Fourteen engineers, fourteen glasses of tea. The tea’s on me today!
1-dığı hâlde: “although”, and it went the other way
Last lesson, a reason led where you’d expect: Hasta olduğum için bugün gelemiyorum, “I can’t come today because I’m ill.” But it can go the other way: the reason’s there, and what comes of it isn’t what it should be. Ill, and came anyway. In Course 1 you’d have said that with its Lesson 2’s ama: Hastayım, ama geldim. And in this course’s Lesson 5, -ken set two things side by side: Herkes çalışırken sen neden oturuyorsun? Today “although” goes inside the sentence itself.
It’s built like last lesson’s geldiğim için, with hâlde where için was. That’s hâl, which TDK’s dictionary sends you on to durum for, “state, situation”, with -de. Word for word, “in the state of my having come”; what it means is “although I came”:
First what makes you expect one thing, then what actually happened:
Kar yağdığı hâlde herkes geldi.— Although it was snowing, everyone came.
Erken yattığım hâlde sabah çok yorgundum.— Although I went to bed early, I was worn out in the morning.
The possessive ending says who, as last lesson. All six:
ben → erken çıktığım hâlde— I → although I left early
sen → erken çıktığın hâlde— you → although you left early
o → erken çıktığı hâlde— he, she → although he or she left early
biz → erken çıktığımız hâlde— we → although we left early
siz → erken çıktığınız hâlde— you (plural or polite) → although you left early
onlar → erken çıktıkları hâlde— they → although they left early
Erken çıktığımız hâlde toplantıya geç kaldık.— Although we left early, we were late for the meeting.
The negative is -ma before -dık, as ever. And here’s where için and hâlde part ways: the first half is the same, and then comes either what you’d expect or the opposite. The first sentence is last lesson’s:
Türkçe bilmediği için her şeyi İngilizce soruyor.— He asks everything in English because he doesn’t speak Turkish.
Türkçe bilmediği hâlde her şeyi anladı.— He doesn’t speak Turkish, and he still understood everything.
Where there’s no verb, olmak steps in, as last lesson: hasta olduğum için becomes hasta olduğum hâlde. var and yok go the same way, through olduğu and olmadığı:
Hasta olduğum hâlde işe gittim.— I went to work although I was ill.
Asansör olduğu hâlde merdivenden çıkıyor.— There’s a lift, and he still takes the stairs.
Zamanı olmadığı hâlde bize yardım etti.— He had no time, and he helped us anyway.
When this half has a subject of its own, in our examples it stays as it is, with no genitive, like last lesson’s Asansör çalışmadığı için:
Defne söylediği hâlde Kerem ceketini almadı.— Defne told him to, and Kerem still didn’t take his jacket.
In every example here the hâlde half comes first, before what happened in spite of it, just like the için half.
2-masına rağmen: the same “although”, built on -ma
The second way to say it is built from parts you’ve known a long time. -ma with a possessive ending is Course 1 Lesson 22’s gitmem lazım, and Yarın erken gelmem gerekiyor from this course’s Lesson 1. Add -a, then rağmen. TDK’s dictionary explains rağmen by karşın, and karşın as a word saying something is done gerekenin veya mantığın tersine, “against what’s needed, or what makes sense”.
All six. In the third person a buffer n comes between -sı and -a, as in last lesson’s geldiğinden:
ben → geç kalmama rağmen— I → although I was late
sen → geç kalmana rağmen— you → although you were late
o → geç kalmasına rağmen— he, she → although he or she was late
biz → geç kalmamıza rağmen— we → although we were late
siz → geç kalmanıza rağmen— you (plural or polite) → although you were late
onlar → geç kalmalarına rağmen— they → although they were late
-ma has no tense of its own: whether it was, is, or happens every day, the second half tells you:
Geç kalmasına rağmen kimse ona kızmadı.— Although he was late, nobody was cross with him.
Her gün geç kalmasına rağmen kimse ona bir şey söylemiyor.— He’s late every day, and nobody says a thing to him.
The subject’s different here, though. In our examples, with -masına rağmen it’s in the genitive, with -ın, like Lesson 13’s Kerem’in before -dığını. Compare the sentence from section 1:
Defne’nin söylemesine rağmen Kerem ceketini almadı.— Defne told him to, and Kerem still didn’t take his jacket.
Annemin “hayır” demesine rağmen bir kedi aldım.— Mum said no, and I got a cat anyway.
You can leave the subject out altogether when both halves share it, or when it’s plain anyway. With no verb, olmak steps in again (var becomes olmasına), and yok becomes olmamasına:
Çok yorgun olmama rağmen hiç uyuyamadım.— I was worn out, and I still couldn’t sleep a wink.
Uzak olmasına rağmen her hafta annesini görmeye gidiyor.— It’s a long way, but he goes to see his mother every week.
Parası olmamasına rağmen herkese çay aldı.— He had no money, and he still bought everyone tea.
karşın goes in the same place and means the same thing: TDK’s dictionary sends you from one to the other. The newspaper in the Reading uses karşın:
Kar yağmasına karşın sokakta yer kalmadı.— Despite the snow, there wasn’t a spot left in the street.
