Lesson Transcript

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Hello! Merhaba! I'm Seda. Ben, Seda.
Welcome to TurkishClass101.com!
Today, we'll talk about how to greet people in Turkish.
So the hi's and the hello's are the basics, the most basic stuff in any language.
And there are some nuances to learn to sound more like natives.
And today we'll talk about those small nuances as well.
So I'll give you a lot of tips.
The first one, the basic one is: Merhaba
Merhaba, "Hello"
Merhaba
The thing is Turkish, the modern Turkish, is coming from old Turkish, the Ottoman Turkish which is a mixture of Turkish, Persian and Arabic.
And some words we have from Arabic and merhaba is one of them.
In Arabic it means "hello" again.
The word is "marhaban."
I think I'm not sure if I'm saying it right in Arabic, and it means the root of this word means "to widen," to have a relief and to say merhaba actually means that I wish you a relief, I wish you a wellness. So it comes from that deep breath.
So next time you say merhaba, think about that and send your good thoughts to other person.
The other thing about merhaba, sometimes we use it as "Merhabalar."
It's something like "hello's" or "hi's."
You say it if you see more than one person.
You say "hello's" to you.
It's something like that.
It's okay if you say just "Merhaba" But generally we say "Merhaba" Hi to you all!
It's like that.
And another thing, another trick about merhaba.
Generally in our daily languages we don't focus on that "h" word that much.
Turkish language is not from the throat.
We don't speak from the throat as in Arabic or Hebrew or you know languages like that.
So we generally just smoothly say or don't say the word and the sound of we don't make that sound H.
So "merhaba" is like "meraba."
I would just say "meraba."
So next time you hear it don't think about "hmmm" where is that H?
We just ate it.
Okay, that's it.
The second one is "n'aber."
It's something like "what's up?
"Hey, what's up?"
It's very very casual.
You wouldn't say that to your boss or your elderly relative or someone you don't know very well.
And it's actually two words combined in one.
The original one is "ne" "haber" "ne" "haber" which means "what news" So it's like "what news?
"Hey, what's the news?"
"What's up with you?"
It's.. The meaning is like that but instead of saying "n'aber" we just swallow some words and we say "n'aber" "Hey, “n'aber" and this is not just for face to face conversations sometimes if I call someone I say "hey, n'aber" instead of saying "if you know if he or she is my really close friend or really really you know my mom, my you know cousin, my husband, I would say just "Hey, n'aber, nasılsın?
It's instead of "merhaba."
Or you can say: merhaba, n'aber?
Also okay.
So the third one is… it's a long word.
Selamun aleykum.
Could you get that? Actually, if you're from Arabic speaking countries or from Israel you would say it easily because this is from Arabic and since the Arabic and Hebrew language is very similar I think the Hebrew word for this is So it's the same word.
Shalom alechem.
Selamun aleykum.
So, let's say it slowly.
Selamun aleykum.
Selamun aleykum.
And the English translation would be something like, "May the peace be upon you."
"May the peace be upon you."
It sounds a little bit epic, I know. The way we use it, actually this is more like when you go to the villages or when you go to a conservative place.
You have to say it back in reverse form, don't forget that.
If someone says "Selamun aleykum" to you, which means "may the peace be upon you," you should say "Aleykum selam."
Like, it's… I really like this one actually because someone is sending you their peace and it's like you are holding a mirror and reversing the words and you are saying "May the peace be upon you.
Thank you for sending me the peace and I'm sending it back.
So about the religious background of it, "Selam" the word "Selam" means peace.
Actually Islam, Islam, Islam and the person who believes in Islam which is Muslim in Turkish are the same words.
These words are coming from the same root which is S-L-M which means peace in Arabic and shalom which means peace in Hebrew also the same.
So that's why this has a little bit of conservative religious feeling behind it.
It doesn't for me it's not necessarily a religious saying.
I don't know if you like it.
Some people don't like it.
I like it and if you like it, use it.
If you don't like it, it would be really rude when you hear it if you don't turn it back.
If you don't say "Aleykum selam" that would be kind of rude.
You don't have to say this by yourself.
You can just say "Merhaba."
But if someone says "Selamun Aleykum" you would say "Aleykum selam."
And this gesture is generally how you use it.
put your right hand on your heart and you say "selamun aleykum" and they say "Aleykum selam" so that's it.
The third one is actually you know this one because it's "selam" if the previous one is too complicated for you then you can just use "selam" which means peace.
Just say "selam" like "peace" and you can mix it with other words.
Merhaba! Selam!
We can just use it together or "selam" “n'aber”, it's like peace.
"What's up?"
We use it like that.
This is more like more modern and we use it without the religious or conservative context and all the people like everybody uses this "selam" "selam" "selam" you can use it on the phone like "selam" "selam" hey so don't forget to use "selam" okay the next one is this is a very specific timed Hello.
It's good morning.
It's GÜN, AY, DIN.
GÜN, AY, DIN.
GÜN, AY, DIN.
Good morning.
So, you know, you use this whenever you use good morning.
Of course, in the morning.
Just notice, GÜN, AY, DIN. means that the day is bright.
So it's actually two words.
Gün means day, Aydın means bright.
So you put them together and it makes gün.
Aydın.
It's like all the greeting words in Turkish.
It's like a good… You are sending a good vibe.
You are sending good wishes.
like may your day be bright, may your day be blessed or maybe the peace be upon you.
It's like all you are sending good wishes and you are getting good wishes.
It's very important to send these good wishes to other people.
Next time if you get up or you are outside in the morning and you see someone you say günaydın then
Okay the next one is tünaydın,good afternoon tünaydın
This is a weird word that we don't actually use a lot.
