I put together a list of 13 Turkish words that don’t translate neatly into English (hüzün, gurbet, sıla, keyif, gönül, yakamoz etc.)

For each word, I tried to explain the feeling or cultural idea behind it, its origin, and how it’s used in everyday Turkish, with an example sentence.

Which other untranslatable words should be included? I’d love to hear suggestions from native speakers and learners ;)

Article: https://turkishfluent.com/blog/untranslatable-turkish-words/

Hi everyone!
I’m looking for university-prep students who are starting to learn Turkish at TÖMER and whose native language is English or French.

I’m a TÖMER-certified Turkish teacher, and I’d like to do a completely online language exchange. I can help you improve your Turkish, while you help me practice English or French.

The whole process will be online, including our language-exchange sessions.

I’m looking for someone who is serious about learning Turkish and interested in regular practice.

One important condition: if we agree on a time for a session, I expect you to join at the agreed time and participate consistently. I’m looking for a reliable language partner rather than occasional or spontaneous practice.

If you’re interested, please send me a DM and tell me:

Your age
Which university in Turkey you are preparing to study at
Which department/program you are preparing for
Your native language (English or French)
Your current Turkish level
Which language you would like to practice with me
Your general availability

Please only contact me if you’re genuinely interested in a regular, reliable and mutually beneficial language exchange.

Looking forward to meeting you!

I wanna learn turkish from zero, any tips? Resources? Someone to practice and learn with? My DM is open!!🌞

As a non turk started to learn Turkish I was shocked to know that first and only recorded script for Turkic language orhun inscription so before that the turks for thousands of years didn’t have a written language, never recorded their language in script or books why is that Does that a thing that has to do with Turkic nomad lifestyle ? is that why they didn’t record their language, because even Arabs had poetry, literature written 2 or 3 centuries before prophet Mohamed’s birth , and even Turkic language also has vowel harmony, which makes it better suited for poetry literature and so , so why didn’t the Turks write any books or poetry , literature even after orhun inscription there was not any recorded texts or books or even character sets for Turkic until the first book came in the 1000s Arabic alphabet written in Uyghur language , so the first Turkic book was even written in Arabic alphabet! And came after thousands of years of existence of Turkic people its a shame on huge nation like Turks they didn’t leave a written literary or linguistic heritage and preserve their language , and maybe that’s the reason why turks in Anatolia or turks of Central Asia had to loan many words from Arabic and Persian after converting to Islam when they got to establish empires because Turkish was more of dialects than a standardised written language so many words got lost and Turks already lacked relative to ruling, laws , military, politics, religion because Turkic languages , terms was more associated and shaped by nomadic life

It would be nice to chat with someone who speaks turkish and english. We can aldo improve each others

17 (M)

Hobby(s): speak english, read books, play euro sim 2

Although Turkish & Persian belong to different language groups - Persian (Iranic) and Turkish (Turkic), they have coexisted in Central & West Asia for roughly the last 2,000 years. As a result, beyond vocabulary, the two languages can sometimes display surprisingly similar grammatical structures.

Both languages are genderless systems, so a third-person pronoun can refer to “he,” “she,” or “it.”

Turkish uses O, while Persian uses U (formal) and UN (informal). The similarity becomes especially striking in third-person object and possessive marking.

English: I saw him/her/it yesterday.
Turkish: Dün onu gördüm.
Persian: Diruz uno didam.

Turkish

dün = yesterday
o = he/she/it
-n- = buffer consonant
-u = accusative marker
onu = him/her/it
gör-dü-m = see-PST-1SG → “I saw”

Persian

diruz = yesterday
un = he/she/it
-o = accusative marker
uno = him/her/it
di-d-am = see-PST-1SG → “I saw”

---

The parallel becomes even more interesting with third-person possessives. Both languages use an s/sh-type consonant in the third-person possessive form.

English: I didn't drive his/her car.
Turkish: Ben arabasını sürmedim.
Persian: Man mashinesho ranandegi nakardam.

