Language Course

[Multiturquoise]

- Alphabet -

Turkish is written with a Latin alphabet and it consists of 29 letters.

A - like in English buck
B - same as in English
C - like in English edge
Ç - like in English leech
D - same as in English
E - like in English bed
F - same as in English
G - like in English go
Ğ - like in French rien, but softer than this sound
H - same as in English
I - like in Romanian gândac
İ - like in English sit
J - like in French visage
K - same as in English
L - same as in English
M - same as in English
N - same as in English
O - like in English tone
Ö - like in German Föhn
P - same as in English
R - like in English right
S - same as in English
Ş - like in English flash
T - same as in English
U - like in German tun
Ü - like in German über
V - same as in English
Y - like in English boy
Z - same as in English

Lesson 1

- Vowel Harmony -
Turkish employs vowel harmony.

a, ı, o and u are back vowels.
e, i, ö and ü are front vowels.
a, e, o and ö are low vowels.
ı, i, u and ü are high vowels.
a, e, ı and i are unrounded vowels.
o, ö, u and ü are rounded vowels.

f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h and p are hard consonants.
b, c, d, g, j, l, m, n, r, v, y and z are soft consonants.

The suffixes below all mean "is", but these suffixes, which are for third person are generally not used in normal Turkish, but they're used mostly in encyclopaedias.
-dır : If the last vowel of the word is an unrounded back vowel and the last consonant a soft consonant
-dir : If the last vowel of the word is an unrounded front vowel and the last consonant a soft consonant
-dur : If the last vowel of the word is an rounded back vowel and the last consonant a soft consonant
-dür : If the last vowel of the word is an rounded front vowel and the last consonant a soft consonant
-tır : If the last vowel of the word is an unrounded back vowel and the last consonant a hard consonant
-tir : If the last vowel of the word is an unrounded front vowel and the last consonant a hard consonant
-tur : If the last vowel of the word is an rounded back vowel and the last consonant a hard consonant
-tür : If the last vowel of the word is an rounded front vowel and the last consonant a hard consonant

- Grammar -
Turkish doesn't have a definite article, but an indefinite article (bir).

Vocabulary
adam - man
bir - a, an, one
bu - this
çirkin - ugly
dağ - mountain
güzel - beautiful
kadın - woman
kısa - short
masa - table
o it, he, she, that (yonder)
şu - that (near you)
uzun - long, tall (people)
yakışıklı - handsome
yüksek - high

Turkish is a SOV (subject-object-verb) language. So if you want to say "The man is handsome", you just say "Man handsome is".

Exercise 1
Translate the sentences below into English.
1. Masa kısa.
2. Bu bir kadın.
3. Şu bir adam.
4. Adam yakışıklı.
5. Kadın güzel.
6. O bir masa.

Exercise 2
Translate the sentences below into Turkish.
1. The table is long.
2. She is a woman.
3. That is a table.
4. The mountain is high.
5. The man is ugly.
6. The woman is short.

[Ektoras]

Nice lesson. Well done!

Sorry for my previous tone. I was a bit aggressive. My bad :-]

[Meera]

Hey Eibhlín! Great lesson! Please keep them up I would love to follow this.

[Multiturquoise]

Lesson 2

- Plurals -

In Turkish, it's pretty easy to form plurals. You just need to add a suffix.
-lar - if the last vowel of the word is a back vowel
-ler - if the last vowel of the word is a front vowel

adamlar - men
kadınlar - women
çocuklar - children
öküzler - oxen

Vocabulary
çocuk child
öküz ox

- Personal Suffixes -

Ben (I)

-ım if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is ı.
-im if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is i.
-um if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is u.
-üm if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is ü.
-yım if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is ı.
-yim if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is i.
-yum if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is u.
-yüm if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is ü.

Sen (You-singular)

-sın if the last vowel of the word is ı.
-sin if the last vowel of the word is i.
-sun if the last vowel of the word is u.
-sün if the last vowel of the word is ü.

O (He-She-It)
Look: Lesson 1

Biz (We)

-ız if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is ı.
-iz if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is i.
-uz if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is u.
-üz if the last letter is a consonant and the last vowel of the word is ü.
-yız if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is ı.
-yiz if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is i.
-yuz if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is u.
-yüz if the last letter is a vowel and the last vowel of the word is ü.

