Turkish for Beginners

Introduction
Turkish is the national language of Turkey and Turkish community of Northern Cyprus (who has a not-recognized state named Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus), and is also spoken by native minority groups in Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, and by immigrant groups in Germany, England, Nederlands, France, Austria, Belgium, Australia and other countries. It is the most important member of the Turkic group of languages which form a branch of the Altaic family. There are about 80 million speakers. Turkish was originally written in the Arabic script which, though poorly suited to the language, had been in use since the conversion of the Turks to Islam. In 1928 President Atatrk decreed the introduction of a slightly modified version of the Roman alphabet, consisting of twenty-one consonants and eight vowels. In Turkish, the letters q, w, and x are absent, while the letter c is pronounced like the English j (e.g., cep-pocket), j like the French j (jale-dew), is pronounced ch (iek-flower). The English words "caviar", "yogurt", and "shish kebab" are of Turkish origin. The word "tulip" comes from a Turkish word for turban, because its flower was thought to resemble a turban. The word "meander" comes from the ancient name of the Menderes River of western Turkey, which was noted for its winding course. Turkish is spoken/used in the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus (Northern), Greece, Macedonia, and Turkey.

Language Family Family: Altaic Subgroup: Turkic Branch: Southwestern (Oghuz)

Contents
Lesson 1: To Be
Introductions Vocabulary Exercises

Lesson 2: Articles, Gender, To Have

Articles Gender To Have Vocabulary Exercises

Lesson 3: Formal Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives, and Plural Nouns

Formal Pronouns Possession Vocabulary Exercises

Lesson 4: Verbs and Negation

Verbs Negation Vocabulary Exercises

Lesson 5: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Questions

Adjectives Adverbs Questions Vocabulary Exercises

Part One - The Basics

Lesson 1: To Be
Welcome to the Turkish course here at UniLang. We want to help you learn foreign languages and we hope this little course can help you. These courses in part one are intended for absolute beginners who need a little assistance with starting to learn some basics. This is not a complete course.

Introductions
We'll start by teaching you how to introduce yourself in Turkish. Take a look at the following Turkish sentence and it's English translation. All Turkish text will be written in blue and the English translation in green. "Ben Ahmet'im." "I am Ahmet" Turkish sentence structure is different from English's. "ben" means "I", but we can't see an equivalent

word of "am"in Turkish. Instead of it, we see a suffix "im" after Ahmet. "-im" is the conjugational suffix of verb "to be" for the first, singular person "ben". When you introduce yourself with your name, it's optional to use this suffix. You can say only "Ben Ahmet".
(Ben) Ahmet'im. (Sen) Ahmet'sin. (O) Ahmet'dir. (O) Aye'dir. (O) (bir) kedidir. (Biz) Ahmet ve Aye'yiz. (Siz) Ahmet ve Aye'siniz. (Onlar) Ahmet ve Aye'dirler. I am Ahmet. You are Ahmet. He is Ahmet. She is Aye. It is a cat. We are Ahmet and Aye. You are Ahmet and Aye. They are Ahmet and Aye.

NOTES:

Turkish has no gender. kedi = the cat bir = a/an, one There is no article in Turkish like the/der,die,das/el, la... Don't forget apostrophes between proper nouns and suffixes. Suffix "-im" changes according to vowel harmony.
Ben Ahmet'im Ben Sen O Biz Siz Onlar -(y)im -sin -dir -(y)iz -siniz -dirler Ben Hasan'm -(y)m -sn -dr -(y)z -snz -drlar Ben Gl'm -(y)m -sn -dr -(y)z -snz -drler Ben Uur'um -(y)um -sun -dur -(y)uz -sunuz -durlar

Vocabulary
We'll ask you to study a number of words in each lesson.

Vocabulary

baba anne, ana

father mother

bykanne, nne bykbaba, dede doktor ked br ve

Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Ben Ali'yim. O (bir) babadr. Onlar Ali ve Gl'drler. O (bir) annedir. Sen (bir) bykannesin. Siz Aye ve Cem'siniz. Biz Ahmet ve Hasan'z. We are Mehmet and zgr. I am a mother. She is a grandmother. They are smail and Elif. You are Hasan and Murat. You are a grandfather.

grandmother grandfather the doctor the cat a/an, one and

Exercise B: Translate to Turkish:

Solutions
Solution of Exercise A:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 1) 2) 3) 4) I am Ali. He is a father. they are Ali and Gl. She is a mother. You are a grandmother. You are Aye and Cem. we are Ahmet and Hasan. Biz Mehmet ve zgr'z. Ben (bir) anneyim. O (bir) bykannedir. Onlar smail ve Elif'tir.