So -dığı hâlde and -masına rağmen say the same thing. What differs is how they’re built: the first is -dık and hâlde, the second -ma, -a and rağmen. And in the examples here, the first keeps its subject as it is, while the second puts it in -ın. One sentence, both ways:
Otobüs geç geldiği hâlde toplantıya geç kalmadık.— The bus came late, and we still weren’t late for the meeting.
Otobüsün geç gelmesine rağmen toplantıya geç kalmadık.— The bus came late, and we still weren’t late for the meeting.
3kalkacağım hâlde: although something else is ahead
-dık looks at what was or is. And if the “although” is about something still ahead? Then, as with last lesson’s -acağı için, -acak takes the place of -dık. In our examples it’s something that’s coming, or has to be done, and someone’s doing something else. Last lesson had Yarın erken kalkacağım için bu akşam erken yatıyorum. Here’s how it tends to go in real life:
Yarın erken kalkacağım hâlde hâlâ yatmadım.— I’ve got to be up early tomorrow, and I still haven’t gone to bed.
Cumartesi taşınacakları hâlde daha hiçbir şeyi toplamadılar.— They’re moving on Saturday, and they haven’t packed a thing yet.
The endings are the same as with -dık:
ben → kalkacağım hâlde— I → although I’ve got to get up
sen → kalkacağın hâlde— you → although you’ve got to get up
o → kalkacağı hâlde— he, she → although he or she has got to get up
biz → kalkacağımız hâlde— we → although we’ve got to get up
siz → kalkacağınız hâlde— you (plural or polite) → although you’ve got to get up
onlar → kalkacakları hâlde— they → although they’ve got to get up
It’s close to Lesson 5’s -acakken in a complaint: Kerem çizim yapacakken telefonda penaltı izliyor! But -acağı hâlde carries a person ending:
Kerem çizim yapacağı hâlde telefonda penaltı izliyor.— Kerem’s meant to be drawing, and he’s watching penalties on his phone.
The negative is -mayacak. Here it’s something someone had no plan to do, though they said otherwise:
Gelmeyeceği hâlde “Geliyorum” dedi.— He said “I’m coming”, and he had no plans to.
4her şeye rağmen: after a word, and buna rağmen
rağmen and karşın can also come straight after a word, with -a. Then it’s “despite…”, “in spite of…”. TDK’s dictionary has an example: bütün gayretlerine rağmen konuşamadı, “for all his efforts, he couldn’t speak”. And there’s this lesson’s title:
Her şeye rağmen— Despite everything
Kara rağmen herkes geldi.— Despite the snow, everyone came.
Yağmura karşın maç oynandı.— The match went ahead despite the rain.
Put last lesson’s dolayı beside it: the word takes a different case, and the meaning flips. -dan dolayı is “because of”, -a rağmen is “despite”. The first sentence is last lesson’s:
Yağmurdan dolayı maç oynanmadı.— The match was called off because of the rain.
Yağmura rağmen maç oynandı.— Despite the rain, the match went ahead.
After bu you get buna rağmen: “despite that”, “even so”. It’s a handy way to start a second sentence once the first is said:
Hava çok soğuktu. Buna rağmen çay bahçesi doluydu.— It was very cold. Even so, the tea garden was full.
Bina çok eski. Buna rağmen merdivenleri hâlâ sağlam.— The building’s very old. Even so, its stairs are still sound.
5One “although”, five ways
Last lesson ended with one reason said five ways. Let’s do the same with “although”. It snowed, and everyone came anyway: the first sentence has Course 1 Lesson 2’s ama, and the rest are all this lesson’s:
Kar yağdı, ama herkes geldi.— It snowed, but everyone came.
Kar yağdı. Buna rağmen herkes geldi.— It snowed. Even so, everyone came.
Kar yağdığı hâlde herkes geldi.— Although it was snowing, everyone came.
Kar yağmasına rağmen herkes geldi.— Even though it snowed, everyone came.
Kara rağmen herkes geldi.— Despite the snow, everyone came.
And now the one that’s easy to mix up: için and hâlde after the same -dık. With için, what happened is what you’d expect; with hâlde, it’s the opposite. One word, and the meaning turns over:
Kar yağdığı için kimse gelmedi.— Nobody came because it was snowing.
Kar yağdığı hâlde herkes geldi.— Although it was snowing, everyone came.
6All of Course 2 in one story
This is the course’s last lesson. Its dialogues and texts use a form from every lesson of Course 2, one a lesson, where a person would actually say it. Here they are in order, each with the number of the lesson that took it apart. If one’s gone hazy, look back at its lesson: that’s not cheating here.
Lesson 1: -malı, dialogue 1
İlk siz oturmalısınız.— You must be the first to sit in it.
Lesson 2: birbiri, text 1
Sokağın komşuları bütün gün birbirine çay taşıdı.— All day long the neighbours carried tea to each other.
Lesson 3: olarak, text 2
Bina, ellili yıllardan doksanlı yıllara kadar matbaa olarak kullanıldı.— From the fifties to the nineties, the building was used as a printing house.
Lesson 4: keşke, dialogue 2
Keşke onlar da burada olsaydı.— If only they were here too.
Lesson 5: -mışken, dialogue 2
Gelmişken bodruma da inin.— Now you’re here, go down to the cellar too.
Lesson 6: kendim, dialogue 2
Kendim çizdim!— I drew it myself!
