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Turkish Adverbs ad nauseam Too hard to distinguish? Too many? Too confusing? Not any more... Related pages: How To Learn Basic Turkish -- A Practical Philosophy for beginners (Found in the 'Introduction to The Whole Earth Catalog of Turkish Movies'.) Why Off-color language is important too... Translating Turkish, the basics Essential Turkish Vocabulary Turkish Verbs Verb 'to be' Index Essential Idioms, Index Sentence Structure, Standard Turkish Pronunciation Turkish Accenting Turkish Numbers Revealed NewsReaders' Dictionary, Index Also: Turkish Movies - Best-Looking Bad Girl of the 1970s, Sevda Ferdağ Bad Girls of the 1970s Turkish Cinema, Aliye Rona Too Much Terminology? Believe it or not... factoids about Turkish adverbs As G.L. Lewis126 has reminded us more than once, Turkish isn't as strict as English in what can and cannot be used as an adverb. In theory, though it's not always practical, you may use any Turkish adjective as an adverb. For instance, the exact same word, iyi, may be used as an adjective meaning good or as an adverb meaning well, fine -- depending on the sentence in which it appears. As an adjective... O iyi bir filmdi. That was a good movie. As an adverb... Çok iyiyim. I'm feeling very well. But, although it may be 'linguistically legal' for you to do it in Turkish, we challenge you to choose an adjective like terkedilmiş abandoned and use it in a decent-looking Turkish sentence as an adverb. We don't think you can. Which proves that what's possible on paper isn't always possible in practice, given "today's technology" that is... In some cases, doubling-up an adjective turns it miraculously into an abverb -- as with the adjective yorgun weary and the adverb yorgun yorgun wearily... Patricia yorgun. Yorgun yorgun yuruyor. Patricia is tired. She walks wearily. In their Turkish-language grammar books, linguists generally separate Turkish adverbs into three or more of the following logical categories. Note that some adverbs are 'happily at home' in more than one category. Zaman Belirteçleri (Adverbs of Time) Common examples: akşam, ara sıra, bazan, bugün, çabucak, çarçabuk, daha, daima, demin, demincek, derhal, dün, er geç, erken, erken, ertesi gün, eskiden, evvelki gün, geç, gece, gündüz, hala, hemen, hemen hemen, hemen şimdi, henuz, nihayet, önce, sabah, sonra, şimdi, şimdicik, vaktiyle, yakında, yarın. Also, time-related words plus suffixes like: -de bir, -den beri/önce/sonra, -e degin, -e dek, -e kadar (eg. sonuna kadar), -ın (eg. yazın, kışın), -lerce, -leri, -leyin. Also, any number followed by time-related words like: ay, dakika, gün, hafta, saat, yıl, zaman. Also, bu, şu, o -- plus time related words like: akşam, gece, sabah, zaman. Also, geçen or gelecek -- plus time related words like: ay, hafta, yıl. Also, hangi -- plus time-related words like: ay, dakika, gün, hafta, saat, yıl, zaman. Also doubled words like: zaman zaman. Yer, Yön Belirteçleri (Adverbs of Place) Common Examples: alt, arka, asra (old Turkish), aşağı, şura, ora, taşra, ayrı, beri, böğür/böğrü, dışarı, doğru, geri, içeri, ileri, ön, öte, sağ, sol, üst, uzak, üzere yakın, yukarı... Note: as you may have noticed, a lot of adverbs in this category end in -re, -ra, -eri, -arı -- which may be helpful to the struggling Turkish language student, trying to parse a Turkish sentence in order to squeeze its meaning out! Ölçü or Azlık-Çokluk Belirteçleri (Adverbs of Measurement and Quantity) Common Examples: alabildiğine, aşağı yukarı, az, azıcık, biraz, çok, çokça, daha, en, fazla, fazlaca, fevkalade (from Arabic), gayet, harika/harikulade (from Arabic), hep, hepten, kadar, kısmen, olasıyla, pek, ta; Also combined adverbs like: pek çok, en az, etc. Niteleme ve Durum Belirteçleri (Adverbs of Quality and Situation) Common Examples: akıllıca, ara sıra, arada sırada, artık, asla, bazı kere, behemehal, belki, bin kere, bir daha, bir kere daha, birlikte, böyle, çok fena, çok kere, çok kez, çok kötü, elbet, elbette, geç, geni, günde bir, güzel, hızla, hiç, iki de bir, kesinkle, kimi kez, mertçe, mutlaka, ne olur olsa, nicin, öyle, şöyle, şüphesiz, tekrar, yalnız, yine. Also, adjectives or nouns followed by: -ce, -cesine (eg. aptalca, insanca, eşekcesine). Also, verbal roots followed by: -rek/-rak, Also, doubled words like: dağ dağ, diyar diyar, güzel güzel, ikiser ikiser, rahat rahat, uslu uslu. Also doubled words with -e suffix: eg. ağlaya sızlaya, anlata anlata, güle güle, köpüre köpüre, korka korka, sevine sevine, utana sıkıla. Soru Belirteçleri (Interrogative Adverbs) Common Examples: hani, nasıl, ne, ne