Solution of Exercise B:

5) Siz Hasan ve Murat'snz. 6) Sen (bir) bykbabasn.

Lesson 2: Articles, Gender, To Have

Articles
Apparently you've successfully finished lesson one, so now we can continue with the second lesson. In this lesson, you'll learn how to describe certain objects. First of all,Turkish has no definite article (like; "the", "der, die, das", "el,la"...) and the indefinite article is "bir" (equivalent of English's "a/an". ( And it is not so essential; you can omit"bir").Take a look at these Turkish sentences:
He is a father. I am a student. O bir babadr. Ben bir renciyim. Ben renciyim. renciyim.

(These three sentences have the same meaning. You can change the meaning by stressing.)

Gender
Now, we have a good news: Turkish has no different gender!! The third singular person "o""he/she/it".

To Have

In this lesson we'll also introduce the verb "sahip olmak", which means "to have". Take a look at the full conjugation and translation of this verb:
Ben (bireye) sahibim. Sen (bireye) sahipsin. O (bireye) sahiptir. Biz (bireye) sahibiz. Siz (bireye) sahipsiniz. I have (sthg.) You have (sthg.) He/she/it has (sthg.) We have (sthg.) You have (sthg.)

Onlar (bireye) sahiptirler.

They have (sthg.)

(This usage is grammatically correct but we usually use it as "benim bir evim var" instead of "ben bir eve sahibim".) It means "there is a house that belongs to me."

Vocabulary
Learn the following words. The words of the previous lesson are mentioned again, but this time we also show what definite article to use.

Vocabulary

baba anne bykanne, nne bykbaba, dede sandalye ev masa ked kpek kemk hayvan bna
Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) Kedi bir hayvandr.

the father the mother the grandmother the grandfather the chair the house the table the cat the dog the bone the animal the building

2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)

Ev bir binadr. Kpek bir kemie sahiptir. Ben bir kediye sahibim. Baba bir eve sahiptir. Baba ve anne bir kpee sahiptirler. Siz bir eve sahipsiniz. The grandmother has a cat. A cat is an animal. The table has a chair. The grandmother and the grandfather have a dog. The mother has a dog and the father has a cat. We have a table. They have the house.

Exercise B: Translate to Turkish:

Solutions
Solution of Exercise A:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) A cat is an animal. The house is a building. The dog has a bone. I have a cat. The father has a house. The father and the mother have a dog. You have a house. Bykanne bir kediye sahiptir. Kedi bir hayvandr. Masa bir sandalyeye sahiptir. Bykanne ve bykbaba bir kpee sahiptirler. Anne bir kpee sahiptir ve baba bir kediye sahiptir. Biz bir masaya sahibiz. Onlar bir eve sahiptirler.

Solution of Exercise B:

Lesson 3: Formal Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives, and Plural Nouns

Formal Pronouns
Before we teach you how to tell that something belongs to a certain person, we first have to teach you how to be polite in Turkish.
Sen bykannesin. Siz bykannesiniz. Senin bir kpein var. Sizin bir kpeiniz var. You are grandmother. You are grandmother. You have a dog. You have a dog.

And this same construction also applies to the plural form of "you", instead of "sen", "siz" is used in formal speech. Now it's time to learn plural nouns. Until now you've only seen singular nouns such as "house" and "chair", but now we'll teach you how to form a plural noun ("houses", "chairs") in Turkish. It is quite easy, we have only two suffix :"-ler" /"-lar" Some examples:
kitap -kitaplar kpek- kpekler kap- kaplar kedi- kediler ocuk- ocuklar adam- adamlar kadn- kadnlar book- books dog- dogs door - doors cat- cats child- children man- men woman- women

The suffix changes according to the last vowel of the word.

last vowel a//o/u e/i// suffix -lar -ler

Possession
We're gonna learn "possessive pronouns" or "possessive adjectives". At the same time we'll learn how translate"this" and "that" (demonstrative pronouns). "this" is equal to "bu" in Turkish. It is used for showing something

too near to us. "that" has two equivalents: "u" and "o". These have quite near meanings. Here are a couple of new sentences:
Bu senin evindir. u benim evimdir. u sizin evinizdir. u onun evidir. Bu onun evidir. u bizim evimizdir. u sizin evinizdir. Bu onlarn evidir. Bu sandalye Bu ev Bu kpek Bu kedi u / O sandalye u / O ev u / O kpek u/ O kedi Bu evler u anahtarlar Bu atlar O maymunlar This is your house. That is my house. That is your house." (This is the polite/formal form, singular and plural) That is his/her/its house. This is his/her/its house. That is our house. That is your house. This is their house. This chair This house This dog This cat That chair That house That dog That cat these houses those keys these horses those monkeys

