Merhaba.

I am new to this forum and indeed new to the turkish language. My question is this:

How do I form a sentence? For example if I want to say "is all the work finished" or "I will not return to Turkey until next June"  Do I translate word for word or is there some other method that I need to be aware of?

I know this may seem very basic stuff, but it is where I am at right now

Tesekkur ederim

Pat.

Hi Pat,

Unfortunately it is not that simple.

The basic Turkish sentence order is: Subject, object then verb, whereas in English it is: subject, verb then object. Then Turkish has suffixes after verbs and nouns to express who is doing things to verbs or owning nouns.

To get back to your sentences as examples:

Is all the work finished? would read in Turkish as

All the work finished is it?

I will not return to Turkey untill next June. would probably read:

Turkey to next June until return not will I.  (with the red words done with suffixes).

I will try and give the Turkish answers, but as a learner it will take me longer.

Is all the work finished?

Firstly we need to find the Turkish words.

work = iþ / çalýþma

all = bütün / hepsi

is = mi/mý/mu/mü (Turkish uses question tags for is/are at the end of sentences, and the choice of which one to use is determined by the preceding vowel. Look up vowel harmony rules for a further explanation)

to finish = bitmek (to end/finish) / bitirmek (to end/finish/complete something)

from the root word of the verb (by dropping the ´mek´ we add the appropriate suffix.

bit + ti (past tense for 3rd person, he/she/it)  = bitti

bitir + ti = bittirdi

And now my attempt at the full question:

Bütün iþ bitirdi mi?

Hopefully this is correct, or someone will post a better version.

My attempt at:

I will not return to Turkey until next June.

Türkiye´ye gelecek hazirana dek geri dönmeyeceðim.

Türkiye´ye gelecek hazirana dek geri dönmeyeceðim.

(and the structure as written is: Turkey to next June until return not will I)

Please correct if there are any errors. 

It should be haziran but I guess that´s a typo

I´d write "hazirana kadar".. but that´s only because I´ve never heard about "dek". I looked it up in the dictionary and I thought "/a/ dek" sounds better here, then I looked up "/a/ kadar" and it has exactly the same meaning.. 

Are they synonyms?

Thanks Hüzünlü, yes my mistake! I will correct the attempt.

 Hi Henry ,

some amateur  comments if you do not mind,

Bütün iþ bitti mi ? or

Bütün iþ bitirildi mi ? would sound better

when you say bütün iþ bitirdi mi  this would not be a grammatically correct sentence. either it would have the intended meaning.

you can say    Ahmet/Filiz bütün iþi bitirdi mi? when asking someone other than Ahmet or Filiz. but when you ask directly to Ahmet/Filiz  you would say: Bütün iþ bitti mi or Bütün iþ bitirildi mi ?

Thanks toggle, The question I attempted to translate was slightly beyond my level of knowledge.

Your comments are appreciated.

Thanks guys.

Guess I kind of knew it would not be straight forward.

But its a wothwhile challange!

Pat.

In the English version the word "finished" may be said to be more of an adjective (like in finished versus unfinished) rather than a verb (to finish).

Hence, translation to Turkish would be  Butun is bitti mi?

Butun is bitirildi mi ?  would have been Has all the work been finished ?