Morning! What can I get you?
1Bence, sence, sizce: in my view, in yours
Back in Lesson 6 you took Bence de — “I think so too” — as a whole phrase, and we said how it worked would come much later. Much later is today. Ben is “I”, plus Lesson 4’s -ce, the very one that turns Türk into Türkçe. Bence: “in my view”.
English needs a whole phrase for this — “in my view”, “if you ask me”. Turkish needs two letters. Swap ben for any other pronoun and you’re done:
ben → bence — I → in my view
sen → sence — you → in your view
biz → bizce — we → in our view
siz → sizce — you (polite, or several) → in your view
All four take -ce. The vowels in ben, sen, biz, siz are front ones, and they end in a voiced n or z, so Lesson 2’s Fıstıkçı Şahap gets the day off.
Bence bu çay çok açık. — If you ask me, this tea’s far too weak.
Sence hangisi daha güzel? — Which one do you think is nicer?
Sizce yarın yağmur yağacak mı? — Do you think it’ll rain tomorrow?
And the handiest of the lot is Sence? on its own, with a question in your voice: “what do you think?”. You’ve heard it already. In Lesson 10 Ayşe asked Can about the jumper — Sence yeşil mi, mavi mi? — and Can answered, Bence… yeşil. Hayır, mavi! Now you can see what that whole exchange was made of.
Sence? — Bence de. — What do you think? — I think so too.
Sizce? — What do you think? (politely)
With “he” and “they” it doesn’t work any more. Onca and onlarca are in the dictionary with that meaning too, but in real life they nearly always mean something else entirely — section 4 gets to them. So for “in his view”, reach for Lesson 18’s göre: ona göre, onlara göre. And with any name it’s göre as well: Ali’ye göre, Sevim teyzeye göre.
Ona göre bu film çok uzun. — He thinks this film’s far too long.
Sevim teyzeye göre kedinin adı Paşa. — According to Sevim teyze, the cat’s name is Paşa.
With “I”, “you” and “we”, take your pick: bence and bana göre mean exactly the same. The first is just shorter.
2Arkadaşça, yavaşça: saying how
In Lesson 4 we said -ca had a second job — making adverbs — and that it was Lesson 20’s business. Here’s Lesson 20. And the surprise is that the second job is the first one seen from the other side. -ca answers “how?”. Türkçe literally means “the Turkish way”, “Turk-wise”. That’s why Türkçe konuşuyorum got by without a preposition back then: Türkçe is already a “how”. You speak, Turk-wise.
And the same trick works on nearly anything. A noun or an adjective, plus -ca, and you’ve got a “how”:
arkadaş → arkadaşça — friend → as a friend, friendly
çocuk → çocukça — child → childishly, childish
kısa → kısaca — short → briefly, in short
yavaş → yavaşça — slow → slowly, gently
sessiz → sessizce — quiet → quietly
iyi → iyice — good → properly, thoroughly
The sounds are Lesson 4’s: after a voiceless consonant the c hardens to ç (arkadaşça, çocukça), and the vowel is a or e. And one bit of good news: a final k doesn’t soften. Çocuk → çocuğu, but çocukça. Lesson 7’s softening only happens before a vowel, and -ca starts with a consonant.
Kısaca anlatayım. — Let me keep it short.
Efe uyuyor. Sessizce konuşun! — Efe’s asleep. Talk quietly!
Kapıyı yavaşça açtım. — I opened the door slowly.
Ellerinizi iyice yıkayın. — Wash your hands properly.
Arkadaşça söylüyorum: bu kazak sana yakışmıyor. — I’m telling you as a friend: that jumper doesn’t suit you.
Plenty of adjectives work as a “how” without it: yavaş git, “go slowly”. With -ca the word just says so out loud — in this manner. A noun has no other way, though: there’s no “as a friend” without -ca.
One more thing: a -ca word can stand in front of a noun, like an adjective.
çocukça bir soru — a childish question
arkadaşça bir ses — a friendly voice
3Uzunca, büyükçe: longish, biggish
Now for -ca’s softer side. In front of a noun, on an adjective of size, age or build, it makes “a bit”, “-ish”: not long but longish, not big but biggish. No wonder TDK’s dictionary files -ce among the diminutive suffixes, right next to -cik — and -cik is waiting for you in today’s culture corner.
uzunca bir yol — a longish road
büyükçe bir ev — a biggish house
yaşlıca bir adam — an oldish man
şişmanca bir kedi — a plumpish cat
That last one isn’t there to make up the numbers. Remember last lesson’s cat on the stairs, the one having four suppers a night? Well, then.
