Lesson 50 © Turkish Tea Time

turkishteatime.com
Have You Ever Been To Izmir? Made with love.
Turkish people will frequently ask if you've ever seen the many beautiful
sites that Turkey has to offer. Join us today to learn how to say where
you've been, as well as the difference between the two basic types of
Turkish sentences.

Verb vs. verbless sentences. Noobie

Dialog

1 | Nilüfer İzmir’e hiç gittin mi?

2 | Demet Hayır. Hiç gitmedim. Güzel mi?

3 | Nilüfer İzmir harika. Hava güzel. Güzel kızlar da var.

4 | Demet Evet, duydum. Ben de gitmek istiyorum.

5 | Nilüfer Bir yazlığımız var orada. Yazlığımız deniz kenarında. Bizimle gel.

Dialog Translation

1 | Nilüfer Have you ever been to Izmir?

2 | Demet No. I've never gone. Is it nice?

3 | Nilüfer Izmir is great. The weather is beautiful. There's also beautiful women.

4 | Demet Yes, I've heard. I want to go.

 5 | Nilüfer We have a summer house there. Our summer house is on the sea. Come with us.

Language Points

Verb vs. Verbless Sentences

Turkish sentences can be divided into two broad categories: sentences with verbs and sentences without verbs.
Unlike in English, a Turkish sentence doesn't need a verb to be considered grammatical and complete.

Verb sentences are obvious and include any sentence that contains a verb. The verb almost always comes at the
very end of a Turkish sentence.

Verbless sentences are formed with attributive or existential adjectives and nouns; that is, when an adjective
comes after the noun it describes, there is an implied and grammatically complete connection between the
adjective and noun. In English, we would translate these verbless sentences using the verb to be: the bag is
green, he is a doctor, etc. When attributing to personal pronouns, the personal suffixes are used. Every adjective
and noun can fill this role when placed after the noun - there is no special class of words that can go after the
noun; they all can.

This technical explanation is probably confusing, but in practice, the distinction is simple and very quickly intuitive.
You probably already know some Turkish phrases that illustrate both.

Verbless Sentences

When an adjective or noun comes after the word it is modifying (and usually at the very end of the sentence), it is
attributive. That is, instead of saying the green bag, we are stating that the bag is green.

Yeşil çanta.
Green bag. (incomplete sentence)

Çanta yeşil.
The bag is green. (complete, verbless sentence with adjective)

Mehmet doktor.
Mehmet is a doctor. (complete, verbless sentence with noun)

Türkçe konuşmak kolay.

Speaking Turkish is easy.
 Bu lokum. Bu şekerli.
This is Turkish delight. It is sugary.

Kedi var. Köpek yok.

There is a cat. There is not a dog.

When attributing to personal pronouns (me, you, we, etc.), you must add the personal suffix to the attributing word.
We include the pronouns here for clarity, but they are usually left out.

Ben doktorum. Sen de doktorsun.

I am a doctor. You are also a doctor.

Biz çok yorgunumuz.

We are very tired.

Onlar sarhoşlar.
They are drunk.

Buradayım.
I am here.

Genç.
He/she is young. (remember, the third person singular suffix is nothing)

Verb Sentences

These are easy. In Turkish, the verb almost always comes at the very end of the sentence. A verb is any word that
is an infinitive form in the dictionary (-mek): gelmek, koşmak, almak, etc.

(Nerdy grammar point: words change their part-of-speech very fluidly in Turkish. A sentence can still be verbless
while using a verb as something other than a verb. Say what? Example below.)

Ben koşuyorum.
I am running.

O geldi.
He came.

Bir yeşil çanta aldık.

We bought a green bag.

Gitmem lazım.
I need to go. (NOT a verb sentence. Gitmem is a gerund - a verb acting like a noun. Lazım is an attributive
adjective here.)

Vocabulary

hiç ever

yazlık summer house

deniz sea

İzmir city in Turkey

hiç gittin mi have you ever gone?

hiç gitmedim I have never gone.

harika great

hava weather

kız woman

duydum I have heard.

Review

1. Izmir'e hiç gittin mi?

a. Evet, Izmir'e hiç gitmedim.

 b. Evet, Izmir'e gittim.

c. Hayır, Izmir'e gittim.

d. Evet, Izmir gittim.

2. Which of the following is a correct Turkish sentence?

a. Taksim'i gittim.

b. Cihangir gitmedim.

c. San Francisco'e gittim.

d. Türkiye'ye gitmedim.

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

a. Hava güzel.

b. Izmir'e gittim.

c. Buradayım.

d. Kedi orada.

e. Şimdi geliyorum.

f. Git!

4. Which of the following are Turkish verb sentences? (pick all)

a. Geldin mi?

b. Dün koşacak mısınız?

c. Adam.

d. İki tane alabilir miyim?

e. İki tane var.

f. Kalem yok.

5. Translate: I have never been to Bodrum. (write)

 Answer Key

1. b
2. d
3. a c d
4. a b d
5. Bodrum'a hiç gitmedim , Ben bodrum'a hiç gitmedim , Bodrum'a ben hiç gitmedim , Bodrum'a hiç gitmedim ben

More. . .

Visit turkishteatime.com/lesson/50/ to:

Listen to our full podcast lesson.

Listen to full audio of the dialog.
See a word-by-word translation of the dialog.
See the entire dialog broken down into suffixes.
Complete the review and unlock a fun Turkish video.
Ask questions.

© Turkish Tea Time | turkishteatime.com