7 extraordinarily useful Turkish phrases

Learn must-know Turkish phrases that are used in everyday life.

Hoş geldiniz is the first thing you’ll hear when you arrive anywhere, whether at a friend’s house or at a restaurant.

The response to hoş geldiniz is hoş bulduk, which means “I find it nice”. It’s not necessary to reply when entering a shop or restaurant, but it would be rather rude to omit it when invited into a home.

The next thing you’ll hear is buyurun, which is comparable to “prego” in Italian or “bitte” in German. It’s often translated as “please” in English, but actually lutfen is please.

Buyurun is more like “here you are”, “walk this way”, “come in to my shop”, and so on. You would also say it if, for example, you wanted to give your seat on the bus to an elderly person. Say buyurun teyze – “take my seat, auntie” – or buyurun amca – “here you go, uncle”.

Everyone in Turkey is family, and the polite way to address someone in your age group is either abla – “big sister” – or abi – “big brother”. You call a young boy oglum – “my son” – and a little girl kizim – “my daughter”.

You probably already know from your guidebook that teşekkür ederim means “thank you”, but do you know just how useful this phrase is? If your host tries to refill your plate for the third time, say teşekkür ederim. If someone asks how you are, answer with teşekkür ederim. It’s especially handy when deflecting the touts trying to get you to enter their shops, because it’s a polite way of saying, “I’m not interested”.

To thank your host for cooking, say elenize sağılık – “health to your hands” – rather than teşekkür ederim. This is generally said in the home, but can also be said to the teyze you see slaving over the outdoor grill on which she made your gözleme.

Remember the older woman you just bought the gözleme from? When you thanked her by saying elenize sağılık, she replied with afiyet olsun. This is probably translated in your guide book as “bon appétit”, which is why waiters who speak a bit of English say “enjoy your meal” as you are leaving the restaurant. But afiyet olsun actually means “may it be good for you”, which is why it can be said before, during or after a meal.

Almost any time someone buys something, güle güle kullanin – “use it smiling” – is an appropriate thing to tell them. It reminds me of when my grandparents used to say “wear it in good health” whenever I bought an article of clothing. I never heard anyone else in America use this phrase, so it must have come from somewhere in the “old country”.

Source: https://matadornetwork.com/abroad/12-extraordinarily-useful-turkish-phrases/