Thanks, scalpel, for answering. This is a really useful post. There is so much to know which you cannot find from dictionaries.

A small boy is erkek çocuk. What is a little bit bigger boy? These young men who are splitting in the streets and making noise with their motorcycles, they hardly call themselves erkek çocuk, do they? I found words like oğlan and uşak, what is their meaning?

What about delikanlı, is it really neutral in meaning? (It sounds a very colourful expression to me.)

If a grown up man remembers the time when he was a boy or a young man which word would he use? I´m sure there are a lot of slang words for this but what I am looking for is a neutral expression.

This is not fair, I know. I look for a special case from a book and you have to explain it. We have a saying for this: One dummy can ask more than ten wise men can answer.

Thanks again. (I´m gone.)

Reference point is the key word. Sure. And that is because as human beings we are tied to this moment and place but our mind is free to move and it´s our mind that language reflects.

What would you say if I found one:

         Her sabah dört saat yazıyorum.

I didn´t invent it.

Thanks, si++. It seems that in both these cases there is something that ties the situation with present moment. What happened is still valid and the basis of what is going to happen has been laid here and now as a plan or decision or intention.

Another problem is that sometimes present continuous is used in cases which in my opinion describe habitual action but just wait until I find the perfect examples (leafing through my books anxiously)...

Yes, it´s much better now. Thanks, scalpel. (The moral of this story was that the most difficult sound in Turkish is "ı", no doubt.)

I ran across some examples which helped me to understand what is confusing about Turkish present continuous. It is the way that it refers to both near past (or past with an influence to present) and near future.

         Burada mayıs ayından beri oturuyoruz.

         Ben geliyorum onbeş dakika sonra.

If the latter one was alone I most certainly would have understood that the action was going to take place after fifteen minutes but the context convinced me that the person who said this had already come fifteen minutes ago.

Yesterday someone asked in the Translation section which one is correct: İki gün sonra Antalya´ya geliyorum or geleceğim. The questioner was taught that they are both OK. So, here present continuous refers to the future just like in examples like

         Ay başında sergimiz açılıyor.

In other words, sentences in which exactly the same tense is used can refer to two directions in the time line. Or is there something about them that I didn´t notice?

This is easy, scalpel, but would you mind explaining the Turkish ı with the same accuracy. Practicing it too much causes a cramp in one´s neck.

Don´t worry, Henry. You are so precise. It´s always useful to read your posts.