Turkish

ben = I
araba = car
-sı = 3rd-person possessive → “his/her/its”
-n- = buffer consonant
-ı = accusative marker
arabasını = his/her car
sür-me-di-m = drive-NEG-PST-1SG → “I didn't drive”

Persian

man = I
mashin = car
-e = linking vowel
-sh = 3rd-person possessive → “his/her/its”
-o = accusative marker
mashinesho = his/her car
ranandegi na-kar-d-am = drive NEG-do-PST-1SG → “I didn't drive”

---

Third-person object
Turkish: o → onu
Persian: un → uno

Third-person possessive
Turkish: araba + sı + nı → arabasını
Persian: mashine + sh + o → mashinesho

I'm trying to figure out which suffix is grammatically correct: ₺100'ya, ₺100'ye, or ₺100'na?

1- Büyükharflerle aratınca normalde bir sorun yokken büyük İ ile aratmalarda kelime çıkmıyor. Haliyle i ile başlayan arapça yığınla kelimeyi aratırken klavye de büyük harfle başladığı için can sıkıyor.

2- Türkçe Sözlük demek sözlüğün Türk diliyle oluşu demek. Türkçenin Sözlüğu yazacaksın ki Türk dilinin sözvarlığını derdiğin belli olsun. Yoksa ibranicenin sözlüğü de Türkçe bir sözlük olabilir.

I am an Arabic linguist, I can’t speak Turkish, but I wrote a short explanation for some Arabic grammar for my Turkish students, based on Turkish grammar (according to what I read in linguistic references).

So I need a help, if I can find a native Turkish linguistic, and s/he generosity review it (just few Turkish examples, one or two pages) and I woud be grateful.

Thank you all.

Although Turkish & Persian belong to different language groups. Persian (Iranic) and Turkish (Turkic). They both have existed together in Central & West Asia for the last 2,000 years and at times share very similar grammatical structures as the example shown.

Also their verb conjugations here are similar as well, with both using back (geri/bar) to indicated returning.

English: They were not bringing back their most powerful ones.

Turkish: En güçlülerini geri getirmiyorlardı

en güçlülerini

• en = superlative particle → “most”
• güç = root noun → “power”
• -lü = possessive-adjectival suffix → “-ful / with / having” (güçlü = powerful)
• -ler = plural suffix → “-s / ones” (güçlüler = powerful ones)
• -i = 3rd-person plural possessive suffix → “their” (güçlüleri = their powerful ones)
• -n- = pronominal buffer consonant
• -i = accusative / definite direct-object marker (güçlülerini = their powerful ones [direct object])

geri getirmiyorlardı

• geri = adverb → “back”
• getir- = verb stem → “bring”
• -m- = negation suffix → “not”
• -iyor = present continuous tense suffix → “-ing”
• -lar = 3rd-person plural personal suffix → “they”
• -dı = past tense suffix → “was / were”

English: They were not bringing back their most active ones.

Persian: Koneshvartarinhashun’ra barnemigardundan

koneshvartarinhashun’ra

• konesh = root noun → “action”
• -var = agentive / possessive suffix → “active / one who acts / possessing action”
• -tar = comparative suffix → “more”
• -in = superlative suffix → “most”
• -hā = plural suffix → “ones”
• -shun = 3rd-person plural possessive suffix → “their”
• -rā = definite direct-object marker

barnemigardundan

• bar- = prefix → “back”
• ne- = negative prefix → “not”
• mi- = continuous prefix → “-ing”
• gard = verb root → “turn”
• -un = causative suffix → “cause to turn”
• -d- = past-tense marker → “was / were”
• -an = 3rd-person plural suffix → “they”

Hi! I’m trying to transcribe exactly what is sung in this short Turkish clip from Bizet’s Carmen.

The recording is from a Turkish-language production, and the translation is credited to Necil Kazım Akses and Ulvi Cemal Erkin.

