'a' and 'the'

Another instance where Turkish may feel like pidgin English: the use of 'a' and 'the'. Some examples follow.

English	Turkish
The pen is green.	Kalem yeşil
There is a pen.	Kalem var.
The table is big.	Masa büyük.

However, there are times when you may see 'a' used:

English	Turkish
This is a pen	Bu bir kalem.
There is a pen.	Bir kalem var.

My policy will be this: when in doubt, leave it out.

Meze Tray & Restaurant Language

According to my textbook, when you're in restaurant in Turkey, a waiter may bring to your table a huge tray of starters. The custom, apparently, is to stop him, pick what you want and send the rest back.

A word to use to that end is "yeter", which means "that's enough".

To get the waiter's attention, say "Bakar mısınız!". Literally, that means "Would you look!" However, it's apparently similar to saying "garçon" at a French restaurant.

Hesap means the bill. Üstü kalsın means keep the change.

Meze means "a savory food (eaten while drinking something alcoholic), appetizer, hors d´oeuvre."

Other, critical Turkish words:

English	Turkish
ice cream	dondurma
chocolate	çikolata
chocolate ice cream	çikolata dondurma
yummy	lezzetli
strawberries	çilekler
strawberries and cream	çilekler ve krema
confectionery	şekerleme imalathanesi

Note: şekerleme imalathanesi apparently means, literally, sugar factory. Shades of Willy Wonka!

Questions with 'to be'

Since I was clearly confused in an earlier post on the relationship of "to be" and questions, here's the same subject from a different angle.

My textbook says "To turn İngilizsiniz (you are English) into a question, follow these steps:"

Step	Example
Take the statement	İngilizsiniz
Separate the to be ending from the noun or adjective	İngiliz siniz
Put mi in front of the ending.	İngiliz misiniz

Using mi to form a question echoes an earlier post.

English	Statement	Question
I am beautiful.	Güzelim.	Güzel miyim?
You're blind.	Körsün.	Kör müsün?
It's difficult.	Zor.	Zor mu?
We're ready.	Hazırız.	Hazır mıyız?
You're open.	Açıksınız.	Açık mısınız?
They're Turkish.	Onlar Türk.	Onlar Türk mü?

Black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love.

"Black as hell, strong as death, sweet as love." This is apparently a Turkish proverb about coffee.

If I've got the grammar right, the Turkish for this would read as follows, with the word order the opposite of the English version:

Cehennem gibi siyah, ölüm gibi kuvvetli, sevgi gibi tatlı.

This proverb rings true based on my experience with Turkish coffee. For a web-taste of Turkish coffee, check out
www.ineedcoffee.com/04/turkishcoffee/.

Question words

Handy words for asking questions:

• kim? : who?
• ne? : what?
• nerede? : where?
• ne zaman? : when? (literally "what time?")
• nasıl? : how?
• kaç tane? : how many?
• ne kadar? : how much? (literally "what extent?)

In an earlier post, I mentioned this common greeting: How are you?: Nasılsınız?

Let's break that down.

"How?", of course, is "Nasıl?"

The verb "to be" are handled in Turkish as endings: -im, -sin, -siniz, and -ler. Some examples follow:

Singular	Plural
ben İngilizim I am English	biz İngiliziz we are English
sen İngilizsin You are English	siz İngilizsiniz you are English
o İngiliz he/she is English	onlar İngiliz(ler) they are English

-ler is in brackets because it's usually left out.

Getting back to "Nasılsınız?", it evidently translates literally to "How are?" Apparently, "you" is understood, unless, of course, I'm missing something.

In any event, interesting.

Araba!

That's my Turkish word of the day—araba, which means car. I could have posted a pic of my own modest, so-last-century car but where's the fun in that when I can scrape off the web a showy pic like this?

Besides, Bond's classic Aston Martin serves as an effective mnemonic.

Maşallah!

Addressing People

In a sample dialogue (konuşma) in my textbook, a visitor to Turkey is greeted by an immigration officer. Their exchange included a predictable set of appropriate greetings.

One of them was memur bey, said by the visitor to the official. Literally, this means "official mister". But, the translation is similar to what you might say to a policeman approaching you: "Hello officer"...or "I didn't do it!!" (kidding, of course).

At www.turkishdictionary.net, the following information is provided on a search of bey:

1. gentleman, sir; a title meaning Mr. (used after a first name): Mehmet Bey.
2. prince, ruler, chieftain; chief, head, master.
3. notable, country gentleman.
4. playing cards ace.

In short, bey conveys respect.

Keeping that in mind, a common greeting by someone providing you with a service is beyefendi. Efendi means gentleman. Bey, in effect, stresses a positive message. It ends up meaning sir.

In the same vein, hanımefendi means madam. Efendi can apparently mean madam too as well as meaning sir.

Here's a phrase I'll likely be using often in Turkey: efendim? As in, "I beg your pardon! Sorry! Can you repeat that, please?"

The Turkish equivalents for Mr., Mrs. or Miss are Bey and Hanım, respectively. Curveball: Unlike English, Bey and Hanım are used with the first name, not the surname. So, instead of John Smith being called Mr. Smith, he's John Bey. His wife, Jane, would be Jane Hanım.

Practical use for bey: say you're trying to hail a bus driver, say şoför bey! The respect should come naturally — i.e., respect the fact that you want something from the driver: to stop!/durmak!