Merdivende şişmanca bir kedi oturuyor. — There’s a plumpish cat sitting on the stairs.
Otogara uzunca bir yol var. — It’s a longish way to the bus station.
4Saatlerce, yüzlerce: for hours, by the hundred
And -ca’s last job, the most dramatic one. Take a time word in the plural — saatler, günler, yıllar — add -ce, and you get “for hours”, “for days on end”, “for years”. A long time, with a sigh in it.
dakikalarca, saatlerce, günlerce, haftalarca, aylarca, yıllarca — for minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years on end
Otogarda saatlerce bekledik. — We waited at the bus station for hours.
Günlerce yağmur yağdı. — It rained for days on end.
Babaannem yıllarca bu evde yaşadı. — My grandmother lived in this house for years.
Exactly the same with Lesson 2’s numbers. Yüz is a hundred, yüzler hundreds, yüzlerce “hundreds of”. Binlerce, thousands of. And onlarca is “dozens of” — on, “ten”, onlar, onlarca. Yes, onlar looks exactly like “they”. Pure coincidence: here it’s tens. And as after any number (Lesson 3), the noun stays singular: yüzlerce kedi, never kediler.
İstanbul’da binlerce kedi var. — There are thousands of cats in Istanbul.
Efe onlarca soru sordu. — Efe asked dozens of questions.
And onca isn’t “in his view” either. In real life it’s “all that”, “so much”: onca yol, “all that way”. It’s what a Turkish host says to a guest who’s come a long way — and you know what comes next, you’ve known since Lesson 1: tea.
Onca yol geldin, otur, bir çay iç! — You’ve come all this way — sit down, have some tea!
5Türkiye up close: canım, kuzum, pisi pisi
Back in Lesson 2 the market made you abla or abi — big sister, big brother — to perfect strangers. Today, the next step up: the words Turks use for the people they love. And they hand them out very generously.
The big one is canım. Can means “soul”, “life” — a word that came from Persian. Canım is “my soul”, which in practice means “love”, “dear”, “sweetheart”. A mother says it to her son, a friend to a friend, and now and then the woman at a market stall to you, just because it’s a nice morning. And yes: our Can from the dialogues carries exactly this word as his name. He’s called “Soul”. Imagine hearing canım on every corner when that’s your name.
Then it turns into a farmyard. Kuzu is a lamb, and kuzum, “my lamb”, is for a child — or for anyone a teyze has decided to take under her wing. Yavru is the young of any animal: kedi yavrusu is a kitten. But TDK’s dictionary adds that it’s a child, too. So the yavrum a grandmother calls her grandson is the very word you’d use for a kitten. And bir tanem is “my one and only”: tane is the “piece” you counted things with in Lesson 3. One piece, and only one, in the whole world.
Notice: every one of them is just a word plus Lesson 7’s “my”. No new grammar at all, and as much warmth as you like.
And then there’s a real grammar of fondness. Remember TDK filing our -ce among the diminutive suffixes? Next to it on that list are -cik and -ceğiz, and the dictionary says they add “smallness, a little, love and pity”. Küçük is small; küçücük is tiny. Az is a little; azıcık is just a drop. Yumuşak is soft; yumuşacık is so soft you want to stroke it. Sıcak is hot; sıcacık is lovely and warm, like a glass of tea on a winter morning. Take these whole — sounds drop out of them and pop in.
küçücük, azıcık, yumuşacık, sıcacık — tiny, just a drop, soft as anything, lovely and warm
On a name, -cik likes to bring “my” along: Ayşeciğim, Efeciğim — “Ayşe dear”, “my little Efe”. The k softens to ğ before the vowel, just as in Lesson 7. And -ceğiz is pity and tenderness in one: kızcağız, “the poor girl”; adamcağız, “the poor fellow”.
Ayşeciğim, Efeciğim — Ayşe dear, my little Efe
And you call a cat like this: pisi pisi. That’s official — TDK’s entry says it’s “the word for calling cats”. In children’s talk, pisi is the cat itself; and minnoş, the same dictionary says, is what you call “the small and sweet”. Whiskers optional; the dictionary doesn’t say.
About those names from last lesson, by the way. Paşa isn’t only a general: TDK gives it a third meaning, “well-behaved, dignified” — O ne paşa çocuk!, “What a well-behaved child!” Aslan is a lion, but also “a strong, brave man”. So Sevim teyze and Can were paying the cat compliments. Efe was offering it a biscuit.
