ancak - only, but

This is a Turkish word that can make you confused as it has more than one meaning.
It has 5 common different uses, let's see all of them with the help of sample sentences.

1) Only

Bu problemi ancak sen çözebilirsin.
Only you can solve this problem.

Ancak (eğer) sen de gidersen gelirim.
I come if only you also go.

Bu parfümü ancak şehirde bulabilirsin.
You can find this perfume only in the city.

Ancak bu şartlarda sizinle çalışabilirim.
I can work with you only under these circumstances.

You can replace it with "sadece".

2) Earliest - At the earliest possible time

Ancak üç saat sonra orada olabilirim.
I can be there in three hours earliest.

Bu inşaat ancak iki yılda biter.
This construction finishes in two years earliest.

You can replace it with "en erken".

3) However, but

Türkçe'yi seviyorum ama şu sıralar öğrenmek için çok vaktim yok.
I like Turkish but at the moment I do not much time to learn it.

Elinden geleni yaptı ancak sonucu değiştiremedi.
He did his best but could not have changed the result.

Ancak ben bu şartlarda burada çalışamam.
But under these circumstances I can not work here.

You can replace it with "ama".

4) Just

Ancak gelebildik, trafik çok yoğundu.
We have just come, there was traffic.

Ödevimi ancak bitirebildim. Çok zordu, iki saat sürdü.
I could have finished my homework just now. It was so hard, took two hours.

It means that, the speaker did the best possible but there were some circumstances that made it harder than normal and it took much time out of the speaker's control.

5) ancak bu kadar: as the best, as a phrase, it tells about the most possible amount and these sentences usually start with "bir insan" as you see in the examples.

Bir insan ancak bu kadar cimri olabilir.
One can not be more frugal.

Bir insan ancak bu kadar iyi kalpli olabilir.
One can not be more goodhearted.

Ancak bu kadar taşıyabildim.
I could have carried only this much.
Although we use the word only, it means that it was the best that the speaker could have done.

Konuşuyorum or Biliyorum?

In Turkish when you want to say that "you speak a language" you do not use the Turkish synonym of the English verb to speak but to know. It is acceptable but the Turkish verb bilmek / to know is more accurate to use in this context.

Let's have a look at these Turkish sentences and their literal English translations.

Ben Türkçe biliyorum. I speak Turkish. 

Ben İngilizce ve biraz (da) Türkçe biliyorum. I speak English and a little Turkish. 

Ben Almanca bilmiyorum. I do not speak German.

Ben Türkçe konuşuyorum. I am speaking Turkish.

This sentence means that at the current moment I am speaking Turkish. 

If you forget and say "konuşuyorum" instead of "biliyorum", you can be sure that everyone will understand that you want to say "you speak". It is not a big mistake at all. But you have a chance to be more impressive :) if you remember and use the more accurate verb which is "bilmek".

When to use "üzere"

Today we will put a spot on the Turkish word üzere which is one of the most common Turkish words.

1) Tells a reason when it comes after mek/mak form of the verb. In this kind of sentences, we can replace the word üzere with için.

examples

gitmek üzere/için

bilmek üzere

sample sentences

Paris'e gitmek üzere yola çıktı.

He left to go to Paris.

Ders çalışmak üzere odasına gitti.

He went to his room to study.

Bu konuda daha ayrıntılı konuşmak üzere sizi yarın ofisimde bekliyorum.

I am calling you to my office (I am waiting for you in my office) to talk about this topic in more detail.

2) Tells about the time - about, very soon

Again we use them with mek/mak verb form but this time it just tells that the verb will happen very soon.

Sample Sentences

Tren kalkmak üzere, çabuk ol, geç kalacağız!

The train is about to departure, hurry up, we will be late! (The train will leave very soon)

Şimdi evden çıkmak üzereyim, beni daha sonra arar mısın?

I am about to leave the house right now, can you call me later?

Öğrenciler sınıfa girmek üzere(ler) ama öğretmen hala gelmedi.

