Kerem Bey, Orhan Bey’s window is at the board tomorrow morning. I’ll be on site. Could you give the presentation?
1Gülerek: “how” in one ending
In Course 1’s Lesson 19, -(y)ıp put actions one after another: did that, and then. Today its neighbour -(y)arak answers a different question, Nasıl?, “how?”. Gülerek baktı is “he looked, laughing”: two things at once, and the first tells you what the second was like.
Turkish calls it a zarf-fiil, an “adverb-verb”, and the name is honest: a verb with -arak does an adverb’s job, like Lesson 20’s yavaşça. English does it with “-ing”: “laughing”, “reading”. The ending goes by the two teams, -arak or -erek, and after a vowel the buffer y steps in, as in okuyup:
bakarak, gülerek, okuyarak, bekleyerek— looking, laughing, reading, waiting
-arak has no person and no tense, just like -ıp: the last verb carries both. And it’s usually the same person doing both things:
Her sabah kahvemi pencereden bakarak içerim.— Every morning I drink my coffee looking out of the window.
Hep telefona bakarak yemek yiyorsun!— You always eat staring at your phone!
Defne gülerek kapıyı açtı.— Defne opened the door, laughing.
Büroda müzik dinleyerek çalışıyoruz.— At the office we work with music on.
Haritaya bakarak yürüyün.— Walk with the map in front of you.
Çocuklar bağırarak bahçeye koştu.— The children ran out into the garden, shouting.
The second question -arak answers is “by what means?”. Then it’s “by doing”:
Türkçeyi dizi izleyerek öğrendim.— I learnt Turkish by watching TV series.
Bu sorunu konuşarak çözeriz.— We’ll sort this out by talking.
Telefonla konuşarak araba kullanmamalısınız.— You mustn’t drive while talking on the phone.
You ask Nasıl?, and one word can answer it:
İşe nasıl geliyorsun? — Yürüyerek.— How do you get to work? — On foot.
2Söylemeyerek: the negative, and why it isn’t -madan
The negative is -ma before the ending, with the buffer y after it again: gelmeyerek, bakmayarak. It means “by not doing”: the not-doing is itself the way, or even the answer.
Orhan Bey hiçbir şey söylemeyerek cevap verdi.— Orhan Bey answered by saying nothing at all.
Telefonu açmayarak bu sorunu çözemezsin.— You won’t solve this by not picking up the phone.
Toplantıya gelmeyerek ne demek istedi?— What was he trying to say by not coming to the meeting?
And “without doing” you already know: Lesson 24’s -madan. Here’s the difference. -madan is “without”: something that could have happened didn’t. -mayarak is “by not”: the not-doing does a job of its own. In talk you’ll hear -madan far more often; -mayarak is the one that answers “by what means?”, and you’ll meet it more in writing than out loud.
Hiçbir şey söylemeden çıktı.— He left without a word.
Hiçbir şey söylemeyerek cevap verdi.— He answered by saying nothing.
And don’t mix it up with -ıp. -ıp is one thing, then the other. -arak is one thing running through the other, at the same time:
Oturup konuştuk.— We sat down and talked.
Oturarak konuştuk.— We talked sitting down.
3Mimar olarak: “as”, and “as for”
The commonest -arak there is comes from olmak: olarak, word for word “being”. After a noun it means “as”: who you are here, in what role.
Kerem büroda mimar olarak çalışıyor.— Kerem works at the office as an architect.
Size mimar olarak değil, komşunuz olarak söylüyorum.— I’m telling you this not as an architect, but as your neighbour.
Bu kalemi bana hediye olarak verdiler.— They gave me this pen as a present.
Bir anne olarak bunu kabul edemem.— As a mother, I can’t accept that.
After a word that names one side of a thing — its place, its price, its colour — olarak means “as for”, “in terms of”:
Konum olarak ev çok güzel: denize beş dakika.— Location-wise the house is lovely: five minutes from the sea.
And after an adjective, olarak makes an adverb. These are worth learning whole — no meeting gets by without them:
Toplantı tam olarak kaçta başlıyor?— What time exactly does the meeting start?
Genel olarak işler iyi gidiyor.— On the whole, things are going well.
İlk olarak evi görmeliyiz. Son olarak da kurula gitmeliyiz.— First we need to see the house. And last of all, go to the board.
