Sunday, January 21, 2007

-im and -iniz

Make-up post since I missed one yesterday.

-im can mean my and -iniz can mean your.

  • Ceketiniz siyah. Your jacket is black.
  • Ceketim güzel. My jacket is nice.
  • Adınız ne? What's your name?
  • Bluzunuz bu. This is your blouse.
  • Sütünüz soğuk. Your milk is cold.
  • Adım Ali. My name is Ali.
  • Bu pasaportum. This is my passport.
  • Kuaförüm iyi. My hairdresser is good.

Note: Evidently, the English word is is implied here. Literally translated, "Ceketim güzel" means "my jacket nice". It may feel like pidgin English but it's correct Turkish. So, practice, practice, practice to get over the feeling.

If the word ends ın a vowel, avoid a vowel clash and start with a consonant. For example,

Türkçem my Turkish
bankanız your bank

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

-iniz is actually for "polite you" and "plural you". In an informal context, you can use -in "Sütün soğuk." gibi.

Barry said...

Good catch, Dennis: There is no separate verb for "to be." So you do say "My jacket nice," "Dennis studious," etc. Rather efficient, don't you think?

Dennis said...

Wow! My assignment for today is to translate some of these comments. Thanks!

Meltem,

gibi—In this context, it apparently means like or like that. Correct?

soğuk means cold but I couldn't find a translation for Sütün. Süt means milk. So I can get cold milk but what is Sütün?

Barry,

I agree, very efficient. I just have to get used to this style of shorthand.

Dennis said...

Doh! I just got it—Your cold milk! Sütün soğuk!

Taman!