Lesson 7: -dan beri, dialogue 3
Yazdan beri başvuruyorum.— I’ve been applying since the summer.
Lesson 8: ya … -rsa, dialogue 3
Ya bu sefer ararlarsa?— And what if this time they do?
Lesson 9: kapattırmak, text 3
Sonra üstünü kapattırdık.— Then we had them covered up again.
Lesson 10: yapıldı, dialogue 1
Bu cumba her şeye rağmen yapıldı.— This cumba was built despite everything.
Lesson 11: -ana kadar, text 3
Kış bitene kadar kapalı kalmalı.— They must stay covered until the winter’s over.
Lesson 12: -an, dialogue 2
Paspasın üstünde uyuyan kedi…— The cat asleep on the doormat…
Lesson 13: -dığını, dialogue 2
Burada bir matbaa olduğunu biliyor muydunuz?— Did you know there was a printing house here?
Lesson 14: -mış olan, text 1
Beş numaranın yıkılmış olan cumbası yeniden yapıldı.— Number 5’s demolished cumba has been rebuilt.
Lesson 15: -ıp -mayacağını, text 3
İstanbul’a gelip gelmeyeceklerini sordum.— I asked whether they’d be coming to İstanbul.
Lesson 16: -dığımda, -yordu, dialogue 2
Ben bu binaya geldiğimde matbaa hâlâ çalışıyordu.— When I came to live here, the press was still running.
Lesson 17: -mamış, dialogue 1
Yanlış habere, kurutulmamış meşeye, kara rağmen.— Despite the wrong story in the paper, the undried oak, the snow.
Lesson 18: -dığına sevinmek, text 1
Bir kere işe yaradığına sevindim.— I’m glad it was some use, the once.
This lesson: -masına rağmen, dialogue 1
Uzak olmamıza rağmen gelir misiniz?— We’re a long way off, but would you come?
7Türkiye up close: Babıali, the newspapers’ quarter
In Lesson 5 there was a bust of İbrahim Müteferrika in the middle of the book market: he founded the first Turkish printing house in 1727. In Lesson 14 we read about the state’s own first newspaper, Takvim-i Vekayi. Today it’s the quarter where Turkish newspapers lived for more than a hundred years after that, and the word it left behind.
Babıali is two Arabic words: “gate” and ali, which TDK’s dictionary gives as yüce, yüksek, “high”. The High Gate. It was the name of a building in İstanbul, in the Cağaloğlu quarter, where the grand vizier sat, along with two ministries. European books call it the Sublime Porte, from the French for “gate”.
Newspapers, magazines and printing houses gathered on the slope round that gate, and the quarter became the heart of the press as well. When the government moved to Ankara, the papers stayed. One Turkish news site puts it just like that: hükümetin Ankara’ya taşınmasına rağmen, “despite the government’s moving to Ankara”, a real-life example for section 2, its subject in the genitive.
Then in the nineties the big papers moved out, one after another, to the edge of the city, to new buildings with new printing works. London’s Fleet Street emptied the same way. The last paper left the quarter in 2005.
The papers went, and the word stayed: TDK’s dictionary still gives Babıali a second, figurative meaning, İstanbul’da bu çevredeki basın, “the press of that part of İstanbul”. basın is “the press”, every paper and magazine together. You can say it in this lesson’s words, too: Gazeteler gittiği hâlde ad kaldı.
If you’d like to see how papers were printed, there’s the Turkish Journalists’ Association’s Press Museum on Divanyolu, in Çemberlitaş. Its building went up in 1865, was restored from 1984 to 1988, and opened as a museum on 9 May 1988. Inside there’s a life-size copy of Müteferrika’s press, a letterpress machine from 1892, and a line-casting machine that cast whole lines of type in lead. A lithographic press from 1870 is still in working order.
And a wooden type case: a tray of little boxes, one for each letter, from which a typesetter built the lines by hand. In Turkish that’s harfleri dizmek, “to set the letters in a row”: that’s how TDK’s dictionary explains dizmek. You’ll meet the word again in the second dialogue.
8Dialogue: three meetings
There are three dialogues today, each with its own player. The first: a Wednesday in early February, the street in Üsküdar, number 5. It snowed in the night, and the roofs are still white. The cumba, which has been waiting in pieces in number 5’s own basement since September, is going back up.
Tolga:
On dört mühendis, on dört bardak çay. Bugün çaylar benden!
Kerem:
Sonunda! Aylardır bu çayı bekliyoruz.
At last! We’ve been waiting months for this tea.
Defne:
Kerem, çay sonra. Bak, son parçayı yerine koyuyorlar.
Kerem, tea later. Look, they’re putting the last piece in.
Sabiha:
Kızım, Nevin nerede? Bu anı kaçırmamalı!
Where’s Nevin, dear? She mustn’t miss this!
Nevin:
Buradayım, Sabiha Hanım! Gece otobüsüyle geldim. Çok yorgun olmama rağmen yolda hiç uyuyamadım.
I’m here, Sabiha Hanım! I came on the night bus. I was worn out, and I still couldn’t sleep a wink on the way.
Zehra:
Hoş geldiniz, Nevin Hanım. Cumbanız hazır. İlk siz oturmalısınız.
Welcome, Nevin Hanım. Your cumba’s ready. You must be the first to sit in it.