4Seve seve: the doubled -a -a
Since Course 1’s first lesson you’ve been seeing people off with Güle güle! — and maybe never asked what it means. TDK’s dictionary gives gülerek, “laughing”, as its first sense. Güle güle is “go laughing and laughing” — go with a light heart. And Lesson 10’s Güle güle giyin! is “wear it happily”.
This is the lesson’s second zarf-fiil: -a or -e on the stem, with the buffer y after a vowel, and almost always said twice. It’s like -arak, only louder: the action drags on, comes round again and again, or goes all out.
Koşarak geldi.— He came running.
Koşa koşa geldi.— He came running all the way.
Bekleye bekleye yorulduk.— We got worn out with all the waiting.
Bu şarkıyı dinleye dinleye ezberledim.— I listened to this song so many times I learnt it by heart.
The negative is -maya -maya: “not doing it for so long that…”. Anyone learning a language knows this one:
Pratik yapmaya yapmaya Türkçemi unutuyorum!— I’ve gone so long without practice that I’m forgetting my Turkish!
Some pairs have become set words, and in some two different verbs stand side by side — alike, like bağır and çağır, or opposites, like git and gel. They’re worth knowing on sight. Cover the translations and test yourself:
seve seve
gladly
istemeye istemeye
reluctantly
bile bile
knowingly, on purpose
gide gele
from going back and forth
güle oynaya
happily, merrily
bağıra çağıra
at the top of one’s voice
düşe kalka
with a struggle, stumbling along
Yardım eder misin? — Seve seve!— Will you help? — Gladly!
Toplantıya istemeye istemeye gittim.— I went to the meeting reluctantly.
Bile bile geç kaldı!— He was late on purpose!
Gide gele çaycıyla arkadaş olduk.— We went there so often that we made friends with the tea man.
And you know the single -a too. Beşi on geçe and beşe on kala — that’s what the verb was “changing into” in Lesson 11: in TDK, geçe is “passing”, kala “when there remains”. And Lesson 19’s diye is de-, “say”, with the same -ye: “saying”.
5Without words: face, hands, shoulders
Half of any conversation happens without words — and Turkish has words for that too. Nearly all of them are things you do “how”: kaşlarını kaldırarak, başını sallayarak. That’s why they come after the grammar. Two pictures first:
kaş
eyebrow
avuç
palm (of the hand)
Now body language itself. Cover the translations and test yourself:
beden dili
body language
yüz ifadesi
facial expression
jest, mimik
gesture, facial movement
başını sallamak
to nod
başını iki yana sallamak
to shake one’s head
kaşlarını kaldırmak
to raise one’s eyebrows
göz kırpmak
to wink
omuz silkmek
to shrug
kollarını kavuşturmak
to fold one’s arms
ellerini ovuşturmak
to rub one’s hands
el sallamak
to wave
gülümsemek
to smile
taklit etmek
to copy, to imitate
Başını sallamak is most often “to nod”, and TDK even gives it as “to seem to agree with every word”. For shaking your head, add iki yana, “to both sides”. And omuz silkmek works like the English shrug: it can also mean “I couldn’t care less”.
Kollarını kavuşturarak dinledi.— He listened with his arms folded.
Kerem omuz silkerek “Bilmem” dedi.— Kerem shrugged: “No idea.”
Defne bana göz kırparak “Sus!” dedi.— Defne winked at me: “Hush!”
Zehra Hanım ellerini ovuşturarak gülümsedi.— Zehra Hanım smiled, rubbing her hands.
And here’s what a face gives away. Mutlu you’ve known since Lesson 1; the rest are new:
düşünceli
thoughtful, lost in thought
üzgün
sad, upset
tedirgin
uneasy, on edge
şaşkın
bewildered, taken aback
sakin
calm
soğukkanlı
cool-headed, unflappable
sinirli
irritable, cross
Neden bu kadar üzgünsün?— Why are you so down?
Kerem sunumdan önce biraz tedirgindi.— Kerem was a bit on edge before the presentation.
6Türkiye up close: cık — no, with your eyebrows
In Course 1 the tea never stopped: in Lesson 1 it was poured for a guest, in Lesson 3 the çaycı carried it up and down the street. Time to learn to turn it down — and it turns out you don’t need a single word.
The Turkish “no” goes up: the head tips back a little, the eyebrows rise, and often there’s a click of the tongue against the roof of the mouth — “tsk”. That’s how guidebooks describe it, and Anadolu Agency too. Anyone saving their energy lifts just the eyebrows. It means “no” or “there isn’t any” — the same as yok.
The click even made it into the dictionary: TDK has the word cık, “a word used to mean ‘no, that won’t do’”. So you can say cık out loud, too.
