Learn some more useful phrases and tips for shopping
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| Introduction |
| Merhaba! Hello and welcome to Turkey Survival Phrases brought to you by TurkishClass101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Turkey. You will be surprised at how far a little Turkish will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by TurkishClass101.com, and there you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Turkish Survival Phrases, Lesson 19: Bargaining in Turkey. |
| In Turkey, bargaining is a very common thing. Especially since you are a tourist, you'll get things much cheaper if you can bargain for them. The only places you can't haggle are big shopping centers and stores that sells items with tags. However, small clothing stores and open markets are up for bargaining. Flea markets are called Pazar in Turkish. |
| Normally, if you are interested in buying something, you say, "Excuse me, how much is this?": Afedersiniz, bu ne kadar? |
| As soon as they tell you the price, you can start bargaining to lower it. Don't be shy. Ask, "Could I get it for cheaper?" Daha ucuza olur mu? Let's break it down: Da-ha u-cu-za o-lur mu? Once more, Daha ucuza olur mu? |
| The first word, Daha, means "more." Daha. Daha. The second word, Ucuza, means "to cheap." U-cu-za. Ucuza. The third word, Olur, means "become." O-lur. Olur. And, as you're probably used to by now, the mu at the end makes it a question. |
| Put it all together and we have Daha ucuza olur mu? Da-ha u-cu-za o-lur mu? Daha ucuza olur mu? |
| Another way to express the feeling that something is too expensive and you want to start haggling is with Ooo, çok pahalı! |
| "Oh, it's too expensive!" Ooo, çok pa-ha-lı! |
| Çok here means "too much." And, Pahalı means "expensive." Pa-ha-lı. Pahalı. |
| Ooo, çok pa-ha-lı! |
| From this point, the vendor will begin to haggle, and the result is in your hands! The first thing the vendor might say now is Ne kadara istiyorsun? which means "How much you want?" or "How much you want to pay?" |
| Ne kadara means "how much." Ne ka-da-ra. Ne kadara. Istiyorsun means "you want." Is-ti-yor-sun. Istiyorsun. |
| You can ask the vendor "What's your lowest price?" En son ne kadara veriyorsun? Let's break that down: En son ne ka-da-ra ve-ri-yor-sun? And again, in natural speed, En son ne kadara veriyorsun? |
| The first two words, En son, mean "the last." En son. En son. The next two words, Ne kadara, are still "how much." And the last word, Veriyorsun, means "you give." Ve-ri-yor-sun. Veriyorsun. |
| Put it all together and you get En son ne kadara veriyorsun? "In the end, how much will you give it to me for?" or "What's your lowest price?" |
| En son ne ka-da-ra ve-ri-yor-sun? En son ne kadara veriyorsun? |
| Bargaining is very common in Turkey, so it's normal to ask the price over again and again until the vendor drops the price to the one you want. |
| Now, imagine that you are at a Pazar. You want to buy a bag, but not at the merchant's price. Let's say it's 15 lira. You'd rather suggest your own price, which is 10 lira. |
| After, En son ne kadara veriyorsun?, "What's your lowest price?" you might say On lira veririm. "I'll pay you ten lira." Let's break it down: On li-ra ve-ri-rim. On lira veririm. |
| On lira means "ten lira," of course. And, Veririm means "I will give." Ve-ri-rim. Veririm. It comes from the same word "to give" as Veriyorsun, the word for "you give" that we just learned. On li-ra ve-ri-rim. On lira veririm. |
| When haggling, this is all you need to get your point across. If the merchant refuses you, slowly walk away. And, in 90% of cases, they will give in. |
| Tamam on lira olur. This means "Okay, ten liras it is." Ta-mam on li-ra o-lur. Tamam on lira olur. |
Outro |
| Okay, to close out today's lesson, we would you to practice what you have just learned. I will provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for shouting it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer. So, Iyi şanslar, which means "good luck" in Turkish. |
| "Oh, it's too expensive! Can I get for cheaper?" - Ooo, çok pahalı! Daha ucuza olur mu? |
| Ooo, çok pa-ha-lı! Da-ha u-cu-za o-lur mu? |
| Ooo, çok pahalı! Daha ucuza olur mu? |
| "How much do you want to pay?" - Ne kadara istiyorsun? |
| Ne ka-da-ra is-ti-yor-sun? |
| Ne kadara istiyorsun? |
| "I will give you ten liras." - On lira veririm. |
| On li-ra ve-ri-rim. |
| On lira veririm. |
| All right. That's going to do for today. Remember to stop by TurkishClass101.com, and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. Görüşürüz! |
Comments
HideIn Turkey as a tourist, you need to bargain a lot when you shop! Are you good at it? What was your best bargain you had in Turkey?
Hi June,
Great Turkish skills!
Cheers,
İçten
Team TurkishClass101.com
Merhaba, iyi akşamlar
On yıl önce Almanya`dan İstanbul'a gittim ve kapali carsi'yi ziyaret ettim. Orada güzel kumaşlar ve yastıklar aldım.
Sevgiler !
June
Hi Samara,
Are you spending your summer holidays in Antalya?
"Ben pazarı çok seviyorum. Yazları Antalya'da geçiriyorum. Her salı pazara gidiyorum." You are doing well. Continue practicing.
Cheers,
İçten
Team TurkishClass101.com
ben pazari cok seviyorum, Yaz Antalya'da yaşamyorum. Her sali pazari gidiyor
I know it's funny but I'm trying to use my turkish.
