Grammar in brief: In Turkish, in my view, for hours

1At a glance

Whose view is it? “I”, “you”, “we”: bence or bana göre, whichever you like. “He”, “they”, Mum, the neighbour, the news: only göre, as in ona göre, anneme göre.

A language Türkçe

It answers: “what language?”
Made from: a people: Rus, Alman, İngiliz
Example: Kızım Rusça, İngilizce ve Türkçe biliyor — my daughter speaks Russian, English and Turkish
Its quirk: always a capital letter: Türkçe, Rusça

How arkadaşça

It answers: “how?”, “in what way?”
Made from: a noun or an adjective: arkadaş, yavaş, kısa
Example: Kısaca: yarın okul yok! — in short, no school tomorrow!
Its quirk: can go before a noun too: çocukça bir soru — a childish question

-⁠ish uzunca

It answers: “what kind?”, toned down: “longish”, “fairly big”
Made from: an adjective of size, age or build: büyük, yaşlı
Example: Kapıda yaşlıca bir adam var — there’s an oldish man at the door
Its quirk: lives before a noun, with bir: büyükçe bir ev

For hours saatlerce

It answers: “how long?”, “how many?” — with a sigh
Made from: a time word or a number in the plural: saatler, yüzler
Example: Kızım saatlerce telefonda konuşuyor — my daughter’s on the phone for hours
Its quirk: after a number, no -⁠lar: yüzlerce kedi; onlarca is “dozens”, not “they”

who	-⁠ceshort	-⁠(y)a görealways
benI	bence	bana göre
senyou	sence	sana göre
ohe, she	—	ona göre
bizwe	bizce	bize göre
sizyou (pl.)	sizce	size göre
onlarthey	—	onlara göre

2The key points

Four variants, and you know both switches. The vowel is a or e, by the two teams. And the c goes voiceless as ç after a voiceless consonant, the way d turns t after Fıstıkçı Şahap: Almanca, İngilizce, yavaşça, Türkçe.
Nothing softens before -⁠ca: it starts with a consonant. Çocuk gives çocuğu, but çocukça; büyük gives büyükçe.
A word with -⁠ca needs nothing more: no “in”, no case. Türkçe konuşuyorum, saatlerce bekliyorum, bence güzel, all done.
Göre is a word of its own, and comes after a word in the dative: bana göre, anneme göre, Ali’ye göre, Kime göre?

3How it works

The language and the “how” are one job seen from two sides. Türkçe is “the Turkish way”, “Turk-wise”, as arkadaşça is “friend-wise” and bence “me-wise”. That’s why Türkçe konuşuyorum needs no “in”: you speak, Turk-wise.

Göre has a second meaning too: “suited to”, “right for”, the way clothes fit you.

Bu oyun çocuklara göre mi?— Is this game all right for children?

And a language is an ordinary noun too, so it can be somebody’s. You’ll need that on your first day: Turks praise anyone who says a word.

Türkçeniz çok güzel!— Your Turkish is very good!

Pardon, bunun Türkçesi ne?— Sorry, what’s this in Turkish?

With de, “too”, and değil mi?, an opinion invites you to agree: “you think so too, don’t you?”

Sence de bu çay çok güzel, değil mi?— This tea’s lovely, don’t you think?

4In real life

— Türkçe biliyor musunuz? — Biraz.— Do you speak Turkish? — A little.

Pardon, İngilizce menü var mı?Excuse me, is there a menu in English?

— Sizce bu fiyat normal mi? — Bence biraz pahalı.— Is that a fair price, do you think? — Bit steep, if you ask me.

Babama göre en güzel çay Rize çayı.Dad says the best tea is Rize tea.

— Bu kazak bana göre mi? — Bence biraz büyük.— Is this jumper my size? — A bit big, I’d say.

Dedem uyuyor, sessizce konuşuyoruz.Grandad’s asleep, so we’re talking quietly.

Bu sokakta yüzlerce kedi var!There are hundreds of cats on this street!

5Where it’s easy to slip

Not like this	Like this	Why
Rusca	Rusça	After a voiceless s, it’s ç.
İngilizca	İngilizce	The last vowel, i, is a front one.
çocuğça	çocukça	Softening only happens before a vowel.
Türkçede konuşuyorum.	Türkçe konuşuyorum.	Türkçe is already “in Turkish”: no case.
Ben göre…	Bana göre…	Göre takes the dative.
Onca bu film çok uzun.	Ona göre bu film çok uzun.	“In his view” takes göre alone.
yüzlerce kediler	yüzlerce kedi	After a number, no -⁠lar.

6Check yourself

Four questions, each with two or three rules at once: which vowel, c or ç, -⁠ca or göre. Every wrong answer slips on exactly one.

1“My sister speaks a little German.” Which is right throughout?

2“Do you think this is too expensive?” Fill the gap.

? bu çok pahalı mı?

3“Mum thinks this film isn’t for children.” Which is right throughout?

4“There are hundreds of people on the ferry in the morning.” Fill the gap.

Sabah vapurda ? var.