Siz (You-plural/polite)

-sınız if the last vowel of the word is ı.
-siniz if the last vowel of the word is i.
-sunuz if the last vowel of the word is u.
-sünüz if the last vowel of the word is ü.

Onlar (They)
Note: Those are only used if onlar refers to people and this usage is optional. You don't have to attach a suffix for this pronoun if onlar refers to people, but you may not add the suffix if onlar doesn't refer to people.

-lar if the last vowel of the word is a, ı, o or u.
-ler if the last vowel of the word is e, i, ö or ü.

Ben güzelim. I'm beautiful.
Ben yakışıklıyım. I'm handsome.
Sen özelsin. You're special.
Onlar çirkin(ler). They're ugly.

Vocabulary
özel - special

- Negation -

In Turkish, nouns and adjectives are negated with adding the word değil at the end of the sentence.

Adam kısa değil. - The man is not short.
Kadın çirkin değil. - The woman is not ugly.
O bir kız değil. - She is not a girl.
Şu bir masa değil. That is not a table.

Vocabulary
kız - girl

Personal suffixes are added when değil is used with pronouns.
değilim - I'm not
değilsin - You're not (singular)
değiliz - We're not
değilsiniz - You're not (plural/polite)
değiller - They're not (referring to people, optional)

[synni1]

Ğ - like in French rien, but softer than this sound

... or completely silent! (dağ, sağ)

It is mostly actually heard in words that have the same vowel before and after the ğ (yumuşak g): düğün (wedding, marriage) MUST be pronounced like "dü-yün", because in fast speech it may otherwise be confused with "dün" = yesterday.

Hence, I'm a bit reluctant to write how "the ğ is pronounced" since the actual pronunciation (save from the above exceptions) is actually only left to some regions where dialect is spoken. If you, having Turkish as foreign language, memorize a rule that "the ğ is always silent except for cases like düğün" you'll never go wrong.

[Linguist]

Love this lesson!
Keep doing that

[Hypocrisy]

Great contribution, indeed.

If only there were more enthusiasts to follow up on this.

[voron]

Yes, very nice course indeed, great job Eibhlín!

Come on people, let's do the exercises!
Exercise 1
Translate the sentences below into English.
1. Masa kısa. - The table is short.
2. Bu bir kadın. - This is a woman.
3. Şu bir adam. - That is a man.
4. Adam yakışıklı. - The man is handsome.
5. Kadın güzel. - The woman is beautiful.
6. O bir masa. - That is a table.

Exercise 2
Translate the sentences below into Turkish.
1. The table is long. - Masa uzun.
2. She is a woman. - O bir kadın.
3. That is a table. - Şu bir masa.
4. The mountain is high. - Dağ yüksek.
5. The man is ugly. - Adam çirkin.
6. The woman is short. - Kadın kısa.

[limoneneis]

Exercise 1
1. The table is short.
2. This is a woman.
3. That (near you) is a man.
4. The man is handsome.
5. The woman is beautiful.
6. That is a table.

Exercise 2
1. Masa uzun.
2. O bir kadın.
3. O bir masa.
4. Dağ yüksek.
5. Adam çirkin.
6. Kadın kısa.

[Hypocrisy]

Needless to say both of your answers are correct, voron and limoneneis!

[Multiturquoise]

Exercises

2.1 - Pluralise the words given below.
1. tahta (wood)
2. hayvan (animal)
3. bardak (glass)*
4. banka (bank)
5. ülke (country)

* : bardak means the glass that you use to drink.

2.2 - Translate the sentences into English.
1. Ben yakışıklıyım.
2. Sen güzelsin.
3. Ben bir kadın değilim.
4. Öküzler güzel değil.
5. Biz özel değiliz.

2.3 - Translate the sentences into Turkish.
1. The countries are beautiful.
2. The glasses are beautiful.
3. I am not ugly.
4. You are special.
5. We are not tall.

[Linguist]

2.1 - Pluralise the words given below.
1. tahta → tahtalar
2. hayvan → hayvanlar
3. bardak → bardaklar
4. banka → bankalar
5. ülke → ülkeler

2.2 - Translate the sentences into English.
1. Ben yakışıklıyım. → I’m handsome.
2. Sen güzelsin. → You’re beautiful.
3. Ben bir kadın değilim. → I’m not a women.
4. Öküzler güzel değil. → Oxen aren’t beatiful.
5. Biz özel değiliz. → We’re not special.

