Describing Yourself in Turkish

Beginning

Can you understand the following passage below?

Benim adım Bob. Ben İngiltere'li mimarım. Bir kısa boylu ve biraz şişman adamım. Kırmızı saçlı ve mavi gözlüyüm. Benim hobilerim okumak, basketbol oynamak ve uyumak.

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!

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!

Physical traits

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)
• kir - gray (Note: kir 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.

Grammar note

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:

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)

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

Your body

Here are some basic phrases to describe your or someone else's looks and physique.

• boy - height
  • uzun (boylu) - tall (Note: Uzun can also mean long. If the person you're talking to understands the context of the conversation, then you can just say uzun. However, if they don't, it would be a good idea to say uzun boylu).
  • kısa (boylu) - short
    • Ben kısa boyluyum - I am short
  • orta (boylu) - average (height)
• form - figure
  • şişman - fat
    • Ben şişmanım. - I am fat.
  • zayıf - thin

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
• tesisatçı - plumber
• 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

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.

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 Türk
Afghanistan	Afganistan	Afghan	Afgan
Albania	Arnavutluk	Albanian	Arnavut
Algeria	Cezayir	Algerian	Cezayirli
Angola	Angola	Angolan	Angolalı
Argentina	Arjantin	Argentinian	Arjantinli
Armenia	Ermenistan	Armenian	Ermeni
Australia	Avustralya	Australian	Avustralyalı
Austria	Avusturya	Austrian	Avusturyalı
Azerbaijan	Azerbaycan	Azeri	Azeri
Bangladesh	Bangladeş	Bangladeshi	Bangladeşli
Bahrain	Bahreyn	Bahraini	Bahreynli
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	Güney Kıbrıs Rum Kesimi	Greek Cypriot	Rum Kıbrıslı
Czech Republic	Çek Cumhuriyeti	Czech	Çek
Denmark	Danimarka	Danish	Danimarkalı
Egypt	Mısır	Egyptian	Mısırlı
England	İngiltere	English	İngiliz
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	İtalyan
Jamaica	Jamaika	Jamaican	Jamaikalı
Japan	Japonya	Japanese	Japon
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	Slovak
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

• Siz nerelisiniz? - Where are you from? (You can't literally translate this into English, but that's the closest you can get.)
• Ben Arjantinli'yim. - I am from Argentina.

See? Simple!

Hobbies

Sports

Use oynamak (to play):

• futbol - soccer (Yup, just like the other Europeans!)
• Amerikan futbol - American football
• beyzbol - baseball
• basketbol - basketball
• tenis - to play tennis
• eskrim - fencing
• voleybol - volleyball
• golf - to play golf

Use yapmak (to do/make):

• boks - boxing
• karate - karate
• judo - judo
• tekvando - taekwondo

Use kullanmak (to use):

• bisiklet - bicycle

Use etmek (to do):

• dans - to dance

Other:

• yüzmek - to swim
• halter yapmak - to lift weights

Grammar note

Before you can use the set of words above, you need to know their auxiliary verbs. Unlike French, auxiliary verbs are used almost all of the time. However, there are only a couple you will need to learn, and in most cases you will be able to tell which one to use.

In this case, they are the following: oynamak (to play), yapmak (to do/make), kullanmak (to use), and etmek (to do). Try not to get yapmak and etmek confused.

Below are their verb conjugations:

to play	oynamak
I play	Ben oynuyorum
You (sing.) play	Sen oynuyorsun
He/she plays	O oynuyor
We play	Biz oynuyoruz
You (pl.) play	Siz oynuyorsunuz
They play	Onlar oynuyorlar
to do	yapmak
I do	Ben yapıyorum
You (sing.) do	Sen yapıyorsun
He/she does	O yapıyor
We do	Biz yapıyoruz
You (pl.) do	Siz yapıyorsunuz
They do	Onlar yapıyorlar
to use	kullanmak
I use	Ben kullanıyorum
You (sing.) use	Sen kullanıyorsun
He/she uses	O kullanıyor
We use	Biz kullanıyoruz
You (pl.) use	Siz kullanıyorsunuz
They use	Onlar kullanıyorlar
to do	etmek
I do	Ben ediyorum
You (pl.) do	Sen ediyorsun
He/she does	O ediyor
We do	Biz ediyoruz
You (pl.) do	Siz ediyorsunuz
They do	Onlar ediyorlar

Hopefully you will have noticed a pattern amongst these verbs. This is true of all verbs in Turkish, as unlike in most other languages, there are no irregular verbs. They all follow the same pattern. All that really matters is that you recognize the vowel harmony.

