How would I say "I don´t know if" or "I don´t know whether or not" something? For example:

I don´t know if she´s happy.

I don´t know whether they came today or not.

I´m not sure if I´ll go (or not).

When I try to find the answer to this, I keep ending up in threads about the conditional tense!

I keep wanting to ask "Is it ok if I..." to people - what´s the best way to do that? "

Also, what about "I don´t know how to" do something? I´m pretty sure that there isn´t any special structure for that, so "I don´t know how to read" would just be "Okumak nasýl bilmiyorum" but I´m not sure... so if someone could verify for that, I´d be grateful.

Thanks!

Alison

For a quality:

.... olup olmadýðýný bilmiyorum

e.g.

mutlu olup olmadýðýný bilmiyorum

I don´t know if s/he is happy or not.

For a verb:

-ip -mediðini bilmiyorum

Üniversite bitirip bitirmediðini bilmiyorum

I don´t know if s/he finished university

or for future tense:

gelip gelmeyeceðini bilmiyorum

I don´t know if s/he will come

Aaah, that´s harder than I thought! Thank you for the quick answer.

You may find it easier this way:

... mi bilmiyorum/bilmem = I don´t know if ...

gelip gelmeyeceðini bilmiyorum = I don´t know if he will come

gelecek/gelir mi bilmem = I don´t know if he will come

mutlu olup olmadýðýný bilmiyorum

I don´t know if s/he is happy or not.

mutlu mu bilmiyorum.

"Is it ok if I ..." you can say like "... yapmam uygun mudur?" or "...yapsam olur mu?"

For example

"Is it ok if I open the window?"

"Camý açmam uygun mudur?" or "Camý açsam olur mu?"

As you can also say "Can I...?" in English, in Turkish you can say "... bilir miyim?

"Can I open the window?" "Camý açabilir miyim?"

"I don´t know how to read" is "Okumayý bilmiyorum"

more examples:

I don´t know how to swim = Yüzmeyi bilmiyorum

or you can also say

Nasýl yüzüldüðünü bilmiyorum/Nasýl yüzülür bilmiyorum, it is similar to your try "...nasýl bilmiyorum."

I don´t know how to speak Turkish = Türkçe konuþmayý bilmiyorum.

I don´t know how to make this = Bunu yapmayý bilmiyorum.

etc

As one learner to another, please note:

Cam = pane of glass

Pencere = window

thanks, but if this is for me, I am not a learner

we use also "cam" instead of "pencere", and actually it is much more common to say "camý açar mýsýn?" than "pencereyi açar mýsýn?".

and if you don´t believe me, here is the definition from tdk, türk dil kurumu (turkish language foundation)

http://www.tdk.gov.tr/TR/SozBul.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF4376734BED947CDE&Kelime=cam

 This is a great example of how we can´t just do a word for word translation. The Turks have a phrase "learn a second language, get a second soul". We have to translate the "soul" not the "word".

It is almost as if, in Turkish, the "pencere" is more like the whole window, including the frame and the setting. "cam" is like the window pane. BUT you don´t open the whole frame including the setting. You just open the pane.

Other examples:

"camdan bakmak" To look out of the window.

"camdan atladý" he jumped out of the window.

Another really good example of the different ways of looking at the same event:

In English we clean the window.

In Turkish we don´t say "pencereyi temizlemek"

we say we wipe the glass "camý silmek"

If you ask "how can I learn these?" Sadly you can´t get the differences just by looking words up in the dictionary.  The answer is only by practice and reading or listening to a lot of Turkish. It is an advantage if you live here! when a Turk says something differently from how I would have said it I try to remember it. Also, when I get corrected that helps me see the differences.

Whats the difference between "konuþmak" and "konuþmayý"... yani they r both "to talk" so i dont really understand how to use them... can u please explain me?

Teþekkür ederim

 There is some quite good explanation in this thread on tc.

http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_1729

I think the easiest way to differentiate between the two (at least for me) is to think of "konuþmak" as the verb "to talk" and "konuþma" as the noun "talking". It is actually called a verbal noun and can take suffixes that you would usually attach to a noun, for example "(y)ý" which puts this noun in the accusative case (makes it an object of the verb).

Konuþmak  is the  noun form  of  the  verb  "konuþ-". You need  to  learn  the  cases  to  understand  it  better.  There  is  some  info  below  for  gelmek  (to  come).  You  can  apply  it  to  konuþmak  yourself.

gelmek & gelme - they are both verbal nouns. We call them isim-fiil (noun form of a verb).

Different case suffixes make some difference in usage.

Nominative case (No suffix)
-mek form is used more.

gitmek istiyorum.
gitmek mi zor kalmak mý?

-e/-i cases and possessive suffixes
-me form is used almost always.

sana gelme-ye karar verdim.
sana gelme-yi düþünüyorum
sana gelme-m iyi olacak.

In theory -mek is possible but never used.

sana gelmeð-e karar verdim.
sana gelmeð-i düþünüyorum
sana gelmeð-im iyi olacak.

-de case
Both forms are possible and most of the times they are close in meaning.

eve gitmek-te fayda var.
eve gitme-de fayda var.

-den case
Both forms are possible but there may be difference.

eve gitmek-ten vazgeçtim.

eve gitmek-ten gitme-ye fark var.
eve gitme-den gitme-ye fark var.

with postpositions
-mek is used mostly. See nominative case also.

iþe gitmek için erken kalktým.