I normally leave the casual translations to others but upon request, here is your translation. By the way, there are some phone cards and call numbers to call Turkia cheaper from abroad if you didn't already know. Cheers.


"Tatlım, senin mektubuna cevap olarak yazıyorum. Öncelikle seni çok özlediğimi ve her zaman seni düşÃ¼ndüğümü bilmeni isterim. Çok yakın iki kız arkadaşıma senden bahsettim ve onları on yıldan daha uzun süredir tanıyorum. Tatlım, sana yazamadığım için üzgünüm. Bunun tek nedeni iş aramakla çok meşgul olmam. Bir hafta içinde yeni bir iş bulmayı umuyorum. Lütfen seni önemsemediğimi düşÃ¼nme olur mu? Seninle sohbet etmeyi seviyorum. Benim biricik aşkımsın sen. Seninle konuşmak beni öyle mutlu ediyor ki.
Türkiye'den telefon etmek senin için pahalı olmuyor mu tatlım? Beni sıkça aramak konusunda kendini zorunlu hissetme olur mu? Bebeğimin yığınla para harcamasını hiç istemem. Canım, MSN'de konuşup tasarruf yapmalıyız. Telefonda konuşmayı ben de istiyorum ama çok fazla olmasın olur mu çünkü ikimiz için de çok pahalı olacak. Kısa mesaj da gönderebiliriz. Canım, İngilizce derslerin nasıl gidiyor merak ediyorum. Memnun musun şu ana kadar? Zor mu? Lütfen öğretmeni iyi dinle ve anlamadığın bir şey olursa ona sor olur mu?
Tatlım, benimle konuşmaktaki amacın ve seni yönlendiren şey nedir bilmek istiyorum. Bana karşı güçlü duygular hissettiğine inanıyorum ama acaba aramızdaki dil ve mesafe engelini hiç düşÃ¼ndün mü? Benimle nasıl bir gelecek düşÃ¼nüyorsun? İkimizin nasıl bir geleceği olabilir sence? Lütfen anlat bana. Cevabını bekleyeceğim. Lütfen unutma olur mu, her zaman kalbimdesin."

Greetings,
Except mine, frogman's sentences are very well build as well. In fact I don't know which ones are better. I think his sentences could be easier for learners.

There are some sound files here as well:

http://cali.arizona.edu/maxnet/tur/

"Greetings but who are you and who has given you my address? If you don't answer I will advertise your e-mail around. Did you understood me? I'm waiting for your answer."

Having a lough is likely to cause misunderstanding in the translation. It has too many meanings. Maybe you could explain with other words.

Is it something like this you want to say:

Şaka mı yapıyorsun? : Are you kidding?

more polite:
Umarım şaka yapıyorsundur. I hope you are kidding.

Elisa,
This could be. Assuming someone's dog has died and the person starts to see an imaginative dog walking inside the house. She is talking to a dog that already died. In this case obviously we can't use rüya since this is not a dream in sleep and we shouldnt use hayal as hayal is something that you imagine and hope it will become reality.

In this example and in mental illnesses, in drug imaginations and in transendental imaginations I would use düş görmek. But of course düş is not limited with this. It is also used for creative imagination in arts and literature.

Said that I must add that the main translation for the verb "to imagine" would be "hayal etmek". Düş and any verbal forms of it are not so common.

"zorunda olmak" is the strongest. Above I have translated must with only "zorunda olmak".

must < > zorunda olmak

have to < > a. zorunda olmak b. gerekli olmak

need to < > gerekli olmak

"zorunda kalmak" is different than "zorunda olmak" because it expresses unwillingness. When you say "zorunda kaldım" you mean that there was no other choice so you had to do something.

Greetings,
I have written on this issue before. The text below is a copy of a previous post of mine. Please notice the change on meanings of English words when they are negative (the difference between must and must not etc.)
http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_6_2058

That's a very good question which could be a topic of a lesson if somebody would have write it.

1. must > zorunda olmak (zorundasın, zorundayım etc)
I must go. > Gitmek zorundayım
You must stay here. > Burada durmak zorundasın.

The negative changes the meaning completely and tells us that something is forbidden.
must not > -me+meli (koşmamalı, gitmemeli, yapmamalı Here -me is the negative while -meli expresses neccessity.
You must not move. > Haraket etmemelisin.