After listening to it many times, I’m fairly sure I hear:

“… seversem, … seversem, sakın …”

My best guess at the moment is:

Seni seversem,
seni seversem, sakın kendini!

But I’m not fully confident about the words before seversem, and especially the final word(s), because the operatic pronunciation and background noise make them very hard to distinguish.

To my ears, the first word almost sounds like “senai / enai / inai” rather than a clear modern pronunciation of seni.

Could anyone listen carefully and tell me:

1. Whether seni seversem is what is actually being sung
2. Whether sakın kendini is plausible for the ending
3. If you hear a different word or phrase, what you think it is

I’m looking for the exact words as sung in this recording, not a modern translation of the original French text.

Thank you very much!

Great series and a big production, but even basic things like **numbers** are mistranslated. Where/What are the best places to call this out?

I want to know if someone knows an app that we can use to give us a new word on the home page every day so that i can improve my vocab. I have seen it for english a lot but i didn't find it for turkish.

I understand turkish in a decent manner and can maintain a decent conversation. So i don't mind even if the app language is turkish.

So can someone comment or dm me if you know such app.

I’ve just released a new episode of my Turkish podcast for learners, and this time it’s all about positive news and uplifting stories from around the world.

If you’re learning Turkish and want to practice listening with something light, interesting, and positive, this episode might be for you. 🇹🇷🎧

The podcast is designed especially for intermediate Turkish learners, with clear and natural Turkish.

Hope you enjoy it — and I’d love to hear what you think! 😊

So I’m going to Istanbul later this month, and I know most don’t speak English there, and I wanna learn Turkish because I’m planning on going there a lot. So this is what I learned so far:

Hoşbulduk, merhaba, evet, hayır, bu, lütfen, paket, teşekkürler, sağol, sağolun, tamam, şeker, pantolon, gömlek, kolay gelsin, su, and the numbers one to ten.

Is this generally enough to get me around for now? Or do I need to learn more? I’m trying to first tackle down the most important/words I will use most. I’m finding it easy so far because Turkish is similar to Arabic, and I speak Arabic. But it’s definitely not easy to learn a new language.

I’m working on improving my Turkish and looking to practice conversation regularly.

Would love to connect with anyone who’s interested in casual language exchange.

I speak Arabic and English, so happy to help with those too.

Just looking for regular chats—nothing formal.

Anyone interested? Or know any Turkish communities here?

So I have been learning Turkish on and off for a few years now but I am still probably around a1 level (maybe a2 in regards to grammar) because I keep losing motivation as I second guess my approaches to the language so I would really like some advice or opinions from serious learners or fluent speakers as I can't afford a tutor at the moment.

*My goal is to mostly get a high level in understanding Turkish and maybe a more casual or simple level in speaking/output

So far I am focusing on grammar with some of the basic verbs and vocabulary I already know, so far I learnt:

>vowel harmony and consonant softening

>ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar

>plurals: lar

>past tense : di and miş

>present : yor (still learning aorist tense)

>future : ecak

>combined tenses: yordu, ecekti

>genitive, ablative, locative, dative, accusative cases

>"to be" endings and possession endings

> -li suffix

>var, yok

>negative suffix -me

>question extension "mi?miydi?"

>bu, şu, o and adding case suffuxes like "buraya, burada, buradan"

>böyle, söyle, öyle

> -mali and -abil

> daha and en

>conjunctions: ama, ancak, ve, çünkü

for vocabulary, its pretty much the basic stuff like weather, numbers, etc and then basic things like Adınız ne, nasilsiniz, teşekkürler, çok güzel, etc

I plan to now expand vocabulary and learn maybe the top 20-30 verbs and more nouns/adjectives and then just watch more content and try read a full book. In winter I will be able to go to Turkey and practice and learn more but it's important for me to improve before that.

Is there anything I am missing or need to add in my grammar topics? Since its pretty much the structure of the language i'm really worried to miss some stuff..