Lesson 25 — What for, and why

1Senin için: who for, what for

You’ve already heard one of today’s words — and almost certainly took it for something else. In Lesson 12 the doctor told Deniz Bol su için, and in Lesson 14 the pansiyon’s owner offered Önce bir çay için. That için is “drink!”: içmek as a polite request. Today’s için is a different word. Spelled exactly the same, it means “for”.

It’s a postposition: it comes after its word, like Lesson 6’s önce and sonra. “For Deniz” is Deniz için, “for my mum” is annem için — who first, then “for”.

Pronouns have one quirk: before için they go into Lesson 7’s genitive — benim için, senin için, rather like “for my sake”. All except onlar, which stays plain: onlar için. And “this” becomes bunun için, “for this”.

And the question: Ne için? — “what for?”. Run together, it’s niçin. That completes Lesson 6’s family of whys: neden, “from what”; niye, “to what”; and now niçin, “for what”.

Try these yourself first, then check:

2Görmek için: in order to

Now the big one. Put için after a -⁠mak infinitive from Lesson 4 and you get “in order to”. Görmek için is “to see, so as to see” — literally “for seeing”. The purpose comes first, and what you do for it comes at the end.

With verbs of going and coming, Turkish often says it shorter, with Lesson 22’s -⁠maya: Ekmek almaya gittim means the same as Ekmek almak için gittim. Know them both when you hear them.

But -⁠mak has no person: no “I”, no “you”. So what if the “so that” is about someone else — “I’m speaking slowly so that you understand”? Then you take -⁠ma with a possessive ending, as in Lesson 22 — gelmem, gelmen, gelmesi — and add için. Anlaman için is “so that you understand”: literally “for your understanding”.

If you name whoever does it, they go into the genitive, just as in Lesson 22: Efe’nin uyuması için.

“So as not to” — add Lesson 4’s negative -⁠ma: gelmemek için, “so as not to come”. And about someone else, gelmemesi için — there they are again, two mas in a row, like Lesson 23’s gelmememi. Say gelmesi için and gelmemesi için out loud a couple of times: your tongue gets used to it before your eyes do.

3Görüşmek üzere: a stricter “in order to”

In Lesson 5 you said goodbye with Görüşmek üzere! — “see you soon”. Back then we took the phrase whole; now you can take it apart. Görüşmek is “to see each other, to meet”, and üzere is another “in order to”. TDK’s dictionary illustrates it with people parting so as to meet again in a few days. That’s Görüşmek üzere exactly: we part, in order to meet.

So üzere is nearly için, just stricter and drier: the news, notices and official letters are fond of it. And it has one rule: the same person does both things. You can’t say “so that you understand” with üzere — only anlaman için.

You saw the second example with için — same meaning, it just sounds like a line from a newspaper. When in doubt, say için: it always fits.

4Çıkmak üzereyim: about to, and -⁠makta, in the middle of it

Üzere has a second job, and in everyday life you’ll need it more than the first. Give it a personal ending from Lesson 1 — -⁠im, -⁠sin — and it means “about to”. The phone rings, you’re by the door with your coat on: Çıkmak üzereyim!, “I’m just leaving!” TDK puts it plainly: üzere says something is drawing near.

Remember from Lesson 11 how long a Turkish “five minutes” lasts? Çıkmak üzereyim is sometimes said before the shoes are on, too.

And with Lesson 13’s -⁠(y)dı you get the most useful sentence in the lesson — people say it every day: “I was just about to!”

And what if the action is already under way — started a while ago and still going? For that there’s -⁠makta. You’ve met it twice. In Lesson 22: Şemsiye almakta fayda var — -⁠mak in the locative, “in taking”. In Lesson 23, the newspapers’ -⁠maktadır. Take off the -⁠dır, add a personal ending, and you get okumaktayım: “I’m in the middle of reading” — literally “I am in reading”.

