Some Street Turkish and Daily Expressions

Invoking the Intervention of Allah

Note that the using of the name of Deity in daily speech is not considered strong talk as it would be to call on Jesus, Christ or God in the English language. The following examples are quite ordinary usage in daily Turkish.

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Some Daily Interjections.....!
Meaning	Invocation	New Turkish (Thanks to Dicle Düzgün - May 2008)
Before beginning something	İnşallah	umarım - I hope
Just at beginning	Bısmıllah	-
Goodbye..!	Allahaısmaladık..!	Hoşçakal..! - Keep well..!
When surprised/disappointed	Allah Allah..!!	Hadi ya!, Vay canına! - Well now!, What the heck?
When giving up - (see note below)	Eyvallah	-
To get to the end, finish off	Ya Allah	-
Promise, swear	Vallah Bıllah	Yemin ederim - I give my oath
Show self confidence	Evallah	-
Fully motivated	Alımallah	-
Bored	Fesuphanallah	Of! - (a sound)
More bored	Hasbınallah	-
Give up	İllallah	Bıktım (verb: bıkmak) - I am fed up
Great inspiration and motivation	Allah, Allah, Allah	-
Succeeded	Maşallah	Aferin! - Well done!
"Please don't mention it.." - showing modesty	Estağfurullah - Thanks to Alex Tauras - May 2006	Lafi bile olmaz - It is not even woth mentioning
At failure	Hay Allah	-

Some of the younger people do not use all these invocations, but you will hear them everywhere and read them in newspapers and novels, so to my mind they are useful to know. - JG (Manisa Turkish)

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Some notes on the formulas above

ALLAHAİSMALADİK - Means Goodbye. - (lit: We call on Allah..) - when leaving company or after making a visit to someone's home. This formula is only spoken by the persons who are actually leaving.

Listen to Allahaısmaladık.. - Said by those leaving

Those who are staying behind should reply - Güle güle.. - (lit: Go with a smile..) as their - Goodbye.. to the vistors.

Listen to Güle güle.. - Said by those staying

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EYVALLAH - Has two more meanings: Thanks (with gratitude) also used to say Goodbye for now.. Hard to explain. It is mainly used in conversations between men.

Allah is the name of God in the Muslim world. These words above are Arabic, and our Turkish friends use them as they are.

Most religious and older people use almost all of these words, but the younger and less religious people use some of them only.

Listen to Evallah.. - Said to show "Thanks.." or as a "Goodbye for now.."

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ESTAĞFURULLAH - If someone compliments you on your ability to converse in Turkish - then your reply is - Estağfurullah - "Please don't mention it.." which implies a modicum of modesty.

I was on holiday recently in Kuşadası and I had a meal on Güvercin Adadası - Pigeon Island out in the bay which was expertly served by a waiter of advanced age.

I told him that I could see that he was an - Usta - expert - at his job. His reply to me was - Estağfurullah..!

Listen to Estağfurullah.. - Said to show modesty

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Street Turkish - Body Language and Sign Language

Yes - evet - is shown by a single downward nod of the head.
No - hayir or yo(k).. - is shown by a single tilt the head backwards while lifting the eyebrows at the same time.

"Here our unknown friend is signifing "No" by raising his eybows with an uptilt of the head..

Quite often one will make the sound "tut" at the same time. Note that, shaking the head from side to side does not mean - "NO". It signifies - I don't understand.

This is often a mistake made by Europeans when trying to say - "No" - and is the cause of many mis-understandings - you must tilt your head backwards and raise the eyebrows when indicating negation and saying "No"

If you shake your head to mean - No - you will be misunderstood and the Turk will probably repeat himself thinking that you have not understood their meaning...

"Here is the hand sign for "Come along.."

 

If someone is trying to express - Come along.. Follow me.. Continue on.. - he hand is held out with the fingers downward and a scooping motion is made to signify the meaning. The fingers are not held upwards as in Europe as this may be construed as being a little rude. The Turkish Trafik Polisi use this guesture when directing vehicles.

 

"This is hand sign to use to show enthusiasm and approval..

 

To signify you approval you should use the French method of holding the fingers and thumb together in an upright postition.. Oooh la la..!

"Never use this rude hand sign..

 

Finally never give the "thumbs up" gesture to signify that you like something. This gesture is obscene in Turkish and only used amongst males.

It should be noted however that with the influx of tourism in turkey during the last twenty years that this hand sign is now acceptable by the mature and younger generation. When I was in Turkey in 1970's before Turkey had become a tourist trap then this sign was considered rude, and may well be now by the older generation.

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Here is a comment from one of our correspondents - İlgin Ece Sahin
"By the way, that hand sign of thumbs up is not a rude sign generally. Since I've read that you stayed in Manisa and Izmir, I think the sign has something regional. South Western Anatolia has a different and very local culture, (it's sometimes very hard to understand local accent and vocabulary, even suffixes..!), and that "rude" thing may be some part of it. I assure you it won't make any problem anywhere else."