2. have to > a. zorunda olmak b. gerekli olmak
You have to go. >
a. Gitmek zorundasın. (You must go)
b. Gitmen gerekiyor. (You need to go)

I can't find a better translation for have to. So either I translate it as must to or need to when affirmative.

The negative can be build same way.
You don't have to go. >
a. Gitmek zorunda değilsin. (You don't have to go. Obviously this can't be translated with must not and vice versa)
b. Gitmen gerekmiyor. (You don't need to go)

3. need to > gerekli olmak
You need to go. > Gitmen gerekiyor.
I need to go. > Gitmem gerekiyor.

Negative can be build the same way:
You don't need to go. > Gitmen gerekmiyor.
I don't need to go. > Gitmem gerekmiyor.

4. should
Depends on the meaning of English sentence. Has different usages in English thus varies in translation.

You should go. >
a. Gitmelisin (present)
b. Gitsen iyi olur. (present)
c. gitmeliydin (unreal past, now ,its too late to go)

You shouldn't go.
a. gitmemelisin (present)
b. gitmemeliydin. (unreal past: You shouldn't have gone)

Here notice that "gitmeliydin" and "gitmemeliydin" are unreal past expression where it is too late to act correctly now. Normally in English perfect temses would fit better in this situation but I think people tend to use present tense as well. For instance while "You shouldn't have done this" is the correct sentence for unreal past some may use "You shouldn't do this", thus I have included the unreal past meanings of should and shouldn't as and

5. may
I prefer to translate this with possibility expressions and the suffix is -ebil

You may go. > Gidebilirsin/Gidebilirsiniz.
You may sit here. > Burada oturabilirsin/oturabilirsiniz.
She might come. > Gelebilir.

The negative changes the meaning completely as in English "may not" is used like a polite way of "must not" if I understand correctly. Again if I understand correcty "may not" and "might not" have very different usages in English. I have seen "may not" used as warnings in the context of "Not possible to...", while "might not" sound to me more like "Possible not to...".


You may not enter. >
a. İçeri giremezsiniz. (It is not possible for you to enter)
b. İçeri girmeyiniz. (Please don't enter)

She might not come. > Gelmeyebilir. (There is a possibility that she is not going to come.)

You might not come. > Gelmeyebilirsin. (There is a possibility that you are not going to come.)

Notice that I'm using "may not" as the unpossibility to do something and "might not" as the possibility for something not to be done.

6. Shall
Shall we go? Gidelim mi?


All in all this is an advanced issue. I would suggest starting to practice with -meli -malı (nessassity suffixes).
gitmek > git > git+meli > git+meli+yim
to go > go > need to go > I need to go.

gitmeliyim > I need to go.
gitmelisin > You need to go.

But the negative with the netaive suffix -me and -ma (added like, me+meli ma+malı has a different meaning.

gitmemeliyim > I must not go.
gitmemelisin > You must not go.

The other suggestions are not bad either but I would prefer this one:

"Dün gece kötü bir rüya gördüm."

Instead "dün gece" if you say "geçen gece" it will be the night before last night. Smillarly "geçen gün" is the day before yesterday.

Yes düş is more poetic. Also düş implies more like an imagination.

In English there is no difference between a dream while you sleep and a dream that you have while you are conscious.

When Martin Luther King said "I have a dream" he didn't mean a dream he had while sleeping. In Turkish we devide them.
'rüya' is strictly for a dream that you have while sleeping.
'düş' is mostly for an imagination when we don't sleep. It can be intuitonal or fictional but in any case we are conscious. The images are in front of our eyes. We have seen them in some ways. Maybe something has inspired us to see the image.

"Dün gece kötü bir düş gördüm." is more likely to be a dream/imagination that you have while not sleeping. If you had given me this sentence and would ask me whether or not the person is likely to sleep during this action I would say 80% not sleeping and 20% sleeping.

Hayal is different than both rüya and düş. Hayal strictly has nothing to do with sleeping. Hayal includes hope for something to become true. "Hayal etmek" and "hayal kurmak" are both common verbs. Also "hayal kırıklığı" means disapointment and "hayalperest" means "dreamer" (the kind of person who is in a dream world).
I would translate Martin Luther King's speech with hayal: "Bir hayalim var"