neden - why

We continue with learning the most common Turkish words. Today's word is "neden" which is the 35th most common word in Turkish Language. It looks like we like to question what's happening around, a little bit more than the other societies.

Maybe you also remember, there was a tale "Little Red Riding Hood". In the Turkish version of that tale, the little girl was asking the wolf those four famous questions;

Büyükanne, neden senin sesin böyle kalın?
Grandma, why is your voice such deep?
Büyükanne, neden gözlerin bu kadar büyük?
Grandma, why your eyes are that big?
Büyükanne, neden ellerin böyle büyük?
Grandma, why are your hands such big?
Büyükanne, neden ağzın bu kadar büyük?
Grandma, why is your mouth such big?!

The funny thing is that, in the original story, the little girl just get surprised, she does not ask questions but say;
What a deep voice you have! Goodness, what big eyes you have!  And what big hands you have! What a big mouth you have! 


As you see, it is not surprising that the word neden comes very first in the Turkish common words list. And for you to recognize; there are also two other words that have the exactly same meaning  neden /niçin  /niye


Now, let's see some other simple examples;
Neden Türkçe öğreniyorsun? Why are you learning Turkish?
Neden çalışmıyorsun? Why don't you work/study?
Neden benle konuşmuyorsun? Why don't you talk to me?
Neden bugün evdesin? Why are you at home today?
Neden okula gelmedi? Why didnt he come to the school?
Neden ağlıyorsun? Why are you crying?

Neden beni aramadın? Why haven't you called me?
Neden olmasın? Why not?

  Rafet El Roman - Sorma neden (Don't ask me why)