Vocabulary

ktap at irmak/nehr gz maymun fare anahtar parmak kule

the book the horse the river the eye the monkey the mouse the key the finger the tower

ember fotoraf fotoraf maknasi kapi burasi/burada orasi/orada brok

Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) unlar benim fotoraflarmdr. Maymun parmaklara sahiptir. Bunlar onlarn anahtarlardr. Bu bir faredir. Benim birok atm vardr. O senin anahtarna sahiptir. Bunlar sizin kulelerinizdir. O ( kadn) bu kitaplara sahiptir. Biz o fotoraf makinalarna sahibiz.

the circle the photo the camera the door here there many/much

Exercise B: Translate to Turkish:

1) We have many fingers. 2) These are my eyes. 3) That is his key. 4) This is your book and these are your dogs. (spoken to a stranger) 5) I have those photos. 6) Her books have photos. 7) They have the house. 8) This house is your house. (spoken to a dear friend) 9) You are their grandmother. (use formal speech) 10) The houses have many keys.

Solutions
Solution of Exercise A:
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Those are my photos. A monkey has fingers. These are their keys. This is a mouse. I have many horses.

6) 7) 8) 9)

She has your key. These are your towers. She has these books. We have those cmaras.

Solution of Exercise B:
1) Biz birok parmaa sahibiz. 2) Bunlar benim gzlerimdir. 3) Bu onun anahtardr. 4) Bu sizin kitabnzdr ve bunlar sizin kpeklerinizdir. 5) Ben u fotoraflara sahibim. 6) Onun kitaplarnn resimleri vardr. 7) Onlar bir eve sahiptir. ( Onlarn bir evi vardr.) 8) Bu ev senin evindir. 9) Siz onlarn bykannesisiniz. 10) Evlerin birok anahtar vardr.

Lesson 4: Verbs and Negation

Verbs
All Turkish verbs are regular. (except for "olmak "). A verb has two parts: stem and infinitive suffix ( -mek / -mak ) It is similar to form the plurality. The suffix changes according to the last vowel of the stem. If the last vowel is "a / / o / u" , the suffix is "-mak".[ ( e / i / / ) >>> "-mek"] Some examples about verb conjugation (in the simple present tense):
okumak (Ben) okurum. (Sen) okursun. (O) okur. (Biz) okuruz. (to read) I read you read he/she/it reads We read komak koarm koarsn koar koarz (to run) I run you run he/she/it runs we run yemek yerim yersin yer yeriz (to eat) I eat you eat he/she/it eats we eat

(Siz) okursunuz. (Onlar) okurlar.

you read They read

koarsn koarlar

you run they run

yersiniz yerler

you eat they eat

Negation
Now we're going to talk about negation, because you might want to say: "That is NOT a table ", "and that is NO dog". In Turkish, we say "Bu bir masa deildir ve bu bir kpek deildir." We use "deil" instead of "not".
I read this book. I don't read this book. Ben bu kitab okuyorum. Ben bu kitab okumuyorum.

We use a suffix (-ma ) between the stem of the verb and the conjugational suffixes to give it the negative meaning. ( this suffix changes according to the last vowel of the stem.) I think that's enough material for now. Make sure you understand it. It's quite hard, so don't hesitate to reread this lesson a couple of times.

Vocabulary
Learn the following words. From now on there will also be regular verbs (or at least verbs that are regular in the present tense) in the list.

Vocabulary

okumak konumak yemek yaamak sevmek

to read to speak to eat to live to love

komak grmek ocuk adam kadin elma aa Trke nglzce

Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) Fotoraflar gryorum. 2) Adam kouyor. 3) ocuk bir elma yiyor. 4) Kadn adam grmyor. 5) ocuklar grmyorum. 6) Onun at yok. ( O bir ata sahip deildir.) 7) ocuk ok yer. 8) Biz birok elma yeriz. 9) Bunlar hayvan deiller. 10) Kadn grmyor. 11) Trke konuuyorsunuz. 12) Onlar ngilizce konuuyorlar.

to run to see the child the man the woman the apple the tree Turkish English

Exercise B: Translate to Turkish:

1) I see a tree. 2) You do not see this child. 3) We speak Turkish. 4) I have no children. 5) She sees this man. 6) This isn't her grandfather. 7) You speak Turkish. 8) They see my house. 9) He sees that horse. 10) I am not a Turk. 11) We do not have those keys.

