[语言交流]Turkish For Beginners

there are good links for whom wants to learn basic Turkish:

http://www.manastro.co.uk/members/turkey/turkish.htm
http://ingilish.com/beginner-turkish.htm
http://static.unilang.org/resources/...turkish_en.pdf (nice book)


Lets start from the nice book:

Introduction
Turkish is the national language of Turkey, and is also spoken by minority groups in Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus,
and other countries. It is the most important member of the Turkic group of languages which form a branch of
the Altaic family. There are about 70 million speakers.
Turkish was originally written in the Arabic script which, though poorly suited to the language, had been in use
since the conversion of the Turks to Islam. In 1928 President Ataturk decreed the introduction of a slightly
modified version of the Roman alphabet, consisting of twenty-one consonants and eight vowels. In Turkish, the
letters q, w, and x are absent, while the letter c is pronounced like the English j (e.g., cep-pocket), j like the
French j (jale-dew), ç is pronounced ch (çiçek-flower).
The English words "caviar", "yogurt", and "shish kebab" are of Turkish origin. The word "tulip" comes from a
Turkish word for turban, because its flower was thought to resemble a turban. The word "meander" comes from
the ancient name of the Menderes River of western Turkey, which was noted for its winding course.
Turkish is spoken/used in the following countries: Bulgaria, Cyprus (Republic of), Greece, Macedonia, and
Turkey.
Language Family
Family: Altaic
Subgroup: Turkic
Branch: Southwestern (Oghuz)
(from www.worldlanguage.com)

PART ONE - THE BASICS
Lesson 1: To Be
Welcome to the Turkish course here at UniLang. We want to help you learn foreign languages and we hope this
little course can help you. These courses in part one are intended for absolute beginners who need a little
assistance with starting to learn some basics. This is not a complete course. When we've showed you the most
important basics we'll let go you and then you can explore our grammar reference all by yourself.
We'll start by teaching you how to introduce yourself in Turkish. Take a look at the following Turkish sentence
and it's English translation. All Turkish text will be written in blue and the English translation in green.
"Ben Ahmet'im."
"I am Ahmet"

Turkish sentence structure is different from English's. "ben" means "I", but we can't see an equivalent word of
"am" in Turkish. Instead of it, we see a suffix "-im" after Ahmet. "-im" is the conjugational suffix of verb "to be"
for the first, singular person "ben". When you introduce yourself with your name, it's optional to use this suffix.
You can say only "Ben Ahmet".
(Ben) Ahmet'im. I am Ahmet.
(Sen) Ahmet'sin. You are Ahmet.
(O) Ahmet'dir. He is Ahmet.
(O) Ayşe'dir. She is Ayşe.
(O) (bir) kedidir. It is a cat.
(Biz) Ahmet ve Ayşe'yiz. We are Ahmet and Ayşe.
(Siz) Ahmet ve Ayşe'siniz. You are Ahmet and Ayşe.
(Onlar) Ahmet ve Ayşe'dirler. They are Ahmet and Ayşe.
NOTES:
• Turkish has no gender.
• kedi = the cat
• bir = a/an, one
• There is no article in Turkish like the/der,die,das/ el, la...
• Don't forget apostrophes between proper nouns and suffixes.
• Suffix "-im" changes according to vowel harmony.
Ben Ahmet'im Ben Hasan'ım Ben Gül'üm Ben Uğur'um
Ben -(y)im -(y)ım -(y)um -(y)üm
Sen -sin -sın -sun -sün
O -dir -dır -dur -dür
Biz -(y)iz -(y)ız -(y)uz -(y)üz
Siz -siniz -sınız -sunuz -sünüz
Onlar -dirler -dırlar -dürler -durlar
VOCABULARY
We'll ask you to study a number of words in each lesson.
BABA FATHER
ANNE, ANA MOTHER
BÜYÜKANNE, NİNE GRANDMOTHER
BÜYÜKBABA, DEDE GRANDFATHER
DOKTOR THE DOCTOR
KEDİ THE CAT
BİR A/AN, ONE
VE AND