Lesson: How to Order Turkish Coffee? – Audio
If you are one of those people who cannot wake up without coffee, learning how to order Turkish coffee is essential. Turks love drinking coffee. They call “kahvaltı” to breakfast which literally means “before coffee“. (Coffee is not much fun with an empty stomach) In the dialogue, you’ll hear someone ordering Turkish coffee so that you learn how to order yours.
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Download the transcript & the grammar notes
Transcript
Garson: Türk kahvenizi nasıl alırsınız efendim?
Müşteri: Şekersiz.
Garson: Yiyecek bir şey ister misiniz?
Müşteri: Yanında lokum istiyorum. Bir de soğuk su lütfen.
Garson: Hemen…
…
Garson: Buyurun efendim.
Müşteri: Ama bu kahve şekerli. Ben şekersiz kahve istiyorum.
Garson: Nasıl olur? Kusura bakmayın efendim. Hemen şekersiz kahve getiriyorum.
Kız: Tamam, sorun değil, bekliyorum.
…
Garson: Buyurun şekersiz kahveniz.
Müşteri: Teşekkür ederim.
Garson: Bu da elmalı kurabiye.
Müşteri: Ama ben elmalı kurabiye istemiyorum.
Garson: Bu bizim ikramımız efendim. Afiyet olsun.
Müşteri: Gerek yoktu ama teşekkür ederim.
Translation
Waiter: How do you get your Turkish coffee, miss?
Customer: Without sugar.
Waiter: Would you like something to eat?
Customer: I want Turkish delight with the coffee. And cold water, please.
Waiter: I’ll bring it right away …
…
Waiter: Here you are, miss.
Customer: But this coffee has sugar. I want coffee without sugar.
Waiter: How come? Sorry, miss. I bring sugar-free coffee immediately.
Girl: Okay, no problem, I’m waiting.
…
Waiter: Here’s your sugar-free coffee.
Customer: Thank you.
Waiter: This is an apple cookie.
Customer: But I don’t want apple cookies.
Waiter: This is our treat. Bon Appetit.
Customer: No need… (You didn’t need to) but thank you.
Grammar Notes
Maybe the most useful structure in the dialogue is “istiyorum”. You can express whatever you want by using this structure.
Kahve istiyorum.
I want coffee.
Taksi istiyorum
I want a cap
Gitmek
To go
Gitmek istiyorum
I want to go
Gitmek istemiyorum
I don’t want to go.
There are many words having the suffix -lI that gives a sense of belonging. Also the suffix -sIz that gives the meaning of without. When you are attaching these suffixes, you have to consider vowel harmony rules that you have just covered in the previous lessons.
-lI can be one of: -li, -lı, -lü, -lu
Elmalı
With apple
Sabır
Patience
Sabırlı
Patient
Sabırsız
Impatient
Sabırlı ol!
Be patient!
Do you remember how to ask “Do you want?”.
İster misin? or İster misiniz? The question suffix here is –mi. For the third person singular, it turns into:
İster mi?
Does he want?
İster miyim?
Do I want?
Suffixes coming after –mi indicate the personal pronoun. –mi also changes depending on the previous vowels. For example,
Uçar mı?
Does he fly? / Does she fly? / Does it fly?
This time, it is mı because a is a back vowel and the close version of a is ı.
Uçar mıyım?
Do I fly?
*The tense structures in the examples will be covered in detail. At the moment, you are learning the question suffix.
Bir şey
lit. One thing / Something
Bir şey ister misiniz?
Do you want something?
Her
Every
Her şey
Everything
So, how to answer this question?:
Elmalı kurabiye ister misiniz?
Do you want apple cookie?
Hayır, teşekkür ederim.
No, thank you.
Hayır, gerek yok.
No, not necessary.
Gerek yok.
Not necessary.
Gerek yoktu.
I was not necessary.
–tu indicates past tense. Since the waiter already brought the apple cookies, it is more appropriate to use gerek yoktu.
“Kahvenizi nasıl alırsınız?” — is the question you’d receive if you want to order Turkish coffee. How do you get (want) your coffee? The answers to this question are:
Şekersiz
Without sugar
Az şekerli
With little sugar
Orta şekerli
Medium-sugared
Çok şekerli
Well-sugared
You are supposed to add sugar while you are preparing your Turkish coffee. For that reason, the amount of sugar you want is important. You never add sugar after the coffee is prepared.
Nasıl olur?
How come?
Vocabulary
Kahve
Coffee
Çay
Tea
Türk kahvesi
Turkish coffee
Efendim
Sir/Madam
Yiyecek
Food
İçecek
Beverage
İçki
Drink/Liqour
Lokum
Turkish delight
Elma
Apple
Kurabiye
Cookie
Elmalı kurabiye
Apple cookie
Şeker
Sugar
Şekersiz
Sugar-free
Şekerli
With sugar
İkram
Treat
Elmalı kurabiye ikram etmek
To offer apple cookie
Hemen
Right now, immediately
Buyurun/Buyrun
Here you go.
… istiyorum
I want
… istemiyorum
I don’t want
Ben elmalı kurabiye istemiyorum.
I don’t want apple cookie.
Afiyet olsun
Bon appetit
Gerek yok
It’s not necessary
Gerek yoktu
I was not necessary
Sorun değil / Problem değil
No problem
Soğuk
Cold
Sıcak
Hot
Soğuk su
Cold water
Kusura bakmayın
Sorry about that