Lesson 60 © Turkish Tea Time

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Small Talk Made with love.
So, you come here often? Yeah, I like it too. Good vibe. You know, I came
here once before I think. For a friend's birthday. It was fun. . . yep. Oh, I'm
learning Turkish on this awesome website called Turkish Tea Time. They
did a lesson today on small talk. . . good stuff.

Some small talk. Noobie

Dialog

1 | Yasemin Merhaba. Adınız ne?

2 | Sarah Ben Sarah. Çok memnun oldum.

3 | Yasemin Ben de. Nerelisiniz?

4 | Sarah Amerikalıyım. Boston’dan geliyorum.

5 | Yasemin Boston çok güzel. Ne zamandan beri buradasınız?

6 | Sarah İki aydır Türkiye’de yaşıyorum.

7 | Yasemin Güzel. Okuyor musunuz yoksa çalışıyor musunuz?

8 | Sarah Öğrenciyim.

Dialog Translation

1 | Yasemin Hello. What is your name?

 2 | Sarah I'm Sarah. Very nice to meet you.

3 | Yasemin I'm also glad to meet you. Where are you from?

4 | Sarah I'm American. I come from Boston.

5 | Yasemin Boston is very nice. How long have you been here?

6 | Sarah I've been living in Turkey for two months.

7 | Yasemin Nice. Are you studying or working?

8 | Sarah I'm a student.

Language Points

Formal vs Informal You

Like many other languages, Turkish has both a formal and informal way of saying you. The formal usage is
equivalent to the second person plural (all of you) and should be used whenever speaking to a superior or
someone that you are not acquainted with.

The informal you in Turkish is sen, while the formal (and plural) is siz. Of course, that's not the end of the story.
There are two version of the you suffix throughout the language that you must choose between based on the
amount of respect you want to show. For now, know that something that looks like -in (or -un, -ün, -ın) is the
informal you, while something that looks like -iniz (or -unuz, -ünüz, -ınız) is the formal you.

Sen gidiyorsun.
You are going.

Siz gidiyorsunuz.
You are going. (formal or plural)

Biliyor musun?
Do you know?

Biliyor musunuz?
 Do you know? (formal or plural)

Öğretmensin.
You are a teacher.

Öğretmensiniz.
You are a teacher (formal). Or, you are teachers.

Senin odan.
Your room.

Sizin odanız.
Your room. (formal or plural)

Plurality for Politeness

There are many places in Turkish where the plural is used to express a heightened level or respect or politeness.
These are usually set phrases - you can't just arbitrarily add -ler/-lar to words and expect them to sound like
proper polite expressions.

Merhabalar.
Hello. (very polite)

İyi geceler.
Good night. (Literally, good nights.)

İyi günler.
Good day.

İyi şanslar.
Good luck.

For Two Months

Usually, when expressing a length of time in Turkish, you simply say the amount time without any additional suffix
gymnastics. However, when saying an amount of time that is still continuing, you should use the suffix -dir
(appended to the time). This is especially relevant to today's dialog, since you will find yourself often needing to
answer questions in the form How long have you. . . -dir follows i-type vowel harmony.

İki yıl San Francisco'da yaşadım.

I lived in San Francisco for two years.
İki yıldır San Francisco'da yaşıyorum.
I have been living in San Francisco for two years.

Bir aydır biyoloji okuyorum.

I have been studying biology for one month.

Otuz dakikadır bekliyoruz!

We have been waiting for thirty minutes!

Otuz dakika bekledik!

We waited for thirty minutes!

Vocabulary

öğrenci student

okumak to read, to study

çalışmak to work

ne zamandan beri since when

ad name

adınız ne what is your name?

memnun oldum nice to meet you

nerelisiniz where are you from?

Amerikalı American

yaşamak to live
Review

1. Adınız ne?

a. Ben Aylin.

b. Amerikalıyım.

c. Öğrenciyim.

d. İki aydır İstanbul'da yaşıyorum.

2. What is the best answer to Nerelisiniz?

a. Alman.

b. Türküm.

c. İngiltereliyim

d. Amerika'dan geldim.

3. Which of the following are cases of the formal form of you? (pick all)

a. kedin

b. geliyorsun

c. öğrencisiniz

d. uyuyacaksın

e. cuzdanın

f. masanız

4. How do you say what is your name politely? (write)

5. How do you say very nice to meet you? (write)

 Answer Key

1. a
2. c
3. c f
4. Adınız ne , Sizin adınız ne
5. Çok memnun oldum , Memnun oldum , Tanıştığımıza çok memnun oldum , Ben çok memnun oldum , Ben
tanıştığımıza çok memnun oldum

More. . .

Visit turkishteatime.com/lesson/60/ to:

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Listen to full audio of the dialog.
See a word-by-word translation of the dialog.
See the entire dialog broken down into suffixes.
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