biçim, ne kadar, ne zaman (ise), neden, nereden, niçin. Suffixes and Post-positions128 Common Examples: -ce, -cesine -de bir, -den başkı -den beri, -den dolayı, -den evvel, -den önce, -den sonra, -e değin, -e dek, -e doğru, -e göre, -e kadar (eg. sonuna kadar), -e karşı, -eri, gibi, için, ile, -in (eg. için için, yazın, kışın), kadar -le/-la, -lerce, -leri, -leyin -re, -rek The Turkish Adverbs Chart [A] [B] [C] [Ç] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [İ] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [Ö] [R] [S] [Ş] [T] [U] [Ü] [V] [Y] [Z] Turkish English Examples, supplements, and explanations A     alabildigine in the greatest possible way, to the utmost, to the limit; extremely; excessively, inordinately endlessly; as far as the eye can see as fast as possible, at full speed Milyonlarca dolarlık bir anlaşma yüzünden ortağını devre dışı bırakan bir Hollywood yapımcısının alabildiğine gerilimli hikayesi... The extremely suspenseful story of a Hollywood producer who leaves his partner sitting on the sidelines because of a multi-million dollar deal... The plot synopsis for 'The Real Deal' -- DigiTurk Dergisi Gazetesi, March 2005 Antalya'nın arkası ve bir yanı alabildiğine açıktır. In back of Antlaya and off to one side [the land] is open as far as the eye can see. Attributed to F.R. Atay, Gezerek Gördüklerim #3132 B     [adjective] bir biçimde/şekilde A 'post-postposition' (used to change an adjective into an abverb) which means: in a/an [adjective] manner/way [adjective] + 'ly' Adjective use: Daha çok para harcamaya isteksizdim. I was reluctant to spend more money.134 Adverb use: Parayı isteksiz bir şekilde harcadım. I spent the money reluctantly [...in a reluctant manner].134 böyle also şöyle and öyle like this in this/that way so, thus such like so   bugün today Bugün öğrendiklerimizi unutmayınız... Don't forget what we learned today... C     -ce, -ca, -çe, -ça and the extensions: -cesine, -casına, -çesine, -çasına -- which, if you're not careful, may be confused with the conjuction suffixes -cesine, -casına, -çesine, -çasına Note: Normally, the -ce suffix itself is unaccented... forcing the accent to the closest vowel of the preceding syllable (eg. iyi´ce pretty good; kadın´ca in a womanly manner) All the secrets of the -ce suffix... When attached to the name of a people or their country, the -ce adverbial suffix often (but not always) establishes the name of the national language (eg. Türkçe -- the Turkish language, Japonca -- the Japanese language). Note that Türkçe konuşmak, which we translate as: to speak Turkish, really means: to speak in-the-Turkish-way -- clearly an adverbial use.126 As long as we stick with 'language' identity, the -ce suffix helps form language-adjectives (eg. a Turkish dictionary is a Türkçe sözlük). But for other kinds of national identification, the use of the ce-form is not appropriate (eg. a Turkish rug is a Türk halısı -- not a Türkçe halısı). The suffix is often used in forming Turkish place names: Çamlıca, Çekmece, Sapanca, Ortaca, Taşlıca, Ilıca, etc.127 It's used in the formation of adverbial expressions of time: evvelce previously, müddetçe while, sürece as long as. See example at right... Attached to pronouns, it means 'in the opinion of' or 'according to' (eg. bence in my opinion). And in such cases, bence and bana göre, sizce and sana göre, etc. are equivalent. Attached to some adjectives, the -ce suffix simply adds 'ly' to the newly formed English adverb without effecting the word's fundamental meaning, eg. the adjective gizli secret becomes the adverb gizlice secretly. See example at top right... Attached to some other adjectives, the -ce suffix intensifies (in a negative way) the meaning of the converted adverb. For example, büyük (large) becomes büyükçe (somewhat large); güzel (pretty) becomes güzelce (rather pretty). Adding the -ce suffix to an adjective like iyi (good) can either negatively intensify or produce new meaning for the converted adverb, depending on the context of the sentence. See example at right... With some nouns the -ce suffix can add an 'al' and an 'ly' in English to make a clarifying adverb (eg. dilce linguistically; hükümetçe on the part of the government; governmentally). Attached to participles, the -ce suffix can act as a short-cut replacement for some meanings of kadar (as much as, as often as). See example at right. Attached to some other adjectives, the -ce suffix intensifies (in a negative way) the meaning of the converted adverb. For example, büyük (large) becomes büyükçe (somewhat large); güzel (pretty) becomes güzelce (rather pretty). Adding