Turkish substantive question words
When beginners are learning Turkish, they are often introduced to the most common Turkish question words as translations for words in their native languages, such as the following:
ne = what
nerede = where
niçin = why
A little later in their Turkish course, they may learn that there are three words for "where" and three words for "why":
nerede = at where (Nerede oturuyorsun? = Where do live?)
nereye = to where (Nereye gidiyoruz? = Where are we going?)
nereden = from where (Nereden geldi? = Where did he/she/it come from?)
niçin = for what (Niçin soruyorsun? = Why are you asking? [for what purpose])
niye = to what (Niye soruyorsun? = Why are you asking? [where are you going with this])
neden = from what (Neden soruyorsun? = Why are you asking? [where does this come from])
*Note that the above three represent a very subtle difference and are often interchangeable.
But what we usually don't learn is how these words actually work in Turkish, and what their grammatical basis is. The fact is that there are two basic question words for all of these:
ne = what
nere = where
Onto these question words, a host of endings can be added, changing both the meaning and the grammar of the word.
The six examples above, for "where" and "why" each start with one of these bases and add the common postpositionals:
-için = for
-de = at
-ye = to
-den = from
(*Note that the "e" in "ne" changes to an "i" when following by "-için" and "-ye".)
However, the most interesting question word ending for me is the substantive question word, such as the following:
Nesi hoşuna gitmiyor = What is it that you don't like about it/him/her?
The word "ne" has the substantive genitive suffix "-si", making it "What part of it/him/her". Another one is one I ran across in a headline this morning:
"Büyüyoruz büyüyoruz da neremiz büyüyor?" = We're growing and growing, but what part of us is growing?
Here, the word "nere" has the substantive genitive 1st person plural suffix "imiz", making it "what part of us".
This same thing happens with the particle "bura" in Turkish, meaning "this part":
Burada oturuyorum. = I live here.
Buraya koyalım. = Let's put it over here.
Burası hoştur. = This place is nice.
This also leads Turkish speakers to make the following error when speaking English:
"Here is nice". "I like here."
This mistake is caused by the speaker translating "burası" as "here", when it actually means "this place".
I would welcome comments (and corrections!) on this blog post.
Labels: grammar, question words, Turkish
posted by Laura Blumenthal @ 9:23 a.m.
11 Comments:
I wish you'd do more blog posts. This is great. :-)
- Dina
Thanks, Dina!
I love it when people who only know very basic English make funny mistakes =). One of my friends once wrote me a message ending in 'we see' (görüşürüz). The other day I asked a friend 'where are you?', and he said '(name) is brother' ((name) abi).
Ah yes - dealing with ESL errors is what I do for a living, of course, Chantal. I still remember my favourite from when I was teaching in Turkey. I saw a young man looking very unhappy in my classroom, and after class I asked him to come to my office, where I asked him what was wrong. "I'm bored," he said, making me feel terrible that I had not been able to engage him in class, but I later learned that he was just translating "Canım sıkıldı", which as you know can mean "I'm bored", "I'm annoyed", "I'm upset", "I'm sad", and a host of other negative feelings. Apparently, his girlfriend had just broken up with him.
Ι do not have any corrections, since my Turkish is zero level. But we have too many Turkish words in Greek language, so I am kinda familiar with it and I have to confess that I enjoyed your post very much. You should write more often ....indeed :)
Thanks, Glavko!
I love this discussion. It isn't often one comes across one so precise, succinct, and clear. Perhaps one day you'll recommend your favorite Turkish language texts one may purchase to learn Turkish. Most likely I already have them all.
Hello Buyurun7
When I was learning Turkish, I only used one text, which I'm sure you already have: Yusuf Mardın's Colloquial Turkish.
Intricate details only a foreigner would notice. Ellerinize sağlık.
Sağol, Mustafa (bey?).
I just saw another interesting use of these question words - a question under a photo on Facebook: "Nere bura?" According to the meaning presented above, this would be "What place (is) this place?" but of course a better translation would be "Where is this?"
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