Now the trap for anyone reading faces. When someone shakes their head from side to side, it often isn’t “no” but “I don’t follow, explain”. “Yes” is an ordinary nod.
And a word on manners. Eyebrows and cık are the informal “no”, the everyday one. With the çaycı, a friend, a colleague over tea — go ahead. To a boss, a client or a board, say it in words: Hayır, teşekkür ederim.
7Dialogue: seve seve — well, nearly
Orhan Bey’s window from Lesson 2 isn’t done yet: the big window on the garden side still needs the board’s approval. Tomorrow Kerem goes, and for the first time on his own. Defne catches him rehearsing in front of the mirror.
Zehra:
Kerem Bey, yarın sabah kurulda Orhan Bey’in penceresi var. Ben şantiyede olacağım. Sunumu siz yapabilir misiniz?
Kerem:
Ben mi? Seve seve, Zehra Hanım!
Me? Gladly, Zehra Hanım!
Zehra:
Güzel. Büromuzun mimarı olarak gideceksiniz, unutmayın. Çizimleri de alın.
Good. You’ll be going as our office’s architect, remember. And take the drawings.
Defne:
Seve seve mi? Ama yüzün “seve seve” demiyor, Kerem.
Gladly? Your face isn’t saying “gladly”, Kerem.
Kerem:
Doğru. İstemeye istemeye gidiyorum. Kurulun önünde hiç konuşmadım.
True. I’m going reluctantly. I’ve never spoken in front of the board.
Defne:
Dur, dur. Şimdi kollarını kavuşturarak konuşuyorsun.
Hang on. Right now you’re talking with your arms folded.
Kerem:
Ne olmuş?
So?
Defne:
Kurul “Bu mimar bir şey saklıyor” diye düşünür. Kollarını aç. Avuçlarını göster.
The board will think, “This architect is hiding something.” Unfold your arms. Show your palms.
Kerem:
Şimdi iyi mi? Ellerimi cebime koyarak konuşabilir miyim?
Better now? Can I talk with my hands in my pockets?
Defne:
Asla! Ve yere bakarak değil, onlara bakarak konuşmalısın.
Never! And you should be looking at them as you talk, not at the floor.
Kerem:
Gülümseyerek mi?
Smiling?
Defne:
Gülümseyerek. Ama çok değil: bu bir sunum, düğün değil!
Smiling. But not too much: it’s a presentation, not a wedding!
Kerem:
Tamam. Kollar açık, avuçlar açık, gözler kurulda…
Right. Arms unfolded, palms open, eyes on the board…
Defne:
Bir şey daha. Kurulda biri kaşlarını kaldırabilir ve “cık” diyebilir.
One more thing. Someone on the board might raise their eyebrows and say “cık”.
Kerem:
“Cık” ne demek?
What does “cık” mean?
Defne:
Cık!
Cık!
Kerem:
Ne? Anlamadım.
What? I don’t follow.
Defne:
Bak, şimdi başını iki yana salladın: bu “anlamadım” demek. Ben de kaşlarımı kaldırdım ve “cık” dedim: bu “hayır” demek.
Look: you just shook your head — that means “I don’t follow”. And I raised my eyebrows and said “cık” — that means “no”.
Kerem:
Yani kurulda bir “cık”, pencere yok demek. Çok kötü!
So one “cık” at the board, and there’s no window. Terrible!
Defne:
Sakin ol. Soğukkanlı olmalısın. Zehra Hanım yirmi yıl kurullara gide gele çok “cık” duydu. Bak, hâlâ gülümsüyor.
Calm down. You need to keep a cool head. Zehra Hanım has been going back and forth to boards for twenty years and heard “cık” plenty of times. And look — she’s still smiling.
Kerem:
Kollar açık, avuçlar açık, soğukkanlı… Bunlar Zehra Hanım’ın üç kuralından da zor!
Arms unfolded, palms open, cool head… These are harder than Zehra Hanım’s three rules!
Defne:
Yarın akşam koşa koşa gelip anlatacaksın. Göreceksin.
Tomorrow evening you’ll come running back to tell us all about it. You’ll see.
Kerem:
Bakalım.
We’ll see.
Defne:
Ve nefes alarak konuş, Kerem!
And remember to breathe while you talk, Kerem!
