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Useful Turkish Words

Above: Turkish stop sign 'Dur'

by Anthony Horrobin - 12 October 2010

The official language of Turkey is Turkish, which is spoken by approximately 90% of the population. Other minority languages are Kurdish, Arabic, Circassian, Greek and Armenian. The majority of young Turk’s will speak enough English to get by, so learning Turkish isn’t essential, however you will find that you get more out of your trip if you do make the effort to learn a few simple phrases - Luckily, basic Turkish is fairly easily to learn as it is a logical, phonetic language. A few simple phrases to help you get by are detailed below.

Hello – Merhaba (Mehr-hah-bah)

Good Morning – Günaydın (gew-nahy-duhn)

Good Evening – İyi akşamlar (ee-akh-sham-lar)

Good Night - İyi geceler (ee-geh-jeh-ler)

Goodbye - Allaha ısmarladık (ah-lars-mar-lah-duk)

How are you? – Nasılsınız? (nah-suhl-suh-nuhz)

I’m good, thank you – İyiyim, teşekkür ederim (ee-yeem-tesh-ek-kur-eh-dehr-eem)

And you? - Ya siz? – (Ya suz)

Thank you – Teşekkür ederim (tesh-ek-kur-eh-dehr-eem)

Please – Lütfen (lewt-fen)

Yes - Evet

No – hayir (higher)……or more formal – Yok