Nevin:
Otuz yıl önce her akşam bu cumbada oturuyordum. Hiç değişmemiş!
Thirty years ago I sat in this cumba every evening. It hasn’t changed a bit!
Kerem:
Çünkü aynı cumba, Nevin Hanım. Yüz on iki parçanın hepsi eski.
Because it’s the same cumba, Nevin Hanım. All hundred and twelve pieces are the old ones.
Tolga:
Yalnız payandalar yeni. Onlar da eski kirişlerden yapıldı.
Only the supports are new. And even they were made from old beams.
Sabiha:
Otur artık, kızım! Otuz yıldır bu günü bekliyoruz.
Sit down, dear! We’ve waited thirty years for this day.
Nevin:
Buradan bütün sokağı görüyorum. Annem de buradan bakıyordu.
I can see the whole street from here. My mother used to look out from here too.
Zehra:
Bu cumba her şeye rağmen yapıldı. Yanlış habere, kurutulmamış meşeye, kara rağmen.
This cumba was built despite everything. Despite the wrong story in the paper, the undried oak, the snow.
Kerem:
Ve on dört mühendise rağmen!
And despite fourteen engineers!
Tolga:
Duydum, Kerem Bey!
I heard that, Kerem Bey!
Zehra:
Bir şey daha var. Bu sabah ofise bir mektup geldi. Başka bir şehirden.
One more thing. A letter came to the office this morning. From another town.
Defne:
Bir mektup mu? Okuyun, Zehra Hanım!
A letter? Read it out, Zehra Hanım!
Zehra:
“Sevgili mimarlar, cumbanızın hikâyesini gazetede okuduk.”
“Dear architects, we read the story of your cumba in the paper.”
Zehra:
“Bizim binamız da eski: yaklaşık yüz yaşında. Herkes ‘eski bina’ diyor, ama hikâyesini kimse bilmiyor.”
“Our building’s old too: about a hundred years old. Everyone calls it ‘the old building’, but nobody knows its story.”
Zehra:
“Binamız İstanbul’da değil. Uzak olmamıza rağmen gelir misiniz?”
“Our building isn’t in İstanbul. We’re a long way off, but would you come?”
Zehra:
“Lale Sokağı 12’nin komşuları.” Altında beş isim ve bir kedi resmi var.
“The neighbours of Lale Sokağı 12.” Underneath there are five names and a drawing of a cat.
Defne:
Kedi mi?
A cat?
Zehra:
Yanında küçük bir not var: “Efe yazı yazamadığı için kediyi çizdi.”
There’s a little note beside it: “Efe can’t write, so he drew the cat.”
Kerem:
Gidiyor muyuz, Zehra Hanım?
Are we going, Zehra Hanım?
Zehra:
Uzak olmasına rağmen gidiyoruz. Pazartesi.
Far as it is, we’re going. On Monday.
Tolga:
Ben de geliyorum. Kedi çizen birine hayır diyemem.
I’m coming too. I can’t say no to someone who draws cats.
Bugün çaylar benden: at last Tolga Bey makes good on Lesson 15’s promise, O gün çaylar benden! “That day” has come. Nevin Hanım came from İzmir on the night bus again, as in Lesson 14, and her olmama rağmen has no subject: the two halves share one. Annem de buradan bakıyordu: that’s the girl the cumba was built for in 1934, as Lesson 17 found carved on its beam. And Zehra Hanım’s Her şeye rağmen is a list: May’s story printed before its time, the oak sent back undried in September, and the snow.
The second dialogue: the Monday after. The office has come to another town, which we won’t name, to Lale Sokağı, number 12. If you did Course 1, you know everyone here. Can and Ayşe meet them, with Sevim teyze from the top floor and her grandson Efe, who’s brought a biscuit for Kurabiye.
Can:
Hoş geldiniz! Bina sokağın sonunda. İşte Lale Sokağı 12!
Welcome! The building’s at the end of the street. Here it is, Lale Sokağı 12!
Zehra:
Hoş bulduk. Mektubunuz için teşekkür ederiz.
Glad to be here. Thank you for your letter.
Sevim teyze:
Ben Sevim. Elli yıldır bu binada oturuyorum. Hoş geldiniz, çocuklar!
I’m Sevim. I’ve lived in this building for fifty years. Welcome, children!
Kerem:
Zehra Hanım’a bile “çocuklar” dedi!
She called even Zehra Hanım “children”!
Defne:
Sus, Kerem!
Shh, Kerem!
Tolga:
Bu merdivenler ilk günkü merdivenler mi, Sevim Hanım?
Are these the stairs it had on day one, Sevim Hanım?
Sevim teyze:
Evet, oğlum. Yüz yaşında olmalarına rağmen hâlâ sağlamlar.
Yes, son. They’re a hundred years old, and they’re still sound.
Tolga:
Sağlamlar, ama gıcırdıyorlar.
Sound, yes, but they creak.
Efe:
Kurabiye! Kurabiye nerede? Ona kurabiye getirdim!
Kurabiye! Where’s Kurabiye? I’ve brought Kurabiye a biscuit!
Sevim teyze:
Paşam yine Deniz’in paspasında uyuyor.
My Paşa’s asleep on Deniz’s doormat again.
Kerem:
Paspasın üstünde uyuyan kedi… Mektuptaki kedi bu mu?