2.3 - Translate the sentences into Turkish.
1. The countries are beautiful. → Ülkeler güzel.
2. The glasses are beautiful. → Bardaklar güzel.
3. I am not ugly. → Ben çirkin değilim.
4. You are special. → Sen özelsin.
5. We are not tall. → Biz uzun değiliz.

[limoneneis]

I like these lessons! Now I want to learn Turkish

Exercise 2.1
1. tahtalar
2. hayvanlar
3. bardaklar
4. bankalar
5. ülkeler

2.2
1. I'm handsome.
2. You are beautiful.
3. I'm not a woman.
4. Oxen are not beautiful.
5. We are not special.

2.3
1. Ülkeler güzel.
2. Bardaklar güzel.
3. Ben çirkin değilim.
4. Sen özelsin.
5. Biz uzun değiliz.

[vijayjohn]

Sorry, I'm a month late.

Lesson 1
Exercise 1
1. The table is short.
2. This is a woman.
3. That (near you) is a man.
4. The man is handsome.
5. The woman is beautiful.
6. It/that (yonder) is a table.

Exercise 2
1. Masa uzun.
2. O bir kadın.
3. O bir masa.
4. Dağ yüksek.
5. Adam çirkin.
6. Kadın kısa.

Say, you're right! This is fun!

Lesson 2
Exercise 1
1. tahtalar
2. hayvanlar
3. bardaklar
4. bankalar
5. ülkeler

Exercise 2
1. I am handsome.
2. You are beautiful.
3. I am not a woman.
4. The oxen are not beautiful.
5. We are not special.

Exercise 3
1. Ülkeler güzel.
2. Bardaklar güzel.
3. Ben çirkin değilim.
4. Siz özelsiniz. OK, that's probably not what you were looking for. What you probably wanted was: Sen özelsin.
5. Biz uzun değiliz.

Now let's see how much I got right/wrong!
...Okay, I think I did pretty decently. But those lessons were easy. Give us more, give us more!

[Linguist]

Will this Course ever be continued?

[Multiturquoise]

Will this Course ever be continued?

Yes, but I would add more if I had more free time.

Lesson 3

- Introduction to Verbs -

Infinitives
In Turkish, you form the infinitive by adding one of these suffixes to the verb stem:

-mak for verbs whose last vowels are "a", "ı", "o" or "u"
-mek for verbs whose last vowels are "e", "i", "ö" or "ü"

Present Simple

Remember that there are thirteen verbs that don't follow the rules.

almak - alır
bilmek - bilir
bulmak - bulur
durmak - durur
gelmek - gelir
görmek - görür
kalmak - kalır
olmak - olur
ölmek - ölür
sanmak - sanır
vermek - verir
varmak - varır
vurmak - vurur

Most verbs follow the rules. Just remove the infinitive suffix and add the present simple suffix to the verb stem. (e.g. kaçmak -> kaçmak -> kaçar)
-(a)r for verbs whose last vowels are "a", "ı", "o" or "u"
-(e)r for verbs whose last vowels are "e", "i", "ö" or "ü"


Exercises

3.1 - Add the appropriate infinitive suffix to the verb stems given below.
1. geç- (pass, be valid)
2. kes- (cut)
3. söyle- (say, tell)
4. bas- (print, press)
5. çek- (pull)


That's it for now.

[Linguist]

Thank you for this new lesson!
What exactly is the difference between the forms "almak" and "alır" or kaçmak -> kaçar? I only get that the mak-forms are infinitive, but is kaçar a present simple verb without personal ending?

anyway, my solution:
1. geçmek
2. kesmek
3. söylemek
4. basmak
5. çekmek

[vijayjohn]

This looks like a pretty easy lesson.
1. geçmek
2. kesmek
3. söylemek
4. basmak
5. çekmek

What exactly is the difference between the forms "almak" and "alır" or kaçmak -> kaçar? I only get that the mak-forms are infinitive, but is kaçar a present simple verb without personal ending?

The forms ending in r are the present tense forms of the verb when the subject is third person singular, so e.g. alır means 'he/she/it takes' (although I think it can also mean 'he/she/it will take').