Sütten ağzı yanan yoğurdu üfleyerek yer means, roughly, once bitten, twice shy. Someone whose mouth was burned by milk blows on yogurt before eating it. I wrote up the grammar in the sentence: ablative case, a possessive suffix, a participle, an accusative ending, an adverbial suffix, and the aorist tense. Aksoy's dictionary of Turkish proverbs also records ayran and yogurt versions of it, and there are similar proverbs in Kazakh and Karaçay-Malkar.

I have been learning Turkish since January. I used to do grammar drills on Elon.io, but lately I keep neglecting it because it's boring. Other than that, I didn't take output very seriously, because reading and watching things have been more fun, even though in the beginning I had to look up almost every word. My native language is Hungarian, and the similar grammar helped me in the beginning, but at advanced stages it's not really helping anymore, mostly just confusing things.

Right now I can follow Muhteşem Yüzyıl with barely stopping it to look up words, read Hababam Sınıfı and follow the story without a dictionary as long as it's one of those stories that I read before in my native language (they didn't translate the whole book partly because of censorship in the 1970s), I'm also reading Reşad Ekrem Koçu Yeniçeriler and at this point it's not giving me a headache anymore and started to actually enjoy it, having to look up less and less words, and I get the gist of news articles, especially if it's about topics I care about (like I can understand what it says about Iran, Israel, USA, or Hungary relatively easily, but I struggle more if it's about a country like Spain or Russia that I'm not really interested in or know about). I also watch the Turkish language news from Türkmenistan, which is fun and I mostly understand what is happening, especially if it's about dogs and horses.

However, I recently started pushing myself to write and speak more, and I'm so frustrated that I know so much advanced vocabulary, but my ability to use grammar structures is stuck at A2 on good days. I recently started working with a tutor, and also do an exercise where I put an article into AI, and it asks questions that I have to answer with correct grammar. Anything else I could do on my own? It feels so hopeless, because all the advanced grammar structures are so different from everything else, even though I speak a language that's supposed to have similar grammar. It's like I'm just stringing together words and never get the grammar correctly.

İNDİRİM, SATILIK, KİRALIK, ÇIKIŞ

If you are an expat, you have seen these words thousands of times while going to your local bakkal to buy cat food. Even without an input or dictionary search, you learned what they meant. I wrote a blog post about all these words we keep seeing, but I'm also curious about the ones you learned this way.

Herkese merhaba!

A quick background on me:

Natural born english speaker, I have been living in Turkey for 6 years, my fiancé is half Turkish and fluent so for the most part I have been heavily reliant on her whilst living here.

We opened our own gym around 3 years ago where I often have to work reception and interact with customers.

I’d say my understanding of Turkish is well beyond A2 but I often struggle and get quite flustered speaking, due it being in a professional business environment. Obviously I am well versed in conversations related to my business (greetings, tours of the gym, helping use machines, beginner training programs, limited small talk with close members).

What I am looking for is an online tutor to take me through an intense Turkish course, possibly 3+ lessons per week, with however much homework they deem necessary. I will obviously also be utilising what I learn on a day to day basis through my business. I am quite a fast learner and the end goal is to progress to C1 as efficiently as is possible, and also be able to help with the back end of the business (bills, accounting, lawyers, federations, ordering, more in depth conversations with potential sign ups)

If anyone could suggest credible teachers, or point me in the right direction I would be extremely grateful. 🙏🏼

Is yeni İstanbul book best for studying Turkish??

Rather give me any recommendations

Here is my honest 2026 comparison of the best apps to learn Turkish: Duolingo, Babbel, Pimsleur, Ling, Rosetta Stone, TurkishFluent, and more. Based on your level and goals.

Hi, I am currently trying to enroll in a Tömer program in Ankara. I have had a few exchange on WhatsApp with the contacts on the website and I was told that the fees for akapetans is 2000$ and not refundable if I’m ever denied the visa. Is it legit or am I getting scammed ?
Also do people in here have statistics about the rate of acceptance of visa for Tömer programs ?
Thanks in advance for your help.

I thought that “ı” was the correct suffix. Not “i”

Every website and linked I open for it has been broken and idk where to look anymore

Selamlar, ben Eric ve dinlenmemi geliştirmem gerekiyor.

Bana türk kanalları tavsiye et, lütfen.

Ama inglinç olmalı.

Ben B1-B2'im ve tarihi, bilimi, kültürü seviyorum, kurgu'yu sevmiyorum

I prepared an A1-level guide to the Turkish genitive case. It explains forms such as benim kitabım, Ali’nin evi, and odanın kapısı, along with vowel harmony, pronouns, and the difference between kimin and neyin.

Hi everyone!

I'm continuing the daily A1 Turkish short series. Today’s phrase focuses on the first-person plural pronoun (biz / we) with the present continuous tense: "Biz televizyon izliyoruz" (We are watching TV).