The students are about to enter the classroom but the teacher has not come yet.

if we conjugate for all subjects; üzeereyim, üzeresin, üzere, üzereyiz, üzeresiniz, üzereler

3) Especially with these three verbs and their passive voices - as you see..

Gördüğün üzere/gibi, görüldüğü üzere

Bildiğin üzere, bilindiği üzere

Anladığın üzere, Anlaşıldığı üzere

(The word üzere can be replaced with gibi; gördüğün gibi, üzere is more formal)

(You can read how to build that sentences article to learn about -dığı form. They can change upon the personal pronoun such as bildiğim, bildiği, bilidiğimiz and so on. And for the future tense they change the form; göreceğin, anlayacağımız, anlaşılacağı. Maybe the grammar about this -dığı/-acağı seems a bit complıcated but after you read that article, you will see that it is simpler than it seems.)

It has more uses in formal language than daily Turkish. When you listen to the news or read a newspaper, you would absolutely hear this word. Let's see how to use it.

It is the synonym of the English word "as" in this type of sentences.

examples

as you see

as we know

as you understand

sample sentences

Gördüğün üzere bu oda çok küçük, bu yüzden televizyonu diğer odaya koymalıyız.

As you see this room is so small, so/for this reason we should place the TV in the orher room.

Bu konuşmadan da daha iyi anladığımız üzere, o bize yardım etmeyecek.

As we understand from this talk (even) better, he will not help us.

Bu konuşmadan anlaşılacağı/anlaşıldığı üzere, o bize yardım etmek istemiyor.

As it can be/is understood from this talk, he does not want to to help us.

Bildiğiniz üzere bu balıklar serin sularda yaşarlar.

As you know, these fishes live in the cold water.

Örneklerden de anlayacağınız üzere, bu kural birden farklı yolla uygulanabilir.

As you may also see from the examples, this rule can be applied with more than one method/way.

Örneklerden de anlaşılacağı üzere, bu soruyu iki farklı yolla çözmek mümkün.

As it can be/is understood from the examples, it is possible to solve this question with two methods/ways.

Nazar boncuğu - Evil eye

What is Evil's Eye? How can we protect ourselves from them? And what are the Turkish phrases about it? 

Today we will learn about that cute small blue amulet. That is one of the common thıngs that you should take it to home if you visit Turkey. You can attach it to your clothes, hang on the wall or even use it as a key chain. But why? 

Welcome to Turkish Culture

You study Turkish very well. Maşallah to you. Now you need a "nazar boncuğu/protection amulet". Only it can protect you from the people that jealous at you. Because this amulet will remind the people to say Maşallah and they will send their bad energy away from you if they have any, and they will say;

nazar değmesin: may you be protected from the evil eye, may Allah protect you from the evil eye. 

Maşallah, nazar değmesin (inşallah): That's the goods, may you be be protected from the evil eye. 

Or if some people forget to say one of those, other people remind them by saying;

Maşallah de (de-we can add another de whıch means smthng like "and so") , nazar değmesin.: Say Maşallah so he/she can be protected from the evil eye.

We say maşallah to show we liked something or appreciated someone we saw and we do not have any jealousy or bad,evil wish inside. Our energy should not cause any trouble for them.

And so people buy "nazar boncuğu" to remind people to say "Maşallah", especially for new born babies or new bought stuff like car. You can see it over the doors of restaurants or other shops, too. It has such a nice story to talk about and give a brief information about Turkish Culture. This is why I wanted to write about this. Hope you enjoyed!

recharge - şarj etmek

recharge one's phone: telefonu şarj etmek
--> You can add personal suffixes to telefon.
I am recharging my phone. Telefonumu şarj ediyorum.
Telefonunu şarj ettin mi? Did you recharge your phone?

