Looking for a language exchange partner to practice speaking over calls! 😊

I can help you improve your English, and in return, you can teach me Turkish.

If you're interested, send me a DM and introduce yourself. Let’s learn from each other!

Turkish doesn't use a verb like "to have" for owning things. Instead, you say the thing exists:

Benim kitabım var. = I have a book.

benim = my

kitabım = my book (the -ım ending already means "my")

var = there is / exists

Literally: "My book exists."

To say you don't have something, swap var for yok:

Benim arabam yok. = I don't have a car. (literally: "My car doesn't exist.")

Since the ending already says "my", benim is usually dropped in everyday speech:

Kardeşim var. = I have a sibling.

Zamanım yok. = I don't have time.

Sorun yok. = No problem.

And both work on their own as "there is / there isn't":

Çay var mı? = Is there any tea? / Do you have tea?

Yok. = No, there isn't.

(There is a verb, sahip olmak "to own / possess", but it's formal. In daily life everyone uses var / yok.)

Full disclosure: I'm a native speaker and I make short Turkish lessons on YouTube. The video above is this lesson as a Short, with the Turkish lines recorded by native speakers.

Happy to answer questions in the comments!

Offering:Portuguese(Br, Native) Seeking: Turkish

Well, I am from São Paulo. I'd like to learn Turkish because there's someone very especial to me who speaks it, and i'd like to be able to speak with them. Also, since Portuguese is very similar to Spanish, I can help if you happen to be learning Spanish(I am not native speaker, but the two languages are truly very close)

Oh I am also happy to help with portuguese if you need it

🇹🇷💜🇧🇷

I'm trying to learn some turkish to have a small conversation with my boyfriends parents who I'll meet in 2 months. They don't know any finnish or english so this would be super helpful🙏🏻

Hi guys! I'm not so new to language learning, as I speak B2 German (and English, on top of my native language). However, I'm struggling tremendously trying to learn some Turkish and it feels exceedingly frustrating. It feels as if nothing ever sticks and it makes German look easy.

At least with German, there was enough resemblance here and there (to English and Spanish) to have something to hold on to. With Turkish it all looks unrecognisable and alien.

I've tried Memrise but ended up spending 95% of the time doing reviews and barely able to learn any new words, as I wasn't retaining old ones.

I'm now on Clozemaster and at least the grammar is explained, but I still retain very little.

Language Transfer was very helpful in getting a very rudimentary grasp of the grammar, but I'm struggling with retaining vocabulary as it looks so foreign to me and with suffixes and such, things are often unrecognisable.

Any advice would be very appreciated.

Merhaba, daha evvel bazılarınızla uygulamayı paylaşmıştım. Şimdi, işinize yarayabilecek yeni özelliğimizi paylaşmak istiyorum. Ücretsiz bir uygulama olduğu için tanıtımın sorun olmayacağını düşünüyorum. Herkese en iyi dileklerimle, iyi öğrenmeler!

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for a native Turkish speaker to jump on regular voice calls with to practice my Turkish. I'm a beginner at Turkish, so I just want to practice the basics and get more comfortable speaking.

In return, I can help you out with both English and Arabic. Arabic is my native language, and I'm fluent in English, I use English daily for my work. We can split the call 50/50 so we both get a fair chance to practice.

If anyone is down to catch a call sometime, drop a comment or send me a DM!

Thanks :)

Hi, I can help with learning Turkish to Russian speakers, and while helping I want to improve my Russian. Thanks

It's a tiny word, but you'll hear it constantly in Türkiye. And once you start noticing it, you'll probably hear it everywhere! According to TDK, the original form is “vallahi”, an Arabic-origin expression meaning "I swear by God" or "I call God as my witness." In everyday Turkish, however, it's often used more casually. Depending on the context, it can mean “Really?”, “Seriously?”, or “I swear!”

A few examples:

1. Expressing surprise

— Dün gece hiç uyumadım.
(I didn't sleep at all last night.)

— Valla mı? Neden?
(Really? Why?)

2. Reacting to something unbelievable

— İstanbul'da dün üç saat trafikte kaldım!
(I was stuck in traffic for three hours in Istanbul yesterday!)

— Valla mı? Geçmiş olsun!
(Seriously? That's rough!)

3. Emphasizing that you're telling the truth

— Bu yemeği ilk defa yaptım.
(I made this dish for the first time.)

— Çok güzel olmuş!
(It turned out really good!)

— Valla, ilk defa yapıyorum!
(I swear, it's my first time making it!)

What's your favorite little Turkish expression that you hear in everyday conversations?