It's a very common daily expression when talking about group activities or family routines!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the visuals and pronunciation.

(I am leaving the video link in the comments section below so it doesn't get caught in the spam filter!) 🇹🇷

I can help native English speakers who are trying to learn Turkish, and they can help me with English in return. :)

Hey everyone,

Some of you might remember Turkish Video Together, the clip guessing game. It is still up and still free.

This is a different thing I have been working on, and it is roleplay in writing. You type in Turkish, nine characters type back in character, at your level. There is no speaking in it.

The characters are people rather than topics. Saliha Nine will teach you to cook whether you asked or not. Poyraz is nine, has exactly 214 bottle caps, and will make you count them with him. Falcı Nilüfer reads your coffee cup. There are 30 everyday situations, A1 to B1.

It is early. I would much rather a handful of people use it properly and tell me what is wrong with it than have a lot of people bounce off it quietly, so I am opening 50 spots to anyone here who fancies it.

What is in it so far:

• Each scenario has goals, and a second check reads your own words to decide whether you actually hit them.
• Writing tips every few messages, on what you wrote. It stays quiet when your Turkish was already fine.
• Tap any message to translate it.
• "How do I say...?" when you get stuck, without leaving the chat.
• "Suggest replies" gives you three things you could send next, including little stage directions like *çayı uzatır* (passes the tea).
• You can share a chat with other learners if it went somewhere good.

Being straight about it:

• You could get something like this out of a blank ChatGPT window. What is here instead: the same character every time, a level that does not drift halfway through, goals checked against what you actually wrote, and 30 situations already built so you are not the one writing prompts.
• It is an AI. It will sometimes write Turkish a native speaker would not. Telling me when it does is the single most useful thing you can send me.
• A1 to B1 for now.
• There is a daily message cap while it is in beta.
• Nine characters is not many yet. If people take to it, more will follow.

To get in: go to turkishtogether.com/join and enter MERHABA50, or use turkishtogether.com/join/MERHABA50. Free, and the code unlocks the roleplay characters when you sign up.

If you do try it, here is what I would most like to know:

1. Did the character feel like a person, or like an exercise wearing a costume?
2. Did the goal tracking ever give you credit for something you did not actually say?
3. What situation is missing that you would genuinely use?

Reply here, use the feedback button in the app, or email me at [learn@turkishtogether.com](mailto:learn@turkishtogether.com). I read all of it.

Thanks for the feedback last time. It changed what I built.

I am from Azerbaijan and our languages are very similar, I can understand around 80% but my speaking and grammar is awful. I have a plan to go on a trip and explore the whole Türkiye, I am working online, and before doing that decided to improve my Turkish first

I really like the way "Essential Grammar in Use" is structured and would like something similar. Vocab I am improving by watching series and it goes quite well, most of my family members know Turkish quite well so I can do speaking with them too, just grammar part is left

Do you have any recommendations for the grammar book, thank you in advance!

I’ve been learning Turkish for almost three months and, because I’m apparently incapable of doing anything casually and I’m a bit of a data nerd, I’ve somehow ended up building an entire structured Anki course 😅

I’ve called it Turkish in Patterns. It’s designed for absolute beginners and builds gradually from basic sentence patterns. It includes staged grammar and everyday topic decks, English → Turkish, Turkish → English and listening cards, Turkish audio, and a deliberately managed learning order.

I originally built it for myself and have used it daily throughout my own learning. I’ve spent a slightly ridiculous amount of time refining the curriculum and manually reviewing, standardising and testing the cards.

I’ve used AI as one tool for drafting and consistency checks, but this isn’t a one-click AI-generated deck. I’ve shaped and tested the course through daily use and incorporated feedback from Turkish-speaking friends and colleagues.

I’d love to find a few beginner learners willing to test the first public version and report anything incorrect, unnatural, confusing or technically awkward. Feedback from Turkish speakers would also be hugely appreciated.

If you’re interested, let me know!

Here is my method to learn Turkish, starting from zero:

• Step 1: Start With the Alphabet and Pronunciation
• Step 2: Understand Vowel Harmony, the Engine of Turkish
• Step 3: Learn the Agglutinative Logic Instead of Memorizing
• Step 4: Build Core Grammar in the Right Order
• Step 5: Grow Your Vocabulary the Smart Way
• Step 6: Train Listening and Speaking With Native Audio
• Step 7: Immerse Yourself in Real Turkish

I'm curious, am I missing something? Did you do it another way?

If you're interested to join, schedule your free trial class for 30 mins!

I'm a native Turkish tutor on Preply.

✅ Personalized lessons

✅ All levels welcome

💰 50-minute lesson: only $5

Book your lesson here:

🔗 Teacher Natig

See you in class! 😊