Chapter 4

Lesson 4

Greetings in Turkish

Turkish                           English      

Günaydın.                        Good morning

İyi günler.                         Good afternoon

İyi akşamlar.                     Good evening

İyi geceler.                        Good night

Selam.                              Hi

Merhaba.                          Hello

Vocabulary

Turkish                           English                           

Günaydın.                        Good morning.               

İyi günler.                         Good afternoon              

İyi akşamlar.                     Good evening                

İyi geceler.                        Good night                    

Selam                               Hi                                   

Merhaba                           Hello                              

iyi                                     Good                              

gün                                   Day                                

akşam                               Evening                       

Gece                                 Night       

                       

Sample Sentences

Turkish                                               English

Günaydın, nasılsınız?                          Good morning, how are you?

İyi günler, bu, lütfen.                           Good afternoon, this one please

İyi akşamlar. üç kişilik lütfen.             Good evening. For three people, please.

Merhaba, nasılsınız?                            Hi, how are you?

Şu güzel!                                             That is good

Bu gün çok soğuk!                              Today is very cold!

Haydi gece yarısı buluşalım.               Let’s meet at midnight.

Grammar Tips

In Turkish, “Good morning” is Günaydın. The word, gün is “day.” Aydın, which is a form of “bright” or “shiny” in Turkish, follows this gün. Literally it means “bright days to you.” or “shiny days to you” and finally these two words become one word that means “Good morning”: Günaydın.

In Turkish, “Good afternoon” is İyi günler. The first word, iyi is  “good.” The second word, günler, means “days.”

and together, that’s İyi günler. In Turkish, “Good evening” means İyi akşamlar. The word, İyi, as it is already mentioned before, means “good.” The second word, akşamlaris “evenings. All together, that’s İyi akşamlar. When people about to leave, they say İyi geceler. This is “Good night.” The second word, geceler is “nights”.

There are two ways of greeting your friends in Turkish. The most common word isSelam. Selam is “Hi” in English. Use this only with people you already know well enough or with young people in restaurants, bars, or cafes. Another way of greeting isMerhaba which means “Hello”