The cat asleep on the doormat… Is that the cat from the letter?
Efe:
Evet! Onu ben çizdim! Kendim çizdim!
Yes! I drew it! I drew it myself!
Efe:
Kurabiyem!
My biscuit!
Tolga:
Yakaladım!
Got it!
Can:
Ne güzel yakaladınız! Futbol oynuyor musunuz?
Nice catch! Do you play football?
Tolga:
Kaleciyim.
I’m a goalkeeper.
Can:
Ben de futbolcuyum!
I’m a footballer too!
Ayşe:
Taraftar.
A fan.
Zehra:
Sevim Hanım, binanın eski bir fotoğrafı var mı?
Sevim Hanım, is there an old photo of the building?
Sevim teyze:
Fotoğraf yok, kızım. Ama ben varım!
No photo, dear. But there’s me!
Kerem:
Zehra Hanım, buraya bakın! Sıva düşmüş. Altında harfler var: “… Matbaası”!
Zehra Hanım, look here! The plaster’s come away. There are letters underneath: “… Printing House”!
Zehra:
Kimse dokunmasın. Önce fotoğrafını çekmeliyiz.
Nobody touch it. We must photograph it first.
Zehra:
Sevim Hanım, burada bir matbaa olduğunu biliyor muydunuz?
Sevim Hanım, did you know there was a printing house here?
Sevim teyze:
Bilmez miyim! Ben bu binaya geldiğimde matbaa hâlâ çalışıyordu.
Of course I knew! When I came to live here, the press was still running.
Sevim teyze:
Şehrin gazetesi burada basılıyordu, her cuma. Halit Bey yazıyordu, Nurten Hanım harfleri diziyordu.
The town paper was printed here, every Friday. Halit Bey wrote it, and Nurten Hanım set the type.
Can:
Gazete mi? Bizim binada mı?
A newspaper? In our building?
Ayşe:
Biz burada oturduğumuz hâlde hiç bilmiyorduk!
We live here, and we had no idea!
Sevim teyze:
Keşke onlar da burada olsaydı. Çok sevinirlerdi.
If only they were here too. They’d be so pleased.
Sevim teyze:
Gelmişken bodruma da inin. Makine hâlâ orada.
Now you’re here, go down to the cellar too. The press is still there.
Tolga:
Makine mi? Neden çıkarılmadı?
The press? Why wasn’t it taken out?
Sevim teyze:
Kapıdan büyük olduğu için çıkaramadılar, oğlum.
It’s bigger than the door, son, so they couldn’t get it out.
Tolga:
Kapıdan büyük mü? O zaman makine aşağıda kurulmuş!
Bigger than the door? Then it must have been put together down there!
Zehra:
Ayşe Hanım, Can Bey: bu binanın hikâyesini kurula yazmamız gerek. Akşama kadar yazabilir misiniz?
Ayşe Hanım, Can Bey: we need to write this building’s story up for the board. Could you write it by this evening?
Can:
Akşama kadar mı? Yazarım!
By this evening? I’ll write it!
Ayşe:
Ben de çizerim.
And I’ll do the drawings.
Efe:
Ben de kedi çizerim!
And I’ll draw a cat!
Bina sokağın sonunda is how Can welcomed Nermin in Course 1’s Lesson 9. Paşam is what Sevim teyze has called the cat since that course’s Lesson 20, though another name was picked for it then: Kurabiye, “biscuit”. The football is from its Lesson 24: Ben futbolcuyum!, Futbolcu değilsin, taraftarsın. And Tolga Bey’s goalkeeper’s hands have already held a fire extinguisher and a glass of tea at once, in this course’s Lesson 16, and caught a tray of fourteen glasses in Lesson 18. Bilmez miyim!, literally “don’t I know?”, here means “of course I knew!” kurulmuş is Course 1 Lesson 18’s -mış: Tolga Bey didn’t see it happen, he’s worked it out.
The third dialogue: that evening, the tea garden, the same one as in Course 1. The sun’s only just gone down, and it’s already cold. Can and Ayşe have written and drawn the building’s story, and Defne has already read it.
Defne:
Hava bu kadar soğuk olduğu hâlde herkes dışarıda oturuyor!
It’s this cold, and everyone’s sitting outside!
Ayşe:
Burada yaz kış çay bahçesinde oturulur.
Round here people sit in the tea garden summer and winter.
Defne:
Can, yazını okudum. Çok güzel.
Can, I read your piece. It’s very good.
Can:
Gerçekten mi? İki saatte yazdım.
Really? I wrote it in two hours.
Kerem:
Ben bir raporu iki günde yazıyorum. Zehra Hanım yine her sayfasına not yazıyor.
I take two days over a report. And Zehra Hanım still writes notes on every page.
Defne:
Ayşe, çizimlerin de çok güzel. Mimar olmadığın hâlde merdiveni bir mimar gibi çizmişsin.
Ayşe, your drawings are lovely too. You’re not an architect, and you’ve drawn those stairs like one.
Ayşe:
Teşekkürler. Sevim teyzeyi çizmek daha zordu: hiç durmadı!
Thanks. Sevim teyze was harder to draw: she never stopped moving!
Ayşe:
Bir şey daha öğrendik: kırk yıl bizim binada bir gazete basılmış!