the -ce suffix to an adjective like iyi (good) can either negatively intensify or produce new meaning for the converted adverb, depending on the context of the sentence. See example at right... With other nouns, the -ce suffix forms adverbs (or adjectives) of manner or relation (eg. askerce in a soldierly manner, çocukça childish/childishly)128 Attached to nouns, the -cesine suffix may mean 'like a'. For example, eşekcesine like a donkey; domuzcasına piggishly; canavarcasına like a monster.126 Remember: Don't confuse this noun-suffix with the verb-suffix on the Conjunction Celebration page -- which has a rather different meaning... Supplementary examples... The -ce suffix, simply adding 'ly' to the converted adverb: MHP Başkanlık Divan yayınladığı bildiride, 'Denktaş'a karşı saygısızca ifadeler kullanan Başbakan Erdoğan'ı şiddetle kınıyoruz,' denildi. In an announcement published by the MHP Chairmanship Council, it said, "We vehemently condemn Prime Minister Erdoğan who is speaking disrespectfully against (Rauf) Denktas [the current KKTC President]. Gözcü Gazetesi, 14 April 2004 The -ce suffix, in adverbial expressions of time: Ateşkes devam ettiği sürece burada kalırız. We'll stay here as long as the ceasefire lasts.135 With participles, as a kadar replacement: İstediğinizce yiyebilirsiniz. You can eat as much as you like.; İstidiğinizce bu işlemi tekrarlayın. Repeat this procedure as much as (as often as) you like. The -ce suffix in different senses of meaning: 'Eski eşimin yeni kız arkadaşıyla özel günüme birlikte gelmesi beni rahatsız etmezdi. Bence medenice bir davranış.' 'It doesn't make me uncomfortable to get together on special days with my ex-husband and his new girlfriend. In my opinion, it's quite civilized behaviour.' Attributed to Pınar Altuğ by Gözcü Gazetesi, 2 April 2004 Use of the -ce suffix with iyice -- in different contexts: Parti iyice gidiyordu -- her seyi iyice bozulana kadar. The party was going rather well -- until you completely spoiled everything. Different uses of the -cesine suffix -- with a conjunctive verb, with an adverbial noun: Kavga edercesine bağırıyor, delicesine koşuyordu. He was shouting as though quarrelling, and running around like a crazy man.131 Ç     çabucak very quickly   D     daima always, continually See example sentence at: -le/-la demincek just a moment ago   -diği en çok + [adjective] ...and spelling variations... An abverbial pre-position meaning: the most [adjective] (that)... O, karşılaştığım en çok çalışkan adamdır. He's the most hardworking man (that) I've ever met.134 -diği kadar + [adverb] ...and spelling variations... An abverbial pre-position meaning: as/so [adverb] as/so O, araştırmayı kendisine söylendiği kadar dikkatli bir şekilde yaptı. He ran the investigation as carefully as he was instructed.134 dün yesterday Dün aldığı kitabı satacak. He'll sell the book he bought yesterday. E     elbet, elbette certainly, decidedly, surely   F     fevkalade extraordinary, exceptional, unusual. unusually, extremely, exceptionally. Wonderful!/Great!/Super!   G     güzel güzel in a normal manner without encountering difficulty calmly and quietly beautifully Güzel güzel anlaşmışlardı. Birden sert sert bakışmaya ve hızlı hızlı konuşmaya başladılar. They reached agreement without encountering difficulty. [Then] suddenly they looked at each other harshly and began talking violently.131 İki kardeş güzel güzel oynarken ne oldu ise birdenbire bir ağlama, bir çığlık başladı. While the two brothers were playing beautifully [together] something happened and suddenly one began to cry and the other to scream. Attributed to M.Ş. Esendal.108 H     hani [-ya] [-dir]...[ama] 'Hani' is used as a conjunction in a few cases -- but is more widely used idiomatically as an interrogative adverb. Where are the...? So where's...? Why...didn't...? You remember...? Where is...? Other idiomatic uses: Let's suppose that... to tell the truth, actually, in fact ...for a long time now. Idiomatic, Interrogative Adverb examples... Hani o günler! Where are those [good old] days?! [Are the good days really over for good, MH..?] Hani çay? So where's the tea. Hani ders çalışacaktın? [I thought] you were going to study; why didn't you? Hani dün bize gelen kadın var ya, işte o. You remember the woman who came to see us yesterday? Well, it's her. Haniya eşiniz, daha gelmedi mi? Where is your spouse, hasn't she come yet? Other idiomatic examples: Hani, benim müdür olduğumu bilmese... neyse, ama iyi biliyor. If you want to suppose that he didn't know I was the manager.... but nevermind that, he knows very well who I