Lesson 29 © Turkish Tea Time

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Making a Cake Made with love.
Mmmmm. . . wherever you are in the world, making a cake can't be a bad
idea - unless you can't understand the recipe, of course. Don't worry - join
us for a noobie lesson on numbers and you'll be ready to bake like a pro.

Measure words. Noobie

Dialog

1 | Berna Bir kek yapmak istiyorum.

2 | Melis Tarif var mı?

3 | Berna Evet. Var.

4 | Melis İyi. Ne lazım?

5 | Berna Üç tane yumurta, iki fincan su, bir fincan süt, dört fincan şeker, yarım fincan tereyağı, ve
yirmi tane falan kiraz.

6 | Melis Evde on iki yumurta var. Süt var. Şeker var. Kiraz yok.

7 | Berna Problem değil. Evimde çok kiraz var.

8 | Melis Çok iyi. Kaç tane kek yapıyoruz?

9 | Berna Otuz kırk kişi geliyor. Bence, iki kek.

Dialog Translation
 1 | Berna I want to make a cake.

2 | Melis Is there a recipe?

3 | Berna Yeah, there is.

4 | Melis Good. What's needed?

5 | Berna Three eggs, two cups of water, one cup of milk, four cups of sugar, half a cup of butter,
and twenty or so cherries.

6 | Melis There are twelve eggs at home. There is milk. There is sugar. There aren't any cherries.

7 | Berna Not a problem. There are a lot of cherries at my house.

8 | Melis Very good. How many cakes are we making?

9 | Berna Thirty or forty people are coming. I think two cakes.

Language Points

Measure Words

When specifying an amount of things, Turkish almost always uses a measure word. In English, we say things like
three pieces of pizza, two cups of water, or four pieces of baklava. Turkish does the same thing. In specific cases,
Turkish can use measure words like fincan (cup) or dilim (slice). However, Turkish also has a very generic
measure word that can be used in almost any case: tane. Tane roughly translates to piece, but can more
generally refer to any unit as in, for example, iki tane köpek (two dogs) - which is better than just iki köpek. Notice
that nouns following numbers are not plural.

Turkish prefers to use tane in many instances where we would not use a measure word in English. For example,
English would say two cats, whereas Turks would prefer iki tane kedi; though, iki kedi is not incorrect.

Beş bardak çay.

Five glasses of tea.
 Bir fincan süt.
One cup of water.

Altı tane baklava.

Six pieces of baklava.

İki tane kek.

Two cakes.

Forming Numbers Over 10

Forming numbers larger than 10 is extremely simple. Just say the numbers together without any additional suffixes
or tricks. For example, to say 38, just say the word for thirty (otuz) followed by the word for eight (sekiz): otuz
sekiz.

41
Kırk bir.

77
Yetmiş yedi.

123
Yüz yirmi üç.

Bence

A very handy and easy word is bence: in my opinion. It doesn't require any fancy suffixes or vowel harmony and
can usually just be thrown at the beginning of a sentence.

Bence, o kitap daha iyi.

In my opinion, that book is better.

Bence, biz Taksim'e gitmeliyiz.

I think we should go to Taksim.

Bence problem değil.

I don't think it's a problem.
Vocabulary

yapmak to do, to make

kek cake

tarif recipe

yumurta egg

fincan cup

süt milk

şeker sugar

yarım half

tereyağı butter

kiraz cherry

Review

1. Tarif var mı?

a. Yok.

b. Nerede?

c. Tarif istiyorum.

d. Bir kek.
2. Kaç tane yumurta var?

a. Üç fincan süt var.

b. Evet, var.

c. Iki tane yumurta var.

d. Ne kadar?

3. Which of the following are correct Turkish? (pick all)

a. Bir yumurta.

b. İki tane yumurtalar.

c. İki tane yumurta.

d. Otuz tane kediler.

e. Otuz tane kedi.

f. Bir tane yumurta.

4. Which of the following are less than 50? (pick all)

a. Elli bir.

b. Kırk dört.

c. Doksan dokuz.

d. On.

e. Yetmiş beş.

f. Sıfır.

5. Translate: I think there are three cakes. (kek) (write)

Answer Key
 1. a
2. c
3. a c e f
4. b d f
5. Bence üç tane kek var , Bence üç kek var

More. . .

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