So if a teyze at the market calls you kuzum or yavrum, it doesn’t mean you look about six. It means she likes you. Smile back — and if you’re feeling brave, call her teyzeciğim.
6Dialogue: onion or no onion?
Sunday morning at a breakfast café. Menemen is eggs, tomatoes and peppers cooked down together in a little pan, and the waiter asks the question Türkiye has been arguing about for years: onion or no onion? Ayşe and Can were going to share one.
Garson:
Günaydın! Ne olsun?
Ayşe:
İki çay ve bir menemen, lütfen.
Two teas and one menemen, please.
Garson:
Menemen soğanlı mı olsun, soğansız mı?
Menemen with onion, or without?
Can:
Soğansız, tabii!
Without, of course!
Ayşe:
Soğanlı, tabii!
With, of course!
Can:
Ayşe, bence menemende soğan olmaz.
Ayşe, if you ask me, onion has no business in menemen.
Ayşe:
Sence! Ama sözlüğe göre menemende soğan var.
That’s what you think! According to the dictionary, menemen has onion in it.
Can:
Sözlüğe göre! Bana göre yok!
According to the dictionary! According to me, it hasn’t!
Ayşe:
Arkadaşça söylüyorum: soğansız menemen, menemen değil. Yumurtalı domates!
I’m telling you as a friend: menemen without onion isn’t menemen. It’s tomatoes with egg on!
Can:
Ben de arkadaşça söylüyorum: soğan menemenin tadını bozuyor.
And I’m telling you as a friend: onion ruins the taste of menemen.
Garson:
Sizce ben ne yapayım?
So what would you like me to do?
Can:
Siz söyleyin! Sizce hangisi daha güzel?
You tell us! Which do you think is better?
Garson:
Bence mi? Ben menemeni soğanlı seviyorum. Ama annem soğansız yapıyor… ve annemin menemeni dünyanın en güzel menemeni.
Me? I like my menemen with onion. But my mum makes it without… and my mum’s menemen is the best in the world.
Ayşe:
Gördün mü? Garsona göre soğanlı!
See? The waiter says onion!
Can:
Hayır! Garsonun annesine göre soğansız!
No! The waiter’s mum says no onion!
Garson:
Kısaca: iki menemen. Biri soğanlı, biri soğansız.
In short: two menemens. One with onion, one without.
Ayşe:
Eee? Soğansız menemen nasıl?
Well? How’s the onion-free menemen?
Can:
Çok güzel. Seninki nasıl?
Lovely. How’s yours?
Ayşe:
Tadına bak.
Have a taste.
Can:
Hayır. Bakmıyorum.
No. I’m not tasting it.
Ayşe:
Can, bu çok çocukça! Bir kaşık!
Can, that’s so childish! One spoonful!
Can:
Peki… bir kaşık. … Bir kaşık daha.
Fine… one spoonful. …One more.
Ayşe:
Can! Menemenimin yarısı gitti!
Can! Half my menemen’s gone!
Can:
Fikrimi değiştirdim. Bence soğanlı daha güzel.
I’ve changed my mind. I think it’s better with onion.
Ayşe:
Bence de! Ama o menemen benim!
So do I! But that menemen is mine!
Can:
Bakar mısınız? Bir menemen daha, lütfen. Soğanlı!
Excuse me? One more menemen, please. With onion!
Garson:
Soğanlı mı? Siz dakikalarca “soğansız” dediniz!
With onion? You spent ten minutes saying “no onion”!
Can:
Fikrimi değiştirdim. Ama annenize söylemeyin!
I’ve changed my mind. Just don’t tell your mum!
Fikir is “opinion”, “idea”, and it drops its vowel like Lesson 7’s isim → ismim: fikrim. Değiştirmek is “to change”; fikrimi değiştirdim is “I’ve changed my mind”. Tat is “taste”, and the t softens: tadı. Tadına bakmak is “to have a taste” — literally “to look at its taste”, which is why Can says bakmıyorum, “I’m not looking”. Sözlük is a dictionary.
And Ayşe wasn’t making it up: TDK’s dictionary defines menemen as a dish of eggs, onion, green pepper and tomato. Turkish papers call it the famous question Turks just can’t agree on. Menemen is also a town near İzmir, and in 2025 it had its own menemen registered as a geographical indication. The recipe has onion in it. That settles it for Menemen. The rest of the country is still arguing.
7Reading
Last lesson a grey tabby moved onto the stairs of number twelve. Everybody feeds it, and it still hasn’t got a name: four were offered, none taken. Time to decide. There’ll be plenty of opinions. The cat has one too.
