on which some action is performed, and nouns ending with -a/-e (nouns in dative - like sana) are objects towards some action is performed.

 

For example: Bunu yaptım. I did this. ("this" is what I did, so it is object of "did")

Oraya gidiyorum. I´m going there ("there" is object/direction towards which I´m going)

Bunu sana anlatayım. Let me explain this to you. (I´m explaining this - "bunu" - to you - "sana")

 

However, for people who are not native speakers of Turkish, taking analogy from their own mother tongue may give surprising results for them. I don´t know any good example with dative ("sana"), but I think I know one with ablative ("sender"). Let´s take this sentence as example:

I am afraid of you.

 

At first glance, without looking into details described in dictionary, as "to be afraid" is "korkmak" in Turkish, one could think that it can be translated this way - taking "you" as object of "being afraid":

 

Seni korkuyorum.

 

However, "korkmak" takes its object in ablative case. Which means that this sentence has to be translated this way:

 

Senden korkuyorum.

 

So how to tell in which case noun should be put? Usually you can check this in dictionary. For example, if you look for definition of "korkmak" here: http://www.turkishdictionary.net/?word=korkmak you will see that next to the definition there is information about which suffix should be used in this meaning of the verb:

 

korkmak
/dan/ to fear, be afraid (of), be scared (of), dread. korktuğu başına gelmek/korktuğuna uğramak for something to turn out the way one feared, for a much feared thing to befall one.

 

It´s similar with other verbs:

görmek
,-ür 
1. /ı/ to see. 

 

anlatmak

1. /ı/ to explain. 
2. /ı/ to relate, tell. 
3. /ı/ to describe. 
4. /a/ to show (someone) (said threateningly). 
5. /ı, a/ to convince (someone) of the truth of (what one is saying).

 

So I think that the only way to know which case (accusative -i, locative -da, dative -a, ablative -dan) should be used with particular verb it is necessary to learn it from dictionary, as a part of vocabulary learning.



Edited (6/26/2014) by tomac
Edited (6/26/2014) by tomac
Edited (6/26/2014) by tomac
Edited (6/26/2014) by tomac
Edited (6/26/2014) by tomac

3.       denizli
970 posts
 26 Jun 2014 Thu 10:26 pm

Seni is like you (sen) as an object. I know you, I like you, I found you.

Seni biliyorum - I know you

Seni bekliyorum - I am waiting for you.

 

Sana is like to you or towards you.

Sana mutlu yillar - Happy birthday to you

Onu sana tanıtacağım - I will introduce him to you.

But I really think you have to remember or practice which verbs require sana and which require seni. Perhaps someone has a better idea how you would know when to use which.

4.       Johnk
468 posts
 27 Jun 2014 Fri 12:06 pm

yardimin icin tesekkur ederim.

thank you both for your time and help.

sonra anladim

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