Lesson 1 - I know Turkish

Objectives:

In this lesson you will learn:

1. How to say – I don’t know Turkish.
2. How to thank people.

First, listen to the conversation 1 time without seeing the text. Just try to grasp the words. Don’t worry if you don’t understand or get anything.

Flash Player

Now have a look at the conversation text below and play while seeing the text.

İyi akşamlar arkadaşım,

Haseki Hastanesi nerede?

Türkçe bilmiyorum

Tamam.

Teşekkür ederim.

Rica ederim

How is it now? Now you know the words that you have heard , how they look and spelled.

You may have noticed some letters which are not in English. Like ş, ı -> şım, ü, ç -> Türkçe  ,  Teşekkür. We will come to this later.

Lets understand now the conversation and learn the objectives.

İyi akşamlar arkadaşım = good evening my friend

“İyi akşamlar”

is a greeting said in the evening time, means good evening . It can be said as a start for the conversation or as an end. In Turkey people greet each other with it a lot.

“Akşam” means evening. 

If the time is morning you you can use “Günaydın”, means good morning. If it is around noon you may say “İyi günler” means “good day”  and at night “İyi geceler” means “ have a good night”.

Usage of “arkadaşım” makes the warm beginning. The root of it is “arkadaş”, means friend. Arkadaşım mean my friend.

Haseki Hastanesi nerede?

Haseki is a name of an Area in istanbul. Hastane means hospital. Nerede means where. Where is Haseki Hospital. Discussed more in next lessons.

Türkçe bilmiyorum

This is the key lesson to learn in this conversation. If anyone asked you or talked to you in Turkish and you don’t know what does he or she say, You answer saying I don’t know Turkish .. Türkçe bilmiyorum

Please repeat it loudly.

Biliyor, means know.

“bil” is the root, means know. The rest are suffixes.

 “m” makes it negative.

 “iyor” is for present continuous time.

“um” refers to me, i

Biliyorum means I know. Bilmiyorum means I don’t know.

More about grammars of this part will be taught in next lessons. Just focus on the current lesson now and make sure you can say it in good pronunciation by listening to it multiple times and saying it loudly.

Tamam. Teşekkür ederim.

Tamam, means well.

“Teşekkür ederim” , “Teşekkürler” and “sağol” have the same meanings. But “sağol” is informal. You can also say “sağolun” for the formal meaning. If we arrange them from formal to informal: Teşekkür ederim [most formal] > Sağolun > Sağol [less formal]

Hint* Formal usage means you are talking to elder people or people you don’t know. You may use informal with friends and younger people or people you know.

Rica ederim = You are welcome

“Rica ederim” and “Önemli değil” have the same meanings. But “Rica ederim” is formal. You can also hear “Bir şey değil” but it is a little bit obsolete.

Congratulations, Now you can speak  some Turkish and you learned how to say :

·I don’t know Turkish = Türkçe bilmiyorum.

·Thank You = Teşekkür ederim.

·You are welcome = Rica ederim.

Hey, you must speak though. If you heard tons but you did not speak, this won’t be effective. Let us hear you now.

If you are interested, , Join our Facebook page and send us voice message for you saying the following.We will correct you and send you feedback.

https://www.facebook.com/speaktr

1. I don’t know Turkish
2. Thank you
3. You are welcome
4. I don’t know Japanese (Japanese is Japonca in Turkish)