Kedinin fikri
Four names, five opinions, and one cat that made up its own mind.
Tekir merdivene bir hafta önce geldi.
The tabby came to the stairs a week ago.
Her akşam dört akşam yemeği yiyor.
Every evening it eats four suppers.
Artık şişmanca bir kedi.
It’s a plumpish cat now.
Ama adı daha yok.
But it still hasn’t got a name.
Herkes ona başka bir isimle sesleniyor.
Everybody calls it by a different name.
Sevim teyze “Paşa” diyor, Ayşe “Bulut”, Can “Aslan”, Efe “Kurabiye”.
Sevim teyze says “Paşa”, Ayşe “Bulut”, Can “Aslan”, Efe “Kurabiye”.
Tekir kimseye bakmıyor.
The tabby doesn’t look at any of them.
Cumartesi akşamı herkes Sevim teyzedeydi.
On Saturday evening everybody was at Sevim teyze’s.
Sevim teyze “Bu kediye bir ad lazım” dedi.
“This cat needs a name,” said Sevim teyze.
— Bugün karar verelim. Bence Paşa. Merdivende paşa gibi oturuyor!
“Let’s decide today. I say Paşa. It sits on the stairs like a pasha!”
Ayşe “Bence Bulut” dedi.
“I say Bulut,” said Ayşe.
— Gri ve yumuşacık, bulut gibi!
“Grey and soft as anything, like a cloud!”
Can Efe’ye baktı.
Can looked at Efe.
— Bizce Aslan! Efe ve ben!
“We say Aslan! Efe and me!”
— Hayır! Bizce değil, bence! Bence Kurabiye!
“No! Not we say — I say! I say Kurabiye!”
Saatlerce konuştular.
They talked for hours.
Sonra Sevim teyze Deniz’e döndü.
Then Sevim teyze turned to Deniz.
— Deniz, sence? Kedi senin paspasında uyuyor.
“Deniz, what do you think? It’s your doormat the cat sleeps on.”
— Bence… kediye soralım.
“I think… we should ask the cat.”
Can güldü: “Kediye mi? Ama kedi Türkçe bilmiyor!”
Can laughed. “The cat? But the cat doesn’t speak Turkish!”
Efe “Türkçe bilmiyor, ama kedice biliyor!” diye bağırdı.
“It doesn’t speak Turkish, but it speaks Cat!” shouted Efe.
Herkes merdivenden aşağı indi.
Everybody went down the stairs.
Tekir Deniz’in paspasındaydı.
The tabby was on Deniz’s doormat.
Gözleri kapalıydı.
Its eyes were shut.
Önce Sevim teyze yavaşça seslendi:
First Sevim teyze called to it, softly:
— Paşa… Paşacığım… Gel, canım, gel…
“Paşa… Paşa dear… Come here, sweetheart, come…”
Can hemen “Efendim, Sevim teyze?” dedi.
“Yes, Sevim teyze?” said Can at once.
— Sana değil, Can! Kediye!
“Not you, Can! The cat!”
Tekir gözlerini açmadı.
The tabby didn’t open its eyes.
Sonra Ayşe arkadaşça seslendi: “Bulut! Gel, Bulut!”
Then Ayşe called, friendly as anything: “Bulut! Come on, Bulut!”
Tekir bir gözünü açıp Ayşe’ye baktı.
The tabby opened one eye and looked at Ayşe.
Sonra yine kapattı.
Then it shut it again.
Sonra Can bağırdı:
Then Can shouted:
— Aslan!
“Aslan!”
Tekir iki gözünü de açıp Can’a baktı.
The tabby opened both eyes and looked at Can.
Sonra esnedi.
Then it yawned.
Ayşe güldü: “Bence bu kedi aslan değil.”
Ayşe laughed. “I don’t think this cat’s a lion.”
Can biraz düşündü.
Can thought about it for a moment.
— …Bence de.
“…Nor do I.”
Sonunda Efe denedi.
Last of all, Efe had a go.
Efe hiç bağırmadı.
Efe didn’t shout at all.
Cebinden sessizce bir kurabiye paketi çıkardı.
Without a sound, he took a packet of biscuits out of his pocket.
Paketi yavaşça açıp “Kurabiye?” dedi.
He opened the packet slowly and said, “Kurabiye?”
Tekir hemen kalkıp Efe’ye koştu!
The tabby was up at once and running to Efe!
Efe’nin önüne oturup “Miyav!” dedi.