am. Hani, pek de çekingen sayılmaz. To tell the truth, she's not so shy. Hanidir onu görmüyorum. I haven't seen her for ages. İ     iken Also see iken and -(y)ken acting as a conjunction. while, while being, when   K     kadar + [adverb] An adverbial preposition meaning: as/so [adverb] as/so Also see: -diği kadar Mary Fransızcayı Peter kadar akıcı bir biçimde konuşur. Mary speaks French as fluently as Peter.134 kısmen partly   L     -le/-la Adverbial suffix meaning: with, in Problemi zorlukla çözdüm. I solved the problem with difficulty.134 Onlar birbirleriyle daima yüksek sesle konuşurlar. They always speak with each other in loud voices.134 -leyin And sometimes (in old Turkish): -layın In modern Turkish, this is an adverb-making suffix that means: in the ..., around ..., at ..., by ... But, in much older Turkish (some of it transliterated from Arabic script), you can find examples of it used in place of: ... gibi; -ce; -cesine (like ...; like a ...; as ...; as if ...) -inci olarak; -inci kez (for the [ordinal number] time; ordinal number + 'ly') -ince; -diği vakit/zaman; -ir in combination with -maz (when; while; as soon as ...) ...olarak (as ...; being ...) ... kadar (... enough for/that ...) akşamleyin; in the evening geceleyin; at night, by night öğleyin; at noon, around noon sabahleyin; in the morning Older Turkish examples (see notes at left) Kaçan senin bir dostun düşmanınla dost olsa gönlün anı hiç hoş görmez, dostluğuna dahı inanmazsın andan nefret edüp evvelkileyin yakışmazsın. If a friend deserts you and becomes a friend of your enemy, it has a devastating effect on you (...it's an unpleasant moment for your open-heart). You won't believe in friendship any more, you'll hate that moment and you'll never feel at ease again (...not be proper as before). pp. 178133 Pes Adem ikileyin dert kilimin çiğnine aldı Then, for the second time, Adam took on the troubles of the world (...took the 'trouble kilims' [pileless carpets] onto his shoulders). pp. 181133 Gündüz feriştesi çıkar namaz kılduklayın. The angels come out by day -- as soon as we say our prayers. pp. 182133 Hani gerçekleyin bir Hakk'a aşık. In fact, being genuine is a love of God. pp. 182133 Ulu ırmaklar olur gemi yürüyecekleyin. They are large rivers, large enough for boats to go on. pp. 182 133 M     mutlaka by all means, without fail; surely, undoubtedly   N     ne zaman ...ise [and spelling variations] whenever Kendisini ne zaman görsem o günü düşünürüm. Whenever I see her, I think of that day. O     olasıyla with probability, in all probability, probably   Ö     öyle also see şöyle and böyle like that, like so   R     rahat rahat comfortably Rahat rahat uyuyun son aşiyanınızda. Sleep comfortably in your final resting place... (Kemalettin Kamu) S     Ş     şimdi now   şöyle also see öyle and böyle like that, like so   T     U/Ü     V     Y     yarın tomorrow Yarın gelecek, gider, getmeli, giderse, gidiniz, gideyim... Z     zaman zaman from time to time, occasionally, every now and then, every now and again, every so often   [A] [B] [Ç] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [İ] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [Ö] [R] [S] [Ş] [T] [U] [Ü] [V] [Y] [Z] Related pages: How To Learn Basic Turkish -- A Practical Philosophy for beginners (Found in the 'Introduction to The Whole Earth Catalog of Turkish Movies'.) Why Off-color language is important too... Translating Turkish, the basics Essential Turkish Vocabulary Turkish Verbs Verb 'to be' Index Essential Idioms, Index Sentence Structure, Standard Turkish Pronunciation Turkish Accenting Turkish Numbers Revealed NewsReaders' Dictionary, Index Also: Turkish Movies - Best-Looking Bad Girl of the 1970s, Sevda Ferdağ Bad Girls of the 1970s Turkish Cinema, Aliye Rona Unrelated fun: Frequently asked questions about Turkey and the Turkish language llustrated Nargile Users Guide -- and Encyclopedia Our Honda Generator -- A Member of the Family Habibullah and the Great Cannon Caper A simple Turkish 'thing'... Turkish Belly Dancers Profiles of the Turkish People Turkish Terms Of Endearment Turkish Personal Names Politically Incorrect Turkish Humor Gossipy Turkish Who's Who Turkish Movies -- Conventional and 'Erotik', Index We say softball, you say rounders... Movie Superhero Tarkan, historic and erotik Mature Dutch Bride in Turkey Mature British Bride in Turkey Mature Swedish Bride in Turkey Post a comment...» Thanks to Mehmet Hengirmen, G. L. Lewis, Robert Townsend, and the editors of the Redhouse Dictionaries -- to whom this page is heavily indebted...

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