Solutions

Solution of Exercise A:
1) I see the photos. 2) The man runs. 3) The child eats an apple. 4) The women don't see the man. 5) I don't see children. 6) He doesn't have a horse OR She doesn't have a horse. 7) The child/the boy eats much. 8) We eat many apples. 9) These are no animals. 0) The woman doesn't see. 11) You speak Turkish. 12) They speak English.

Solution of Exercise B:
1) Bir aa gryorum. 2) Sen ocuu grmyorsun. 3) Biz Trke konuuyoruz. 4) (Benim) ocuum yok. 5) O, bu adam gryor. 6) Bu, onun dedesi deildir. 7) Siz Trke konuuyorsunuz. OR Sen Trke konuuyorsun. 8) Onlar benim evimi gryorlar. 9) O, u at gryor. 10) Ben Trk deilim. 11) Biz bu anahtarlarn sahibi deiliz. OR u anahtarlar bize ait deildir.

Lesson 5: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Questions

Adjectives
In this lesson we'll teach you how to use adjectives in Turkish. An adjective tells something about a noun, it describes a property of a noun.
Ev byktr. Kadn yaldr. The house is big. The woman is old.

Elmalar krmzdr.

The apples are red.

This is an easy construction. The Turkish adjective is never conjugated in any way in such a construction.
Byk ev Yal kadn Krmz elma Gzel kedi Yksek dalar Vahi kpekler The big house The old woman The red apples the beautiful cat The high mountains The wild dogs

Adverbs
Now we can move on to the matter of adverbs. An adverb can be compared to an adjective but it says something about a verb instead of a noun.
O hzl koar. Ben yava konuurum. O ku alaktan uar. He runs fast I speak slowly that bird flies low

Questions
We can continue with asking question in Turkish. To tell things is nice, but once in a while you might need to ask something to someone. We'll teach you. Basically, Turkish has 6 interrogative pronouns. The formula is "5N1K":
5N Ne? Ne zaman? Nasl? Nerede? Neden?(niin?) What? When? how? Where? Why?

1K Kim? = Who? ( kimin?= whose?), (kime?= whom?)

Some questions:
Bu nedir? What is this?

(Sen) nerdesin? (O) ne zaman geliyor? O yal adam kim? Hava nasl? Neden Trke reniyorsunuz? Hangi hayvanlar seversin?

Where are you? When does he come? Who is that old man? How is the weather? Why do you learn Turkish? Which animals do you like?

This concludes the fifth lesson.

Vocabulary
Learn the following words, from now on there will also appears adjectives and adverbs in the list (as well as interrogative pronouns in this lesson).

Vocabulary

umak yrmek yzmek hizli, abuk yava yali gen y yksek kt kizgin vah gzel, ho nazk, kbar yen

to fly to walk to swim fast slow old young good high bad angry wild nice kind new

bsklet hava ku da kemk hang? ne? km? neden?/nn? nasil? ne zaman? ne kadar? ok/brok
Exercises
Exercise A: Translate to English:
1) Bu adam nazik bir adamdr. 2) u nazik ocuk kimdir? 3) Ne zaman (yemek) yeriz? 4) u nedir? 5) Byk ev bizim evimizdir? 6) O hzl kouyor? 7) Benim yal bykannem ok naziktir. 8) Benim bisikletim yenidir. 9) Bunlar ok gzel hayvanlardr. 10) Ne gryorsunuz?

the bike the weather the bird the mountain the bone which? what? who? why? how? when? how much?/how many? very

Exercise B: Translate to Turkish:

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) I see a new chair. We see an old woman. Who are you? She is not old. They fly fast. Our grandmother is an old woman. Which bike is fast? My new bike is fast.

9) What does the bad dog want? 10 The bad dog wants a bone.

Solutions
Solution of Exercise A:
1) This man is a kind man. 2) Who is that kind child. 3) When do we eat? 4) What is that? 5) The big house is our house. 6) She runs fast. 7) My old grandmother is very kind. 8) My bike is new. 9) These are very nice animals. 10) What do you see?

Solution of Exercise B:
1) Yeni bir sandalye gryorum. 2) (Biz) yal bir kadn gryoruz. 3) Sen kimsin? (singular) (informal) OR Siz kimsiniz? (plural) ( formal) 4) O yal deildir. 5) Onlar hzl uarlar. 6) Bizim bykannemiz yal bir kadndr. 7) Hangi bisiklet hzldr? 8) Benim yeni bisikletim hzldr. 9) Kt kpek ne istiyor? 10) Kt kpek kemik istiyor.