Turkish Phrases Blog

I learned another Turkish Phrase on the dolmuş (mini-bus) (see my previous post).  It was a word I had written down, but this time I heard it in a memorable way. 

The dolmuş was packed as usual, with a number of people standing up holding the railings.  A dolmuş (pronounced dole-mush) is a passenger van that drives a set route and picks up people along the way.  It’s a great way to get around Turkey!

As the dolmuş drove toward an intersection the driver turned around and started urgently telling the people standing to please get down.  “Hemen, hemen!”  (Right now!)  As we got closer to the intersection I saw what the urgency was.  There was a police officer standing at the intersection who must have been stopping dolmuşlar (dolmushes) with too many people.  The mini-busses probably aren’t allowed to carry people if there aren’t seats for them.

The people crouched down and we passed the officer without being stopped.  The people then stood up and we drove merrily along.

I’ll probably always remember “Hemen, hemen!” in the context of this dolmuş ride!

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Let’s focus on a few especially useful Turkish phrases.  These are words and phrases I hear all the time in Turkey.

1.  Çok yaşa (Choke-ya-sha)  It literally means, “Live long” and is the same as German “Gesundheit” or English “Bless you,” said after someone sneezes.  The response is Sen de gör (sehn-deh-gour) meaning, “and you too.”

2.  Bakar mısınız (ba-kar mi-si-niz)  This means, “Excuse me!”  Use it to get the attention of a waiter.

3.  Geçmiş olsun! (gech-mish ohl-sun)  Said to someone who is ill.  It means “Get well soon!”

4.  Buyurun (booy-uroon)  Shopkeepers and sellers at the pazar (market) will always say this to you when you walk up to them.  It basically means, “At your service,” or “Can I help you?”

5.  Efendim (ehf-ehn-dim)  This is how a phone is answered–”Hello!”  It is used to respond to someone politely, like saying “pardon?”  Efendim also means “sir/madam.”  In this way it is tacked on the end of a sentence like, “blah blah blah, efendim.”

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Riding on the bus in Turkey is often helpful for learning Turkish phrases. (See my previous post).

Commuting on a bus is a new thing for me.  I’ve been on buses before, but never in a regular way until now that I’m in Turkey.  It’s actually very convenient to be able to jump on a bus and not worry about traffic or parking.  Get on the bus.  Get off the bus.  No worries, right?

Well… Turkish drivers on the one hand are much more forgiving and patient than drivers in the States.  On the other hand they also take many more risks and liberties which would be sure to throw American drivers into fits of road rage if they experienced them.

A number of times now I have been on a bus when the driver had to slam on his brakes to avoid hitting a car which had cut him off.  Once a lady fell down and hurt her leg.

But the bus incident that stands out to me is a time the driver slammed on his breaks because a car pulled out in front of him and three elderly people slid right off their seats onto the floor! One middle-aged lady bashed her face against a pole and broke her glasses right in half.

The bus stopped and the driver came back to check on everyone.  A police officer was sitting right next  to me and immediately got up to help the sprawling people.  He looked at the woman’s bruised face to see if there was any glass or anything in her eye and pronounced, “Bir şey yok! Bir şey yok!“  “Bir şey” means “something,” or, “a thing” and “yok” means “not there.”  So the phrase “Bir şey yok” means basically, “There’s nothing there.”

The woman and elderly man next to her both starting yelling something at the policeman, who did not have a very obvious uniform on.  I was guessing they were saying something like, “Nothing?  Nothing?  We should file a report with the police!”  (I didn’t understand them, but I was guessing they were saying this because of the officer’s response.)

The policeman responded angrily by saying, “I am the police!  I work at such and such department!  I am the police!  Bir şey yok!”

At that the injured woman and elderly man quieted down and the police officer sat back down next to me.  The woman had a minor cut and bruise under her eye.

Now I’m a foreigner here and I don’t understand all the subtleties of the legal system, but I know for sure if that had happened in the States there would have been a lawsuit.  Especially since the car that pulled out in front of the bus in the first place was a police car!

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Looking for more audio resources for learning Turkish Phrases?  There are four podcasts available for free download on iTunes from Sinan Akdeniz. (You can download iTunes software for free.)  Just do a search for “Turkish Language with Sinan.”

The podcasts include:

1. Restaurants
2. Direction, Time and Dates
3. Airports and Hotels
4. First Words

These podcasts are geared for the beginner.  The last podcast was posted a couple years ago, so we will see if more appear!

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I’m finding more nice bits of audio to share with you from the Türkçe Öğreniyorum podcast.  Here is the audio and my transcription/translation of another Turkish greeting interaction:

Learning Turkish part 2

Ahmet: Merhaba.  Benim adım Ahmet.
(Hello.  My name is Ahmet.)

Ayşe: Merhaba.  Ben de Ayşe.  Memnun oldum.
(Hello.  And I’m Ayşe.  Pleased to meet you.)

Ahmet: Ben de memnun oldum.
(I’m pleased to meet you too.)

