´Too´ in English has two meanings:

1. also; as well; likewise

2. overly to an unwanted extent

´Also´ can be translated in Turkish roughly by ´de´ or ´ayrıca´.

But ´too´ in the meaning of too much, too soon, is not used like that in Turkish. You can come close to it with (çok) fazla, but that doesn´t have the unwanted/negative implication that ´too´ does.

If you want to say anything that is ´too´ of something, you will just have to accept that you have a problem that needs a creative linguistical solution. Çok fazla comes closest I think. If you´re really at a loss, ´çok´ goes a long way.

People may say ´I care for you too much to lie to you.´ and that´s not negative, but also here (here too), although the sentence itself is positive, the ´too´ means overly in a negative way, in the sense that if you would want to lie to that person, you would NOT want to care THAT MUCH.

Turkish will say ´I love you too much´ and you will wonder ´What does she mean, TOO much? That´s not good, is it?´. There is a sadness hanging over it, as if they are trying to say: ´I love you too much. I can´t stand it anymore. This has to stop. I´m saying goodbye/I´m going to kill myself.´ when actually what they are trying to say is ´I love you soooooo much´.

Come to think of it, that ´so´ does not translate into Turkish either. It´s not the same as ´bu kadar´ because in a construction like ´I´m so tired´, or ´I´m sooooooo tired´ or I love you so much´ it´s not part of a comparison (...that...).

Anyway.

I´ve studied Turkish for only 1,5 year now and new meanings keep popping up all the time so I´m only 99,8% sure about this but I´ve been struggling with translating ´too´ for ages and I see other people struggling with it aswel so I thought it would be worth a post.

If I´m completely wrong, please let me know. Of course you will have to show me proof. And if you prove me wrong, I will bake a nice Dutch applepie for you.

it s very natural that "too" and "so" cannot translated into Turkish %100 same meaning. I can say this for "the" or any other things that you can think of. People ask what is "the" in Turkish and they think "-i" gives the same meaning but it s not. As a native speaker we use it only in sentences that has a direct object. in my humble opinion it s unnecessary translating anything word by word into Turkish. İf you are studying Turkish for a while and you want to develop it further more you have to think like a Türk and you have to go upper levels in Turkish. For example when I started to learn English back in the days it was very painful for me, especially using "the, at, on, in" in the sentence, but I dropped word by word translating and thought in which ways they are used in English    

Of course there is not one word that really carries the same meaning in another language, and you can find some way to express what you want to say, but the consquences of either using ´too´ or ´a lot´ can be totally opposite.

And I can only speak for people who are trying to learn Turkish (not for people who are trying to learn English) when I say this word jumps out as a challenging one.

But thank you for putting things in perspective when I make that pie for someone else, I will save you a piece.

No your right, when I first began learning turkish I kept word for word translating everything I was always like, how do you say this and that in turkish..but Ive realized its just two totally different languages. The more I started to think like a Turk the easier it became for me to start talking. but the whole "too" and "the" thing not being in turkish throws me off sometimes. btw JNQ I couldnt find any examples to prove you wrong. Your totally right. So no pie for me I guess lol

I will share a piece with you out of friendship and shared love for the Turkish language =)

Well, no need to cook anything, but;

too much-> çok fazla, as you mentioned

too soon-> çok erken

"çok fazla" has very little negative implication as in "bu benim için çok fazla->it s too much for me" 

but "seni çok seviyorum" means I love you so much. İf you want to give it a negative way you must use some other words and put an emphasis on these words when you are speaking.

for example: seni delicesine seviyorum-> i m madly in love with you

so or so much can be translated as "çok or çok fazla" as well. It doesnt mean "bu kadar"

for example çok yorgunum-> i m so tired, çok çok yorgunum-> i m soooo tired or you can use some other words like "acayip yorgunum" if you want to give an excessive meaning

seni o kadar seviyorum ki senin için her şeyi yaparım-> i love you so much that i can do anything for you, o kadar means so much

my point is they can differ for the purpose of meaning that you want to give

if i understood you correctly

overly to an unwanted extent = aşırı

too cold = aşırı soğuk

too hot = aşırı sıcak

Edit:

sometimes "haddinden fazla"

too cold = haddinden fazla soğuk

too hot = haddinden fazla sıcak

K., I STAND CORRECTED AND SO DOES EVERYBODY ABOVE AND I´M BAKING YOU AN APPLE PIE IN ETERNAL GRATITUDE.  

BUT, what remains is that you can never transate too by using çok and only sometimes by fazla but then it has to be clear from the context.

çok erken ≠ too soon but very soon

çok fazla CAN mean too much, but it can also mean very much whereas ´too´  is always overly, excessive. 

The pie will be served tomorrow or sunday

Was just wondering when I see here the suggestions that when learning Turkish, to think in Turkish and to not translate word by word.

Does that mean translating can be harmful or pointless in learning Turkish or is that an OK way to start?

Looks like I´m too late in participating in this discussion to be eligible for the Dutch pie, but if not, I´d like mine with chocolate flakes on the top, but not too much.

I think starting by translating will be a poor but ok way to start, although I think its best to find a course in how to think and feel like a Turk in 10 days. That will probably also provide you with instant knowledge of Turkish politics, economics and football which is essential if you ever want to have a meaningful conversation.

Ofcourse there will be a piece of apple pie for you, with hagelslag.