Count the “how”s: kavuşturarak, koyarak, bakarak, gülümseyerek, alarak — and mimarı olarak. There are four doubled ones: seve seve, istemeye istemeye, gide gele, koşa koşa. And listen to who says what to whom: Zehra Hanım gives Kerem siz and Kerem Bey; Defne, sen and just “Kerem”. Zehra Hanım’s “three rules” are the ones from her magazine interview, in this course’s Lesson 1.
8Reading
The morning after the board, Zehra Hanım asked for a written report. And it really is a report: the subject, who was there, what was decided. But between the lines are twenty minutes Kerem won’t forget. Read it through; open a translation only where you’re stuck. The chair’s words are the lines with a dash.
Rapor: kurulda yirmi dakika
Kerem’s report to Zehra Hanım: the board, the garden window — and one “cık”.
Zehra Hanım, bir rapor istediniz. İşte raporum.
Zehra Hanım, you asked for a report. Here it is.
Konu: Orhan Bey’in evi, bahçe tarafındaki büyük pencere.
Subject: Orhan Bey’s house, the big window on the garden side.
Bu, mimar olarak ilk kurul toplantımdı.
This was my first board meeting as an architect.
Toplantı saat onda başladı. Masada kurulun beş üyesi vardı.
The meeting started at ten. Five board members sat at the table.
Çizimleri masaya koyarak sunuma başladım.
I laid the drawings out on the table and began my presentation.
Defne’nin kurallarını unutmadım: kollarım açıktı, yere değil, onlara bakarak konuştum.
I didn’t forget Defne’s rules: my arms were unfolded, and I looked at them as I spoke, not at the floor.
Ama ilk beş dakikada her şey kötü gitti.
But for the first five minutes, everything went badly.
Kurulun başkanı yaşlı bir hanımdı. Çizimlere bakarak başını iki yana salladı.
The board’s chair was an older lady. She looked at the drawings and shook her head.
“Bitti,” diye düşündüm. “Hayır diyor.”
“That’s it,” I thought. “She’s saying no.”
Sonra gözlüklü bir üye kaşlarını kaldırdı ve “cık” dedi.
Then a member with glasses raised his eyebrows and said “cık”.
Ellerim terledi. Bir bardak su istedim ama içmeden masaya koydum.
My hands went clammy. I asked for a glass of water, but put it down on the table without drinking.
Başkan Hanım bana dönerek sordu:
The chair turned to me and asked:
— Kerem Bey, bu çizimi tam olarak anlamadım. Pencere nerede? Bir daha anlatır mısınız?
“Kerem Bey, I don’t quite follow this drawing. Where’s the window? Would you explain it again?”
Yani başını iki yana sallamak burada “hayır” değilmiş. “Bir daha anlatın” demekmiş!
So shaking your head here isn’t “no”, it turns out. It means “explain it again”!
Çizimi bir daha, yavaşça anlattım.
I went through the drawing again, slowly.
Başkan Hanım bu kez başını aşağı yukarı salladı: evet!
This time the chair nodded: yes!
Peki, gözlüklü üye neden “cık” dedi?
So why did the member with glasses say “cık”?
Kapının yanında bir çaycı vardı. Gide gele masaya on beş çay getirdi.
There was a tea man by the door. Back and forth he went, and brought fifteen glasses of tea to the table.
Gözlüklü üye bana değil, çaycıya “cık” dedi: üçüncü çayı istemedi!
The member with glasses said “cık” to the tea man, not to me: he didn’t want a third glass!
Ben beş dakika korktum, o sadece çay istemedi!
I was scared stiff for five minutes, and he just didn’t want any tea!
Sonunda Başkan Hanım gülümseyerek çizimleri topladı.
At the end the chair gathered up the drawings with a smile.
— Bahçe tarafında büyük bir pencere olabilir. Kurulun kararı resmî olarak gelecek hafta gelecek.
“A big window on the garden side is possible. The board’s decision will come officially next week.”
Merdivenlerden koşa koşa indim ve Orhan Bey’i aradım.
I ran all the way down the stairs and rang Orhan Bey.
Orhan Bey çok mutlu oldu ve telefonda bağıra çağıra konuştu.
Orhan Bey was delighted, and shouted down the phone at the top of his voice.
— Bravo, Kerem Bey! Bu akşam maç var, sizi bekliyorum!
“Bravo, Kerem Bey! There’s a match tonight, I’ll be expecting you!”
Ofsayt ne, artık biliyorum. Bu akşam da penaltıyı öğreneceğim.
I know what offside is now. Tonight I’ll learn the penalty.