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I’ve written a lot about Turkish phrases, but now you can listen for yourself.  Below is an audio clip of spoken Turkish greetings.  The clip is from a podcast put out by Turkey Radio Television (TRT)  called Türkçe Öğreniyorum (I’m Learning Turkish).

Have a listen to the recording and follow along below.

Learning Turkish: Greetings

Ayşen: Merhaba Mili.  Nasılsın?
(Hello Mili.  How are you?)

Milli: Merhaba Ayşen.  Teşekkür ederim.  İyiyim.  Sen nasılsın?
(Hello Ayşen.  Thank you.  I’m fine.  How are you?)

Ayşen: Ben de iyiyim. Çok teşekkür ederim.
(I’m also fine.  Thank you very much.)

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Here is a list of Turkish numbers and how to pronounce them.  These can be added to the Turkish phrases you are learning before visiting Turkey.  I would highly recommend learning the numbers before you visit.

0        sifir        sih-fur
1        bir          beer
2        iki          ee-kee
3        üç          ooch (say the oo in your throat)
4        dört       dohrt
5        beş        besh
6        altı         all-tuh
7        yedi       yeh-dee
8        sekiz      seh-keez
9        dokuz     doe-kooz
10        on         ohn
11        on bir    ohn beer
12        on iki      ohn ee-kee
13        on üç      ohn ooch
20        yirmi       yeer-mee
30        otuz        oh-tooz
40        kırk         kerk
50        elli           el-lee
60        altmış        alt-mesh
70         yetmiş        yet-meesh
80         seksen        sek-sehn
90         doksan       dohk-sahn
100         yüz          yewz
101        yüz bir      yewz beer
200        iki yüz       ee-kee yewz
1000        bin          bean
2000        iki bin     ee-kee bean
10,000        on bin
1,000,000        bir milyon
1,000,000,000    bir milyar

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Tsilla Chelton

If you are feeling too old to learn Turkish phrases, read on.  Stories like this inspire me.

Tsilla Chelton is 90 years old and recently played a key role in the film Pandora’s Box.  The movie won the “Best Picture” award at the San Sebastian film festival in Spain.

Yeşim Ustaoğlu, the director of the film “Pandora’s Box,” was at first a little hesitant to have Ms. Chelton play the key role in the film because she is 90 years old. But Ustaoğlu was soon impressed with the actress.  “She…began learning Turkish as soon as she accepted the role in my film.”

Chelton went on to win the “best actress” prize at the film festival–an impressive feat!

Ustaoğlu says, “I have never met anyone like her. I admire her ambitiousness and her nerve. She deserved the best actress award in Spain.”

Check out the whole story.

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Turkish Mantı by d u g y u

My family and I had our first visit to a Turkish home this weekend.  It was a very special occasion for us and I was eager to try one of the Turkish phrases I learned.

Our neighbors had invited us to have dinner with them and we had a lovely time.  They served us lentil soup, “manti,” which is kind of like tortellini, stuffed peppers, a parsley, dill, lemon and lettuce salad and a coffee flavored moist cake that sounds like “terramisou” for dessert.

After we were served the delicious food I said, “Elleriniz sağlık,” (el-ehr-een-eez saah-lick) which literally means, “health to your hands!”  It is a way of saying, “Thank you for the food!”  Our gracious hostess replied, “Afiyet olsun!” (Bon appetit!).

Another way to say thanks after a meal is, “Sofranıza bereket,” which means, “Thank you for your hospiality.”  It literally means, “May your table be blessed (or overflowing).”

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“Please don’t burn the hair out of my ears with a flaming cotton ball!” is one of those Turkish phrases you should learn if you are a guy who needs to visit the barber in Turkey–that is, unless you enjoy having your ears smell like burnt hair.  I’m not making this up.

Barbers in various parts of the world come up with very creative ways to serve their customers.  I’ve had neck and scalp massages before without being asked.  But when it comes to ear hair (and yes guys, as you get older the hair does get thicker in your ears) I never had this experience until recently.

I visited the barber and was enjoying a very professional (and badly needed) haircut when the barber went to his table and picked up what looked like a metal skewer with cotton on the end.  He messed with it a bit to get it ready as I curiously and innocently looked on.  Then he dipped the cotton ball in some kind of flammable liquid and barked at his apprentice to get matches.

**Please Do NOT Try This At Home**

When he lit it, the cotton ball had a six-inch flame coming off of it and he brought it over to me.  By then I was getting nervous, but I figured, “Hey, this guy is a professional.  I’ll let him do his job.”  Sure enough, the barber skillfully singed all the hair out of my ears without turning me into a toasted marshmallow!  He did a kind of burn-wack-burn-wack move where he expertly slapped my ear to put out the burning hair before it burned down to my skin.  I was amazed.

So if you need to visit a barber in Turkey and don’t want the flaming cotton ball treatment, I’m told a simple, “istemiyorum” (iss-tay-mee-yor-um) will suffice.  It means, “I don’t want it.”

If you really want to say the whole phrase say, “Lütfen, kulak tüylerimi yanan pamukla yakmayın!” (Loot-fan, koo-lock tooy-lar-eem-i yon-on pom-ook-la yock-my-in).

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