How to speak Turkish

This topic was created in the Aries forum by seizeTheDay on Friday, April 1, 2005 and has 42 replies.

Basic Turkish Phrases for Travelers

Learn essential Turkish phrases for greetings, politeness, and common expressions to enhance your travel experience in Turkey. Key phrases include Merhaba for hello, Teşekkürler for thank you, and Seviyorum for I love you. Familiarity with these will help you communicate politely and enjoy your trip more fully.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

Here's some fun phrases just in case anyone ever finds themselves vacationing in Cappadocia, Istanbul, Izmir, Anatolia-- or Turkey in general.

Merhaba or Selam : Hello

Naber? : How are you? ( but this actually slang, "Ne haber?" -- "What's the news?" ) --> when speaking formally, it's "Nasilsin ?"

-- moving forward

tessekkuler
(Te-shek-koo-ler): Thanks!
-- or easy way "Sagol" ( sa-owl -- the g is silent)

Serefe!!! (she-re-fe) : CHEERS

ne demek? : How do I say,

salak!! : Idiot !! or Stupid!

cok ayip!! (choke ah-Yip) : Shame on you !!

Seviyorum (sev-I-Yor-um): I love you

Seni isteyorum (sen-I is-Te-Yor-um ): I want you

Ben iyi bir kIzIm: I am a good girl
or for the guys
Ben kotu bir adam : I am a bad man

This should be enough to get you started- and make your vacation fun and exciting. Another tid-bit of information from your friendly neighborhood Arien.

Thanks folks.

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

LMAO!!

I like that part:
(cracks knuckles)

Naber g?zelim. İşler g??ler nasıl? Nerelisin. Napıyorsun. Neredesin. Ne işin var buralada. Adın ne? Ortalıkta durup milletin kafasını niye karıştıyorsun?

LMAO!!

Now deciphier it.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

Haffocim!

You said:
Hey beautiful. How're the things? Where are you from? What are you doing? Where are you? What brings u here? What's your name?

(the last part is between you and me babes *winks* 😉 )

My response:
Ben carmen. Benim Turkce kotu. Ben bir kur. Sen soruyorsun cok sorular. Ben senin kafa karistirmam 😉

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

Good job.

Let me correct what you wrote.

Ben Karmen. Benim T?rk?em k?t?. Ben birinci kurdayım (you learning Turkish?). Sen ?ok soru soruyorsun (bad girl LOL). Ben senin kafanı karıştırmıyorum (ok ok, that part was just a joke). Hehehe.

Nice.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

ehhhh... ayip ettin yani. 2 ay oldu baslayali CD setinden calisiyorum!!!

I was learning Turkish, until I went back to school. When school ends in May, I haven't decided if I want to pick up Turkish again-- or just learn Espanol! I'll probably study both-- but only truly be fluent in Spanish.

Are you Turkish?

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

Wow people. You all know Turkish soo well. Hey, I bored from English. Lets speak Turkish. No wait, lets make this DXP fully Turkish.

2seizeTheDay:

Evet ben T?rk?m. Istanbul'da oturuyorum.

2Qbone:

Naber ko?um? İşler g??ler nasıl?

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

LMAO.. I give up too.. if we speak Turkish, haffo-- it will be a VERY short conversation. Istanbul, huh? **MUCK** **MUCK** Haffo !! (kisses for both cheeks) You must have been surprised when I sent my post.

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

"kisses for both cheeks"

Yo! Favourite Turkish kissing. Nice. Granted 😄

"You must have been surprised when I sent my post."

Yes very.

You see it is also hard for me to speak on English and I experience that "short conversation" alot. Why dont we put it on middle ground and use English+Turkish LOL.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

AAAaahyaaaah.. where are my manners... Added to my list above to those of you who are still beginners and are still holding on to this conversation:

Memnum oldum: Nice to meet you.

Bir sey degil: You're welcome.

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

OK some words for you. They are priseless:

?n?ne bak ?k?z!: Watch where you stepping dumb.

Sinir etme adamı!: Dont make me mad, or I will turn badly.

Dangalak: Dumba $ $

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

ibne: transsexual (mean word)

eşşekoğlu eşşek: son of donkey (just eşşek is not always bad, it also used to call normal
donkey)

hayvanoğlu hayvan: son of animal (same, just hayvan is also not used always as bad word)

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

Something for you when you shopping:

Bunun ?l??s? ne?: Whats size is it?

Hediyesi var mı?: Lol, women like it like hell. Meaning: Does it have present?

Ka? taksit?: When you buy something with Credit Card, bank can divide your payment for several month. This way you ask how many month you can pay for it.

Kargosu var mı?: Does they lift stuff to your home.

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

I will stop now. I tought it was funny, so I continued. I may misunderstood if you said to me stop before. Sorry sometimes my English suck. I hate being in such situation as well, but nothing can do for now.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

No no no.. my turkish sucks... maybe I said the wrong thing-- I was trying to say, "thanks you're helping me out a lot". I DO think this is funny. I haven't been able to practice with anyone in so long, my Turkish got horrible. I forgot what things meant and stuff.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

Also haffo,

Your english isn't so bad. I had a few Turkish co-workers-- when I first met them, I could never understand what they were saying (and they were speaking English!!) . They liked to show-off to me, using BIG English words-- but using them incorrectly.

So far, you've been able to keep up very well with conversation- and invoke some interesting conversations yourself. I was pleasantly surprised to find that you are from Istanbul. I am hoping if I decide to seriously begin learning Turkish again, you could help?

LOL- but I won't hold you to that!

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

OMG. Sorry.

"is the lesson over? Is that all you got for me?"

I understood it like "ok you made funny of me enough, dont you think it is time to stop it?".

You want to learn Turkish, great. Could I help? Sure.

Profile picture of seizeTheDay
@seizeTheDay
21 Years1,000+ Posts

$ 4 !!!!!! WOW.. so expensive!

MMmmm.. there are several Turkish restaurants not far from me. I'll be sure to ask about ayvatat! There's even a Turkish bakery that I've visited a few times. Oooooh.. the desserts are delicious-- and dangerous!! How do you resist??!!

Profile picture of haffo
@haffo
21 Years5,000+ Posts

"How do you resist??!!"

Resist? That is off-topic now LOL.

Those people know what they are doing. Otherwise, do you really believe that people would pay 4 $ for that?