Saygılarımla, Kerem
Kind regards, Kerem
Not: Bundan sonra toplantılarda kaşlara bakmadan önce çay bardaklarına bakacağım.
P.S. From now on, at meetings, I’ll look at the tea glasses before I look at anyone’s eyebrows.
An üye is a member of a board, a club, any group; a başkan is a chair, a head. Gözlüklü is “with glasses”, with Lesson 12’s -lü: gözlük is glasses. Değilmiş and demekmiş are Lesson 18’s “turns out” -mış. And Saygılarımla is “kind regards” at the end of a work letter.
1What did the chair mean when she shook her head?
2Who did the member with glasses say cık to?
3What did the board decide?
9The lesson’s new words
These are the words the lesson brought in for the first time. The -arak and -a -a forms of verbs you already know aren’t here; the set pairs, and olarak with its companions, are.
New words
- müzikmusic
- haritamap
- çözmekto solve
- olarakas; as for
- konumlocation, position
- tam olarakexactly
- genel olarakon the whole
- ilk olarakfirst of all
- son olaraklast of all, finally
- ezberlemekto learn by heart
- seve sevegladly
- istemeye istemeyereluctantly
- bile bileknowingly, on purpose
- gide gelefrom going back and forth
- güle oynayahappily, merrily
- bağıra çağıraat the top of one’s voice
- düşe kalkawith a struggle
- kaşeyebrow
- avuçpalm (of the hand)
- beden dilibody language
- yüz ifadesifacial expression
- jestgesture
- mimikfacial movement
- başını sallamakto nod
- kaşlarını kaldırmakto raise one’s eyebrows
- göz kırpmakto wink
- omuz silkmekto shrug
- kollarını kavuşturmakto fold one’s arms
- ellerini ovuşturmakto rub one’s hands
- el sallamakto wave
- gülümsemekto smile
- taklit etmekto copy, to imitate
- düşüncelithoughtful
- üzgünsad, upset
- tedirginuneasy, on edge
- şaşkınbewildered
- sakincalm
- soğukkanlıcool-headed
- sinirliirritable, cross
- cıkno (a click of the tongue)
- aynamirror
- çizimdrawing
- düğünwedding
- raporreport
- üyemember
- başkanchair, head
- gözlükglasses
- terlemekto sweat
- toplamakto gather, to collect
- resmî olarakofficially
- SaygılarımlaKind regards (in a letter)
10Say it yourself
Out loud first, then the answer. Each one needs a “how”, an “as” or a doubled -a -a. Getting it wrong and then checking is exactly what this is for.
I came on foot
Yürüyerek geldim.
he listened with his arms folded
Kollarını kavuşturarak dinledi.
we talked sitting down
Oturarak konuştuk.
I work at the office as an architect
Büroda mimar olarak çalışıyorum.
will you help? — gladly!
Yardım eder misin? Seve seve!
I went there reluctantly
Oraya istemeye istemeye gittim.
11Check yourself
Six items. A miss shows you the right answer straight away, and why.
1Match each picture to its word.
2Fill in the right form: “I learnt Turkish by watching TV series.”
Türkçeyi dizi ? öğrendim.
3How do you say “We talked sitting down”?
4Fill in the right word: “I work at the office as an architect.”
Büroda mimar ? çalışıyorum.
5Toplantıya istemeye istemeye gittim means…
6Someone raises their eyebrows and says cık. What does it mean?
12Homework
Two to say aloud, three to write. Write by hand or in your phone’s notes, then read it aloud: the ear finds what the eye let through.
- Say the -arak of gelmek, bakmak, okumak, beklemek, gülmek, söylemek out loud — first as it is, then in the negative: gelerek — gelmeyerek.
- Say each one twice, with -arak and with -a -a, and hear the difference: Koşarak geldim — Koşa koşa geldim; Bekleyerek yoruldum — Bekleye bekleye yoruldum; Gülerek anlattı — Güle güle anlattı.
- Describe someone you know well without a word of what they say: how they listen, how they laugh, how they say no. Six to eight sentences with -arak and the lesson’s words: kollarını kavuşturarak, kaşlarını kaldırarak, omuz silkerek.
- Write a report, as Kerem did, on a meeting, a class or an interview you went to: in what role (… olarak), what came first and what came last (ilk olarak, son olarak), and one doubled -a -a.
- Put a Turkish TV series on for two minutes with the sound off. Write down who feels what (üzgün, tedirgin, şaşkın…) and how you could tell: Başını iki yana sallayarak…