And we found something out: for forty years, a newspaper was printed in our building!
Can:
Keşke biz de bir gazetede çalışsak.
If only we worked at a paper too.
Kerem:
Cumbanın hikâyesini yazan muhabir, İstanbul’da büyük bir gazeteye geçiyor.
The reporter who wrote the cumba’s story is moving to a big paper in İstanbul.
Kerem:
Cumbanın kurulduğu gün konuştuk. Yeni gazete genç muhabir arıyor.
We talked the day the cumba went up. The new paper’s looking for young reporters.
Can:
Genç muhabir mi? Ama biz hiç gazetede çalışmadık.
Young reporters? But we’ve never worked at a paper.
Defne:
Çalışmadığınız hâlde güzel yazıyorsunuz. Bugün kendi gözümle gördüm.
You haven’t, and you still write well. I saw it with my own eyes today.
Can:
Yazdan beri başvuruyorum. Kimse aramadı.
I’ve been applying since the summer. Nobody’s rung.
Defne:
Ya bu sefer ararlarsa?
And what if this time they do?
Ayşe:
Ararlarsa İstanbul’a gitmemiz gerekecek. Çok uzak.
If they ring, we’ll have to go to İstanbul. It’s a long way.
Kerem:
İstanbul o kadar uzak değil. Biz bugün geldik, bakın!
İstanbul’s not that far. We came today, didn’t we?
Ayşe:
Can? Ne yapıyorsun?
Can? What are you doing?
Can:
İstanbul’a otobüs kaçta kalkıyor?
What time does the bus to İstanbul leave?
yaz kış is “all year round”, which is just how TDK’s dictionary explains it, and oturulur is Lesson 10’s passive with no subject, like Bu ofiste geç kalınmaz. çizmişsin is -mış again: Defne didn’t watch Ayşe draw, she’s looking at the drawing. Ya bu sefer ararlarsa? is Lesson 8’s ya … -rsa, the one that took apart Efe’s Ya tutarsa! from Course 1’s Lesson 26. Can was turned down in that same lesson, and he’s been looking for work ever since. And what he’s looking up on his phone, you’ve just heard.
9Reading
There are three texts as well. The first is Üsküdar’s local paper, the Monday after the cumba’s day. Back in May the paper printed Kerem’s drawing as if the cumba were already built, and a week later promised its readers that on the day it was built, there’d be a cumba on the page again: doğru zamanla, in the right tense. Read it through; open a translation only where you’re stuck.
Doğru zamanla
Üsküdar’s paper, the Monday after the cumba’s day.
Beş numaranın yıkılmış olan cumbası yeniden yapıldı.
Number 5’s demolished cumba has been rebuilt.
Bu cümleyi geçen mayıs da yazdık. O zaman yanlıştı, bugün doğru.
We wrote this sentence last May too. It was wrong then. Today it’s right.
Geçen çarşamba, kar yağmasına karşın sokakta yer kalmadı.
Last Wednesday, despite the snow, there wasn’t a spot left in the street.
Mimarlık ofisinden dört kişi, on dört mühendis, sokağın komşuları ve İzmir’den gelen bir misafir oradaydı.
Four people from the architects’ office, fourteen engineers, the street’s neighbours and a guest from İzmir were all there.
Sokağın komşuları bütün gün birbirine çay taşıdı.
All day long the neighbours carried tea to each other.
Cumba, yüz on iki eski parçasıyla yerine kuruldu.
The cumba went back up in its place, from its hundred and twelve old pieces.
Cumbada ilk oturan Nevin Hanım oldu: otuz yıl sonra.
The first to sit in it was Nevin Hanım: thirty years on.
Üç numaranın cumbasından Sabiha Hanım seslendi:
From number 3’s cumba, Sabiha Hanım called across:
— Hoş geldin, kızım!
“Welcome, dear!”
Kurulun başkanı da geldi. Bu sefer sesi çıkıyordu.
The board’s chair came too. This time she had her voice.
Çaylar ofisin kalecisi Tolga Bey’dendi.
The tea was on the office’s goalkeeper, Tolga Bey.
On dört bardağın hiçbiri kırılmadı.
Not one of the fourteen glasses broke.
Akşam saat dokuzda sokağın başından bir ses geldi: “Bozaaa!”
At nine that evening a voice came from the top of the street: “Bozaaa!”
Bu sefer iki cumbadan iki sepet indi: üç numaradan ve beş numaradan.
This time two baskets came down from two cumbas: number 3’s and number 5’s.
Hayri Bey iki sepete de boza koydu.
Hayri Bey put boza in both.
Sonra Nevin Hanım, Hayri Bey’e otuz yıl önceki akşamı anlattı:
Then Nevin Hanım told Hayri Bey about that evening thirty years ago:
— O akşam sesinizi duyduğum için aşağı indim.
“That evening I came downstairs because I heard you call.”
— Siz bağırmasaydınız, ben o cumbada otururdum.
“If you hadn’t called out, I’d have been sitting in that cumba.”
Hayri Bey uzun süre bir şey söylemedi.
For a long time Hayri Bey said nothing.
— Kırk yıldır bağırıyorum. Bir kere işe yaradığına sevindim.
“Forty years I’ve been calling. I’m glad it was some use, the once.”
Okurlarımıza: bu, gazetemizdeki son yazım.