-->The use of personal suffixes is more common but saying just telefonu also works for all subjects.

recharge one's phone card: telefona kontör/kredi yüklemek
Telefonuma kontör yükledim. I topped up my account.
Same personal suffix rule applies also here. Better with it, but wouldnt hurt without it.
Telefona kontör yükledim. Telefona kredi yükledim. Telefona kredi aldım. All mean the same.

my phone card is out of credit: Kontörüm yok/bitti. I dont have credit/My credit has finished.
Telefonumda kontör kalmadı. No credit has left in my phone.
They all mean same.


download

Thanks to you & Because of you

Today we will learn to say thanks to you both in positive and negative terms.

1) How to say "thanks to you" and show our appreciation in Turkish. 

After reading this page, you will have more words to say when you want to thank someone.  

Sayende means thanks to you, but for the other personal pronouns it changes. Because we add the genitive suffixes. 

The formula is: "saye + genitive suffix + de"

benim sayemde

senin sayende

onun sayesinde

bizim sayemizde

sizin sayenizde

onların sayelerinde/sayesinde 

*It is okay to omit the personal pronoun but I recommend you to use, it will sound better and more polite.

examples

Burada çalışmaya senin sayende başladım. Sen bana söylemeseydin, benim o iş ilanından haberim olmazdı. (I started to work here thanks to you, if you did not tell me, I would not be aware of that job ad.)

Canları çok sıkkındı ama ben komik hikayeler anlattım ve benim sayemde güldüler biraz. (They were very bothered but I told them funny stories and they luaghed a little bit thanks to me.)

*When you do not use a personal pronoun but another person orobject title like mother, house, school, teacher, it is acceptable not to add the gentive suffix to those words. And as they take the same suffix with the third singular or plural subject, you always use the word sayesinde(singular) or sayelerinde(plural) with them. And it is okay to use sayesinde with the plural nouns like we usually skip the plural suffixes in daily Turkish.

Annem(in) sayesinde okumaya erken başladım. Thanks to my mother, I started to read early (in early ages).

Yardımseverler(in) sayesinde okul için gerekli parayı toplamayı başardık. (Thanks to the charitable people, we succeded in collecting the money that is needed for the school.

Bu kitap/kitabın sayesinde çok sayıda yeni kelime öğrendim. Thanks to this book, I learned many new words.

2) What if something negative happened and you need to blame someone?

When something bad happened and you think that someone, something or a group of people is responsible for that, then you say "becuase of you = senin yüzünden"

Yüz means face, (well it is such an interesting word that means 4 different things. The other three are: hundred, and the imperative forms of the verbs to swim and to skin out) and it is like the face of the guilty person refers directly to that person.

benim yüzümden

senin yüzünden

onun yüzünden

bizim yüzümüzden

sizin yüzünüzden

onların yüzünden (we always use the singular for the third plural subject, too)

As you see everything is same with "saye" formula. We add the genitive suffixes that's all.

examples

Senin yüzünden işe geç kaldım. I became late for work because of you.

*Except using the personal pronouns that I wrote above,we usually use the nouns without the suffixes with the word yüzünden.

Bir şarkı yüzünden kavga mı ettiniz? Did you argue because of a song?

Bu tembel adamlar yüzünden evin tamiri 3 ay sürdü. The repair of house took 3 months because of these lazy men.

Kötü hava şartları yüzünden tüm uçuşlar iptal edildi. Because of the bad weather conditions, all the flights have been canceled.

Other Notes

*Likewise, when there is a negative reason we usually use the phrase "bu yüzden"(=for this reason), but if the reason is positive we say bu sebeple/bu nedenle.

Are we okay so far? Then the let's learn the today's secret Turkish lesson !

*If you say sayende (or sayemizde,..sayelerinde) although something negative happened, then it sounds sarcastic. You should know that if you say this in a negative situation, your friend can get angry. You take all the responsibility.

Hope you liked and found it simple to learn. Have a nice day!

(And if you want to speak Turkish, don't forget to join Turkish Learners on Google Plus. Soon we will start to arrange hangouts and speak Turkish together!)