It sat down in front of Efe and said, “Miaow!”
Deniz güldü: “İşte kedinin fikri!”
Deniz laughed. “And there’s the cat’s opinion!”
Sevim teyze “Kurabiye mi?” diye sordu.
“Kurabiye?” asked Sevim teyze.
— Bir kedinin adı kurabiye mi olur?
“Whoever heard of a cat called Biscuit?”
Efe hemen cevap verdi: “Kedice olur!”
Efe had the answer ready: “In Cat you can!”
Sevim teyze de güldü.
Sevim teyze laughed too.
— Peki, peki. Kurabiye olsun. Ama ben ona yine “Paşam” diyeceğim.
“All right, all right. Kurabiye it is. But I’m still going to call it ‘my Paşa’.”
Gece Deniz kapısını açtı.
That night Deniz opened his door.
Kurabiye paspastaydı.
Kurabiye was on the doormat.
— İyi geceler, Kurabiye.
“Goodnight, Kurabiye.”
Kurabiye bir gözünü açıp Deniz’e baktı.
Kurabiye opened one eye and looked at Deniz.
Adını beğenmiş, galiba.
Looks like it likes its name.
Seslenmek is “to call out to” (who to goes in the dative: kediye sesleniyor). Karar vermek is “to decide”. Esnemek is “to yawn” — the worst possible answer to “Lion!”. Beğenmek is “to like”: adını beğenmiş, “it seems to like its name” — -mış from the traces, as in Lesson 19. And kedice, “in Cat”, you won’t find in any dictionary. Efe made it up himself, by Lesson 4’s rule: Türk → Türkçe, kedi → kedice. Four-year-olds are the best grammarians there are.
1Why did Can answer “Efendim?”
2What did the cat come for?
3What is Sevim teyze going to call the cat?
8The lesson’s new words
Everything new from today, in the order it turned up. Most of the -ca words aren’t here — arkadaşça, yavaşça, saatlerce you build yourself. Only the ones with a meaning of their own made it, and bizce didn’t either: it’s rarely heard. Take the fond -cik words whole from the culture corner; only küçücük is listed. And kedice is Efe’s word, not the dictionary’s.
New words
- bencein my view
- sencein your view; what do you think?
- sizcein your view (polite); what do you think?
- kısacabriefly, in short
- anlatmakto tell, to explain
- iyiceproperly, thoroughly
- yaşlıold (of people)
- şişmanfat, plump
- onlarcadozens (of)
- oncaall that, so much
- cansoul, life
- canımdear, love
- kuzulamb
- yavruyoung (of an animal); little one
- küçücüktiny
- yumuşaksoft
- pisi pisihere, kitty kitty
- menemenmenemen: eggs with tomato and pepper
- sözlükdictionary
- tattaste
- tadına bakmakto have a taste
- fikiropinion, idea
- değiştirmekto change
- seslenmekto call out (to)
- karar vermekto decide
- esnemekto yawn
- beğenmekto like
9Say it yourself
Out loud first, then check. Got it wrong? Good — that’s how it sticks. Peeking first just gives away the useful part.
I think it’s a good idea
Bence bu iyi bir fikir.
what do you think? (to a friend)
Sence?
which do you think is better? (politely)
Sizce hangisi daha iyi?
he thinks the film’s too long
Ona göre film çok uzun.
Efe’s asleep — talk quietly!
Efe uyuyor, sessizce konuşun!
we talked for hours
Saatlerce konuştuk.
10Check yourself
Six items. A miss shows you the right answer, so getting it wrong here is useful too.
1Match each picture to its word.
2What does Sence? on its own mean?
3Fill in the gap: “He thinks the film’s far too long.”
? film çok uzun.
4Fill in the right form: “I’m telling you as a friend.”
Sana ? söylüyorum.
5Fill in the right form: “We waited at the bus station for hours.”
Otogarda ? bekledik.
6What does onlarca kedi mean?
11Homework
All of it out loud. Today’s lesson is all about what you think and how you do things, so talk about yourself.
- Five opinions with bence: about tea, the weather, a film, your town — and menemen. Soğanlı mı, soğansız mı?
- Three questions for a friend with Sence… and three for the teyze next door with Sizce…
- Five things you do yavaşça, sessizce, iyice, kısaca and arkadaşça — a sentence for each.
- What have you done for hours, for days, for years? Three sentences with saatlerce, günlerce, yıllarca.
- Call the cat on the stairs the way you would: pisi pisi — and which fond word? Now tell someone why it’s called Kurabiye — kısaca.