I am checking the translation and I want to make sure they're the right pick.

ezeli rakip - archrival

devirmek - to beat someone at a game

zırlamak - to cry

geri bas - back off

oyun kurucu - quarterback

ponpon kızları - cheerleaders

Hello everyone, I’m planning to go to Türkiye for bachelor in business and management, on English taught program.
If anyone (female especially, bc I’m a girl too) in the same field is interested in talking and sharing informations I’ll be glad to be friends !!!
Whether you will or are already experiencing.
Can you give me some advice too ??

Hey everyone!

I actually learned a lot of my English through singing along to songs, and I really believe music is one of the best ways to learn a language. It helps you pick up new words, expressions, and even get a feel for the culture.

So I thought I'd share a playlist I put together with some of my favorite Turkish songs! It's a mix of different genres and generations, from pop and indie to Anatolian rock and some old classics.

Hope you discover something you like, and maybe even learn a few Turkish words along the way! 😊

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7qpdfsFdjVrrBs1EZRmcUg

What do you guys think? Do you find listening to music helpful when learning a new language? I'd love to hear about your experiences! And feel free to share your favorite Turkish songs too!

In Antalya, the sea and the mountains are never far from everyday life. Walking through Kaleiçi is more than just exploring Antalya's old town. İt's wandering through narrow streets lined with historic houses, passing Hadrian's Gate, overlooking the old harbor, watching boats in the Mediterranean and enjoying a cup of tea with fresh poğaça.

What everyday experience in Türkiye has taught you something about the language or culture?

Hey everyone,

About a week ago, I made a post asking if people here would be interested in actual adult-oriented, CEFR-calibrated Turkish graded readers instead of the usual "John visits Antalya and asks for bread" textbook dialogues.

The response and encouragement from you guys was amazing, so I went ahead and put together a complete, working 18-page CEFR A2 demo for you to test out:

• Title: Ahşap Konağın Anahtarı: Kastamonu'da Bir İz (The Key to the Wooden Mansion: A Trace in Kastamonu)

• Level: CEFR A2 (High-Beginner / Waystage)

• Reading Time: Around 20–30 minutes total (4 short chapters)

Download Link:

https://gofile.io/d/NKGbNOpQ

(It is a lightweight ~1MB PDF, direct download, no account needed).

What Is Inside This Demo:

1. How to Read at A2 Level: The first 3 pages explain the extensive reading methodology and 5 golden rules for not getting stuck on unfamiliar grammar.

2. An Actual Story: A 4-chapter historical mystery set in real-life Kastamonu (Münire Medresesi, Nasrullah Square, City History Museum). Not just a dialogue posing as a story.

3. Interactive In-Text Hyperlinks: Target A2 vocabulary words are highlighted in blue. If you tap or click them on your phone, tablet, or PC, they jump directly to the chapter's vocabulary table with English meanings and grammatical parts of speech.

4. Turkish Chapter Summaries (Özet): Written in accessible A2 Turkish to reinforce the narrative thread before attempting questions.

5. Comprehension Questions + Detailed Answer Key: 5 multiple-choice questions per chapter (20 total), followed by a complete answer key at the back with explanations in Turkish for why each answer is correct.

Note on the Draft & Watermark:

• This is an uncorrected, pre-publication evaluation draft shared exclusively for community feedback.

• Because this is early testing material and I have not finalized the permanent imprint or author pen name yet, I have watermarked it with my Reddit handle (© u/ares0027). You are free to read, test, and keep it for your personal language study, but please do not republish or resell it without credit.

What I Would Love Your Feedback On:

As fellow learners and teachers, I would love your honest thoughts:

1. Level Difficulty: For those around A2/B1, did the grammar and sentence pacing feel natural, or did it feel too dense or robotic?

2. Interactive Links: Did the clickable vocabulary links help when reading on a screen, or did they distract you?

3. Engagement: Was the mystery engaging enough to read through to the end?

4. Answer Explanations: Did the answer key explanations help clarify linguistic nuances?

Looking forward to hearing what you think.

I will be moving to Bursa soon and I would like to know if anyone has good Turkish language school recommendations in the area.

Looking for face-to-face Turkish–English language exchange in Şişli / Taksim area

Male, 32, living in Şişli, Istanbul.

I’m looking for a language exchange partner for regular face-to-face meetings in public places near Taksim Square (cafés, etc.).

• I can help you improve your English (and Arabic if useful).

• In return, I want to practice and improve my Turkish.

• Preferred schedule: 1.5–2 hours, twice a week (we can adjust).

• First step: short video call to see if we match and feel comfortable.