To our readers: this is my last piece for this paper.
Gelecek ay İstanbul’da büyük bir gazetede çalışmaya başlıyorum.
Next month I start work at a big paper in İstanbul.
Mayısta size bir söz verdik: “O gün bu sayfada yine bir cumba olacak. Bu sefer, doğru zamanla.”
In May we gave you our word: “That day there’ll be a cumba on this page again. In the right tense, this time.”
Sözümüzde durduk.
We’ve kept our word.
Okuduğunuz için teşekkür ederim.
Thank you for reading.
The first line is the caption under the drawing from Lesson 14, word for word: then, yıkılmış olan was true and yapıldı wasn’t; now all of it is. karşın is rağmen’s twin, and it’s the one the paper went for. And Lesson 16’s secret is out: on that snowy evening in the nineties, Nevin ran out at Hayri Bey’s call, and the support broke behind her. bağırmasaydınız … otururdum is Lesson 8’s -saydı … -ırdı, what didn’t happen. And the reporter is off to an İstanbul paper: remember that.
1Why is the story’s first line only true now?
2What did Hayri Bey find out that evening?
The second text is the one Can wrote that afternoon for the board, with Ayşe’s drawings. Defne praised it in the third dialogue. It’s a note for a file, so it has -dır at the end, as on the signs in Course 1’s Lesson 23.
Bir binanın hikâyesi
Can’s text for the board, with Ayşe’s drawings.
Lale Sokağı 12, sokağın sonundaki taş binadır.
Lale Sokağı 12 is the stone building at the end of the street.
Yaklaşık yüz yıl önce yapıldı.
It was built about a hundred years ago.
Merdivenleri hâlâ ilk günkü ahşap merdivenler.
Its stairs are still the wooden ones it had on day one.
En eski komşumuz Sevim Hanım elli yıldır üst katta oturuyor.
Our longest-standing neighbour, Sevim Hanım, has lived on the top floor for fifty years.
Her gün o merdivenlerden iniyor, çıkıyor.
Every day she goes down those stairs and back up.
Merdivenler gıcırdamasına rağmen sağlam.
The stairs creak, but they’re sound.
Bina, ellili yıllardan doksanlı yıllara kadar matbaa olarak kullanıldı.
From the fifties to the nineties, the building was used as a printing house.
Giriş katında şehrin haftalık gazetesi “Hafta” yazılıyor, diziliyor ve basılıyordu.
On the ground floor the town’s weekly paper, Hafta (“The Week”), was written, set and printed.
Gazeteyi Halit Bey ile Nurten Hanım çıkarıyordu.
Halit Bey and Nurten Hanım put the paper out.
Sayfalarında düğünler, maçlar, kar ve ekmeğin fiyatı vardı.
Its pages had weddings, matches, snow and the price of bread.
Her cuma sabahı kapının önünde kuyruk oluyordu.
Every Friday morning there was a queue at the door.
Sevim Hanım’ın anlattığına göre, makine çalışırken bütün bina titriyordu.
According to Sevim Hanım, the whole building shook when the press was running.
Baskı makinesi bugün hâlâ bodrumda duruyor.
The printing press is still in the cellar today.
Makine kapıdan büyük.
It’s bigger than the door.
Halit Bey onu bodrumda parça parça kurdurmuş.
Halit Bey must have had it put together down there, piece by piece.
Matbaanın adı da hâlâ duvarda: sıvanın altında eski harfler var.
The printing house’s name is still on the wall, too: there are old letters under the plaster.
Sevim Hanım ilk kelimeyi görmeden söyledi: “Hafta Matbaası.”
Sevim Hanım said the first word without seeing it: “Hafta Matbaası”, the Hafta Printing House.
Bu bina yüz yaşında olmasına rağmen hikâyesi bitmedi.
This building may be a hundred years old, but its story isn’t over.
Metin: Can. Çizimler: Ayşe.
Text: Can. Drawings: Ayşe.
binadır is that written -dır. yazılıyor, diziliyor ve basılıyordu is three of Lesson 10’s passives in Lesson 16’s past continuous: week in, week out. anlattığına göre is built like Duyduğuma göre, which Lesson 7 took apart: “going by what Sevim Hanım tells us”. kurdurmuş is two old friends at once: Lesson 9’s causative, “had it put together”, and -mış, “it seems”: Can didn’t see it himself. görmeden is Course 1 Lesson 24’s -madan.
3Why is the press still in the cellar?
The third text is Kerem’s last report to Zehra Hanım, on the Wednesday. It opens the way his report did in Lesson 15. And in the margin, as in Lesson 17’s site log, Zehra Hanım has left a few words. They’re where the course ends.
Son rapor
Kerem’s report to Zehra Hanım, the Wednesday.
Zehra Hanım, yine bir rapor istediniz. İşte raporum.
Zehra Hanım, you asked for a report again. Here it is.
Pazartesiden bu sabaha kadar Lale Sokağı 12’deydik.
We were at Lale Sokağı 12 from Monday until this morning.
Binanın her yeri ölçüldü.
Every inch of the building has been measured.
Tolga Bey’e göre bina sağlam.
According to Tolga Bey, the building’s sound.
Yalnız çatı akıyor; ilk iş çatı yapılmalı.
Only the roof leaks: the roof has to be done first.
