Turkish/Lesson Two - I am...

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Found a Turkish friend? It might be a good idea to describe yourself to them. You don't know how? Well then, learn!

Contents 1 Beginning 2 Learning how to describe yourself 2.1 Physical traits 2.1.1 The colors 2.1.2 Grammar note 2.1.2.1 Forming plurals 2.1.2.2 The genitive case 2.2 Jobs 2.2.1 Cultural note 2.3 Countries of the World

[edit] Beginning

Can you understand the following passage below?

Benim adım Bob. Ben İngiltereli bir mimarım. Kısa boylu ve biraz şişman bir adamım. Kızıl saçlı ve mavi gözlüyüm. Hobilerim okumak, basketbol oynamak ve uyumaktır. En sevdiğim yiyecekler lahmacun, pizza ve tavuktur, ama ıspanaktan nefret ederim!

Any idea what he said? No? Well, then, let's get cracking! There's a translation at the bottom of the page, but please wait until the end of the lesson!

[edit] Learning how to describe yourself

The only way you can really do this is to learn the appropriate vocabulary you could use to describe yourself. Let's start learning!

[edit] Physical traits

[edit] The colors

With the modern-day conveniences of hair dye and colored contact lenses, we can now have all sorts of different hair and eye colours. Therefore we need to learn how to say the colors in Turkish before we can start describing physical aspects of ourselves.

Let's start with the most common hair colors. If you are having any trouble reading them, highlight them with your mouse:

• kahverengi - brown
  • açık kahverengi - light brown (Lit. open brown)
  • koyu kahverengi - dark brown
• siyah - black
  • Ben siyah saçlıyım - I am black-haired
  • Benim siyah saçlarım var - I have black hair
• sarı - blond(e) (Lit. yellow)
  • sarışın - blond(e) (person)
• kır - gray (Note: kır would only be used to describe hair or eye colors, otherwise you would use gri)
• kırmızı - red

...and eye colors: All of the above, plus:

• açık kahverengi - hazel (Lit. light brown)
• mavi - blue
  • Ben mavi gözlüyüm - I am blue-eyed
  • Benim mavi gözlerim var - I have blue eyes
• yeşil - green
• kehribar - amber
• menekşe - violet
• siyah - black
  • karagöz - an expression (more like a compliment) used to describe someone with dark eyes

Now let's learn a bunch of random colors:

• turuncu - orange (color)
• pembe - pink
• mor - purple
• beyaz - white

Please note: yüz - face, göz - eye, and saç - hair.

[edit] Grammar note

[edit] Forming plurals

From the examples above, you may have noticed the word gözler. Well, this is the plural form of the word göz. It's actually very easy to form plurals in Turkish. All you have to do is add lar or ler (depending on the vowel harmony) to a singular noun in order to pluralize it. There are some examples below:

Turkish singular noun	English translation	Turkish pluralized form	English translation
çocuk	child	çocuklar	children
balon	balloon	balonlar	balloons
çiçek	flower	çiçekler	flowers
kalem	pen	kalemler	pens

[edit] The genitive case

In other words, the grammatical form of saying something belongs to someone. In Turkish, it's slightly different from English, but if you think about it, actually quite easier.

Let's take a look at the following phrase:

Benim topum - My ball

To construct this phrase, you take ben (meaning I or me) and add -im to it. The second part of this is to take the object (in this case top) and add one of the following to the end of it:

• -am (e.g. çantam - my bag)
• -em (e.g. lalem - my tulip)
• -ım (e.g. sırtım - my back)
• -im (e.g. kalemim - my pen)
• -um (e.g. okulum - my school)

Person	lale
Benim	lalem
Senin	lalen
Onun	lalesi
Bizim	lalemiz
Sizin	laleniz
Onların	lalesi

Now that we know these two things, let's carry on!

[edit] Jobs

Unfortunately due to the massive number of jobs out there, we can't go through the entire list. Instead, I will just list the most common.

• doktor - doctor
  • Ben doktorum - I am a doctor
• mühendis - engineer
• öğretmen - teacher
• hemşire - nurse
• plumber - tesisatçı
• kapıcı - janitor Lit. doorman
• sekreter - secretary
• borsa tellalı - stockbroker
• garson - waiter
• bayan garson - waitress bayan means woman
• dilbilimci - linguist dil means tongue or language
• avukat - lawyer
• politikacı - politician
• öğrenci - student

• emekli olmak - to be retired
• işsiz olmak - to be unemployed

[edit] Cultural note

I put doctor and engineer on the list first for a specific reason. In Turkey, particularly amongst poor families, parents attempt to raise their offspring to be either doctors or engineers, as doctors and engineers in Turkey earn a lot of money (I would know this, because my family friend is married to a wealthy engineer). I'm not saying that to be wealthy in Turkey, you must be either a doctor or an engineer (Turkey's billionaires aren't, either), I'm merely explaining a common stereotype.