And I don't actually use it.
So you may be asking why you are using it.
Because we use this word as a joke.
Because "tün" is like the previous word.
"Gün aydın."
"Tün" is "tün + aydın."
It makes "tünaydın."
It means that the literal translation is this "May your roasting time bright" So it's funny.
I don't know why you say it but maybe may your roasting time bright?
Because it's funny, we are not using it anymore but it's a classical joke of Turkish teachers if you're at school and you're like when you're listening, you are getting a little bit sleepy and you put your head on the desk and for example the teacher calls my name he says "Seda" and I'm like what what's going on and the teacher says "Tünaydın Seda" meaning that you are sleeping and you just woke up it's like "günaydın" like as if it's in the morning but I'm sleeping and it's not in the morning and I'm not in my bed so it's like "tünaydın" come on don't sleep so we use it in this context instead of saying "tünaydın" but it's okay if you say "tünaydın" yeah I'll let you if you say "tünaydın" it would be proper but it would be a little bit weird so don't say it or say it I don't know.
Anyway, the other one is “İyi akşamlar” It's good evening. So, "iyi" means good "akşamlar" means evenings. It's in plural form. So you say this obviously in the evening time.
You use it not that you wouldn't say this if someone is going to bed.
You would use it if you're at work and you're going home and you would call your colleagues and you would say: Hey, i akşamlar!
"See you tomorrow!"
Yarın görüşürüz!
So, "İyi akşamlar.”
And this is a format you can use "İyi" akşamlar or "İyi."
The next one is "günler."
It's like "good days."
"İyi günler”.
You can say this in the morning, in the afternoon, till it's dark.
You can say "İyi günler" after it's dark you would say "İyi akşamlar" so good days and good evenings and If you're going to sleep if someone is going to sleep you would say "İyi geceler" "İyi geceler" "İyi geceler" "Good nights" "İyi geceler."
Again, it's nights.
Geceler.
It's plural in Turkish.
So let's repeat it.
It's “iyi günler” Good days, “iyi akşamlar” good evenings, and “iyi geceler” good nights.
So you can use it for example, for good, you want to say like someone is going to holiday And you would say "good holidays" That's the literal translation In Turkish you would say "İyi" Again "good" "Tatiller" "İyi tatiller" "Good holidays" "İyi tatiller" So, that's how you say your greetings or goodbyes And a little bit more old school or conservative way to say these things is to use another word.
Instead of iyi, good, you would use hayırlı.
Hayır means like good deeds.
Hayırlı means blessed with good deeds.
It has a religious feeling in it.
So, I wouldn't say religious, but with good intention.
In Turkish, some words have more… When I say conservative, it's not… It's hard to explain, but it's more like a… you know, more spiritual let me yeah that's a better word it's more spiritual so when I say hayırlı günler I wish you a from my heart hayırlı like blessed days let's say hayırlı günler, hayırlı günler. Blessed days…
So this "hayır" you may know this word.
Hayır means two things.
One is "no."
And the other is "hayır," good deed.
So in this case, hayırlı günler means good, blessed days, not no days.
Okay?
So keep in mind.
And as "İyi günler" or "İyi geceler" or "İyi tatiller" you can use "Hayırlı" with other nouns as well.
Let's see.
Hayırlı geceler.
It's like hayırlı geceler.
blessed nights or hayırlı akşamlar.
like blessed, blessed nights and I think that's it for now and before I go let me give you some gesture wise tips about how Turkish people read each other if we know someone very well we can stop yeah we can stop on both cheeks I can I I wouldn't say kiss.
Like if this were a person, like this is a head, I would, we make the kissing sound and we are like, like we touch our cheeks to each other.
And while we are doing it, we can pat on the back or we can hug.
But not one, not three, it's just two kisses on the cheek.
And be careful about this.
If you don't know each other very well, you may just shake hands.
If it's a business meeting and they would say, "Hey, hey," and you wouldn't kiss, you would just shake hands.
This is a, if they, like with close friends or family, or if your close friend is introducing another close friend, the environment is really friendly and the man you make is the person.
And so, be careful about the handshake.
Some religious or conservative people may not like it.
If your man is shaking another man's hand, it's okay.
If you're a woman and you are shaking another woman's hand, it's okay again.
But if they don't like it, they would pull their hand back and don't be offended by it.
It's just their way of conserving themselves, I think.
So if you don't know the person, if it's a total stranger and you don't know how they are, how they live, you would just wait for a second.
After you say your hello's and your greetings, you would wait a second and you can watch if they are showing their hand.
If it's a woman, if you're a man and it's a woman in front of you and she is getting ready to shake your hand, it's okay then you can shake it.
Or vice versa, if you're a man, if you're a woman and that's a man in front of you, like if he's showing his hand, then it's okay, you can shake it.
If not, don't push it, don't offend any people, just respect and you can just do this.
Always it's okay.
Put your right hand on your heart and you can say "merhaba" or "selamun aleykum" or just "selam" then it's okay, then you don't offend anyone.
So… And one more thing, actually this is very new, I'm not sure about the context but some young men and male teenagers, they do this, they shake their head on each other.
I'm alone here, so I can't show it, but they, when they are together, it's like kissing cheeks, but they don't kiss.
They just hit their foreheads like that.
It's, I don't know why they do it, but I have never seen a woman doing it. It's just a man.
So if you see something like that, don't be surprised.
I think that's it with all the gestures I can remember right now.
So I hope you liked this lesson. If you have any questions, please leave them below and you can ask anything I will see you next time. Bye! Güle güle!
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