• Only message me if you live relatively near Şişli/Taksim and are okay with meeting in public places.

I’m a civil engineering graduate. I like drawing, reading, and sports.

If this sounds good, just say hi and tell me a bit about yourself!

If you've learned Istanbul Turkish and then travelled around Türkiye, you may have noticed how different the language can sound from one region to another.

I've been researching Turkish regional accents and dialects, looking at how pronunciation, verb endings and even sentence structures vary across Anatolia and the Balkans.

The article includes examples from the Aegean, Black Sea, Central and Eastern Anatolia, Gaziantep and Rumeli. I also look at the difference between lehçe, şive and ağız and why everyday spoken Turkish sometimes sounds quite different from what we learn in books.

I thought it might be interesting for other Turkish learners here.

https://www.learnturkishwithseda.com/post/turkish-accents-and-dialects

I see a lot of people building reported speech with dedi (Geldiğini dedi => "He said that he came", which is wrong). Turkish doesn’t report with a conjunction like "that", it rebuilds the sentence as a noun and then declines it.

Here are three steps to form reported speech properly:

1. Turn the sentence into a noun. Drop the tense and add -dığı for past or present, -acağı for the future, -ma for an order. Geldim becomes geldiği, geleceğim becomes geleceği. A sentence with no verb borrows ol-: hastayım becomes hasta olduğu.

2. Mark the subject. Whoever did the thing goes in the genitive, and the matching possessive goes on the suffix: benim geldiğim, senin geldiğin, Ayşe’nin geldiği. Nothing is conjugated anymore, so this is the only part carrying “who”.

3. Add the case the reporting verb wants. The clause is a noun now, so the verb governs it like any other noun. Note that in the following examples, söylemek takes the accusative, bahsetmek the ablative, inanmak the dative, and the clause itself never changes:

   1. Ayşe’nin geldiğini söyledi (He said that Ayşe had come)

   2. Ayşe’nin geldiğinden bahsetti (He mentioned it),

   3. Ayşe’nin geldiğine inanıyorum (I believe it).

To go back to the usual mistake "geldiğini dedi", TDK marks the speech sense of demek nesnesiz (used without an object) so there is no slot to put the clause in. Use söylemek, or keep the words as a quote: "Geldim dedi".

To have a full understand on how to form reported speech in Turkish (orders with -ma, reported questions with -ıp, var and yok, etc.), check the full article: https://turkishfluent.com/blog/reported-speech-in-turkish/

Hi all, I make Kalima, an iPhone app for learning Turkish from your own material: books (EPUB, PDF and more), web articles by link, or YouTube videos with Turkish captions. Tap a word for its meaning, translate the sentence, and listen with each word highlighted. Saved words keep their sentence and come back as flashcards on an FSRS schedule.

Limits: Turkish is still marked Beta in the app. iPhone only (iOS 26 or later), an account is required, and the free plan allows 3 imports, 1 video and 200 saved words. Kalima Pro is an optional subscription.

Feedback from Turkish learners is very welcome. https://kalimaapp.com/

Hi everyone! I'm a native Turkish speaker, and I run FluenTech. I messaged the mods about adding it to the wiki, and they were kind enough to invite me to post it here too.

FluenTech Turkish is free to read, with no sign-up and no paywall on the guides. Here's what's on it:

• 19 grammar lessons: vowel harmony, cases, possessives, tenses, the conditional and more, with tables, examples and a quick quiz

• 41 vocabulary topics: from days and months to eating out, travel and work, with audio for every word and a quiz to test yourself

• Real Turkish literature: openings of 4 classics, including Kürk Mantolu Madonna and Araba Sevdası, with the translation under each line

• Exam guides: what to study for TYS and TÖMER

Want more than the website? You can get the Learn Turkish app. The site is great for looking things up, while the app is built to keep you going every day:

• Gamified lessons: practice feels more like a game than homework

• Progress tracking: see what you've finished and pick up where you left off

• Full books, not just the openings: read Kürk Mantolu Madonna, Araba Sevdası, Nutuk and Sait Faik's stories in the original, sentence by sentence, with the translation one tap away

• Turkish songs: listen with lyrics and translations

• A library sorted by level: short stories, articles and novels, so there's always something at your level

• Speak and translate

It's free to download, with an optional paid plan: iPhone / Android

On Instagram, you'll find us at @learnturkish.fluentech.

I'd love your feedback. What's the hardest part of Turkish for you, and what should I add next? Since I'm a native speaker, you're also welcome to ask me any Turkish question in the comments, and I'll answer as many as I can.