It’s close to -⁠yor — and in conversation you’d of course say okuyorum. -⁠makta sounds official: it’s written in the news, on signs and in letters, and said out loud when someone wants to sound important. Sometimes on purpose, for a laugh:

5Neden? Çünkü… Because

You’ve been able to ask why since Lesson 6 — neden, niye, and now niçin too. Time to answer. “Because” is çünkü, a Persian word, says TDK. And if you speak English, there’s nothing to relearn: çünkü sits right where “because” does — after what happened, before the reason.

In conversation çünkü can answer all on its own. Children especially:

6Bu yüzden: so, that’s why

Çünkü puts the reason after. You can turn it round, too: the reason first, then what follows — “so”. In conversation, what you’ll hear most is bu yüzden. You’ve known yüz since Lesson 2 as “a hundred”, but it’s also “a face”. Bu yüzden is literally “from this face”: for this reason.

You can say the same with için from the first section: bunun için or onun için — “for this”, so “that’s why”. Which means onun için is both “for him or her” and “that’s why”; the sentence tells you which.

And in the news and on notices, bu sebeple and bu nedenle, “for this reason”. Sebep is “a reason”, from Arabic; the -⁠le is Lesson 12’s ile. And a surprise: Lesson 6’s neden turns out to be not just “why” but “a reason” too — TDK says so.

And after a noun: “because of the rain”, “because of you” — yüzünden, the same “face”. Usually it’s something bad. For something good, Turkish says sayesinde, “thanks to”.

8Dialogue: a parcel for İzmir

The pot Can made at the pottery class in Lesson 21 is still sitting in his flat, and nobody has worked out what it is: a jug? a cup? Can is still waiting for the company to call, too. Meanwhile, he and Ayşe are off to the post office, the PTT. Efe and his family are still at anneanne Nermin’s in İzmir.

A görevli is a member of staff, someone on duty — at the post office, the station, the museum. Sıradaki is “next”: Lesson 13’s sıra, a queue, with -⁠daki, “the one in”. Doldurmak is “to fill in”, from Lesson 3’s dolu, “full”. Saklamak is “to keep, to hide” — it’s where Lesson 9’s saklambaç, hide-and-seek, comes from. Sarmak is “to wrap”. A kat isn’t only Lesson 11’s floor; it’s a layer too. In Türkiye kargo is the parcel service, and a kargo arabası its van. Hiç de değil is “no such thing!”. Now count the “in order to”s in one conversation: doldurmak için, saklamak için, görmemek için, olmaması için, beklememek için — and one çıkmak üzere. As for beklemektedir, Can says it like a newsreader — on purpose.

9Reading

Three days have gone by. Can’s parcel has reached İzmir, and Efe is still there at anneanne Nermin’s — he did go running with her in the end, as he promised last lesson. Efe can’t write yet, but he has his sister Zeynep, who already wrote his CV for him in Lesson 23.

A postacı is a postman: posta with Lesson 10’s -⁠cı. Renkli is “colourful”: renk plus -⁠li. Babaanne is a father’s mother, from Lesson 8: Sevim teyze is Efe’s dad’s mum, and Nermin is his mum’s, his anneanne. Kalemlerin evi, “the pencils’ house”, is Lesson 8’s izafet. A delik is a hole, a saksı a flowerpot. Lesson 16’s not was a mark; at the end of a letter it’s a P.S. Zeynep writes hers in the newspapers’ -⁠mektedir — like Can at the post office. And notice who gets the eyes: Efe kisses the grown-ups’ hands, and only Kurabiye, the one person younger than him, on the eyes.

10The lesson’s new words

Everything new from today, in the order it turned up. Words you’ll know on sight — form, and Lesson 21’s vazo — are left out, and you can build renkli yourself. As for -⁠mak için, -⁠ması için, -⁠mak üzere and -⁠makta, they aren’t words but tools: they work with any verb.

This lesson’s words as flashcards →

11Say it yourself

Say it out loud first, then open the answer. Got it wrong? Perfect — that’s what you came here for. Peeking first is öğrenmemek için: so as not to learn.

12Check yourself

Six items. A miss shows you the right answer straight away, so getting it wrong here isn’t a loss — it’s practice.

13Homework

All of it out loud. What for? Because the ear remembers better than the eye.