Word Order in Turkish

Today we will learn about the word order in Turkish.

The usual Turkish word order is

Subject + Complements + Predicate (Özne + Tümleçler + Yüklem)

In case you are not familiar with those terms;

Subject: Who performs the action (I, you, cat, people etc.)

Complements: The words that tell about the place, time or the adverbs which describes the way the action/verb is done.

Predicate: The verb with the tense and personal suffixes. 

Let's start with the most simple rule:

When making negative sentences

When making negative sentences in Turkish, learners sometimes use the positive verb form. But like in Spanish, we love negation in Turkish.
Let's say, you want to say; Nobody believes them.
Then in Turkish we say; Kimse onlara inanmıyor.
As you see we did not only use the word "kimse" as nobody but we also "inanmıyor" is negative!

Let's read more examples;
I do not anything. Hiçbir şey istemiyorum.
She did not buy anything. Hiçbir şey satın almadı.
You are not going to anywhere. Hiçbir yere gitmiyorsun.

So please keep in mind that, no matter which and how many negative words you use other than the verb, if you will say something negative and not sarcastic at all :) use the negative verb, too.

But can't we say it at all? Of course you can!
Let's say you forgot this lesson and said
Noboy went. "Kimse gitti". instead of "Kimse gitmedi."

Then it sounds like a joke if you say such a sentence as a reply to this question
Who went there?
Cause you really say that someone went, but just noone...

Two verbs in one sentence

In Turkish, when you have two verbs in the same sentence, you are free to not conjugate the first one. You use a suffix ıp/ip/up/üp instead of adding the tense and personal suffixes.

Dışarı çıkıp temiz hava aldım. Dışarı çıktım ve temiz hava aldım.

I went out and took fresh air.

I did them in a row and as I used -ıp, I do not need to say "ve sonra"(and then) after the first verb. -ıp do the job and sound like I did the fırst thing to do the second.

Televizyon izleyip müzik dinleyeceğim. Televizyon izleyeceğim ve müzik dinleyeceğim.

I will watch TV and listen to music.

This is future tense, maybe you do something else between, it does not necssarily mean they have a time relationship. -ip just replaced the word "ve"(and).

Yemek yiyip konuşuyorlar. Yemek yiyorlar ve konuşuyorlar.

They are eating dinner and talking. 

As this is present continuous, we can guess/think that they do these two at the same time. So you do not need to say "aynı anda/aynı zamanda"(at the same time)

So, what is the formula? 

take the verb stem

look at the last vowel

if it is a,ı then use ıp yap-mak ,yap, a --> yapıp yapmak: to do

e,i --> ip gidip gitmek: to go

o,u --> up sorup sormak: to ask

ö,ü --> üp görüp görmek: to see

And if your verb stem ends with a vowel, then add y also. susa-mak, susa, a --> susayıp susamak: to get thursty 

I hope that you defeated one more suffix and now it is less likely for you to get confused with the verb forms when you see them. Have a nice day!

Present Tense Vs. Can

Sometimes it is okay to use present tense over 'can' in Turkish. They mean just the same.

for example;

*How can you believe this?

can be translated in more than one way.
Buna nasıl inanabilirsin? is 'one to one' translation.
You can also say Buna nasıl inanırsın?/How do you believe this? without using can/-ebilmek .
Using the continuous present is also okay - inanabiliyorsun/inanıyorsun

*When you ask for someone to do something, again it is possible to skip -ebilmek
For example;
Kapıyı açar mısın? Kapıyı açabilir misin?
The second one-with can/ebilmek sounds a little bit more polite but they mean exactly the same.

*Let's say you share your near future plans;
Bugün işe gidebilirim. Today I can go to work.
Bugün işe giderim sanırım/sanıyorum
You can add the word 'sanırım' (I guess, I assume) to your present tense sentence to make it sound less certain, or in Turkish we say 'açık bir kapı bırakmak' . You can leave an open door for uncertanity.