[edit] Countries of the World

Here is a list of the countries of the world and how to say someone is from a certain country

Country name (EN)	Country name (TR)	Something of that country (EN)	Something of that country (TR)
Turkey	Türkiye	Turkish	Türk
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus	Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti	Turkish Cypriot	Kıbrıs Türkü
Afghanistan	Afganistan	Afghan	Afgan
Albania	Arnavutluk	Albanian	Arnavut
Algeria	Cezayir	Algerian	Cezayirli
Argentina	Arjantin	Argentinian	Arjantinli
Armenia	Ermenistan	Armenian	Ermeni
Australia	Avustralya	Australian	Avustralyalı
Austria	Avusturya	Austrian	Avusturyalı
Azerbaijan	Azerbaycan	Azeri	Azeri
Bangladesh	Bangladeş	Bangladeshi	Bangladeşli
Belgium	Belçika	Belgian	Belçikalı
Bolivia	Bolivya	Bolivian	Bolivyalı
Brazil	Brezilya	Brazilian	Brezilyalı
Bulgaria	Bulgaristan	Bulgarian	Bulgar
Canada	Kanada	Canadian	Kanadalı
Chad	Çad	Chadian	Çadlı
Chile	Şili	Chilean	Şilili
China, People's Republic of	Çin (Halk Cumhuriyeti)	Chinese	Çinli
Cuba	Küba	Cuban	Kübalı
Cyprus, Republic of	Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti	Greek Cypriot	Rum Kıbrıslı
Czech Republic	Çek Cumhuriyeti	Czech	Çek
Denmark	Danimarka	Danish	Danimarkalı
Egypt	Mısır	Egyptian	Mısırlı
England	İngiltere	English	İngilizce
Ethiopia	Etyopya	Ethiopian	Etyopyalı
Finland	Finlandiya	Finnish	Finli
France	Fransa	French	Fransız
Germany	Almanya	German	Alman
Ghana	Gana	Ghanaian	Ganalı
Greece	Yunanistan	Greek	Yunan
Guatemala	Guatemala	Guatemalan	Guatemalalı
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Hong Konglu
Honduras	Honduras	Honduran	Honduraslı
Hungary	Macaristan	Hungarian	Macar
India	Hindistan	Indian	Hintli
Indonesia	Endonezya	Indonesian	Endonezyalı
Iran	İran	Iranian	İranlı
Iraq	Irak	Iraqi	Iraklı
Ireland	İrlanda	Irish	İrlandalı
Israel	İsrail	Israeli	İsrailli
Italy	İtalya	Italian	İtalyalı
Jamaica	Jamaika	Jamaican	Jamaikalı
Japan	Japonya	Japanese	Japonyalı
Jordan	Ürdün	Jordanian	Ürdünlü
Kenya	Kenya	Kenyan	Kenyalı
Korea, Democratic People's Republic of	Kore Demokratik Halk Cumhuriyeti (more commonly known as Kuzey Kore)	(North) Korean	(Kuzey) Koreli
Korea, South	Güney Kore	(South) Korean	(Güney) Koreli
Kosovo	Kosova	Kosovan	Kosovalı
Kuwait	Kuveyt	Kuwaiti	Kuveytli
Latvia	Letonya	Latvian	Letonyalı
Lebanon	Lübnan	Lebanese	Lübnanlı
Libya	Libya	Libyan	Libyalı
Lithuania	Litvanya	Lithuanian	Litvanyalı
Luxembourg	Lüksemburg	Luxemburger	Lüksemburglu
Macau	Makao	Macanese	Makaolu
Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of	Eski Yugoslav Makedonya Cumhuriyeti	Macedonian	Makedonyalı
Malaysia	Malezya	Malaysian	Malezyalı
Mexico	Meksika	Mexican	Meksikalı
Morocco	Fas	Moroccan	Faslı
Netherlands	Hollanda	Dutch	Hollandalı
New Zealand	Yeni Zelanda	New Zealand	Yeni Zelandalı
Nicaragua	Nikaragua	Nicaraguan	Nikaragualı
Niger	Nijer	Nigerien	Nijerli
Nigeria	Nijerya	Nigerian	Nijeryalı
Norway	Norveç	Norwegian	Norveçli
Oman	Umman	Omani	Ummanlı
Pakistan	Pakistan	Pakistani	Pakistanlı
Palestine	Filistin	Palestinian	Filistinli
Panama	Panama	Panamanian	Panamalı
Paraguay	Paraguay	Paraguayan	Paraguaylı
Peru	Peru	Peruvian	Perulu
Philippines	Filipinler	Filipino	Filipinli
Poland	Polonya	Polish	Polonyalı
Portugal	Portekiz	Portuguese	Portekizli
Romania	Romanya	Romanian	Rumen
Russia	Rusya	Russian	Rus
Saudi Arabia	Suudi Arabistan	Saudi	Suudi
Scotland	İskoçya	Scottish	İskoç
Senegal	Senegal	Senegalese	Senegalli
Singapore	Singapur	Singaporean	Singapurlu
Slovakia	Slovakya	Slovak	Slovakyalı
Somalia	Somali	Somalian	Somalili
South Africa	Güney Afrika	South African	Güney Afrikalı
Spain	İspanya	Spanish	İspanyol
Sri Lanka	Sri Lanka	Sri Lankan	Sri Lankalı
Sudan	Sudan	Sudanese	Sudanlı
Sweden	İsveç	Swedish	İsveçli
Switzerland	İsviçre	Swiss	İsviçreli
Syria	Suriye	Syrian	Suriyeli
Taiwan	Tayvan	Taiwanese	Tayvanlı
Thailand	Tayland	Thai	Taylandlı
Tunisia	Tunus	Tunisian	Tunuslu
Uganda	Uganda	Ugandan	Ugandalı
United Kingdom	Birleşik Krallık	British	Britanyalı
United States of America (USA)	Amerika Birleşik Devletleri (ABD)	American	Amerikan
Uruguay	Uruguay	Uruguayan	Uruguaylı
Venezuela	Venezuela	Venezuelan	Venezuelalı
Vietnam	Vietnam	Vietnamese	Vietnamlı
Wales	Galler	Welsh	Galli
Yemen	Yemen	Yemeni	Yemenli
Zambia	Zambiya	Zambian	Zambiyalı

To be continued