Merhaba
Just popped in to say Basil explained everything very well!:smile: But just want to correct and explain one point.
In 'bunu', 'bu' takes the accusative case suffix (direct object pointer) -u.
let me give you an example;
Bunu senin için aldım. (I bought this for you)
Feyza
Team TurkishClass101.com
I made a mistake, I wrote "anladim" when I meant "anladım", sorry.
Sorry English isn't my first language and I haven't used English "linguistics" terms for a long time. But what I understood is:
"bu" is "this", e.g: "bu büyük kitap" meaning "this is a big book",
"bunu" when "this" is an object, e.g: "bunu anladim" meaning "I understood this",
"bunun" is genitive like when saying "for this" or "of this", e.g: "bunun sebebi" meaning "for this reason", or "bunun rengi" meaning "the color of this".
We used "bunu" in "Bunu çok severim" meaning "I like this very much" because "this" is the object of "like", and we used "bunun" in "Bunun için beş lira veririm" meaning "I will give you 5 liras for this" because "this" is not an object here and it follows "for"
Right?
Thank you very much for all your answers Basil! Çok teşekkür ederim!
Bu daha mı ucuz? Is this one cheaper.
Bunu çok severim. (The difference between this one and the one above is "bunu" is dative (in linguistics nomenclature) i.e. treated as a direct objective and the "nu" part is the closest Turkish gets to having the definite article "the". It goes with certain words, especially.
Bunun için beş lira veririm. (For this, I will give "you" five liras. Bunun in this case is possessive (genitive in linguistic nomenclature);
Onun, senin, bunun are all possessive/genitive.
Merhaba,
What is the difference between "bu", "bunu", and "bunun"?
like in the given examples:
Bu daha mı ucuz?
Bunu çok severim.
Bunun için beş lira veririm.
Do they all mean "this"?
Teşekkürler!
Merhaba Hamed,
Oh, it's great to hear your grandma shared her travel stories with you! Do you plan to travel to Turkey soon?
I don't know about ELBISE, I should check that!
Thank you for your comment!
Cheers,
Mélanie
Team TurkishClass101.com
Well actually I haven't ever been in Turkey. But my grandma had a journey in Turkey and she told me that in the bazar Turkish women would spend a lot of time bargaining and I think it's a great thing because it shows that they value their money a lot. By the way she brought me some nice clothes too. I must say Turkish ELBİSE are so fashionable and the quality is great.
Merhaba Catherine,
Bir şey değil, her zaman. (Not at all, anytime.)
İyi Haftasonları, (wishing you a good weekend)
Ece
Team TurkishClass101.com
Çok teşekkürler, Ece.
“The politest version will be “Ne kadara istiyorsunuz?” but it is highly unlikely to hear it when bargaining.”
I am impressed that you anticipated another question I had. I did wonder about “Ne kadara istiyorsunuz?” and thought perhaps this was not the register to use when bargaining.
İyi günler.
Catherine
Merhaba Catherine,
I'm impressed you are very sharp when it comes to understanding the nuances in a dialogue in Turkish.
Your explanation is correct.
"Ne kadara istersin?" sounds abrupt and not very polite. However there is no big difference between these two sentences.
When you are shopping from a bazaar or a flea market you will hear both expressions a lot.
The politest version will be "Ne kadara istiyorsunuz?" but it is highly unlikely to hear it when bargaining.
Başarılar!
Ece
Team TurkishClass101.com
Merhaba:
Afedersiniz, bu bluz ne kadar?
On beş lira.
Ohh çok pahalı, daha ucuza olur mu?
Ne kadara istiyorsun?
On lira veririm.
May I ask a question about grammar? Is the present continuous tense of istemek (istiyorsun)used here instead of the simple tense because it is more courteous? That is, because "istersin" would sound very abrupt?
Teşekkür ederim.:smile:
Catherine
Merhaba Basil,
First, let's reword your question for a better grammar,
"Kapalı çarşı Türkiye'deki diğer yerlerden daha mı meşhurdur...?" or
"Kapalı çarşı, Türkiye'deki diğer yerlerden daha meşhur mudur?"
Now, let's break it into its grammatical components,
"Kapalı çarşı" is subject
"Türkiye'deki" and "diğer yerlerden" are indirect subjects
"daha" is postposition
"meşhur mudur?" is an interrogative verb
These are all defined by the answers we get from the questions that are directed to the verb of the sentence.(ie: how? who?/what? from where? etc.)
Ece
Team TurkishClass101.com
Ohh.. çok pahalı, daha ucuza olur mu?
Ne kadara istiyorsun?
Elli lira veririm.
I have a question. Could you please break the following sentence down for me: "Kapalı çarşı Türkiye’deki diğer yerlerden daha meşhurdur?"
I understand some of the words, and I know what the sentences means, but I would love it if you could break it down for me.
Thank you!
Hi Stefaniacim,
Sure will do and you keep on these wonderful efforts.
Best Regards,
Dina Rizk.
Hi Dina Rizk,
thank you for your message! We are glad you are enjoying the lessons!
If you ever have any questions, let us know :cool:
Stefania,
Team TurkishClass101.com
Merhaba Gülcüm;
Thanks for your help and fast feedback. I did not realize that the audio content is located inside the lesson notes. Now I have went through them and all is great.
Really your efforts in this web site is AMAZING :)
iyi günler;
Dina Rizk.