Lesson: A Nervous Conversation on the First Day of the Turkish Class – Audio

Transcript

Antoni: Merhaba
Paula: Merhaba, nasılsın?
Antoni: İyiyim. Teşekkür ederim. Siz nasılsınız?
Paula: Ben de iyiyim. Biraz heyecanlıyım.
Antoni: Heyecanlı mısınız? Neden?
Paula: Evet çünkü bugün ilk Türkçe dersi.
Antoni: Ah… tabii. Ee, ismim Antoni bu arada. Sizin isminiz ne?
Paula: Benim ismim Paula. Bana sen diyebilirsin. Siz demene gerek yok.
Antoni: Peki, Paula. Tanıştığıma memnun oldum.
Paula: Ben de çok memnun oldum.

Translation

Antoni: Hello
Paula: Hello, how are you?
Antoni: I’m fine. Thank you. How are you? (formal)
Paula: I’m fine, too. I am a little nervous/excited.
Antoni: Are you nervous/excited? Why?
Paula: Yes because today is the first Turkish lesson.
Antoni: Ah… sure. My name is Antoni, by the way. What is your name?
Paula: My name is Paula. You can call me “sen”. You don’t need to say “siz”.
Antoni: Okay, Paula. Nice to meet you.
Paula: Nice to meet you, too.

When learning first words and phrases in a foreign language, learners do not need to learn about grammar. It’s expected from them to memorize the common words such as hello or how are you?.

So, in this lesson, you are not supposed to learn the grammar structures because they’ll be covered in-depth in the later lessons. But we wanted to show you anyway so you can understand the logic of Turkish grammar.

Heyecan
Excitement

Heyecanlıyım
I’m nervous / I’m excited

İyi
Good

İyiyim
I’m good

Kötü
Bad

Kötüyüm
I’m bad

The meaning of the verb ‘to be’ is given by attaching suffixes. Each personal pronoun has its own suffix.

İyiyim	İyisin	İyi	İyiyiz	İyisiniz	İyiler
I’m good	You’re good	He’s good She’s good It’s good	We’re good	You’re good (plural)	They’re good

 

Nasılım?	Nasılsın?	Nasıl?	Nasılız?	Nasılsınız?	Nasıllar?
How am I?	How are you?	How is he? How is she? How is it?	How are we?	How are you?	How are they?

 

*These suffixes are covered in detail in the next lessons.

İsmim David
My name is David

Benim
My/Mine

Benim ismim David
My name is David

İsmim
My name

Benim ismim
My name

Since you can give the same meaning without using Benim, natives tend to omit using Benim.

Bu arada
By the way

Bu arada, ismim David. / İsmim David, bu arada.
By the way, my name is David.

You can use bu arada both at the beginning or at the end of sentences.

Teşekkür ederim
Thank you

Merhaba / Selam
Hello

Nasılsın?
How are you?

Nasılsınız?
How are you? (formal)

İyi
Good

İyiyim
I’m good

Kötü
Bad

Kötüyüm
I’m bad

Sen
You

Ben
I

Ben de
Me too

Neden?
Why?

Çünkü
Because

Çok
Very

Tabii
Sure

Heyecanlı
Nervous and Excited

Bugün
Today

Memnun
Glad/Satisfied

Memnun oldum
I’m glad

Tanıştığıma memnun oldum
I’m glad to meet you / nice to meet you