Duvardaki harflerin fotoğraflarını çektik.
We’ve photographed the letters on the wall.
Sonra üstünü kapattırdık: kış bitene kadar kapalı kalmalı.
Then we had them covered up again: they must stay covered until the winter’s over.
Bodrumdaki makineye dokunmadık.
We didn’t touch the press in the cellar.
Kapıdan çıkmayacağı için orada kalacak.
It won’t go through the door, so it’s staying put.
Dosya bugün kurula gönderildi.
The file went to the board today.
Can Bey’in metni ve Ayşe Hanım’ın çizimleri de içinde.
Can Bey’s text and Ayşe Hanım’s drawings are in it.
Kurulun cevabı aylar sürecek.
The board’s answer will take months.
Ayşe Hanım’la Can Bey’e İstanbul’a gelip gelmeyeceklerini sordum.
I asked Ayşe Hanım and Can Bey whether they’d be coming to İstanbul.
“Geleceğiz” dediler. Ne zaman, söylemediler.
“We’ll come,” they said. When, they didn’t say.
Not: Kedi rapora yazılmaz, biliyorum. Ama Efe size bir kedi daha çizdi; masanızda.
P.S. Cats don’t go in a report, I know. But Efe’s drawn you another cat: it’s on your desk.
Raporun kenarında, Zehra Hanım’ın kalemiyle:
In the margin, in Zehra Hanım’s pen:
Kerem Bey: bu rapora kedi yazılır.
Kerem Bey: cats do go in this report.
Kediyi panoya astım.
I’ve pinned the cat on the board.
Lale Sokağı 12 sizin projeniz. Hayırlı olsun.
Lale Sokağı 12 is your project. May it bring you good things.
gelip gelmeyeceklerini is Lesson 15: someone else’s yes-or-no question passed on. kapattırdık is the causative again: they didn’t cover them up themselves. Kerem remembers Kedi rapora yazılmaz from Lesson 17, when the log’s margin said Kerem Bey: kedi bu deftere yazılmaz. Now Zehra Hanım has turned that rule round. And Hayırlı olsun is from Course 1’s Lesson 23: it’s what you say to someone starting something new.
4What did Zehra Hanım do with Efe’s cat?
10The lesson’s new words
These are the words the lesson brought in for the first time, in the order you met them. Forms with hâlde and rağmen of verbs you know aren’t here: you can build those yourself. Nor are the words inside TDK’s definitions.
New words
- hâldealthough (after -dığı, -acağı)
- rağmendespite, although
- karşındespite, although
- buna rağmendespite that, even so
- matbaaprinting house
- işe yaramakto be of use
- basınthe press
- dizmekto set (type), to line up
- yaklaşıkabout, roughly
- yakalamakto catch
- yaz kışall year round
- sözünde durmakto keep your word
- gazete çıkarmakto put out a newspaper
- kuyrukqueue; tail
- baskı makinesiprinting press
- metintext
- panonoticeboard
11Say it yourself
Out loud first, then the answer. Everything here went against what you’d expect; the only question is which of the lesson’s ways to say it. Where two would do, the answer shows one of them. Getting it wrong and then checking is exactly what this is for.
although it was snowing, everyone came
Kar yağdığı hâlde herkes geldi.
I was tired, and I couldn’t sleep (with rağmen)
Yorgun olmama rağmen uyuyamadım.
far as it is, we’re going
Uzak olmasına rağmen gidiyoruz.
I’ve got to be up early tomorrow, and I haven’t gone to bed yet
Yarın erken kalkacağım hâlde hâlâ yatmadım.
despite the rain, the match went ahead
Yağmura rağmen maç oynandı.
it was cold. Even so, the tea garden was full
Hava soğuktu. Buna rağmen çay bahçesi doluydu.
12Check yourself
Six items. A miss shows you the right answer straight away, and why.
1Match each picture to its word.
2Fill in the right word: “Although it was snowing, everyone came.”
Kar ? hâlde herkes geldi.
3Kar yağdığı için kimse gelmedi means…
4Fill in the right word: “The bus came late, and we still weren’t late.”
Otobüsün geç ? rağmen geç kalmadık.
5Fill in the right word: “Despite the rain, the match went ahead.”
? rağmen maç oynandı.
6Bina çok eski. Buna rağmen merdivenleri hâlâ sağlam: what does buna rağmen mean?
13Homework
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.
- Out loud, person by person: erken çıktığım hâlde, erken çıktığın hâlde… up to erken çıktıkları hâlde. Then the same with rağmen: erken çıkmama rağmen… up to erken çıkmalarına rağmen.
- Out loud: what do you do even though you know you shouldn’t? Three sentences with -dığım hâlde or -acağım hâlde.
- Take something of yours that came off against the odds and write it five ways, as in section 5: ama, buna rağmen, -dığı hâlde, -masına rağmen, -a rağmen.
- Write a letter like the Lale Sokağı neighbours’: Sevgili …, about an old building, a street or a place you care about. What makes it worth keeping although it looks ordinary, and what you’re asking for. At least one -masına rağmen and one -dığı hâlde.
- The course is over. Write six to eight sentences about learning Turkish: what was hard, what you did her şeye rağmen, and what you’ll do next. Use forms from section 6 in them, from at least five different lessons.