I have color-coded those verbs in accordance to the above vocab. For example, futbol and oynamak are both red, therefore to say "to play football" in Turkish, you say "futbol oynamak". The sentence structure is as follows: Ben futbol oynuyorum - I play football. Turkish is a S-O-V (Subject-Object-Verb) language. So, in this case, Ben, which is the subject, goes first, then the object, futbol, goes second, and lastly the verb, oynuyorum, goes last. This is true in all cases, no exceptions.

Consonants in between vowels

You will have noticed in the verb etmek (to do), that when conjugated, it doesn't exactly follow the whole stem rule. That's because when one consonant is in between two vowels, the consonant becomes softened.

For example, in the case of ediyorum (I do), the t became a d.

This applies to other "hard" letters too:

• k→g
• p→b
• t→d

Non-sportive activities

• televizyon izlemek/seyretmek - to watch television
• okumak - to read
• film izlemek/seyretmek - to watch movies
• dışarı çıkmak - to go out
• fotoğraf çekmek - to take photos
  • Benim hobim fotoğraf çekmek. - My hobby is to take photos.
• alışveriş yapmak - to go shopping

Grammar note

Although I have already given you the verbs for the non-sporting activities, let's conjugate them just in case you still haven't worked out the verb patterns.

to watch	izlemek
I watch	Ben izliyorum
You (sing.) watch	Sen izliyorsun
He/she watches	O izliyor
We watch	Biz izliyoruz
You (pl.) watch	Siz izliyorsunuz
They watch	Onlar izliyorlar
to watch	seyretmek
I watch	Ben seyretiyorum
You (sing.) watch	Sen seyretiyorsun
He/she watches	O seyretiyor
We watch	Biz seyretiyoruz
You (pl.) watch	Siz seyretiyorsunuz
They watch	Onlar seyretiyorlar
to read	okumak
I read	Ben okuyorum
You (sing.) read	Sen okuyorsun
He/she reads	O okuyor
We read	Biz okuyoruz
You (pl.) read	Siz okuyorsunuz
They read	Onlar okuyorlar
to go out	çıkmak
I go out	Ben çıkıyorum
You (sing.) go out	Sen çıkıyorsun
He/she goes out	O çıkıyor
We go out	Biz çıkıyoruz
You (pl.) go out	Siz çıkıyorsunuz
They go out	Onlar çıkıyorlar
to take (a photo)	(fotoğraf) çekmek
I take (a photo)	Ben (fotoğraf) çekiyorum
You [sing.] take (a photo)	Sen (fotoğraf) çekiyorsun
He/she takes (a photo)	O (fotoğraf) çekiyor
We take (a photo)	Biz (fotoğraf) çekiyoruz
You [pl.] take (a photo)	Siz (fotoğraf) çekiyorsunuz
They take (a photo)	Onlar (fotoğraf) çekiyorlar

Finding the pattern

If you haven't found the pattern already, let me explain it to you:

To say, for example, I read, in Turkish, you would take the stem of okumak, which is oku- (the stem is the part of the infinitive preceding -mak or -mek), then add any of the following:

• -yorum for I
• -yorsun for you (singular)
• -yor for he/she
• -yoruz for we
• -yorsunuz for you (plural or polite)
• -yorlar for they

In our case, we would pick -yorum. After adding this on, you get okuyorum! See, simple!

However, what if the stem ends in a consonant. Let's take an example from the verbs above: seyret-. Seyret- + -yorum doesn't work because it just doesn't sound natural. To remedy the situation, you add an auxiliary vowel after the stem, which depends on the vowel harmony of it (in this case it would be i). So: seyret- + -i- + -yorum = seyretiyorum. This applies to all verbs with stems that end in consonants, but remember, the auxiliary vowel always depends on the vowel harmony of the stem.

By the way, it would be a good idea to know that the verb çekmek on it's own means to pull away.

Translation

The translation of that passage is below:

This is the layout of this translation:

• Original Turkish phrase - Literal English translation with original sentence structure - Proper English translation

OK, let's get translating!

• Benim adım Bob - My name Bob - My name is Bob
• Ben İngiltere'li mimarım - I England from architect am - I am an architect from England
• Bir kısa boylu ve biraz şişman adamım - A short heighted and slightly fat man I am - I am a short and slightly fat man.
• Kırmızı saçlı ve mavi gözlüyüm - Red haired and blue eyed I am - I have red hair and blue eyes.
• Benim hobilerim okumak, basketbol oynamak ve uyumak. - My hobbies to read, basketball to play and to sleep. - My hobbies are to read, play basketball and sleep.

See? It wasn't so hard! You just have to remember that the sentence structure in Turkish (Subject Object Verb) is different from English (Subject Verb Object).