Thank you İlgin Bey - JG - Jan 2007

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Daily Locutions

Here are a few regularly used locutions translated into Turkish. We all use these kind of sayings in our daily language to help us think and to emphasise our meaning. Using these locutions will make your conversational language seem more fluid and normal in daily speech.

English Locution	Turkish Locution	Literal Meaning
A little ; a few	biraz	one little
A little bit	bir parça	a part
A long time ago	çoktan beri	much-from since
A long time ago	uzun zamandan beri	long time-from since
According to that	ona göre	that-to seeing
After all	her şeye rağmen	every thing-to despite
After this ; after that	bundan sonra ; ondan sonra	this-from after ; that-from after
Agreed ; OK	anlaştık	we have agreed
All day long	bütün gün	the whole day
All of a sudden	birdenbire	one-from one-to
All of you ; all of us	hepiniz ; hepimiz	all-you ; all-us
All over the world	bütün dünyada	the whole world-in
All right	peki ; tamam	all right ; complete
Almost	hemen hemen	nearly
And then..? ; What next?	ya sonra?	then later?
As a matter of fact	nitekim	just as, besides
As a rule	usulen	properly, in the proper way, duly
As for me ; if it is up to me	bana kalırsa	me-to if-it-remains
As if ; as though	sanki ; güya	if that-which-is (sa-n-ki)
As if..	sanki	if that-which-is (sa-n-ki)
As soon as possible	bir an önce	one moment before
As usual ; as always ; anyrate	her zamanki gibi	every time-that-is like
As you please	nasıl isterseniz	how(ever) if you want
At any rate	yine de	again also
At first	ilkin ; ilk önce	the first-of ; the first before
At hand	elde	hand-in
At last	nihayet ; sonunda	end, finally ; end-the-in
At least	en azından	the-most least-it-from
At most	en çok ; azami	the-most very greatness
At once	derhal	immediately
At random	rastgele	casual
At short notice	kısa süre içinde	short time-period inside-in
At the back	arkada	rear-at
At the door	kapıda	door-at
At the end	sonunda	end-the-at
At the same time	aynı zamanda	same time-at
Before long	çok yakında	very near-in
Better	daha iyi	more good
Both of you	ikiniz de	two-you also
By airmail	uçakla	airplane-with
By heart	ezberden	memorize-from
By means of	aracıyla	means-with
By the way	sırası gelmişken See -mişken suffix	turn-its having-come
Care of	eliyle	Care of.. (Note: el ile = by hand)
Come in!	buyurun ; giriniz!	Please be so.. ; enter!
Consequently ; because of this..	bundan dolayı	this-from because of
Don't mention it ; it's nothing	bir şey değil	a thing is-not
Don't worry	merak etmeyin	anxious, curious be-you-not
Enclosed	ilişik olarak	attached being
Ever since	o zamandan beri	tha time since
Every day	her gün	each day
Face to face	yüz yüze	tace face-to
For ever	sonsuzca	end-without-concerning
For God's sake!	Allaha aşkına!	God Love-His-to
For sale	satılık	for sale (a saleness)
For the first time	ilk kez olarak	first occasion being
for the time being ; at present	şimdilik	the nowness
Frequently	sık sık	close close
From end to end	baştan başa	hesd-from head-to
From now on	şimdiden sonra	now-from later
From this moment	bu andan sonra	this moment-from later
Full up	dolmuştur	filled-is
Good for nothing	işe yaramaz	the job-to useless-is
Good looking ; handsome	yakışıklı (male.)	hansome
Good luck	iyi şanslar	good chances
Gradually	git gide	go it-may-go
Help yourself	buyurun See more..	As you please..
How are you?	nasılsınız?	How are you?
How is that ?	nasıl olur ?	How is it?
How many?	kaç tane	How many pieces?
How much.	kaça? ; ne kadar ?	What amount?
I am sure	eminim	sure-I-am
I apologise	özür dilerim	apology wish-I
I can't help it	elimde değil	hand-my-in not-is
I don't care	aldırmam	Care-not-I
I mean.. (to say) ; That is to say	yani	I mean to say..
I suppose so	galiba	probably
If need be	gerekirse	necessary-if-it-is
If possible	kabilse	possible-if-it-is
Ill-timed	zamansız	time-without
I'm sorry	affedesiniz ; üzülüyorum ; pardon	pardon-make-you ; botherd-being-am-I
In a hurry	acele ; ivedili	hurry ; haste-with
In any case	her halde ; nasılsa	every case-in
In due course	zamanında	time-in(side)
In due time ; just in time	tam zamanında	entir time-in(side)
In every respect	her bakımdan	every glance-from
In fact	esasen ; nitekim	fundamentally ; just as
In front of	önünde ; karşısında	front-the-at ; opposite-the-at
In no time	bir an önce	a moment before
In order that ; so that	şöyle ki	thus-with that
In order to	amacıyla	target-with
In spite of that	ona rağmen	that-to although (despite)
