Lesson 57 © Turkish Tea Time

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Talking About Traveling Made with love.
If you're a foreigner in Turkey, people are going to ask about your travel
plans. Nothing says "I'm a sophisticated cosmopolitan adventurer" like
answering in Turkish.

Talking about traveling. Noobie

Dialog

1 | Yasemin Nereden geliyorsun?

2 | Kevser Önce, Bulgaristan’a gittim. Sonra, Yunanistan’a gittim. Şimdi de, Türkiye’deyim.

3 | Yasemin İstanbul’da nerede kalıyorsun? Otelde mi?

4 | Kevser Hayır - Couch Surfing yapıyorum. . . bir sorum var. Yarın Mardin’e gideceğim. Mardin ucuz
bir pansiyon var mı?

5 | Yasemin Evet. Arkadaşım geçen hafta Mardin’e gitti. Ucuz bir pansiyonda kaldı. O biliyor.

6 | Kevser Teşekkürler. Mardin’e giden tren veya otobüs var mı?

7 | Yasemin Evet, ama çok uzun sürer. Uçak Uçak bileti al. Hızlı ve pahalı da değil.

Dialog Translation

1 | Yasemin Where are you coming from?

2 | Kevser Before, I went to Bulgaria. Then, I went to Greece. And now I'm in Turkey.
 3 | Yasemin Where are you staying in Istanbul. At a hotel?

4 | Kevser No - I'm using Couch Surfing. . . I have a question. Tomorrow I'm going to go to Mardin.
Does Mardin have a cheap hostel?

5 | Yasemin Yes. My friend went to Mardin last week. He stayed at a cheap hostel. He knows.

6 | Kevser Thanks. Is there a trains or bus that goes to Mardin?

7 | Yasemin Yeah, but it takes a really long time. Buy a plane ticket. It's fast and not expensive.

Language Points

Using Question Words

You might be familiar with how to make a question in Turkish using the question article mi. For example, geliyor
musun means are you coming. Güzel mi? means is it nice.

When using a question word (ne, kim, nerede, etc.), you don't need to put the verb in that question form. The
question part is already encompassed in the question word. Condider the question word as a blank spot: instead
of Burcu geliyor (Burcu is coming), we replace Burcu with the question word kim: kim geliyor (who is coming), not
kim geliyor musun.

Notice that this isn't different from the way we do things in English. We just make a particular note of it here so you
don't think that the question article mi is required for every question in Turkish.

Nereye gidiyorsunuz?
Where are you going?

İçinde ne var?
What is inside it?

Bunu kim istiyor?

Who wants this?
Living vs. Staying

Turkish used the verb yaşamak to express living somewhere for an extnended period. The verb kalmak is used to
say that you are staying somewhere, like a hotel or with a friend.

You might also occasionally hear oturmak used to mean to live, though it literally means to sit. There are some
colloquial nuances (for example, it's weird to oturmak in a country), though, so you should probably stick to
yaşamak for now.

Remember that when using these verbs, you usually need to use the at suffix -de (or with vowel harmony, -da),
since you are living or staying at somewhere.

İstanbul'da yaşıyorum.
I am living in Istanbul.

Bir otelde kalıyorum.

I am staying at a hotel.

Arkadaşımda kalıyorum.
I am staying at a friend's.

Taksim'deki bir dairede yaşıyorum.

I am living in an apartment in Taksim.

The Train Going to Mardin

To talk about a train or bus that is going to a particular location, use this pattern: Mardin'e giden tren (or otobüs).
The only tricky part is adding the to suffix -e (or -a depending on vowel harmony).

Havalimanına giden otobüs.

The bus going to the airport.

İzmir'e giden tren.

The train that goes to Izmir.

Hindistan'a giden uçak.

The plane that goes to India.

Sultanahmet'e giden metro hangisi?

Which one is the metro that goes to Sultanahmet?
Vocabulary

Türkiye Turkey

pansiyon hostel

uçak airplane

ucuz cheap

nereden from where?

önce before, previous

Bulgaristan Bulgaria

Yunanistan Greece

sonra after, next

şimdi now

Review

1. Nereden geliyorsun?

a. İzmir'e geliyorum.

b. İzmir'den geliyorum.

c. İzmir geliyorum.

d. İzmir'de geliyorum.
2. Which of the following is a correct Turkish question?

a. Kim gidiyor mu?

b. Nereden geliyor musun?

c. Ne var mı?

d. Nereye gitmek istiyorsunuz?

3. Which of the following make correct use of the suffixes -de and -e? (pick all)

a. Amerika'da yaşıyorum.

b. San Francisco'da giden tren.

c. Otel'e kalıyorum.

d. Bir arkadaşta kalıyorum.

e. Antalya'ya giden otobüs.

f. Cihangir'de yaşıyorum.

4. Translate: I am living in Taksim. (write)

5. Translate: the train that goes to Bursa. (write)

Answer Key

1. b
2. d
3. a d e f
4. Ben taksim'de yaşıyorum , Taksim'de yaşıyorum , Ben taksim'de oturuyorum , Taksim'de oturuyorum
5. Bursa'ya giden tren
 More. . .

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