In the middle	ortada	centre-in
In the morning	sabahleyin	in the morning
In the end	sonunda	end-the-at
In the first place ; first of all	ilk önce ; ilkin	first before
In the future	gelecekte	future-in
In the long run ; at the end ; lastly	sonunda	end-the-at
In the meantime	bu arada	this space-in
In the open	açık havada	open air-in
In the shade	gölgede	shad-in
In the very act (caught red handed)	suçüstü	crime top-the
In this case	bu halde	this case-in
In this manner	böylelikle	thus-ness-with
In time	zamanında ; vaktinde	time-the-in ; occasion-the-in
In turn	sıra ile	turn with
Is that so?	sahi mi?	really is-it?
Isn't it?	değil mi?	not is-it?
It doesn't matter	fark etmez	matter makes-not-it
It is not worth while	değmez	worth-not-is
It is of no use	boşuna gider	empty-the-to goes-it
It's nothing ; Don't mention it ; You're welcome	bir şey değil	a thing not-is
Just a moment	bir dakika	a minute
Just in case ; whatever happens	ne olur ne olmaz	what happens what does-not-happen
Just in time	tam vaktinde	entire occasion-the-in
Leave me alone ; mind your own business	git işine	go business-you-to
Less	daha az	more few
Let's go	gidelim	go-let-us
Little by little	azar azar	litte little
Look out!	dikkat et!	careful be!
Made to order	ısmarlama	ordering-the-to
maybe ; could be ; perhaps	olabilir	happen-may-it
More or less ; approximately	aşağı yukarı	bottom-the-to top-the-to
Never	asla	never
No harm done ; no problem	zararı yok	damage there-is-not
Not at all	hiç de değil	nothing also it-is-not
Now and again ; now and then	arada sırada	space-the-in turn-the-in
Of course ; naturally	tabii	naturally
Of late	geçenlerde	passing (times)-which-are-in
OK then? ; Right then?	tamam mı?	complete is-it?
On and on	durmadan	stopping-the-without
On condition that	şartıyla	condition-with
On foot ; by walking	yürüyerek	walking-the-by
On leave ; having a break	izinli	free-time-with
On purpose	bile bile ; kasten	kowingly knowingly ; intentionally
On the contrary	tersine ; aksine	reverse-it-to ; contrary-the-to
On the left	solda	left (side)-at
On the other hand	diğer taraftan	the-other side-from
On the right	sağda	right (side)-at
On top of	tepesinde	summit-the-on
Once a week	haftada bir	week-the-in one (time)
Once again	bir daha	one (time) more
Once and for all	kesinlikle	definite-ness-with
Once in a while	ara sıra	space turn
Once more	tekrar ; bir daha	again ; a (time) more
One by one	birer birer	one-each one-each
other than this ; besides	bundan başka ; zaten	this from another ; besides
Over again ; over and over	tekrar	again agian
Over there	orada	that-place-at
Perhaps ; maybe	belki ; olabilir	perhaps ; happen-may-it
Please	lütfen ; rica ederim	please ; requst do-I
Providing that	şartıyla	condition-it-with
(Ready) made (clothes)	hazır konfeksiyon	(ready) ready made clothes
Return ticket	gidiş dönüş bileti	going-the returning-the ticket-the
Right here	işte burada	here-it-is this-place-at (FR: voici!)
Right there	işte orada	here-it-is that-place-at (FR: voila!)
Rough and ready	yarım yamalak	the-half patched
Safe and sound	sağ salim	safe and sound (a formula speak)
Side by side	yan yana	side side-to
Since a long time	uzun zamandan beri	long time-from since
Since then	o zamandan beri	that (the former) time since
So called..	sözde	word-the-in (side)..
Sooner or later	er geç	soon late (a formula speak)
So-so	şöyle böyle	that-way-with this-way-with (FR: comme-ci comme-ça)
Thanks	teşekkürler	thanks
That right	doğru ; tamam	correct ; complete
Then	o zaman ; öyleyse	that time ; that-with-if-it-is
Till morning	sabaha kadar	morning-to the-amount
To be sure	tabii	naturally
To let ; to rent	kiralık	the hire-ness
Too many	pek çok	quite a-lot
Too much	pek fazla	quite over-much
Under age	yaşça küçük	age-to small
In a mess	darmadağın(ık)	messed up
Up to date	çağdaş ; modern	contemporary ; modern
Up to now	şimdiye kadar	now-to the-amount
Welcome	hoş geldiniz	pleasant came-you
Well done	aferin ; bravo	well done ; bravo
What happened?	ne oldu?	what became?
What's happening? What's up?	ne oluyor?	what occuring-is?
What's it about? ; What is arising?	ne çıkar?	what is-coming out?
What's wrong with you?	neniz var?	what-of-you is-there?
Why not?	neden olmasın?	why not-let-it-be
Willy nilly	ister istemez	wishing not-wishing
With no exceptions	ayrıksız	sifference-without
With one accord	oybirliği ile	unanimity with
With your leave	izninizle	leave (permission)-of-you-wth
Without doubt	şüphesiz	doubt-withoout
For instance ; as an example	örneğin	example-of