Language/Turkish/Grammar/Negation

Turkish Grammar - Negation

Hi Turkish learners! 😊
In this lesson, you will learn about negation in Turkish. Negation is an important part of any language, and it is essential to know how to create negative sentences in Turkish. By understanding negation in Turkish, you will be able to express yourself more clearly and effectively. The use of negation can also provide you with a better insight into the Turkish culture and ways of thinking. So, let's get started!

Introduction

In Turkish, negation is expressed by using the word "değil". In English, "değil" can be translated as "not". For example, "ben öğretmenim" means "I am a teacher". If you want to say that you are not a teacher, you can add "değil" at the end of the sentence, "ben öğretmen değilim". "Değil" is also used to negate nouns, adjectives, and adverbs.

Negating Nouns

When negating nouns in Turkish, you can use the following structure:

Turkish	Pronunciation	English
başkan	baʃ.ka.n	president
değil	de.ɰil	not
başkan değil	baʃ.ka.n de.ɰil	not the president

Example Dialogue:

• Person 1: Sen Başkan mısın? (Are you the President?)
• Person 2: Hayır, Başkan değilim. (No, I'm not the President).

Negating Adjectives

When negating adjectives in Turkish, you can use the following structure

Turkish	Pronunciation	English
güzel	ɡy.zel	beautiful
değil	de.ɰil	not
güzel değil	ɡy.zel de.ɰil	not beautiful

Example Dialogue:

• Person 1: Bu resim güzel mi? (Is this picture beautiful?)
• Person 2: Hayır, Güzel değil. (No, it's not beautiful).

Negating Verbs

When negating verbs in Turkish, you can use the following structure:

Verb Stem + ME + suffix for tense + DEĞİL

The suffix for tense can be "iyor" for present continuous, "er" for simple present tense or "di" for simple past tense.

Example:

Turkish	Pronunciation	English
yemek yiyorum	je.mek je.jo.rum	I am eating
yemek yemiyor	je.mek je.mijoɾ	not eating
yemek yemiyorum	je.mek je.mi.joɾum	I am not eating
yemek yemiyordum	je.mek je.mi.joɾ.dum	I was not eating
yemek yememiştim	je.mek je.me.miʃ.tim	I had not eaten

Example Dialogue:

• Person 1: Sen yemek yiyor musun? (Are you eating?)
• Person 2: Hayır, yemek yemiyorum. (No, I'm not eating).

Negating Adverbs

When negating adverbs in Turkish, you can use the following structure:

Verb + suffix for adverb + DEĞİL

Example:

Turkish	Pronunciation	English
hızlıca	hiz.li.dʒa	quickly
değil	de.ɰil	not
hızlıca değil	hiz.li.dʒa de.ɰil	not quickly

Example Dialogue:

• Person 1: İstanbul'a ne kadar hızlıca gidebilirsin? (How quickly can you go to Istanbul?)
• Person 2: Hızlıca değil, maalesef trafik çok yoğun (Not quickly, unfortunately the traffic is very heavy).

Double Negative

In Turkish, double negative is not grammatically correct. It is not correct to use any other negative words (such as "jamais", "nunca", "mai", "never", etc.) with negative verbs or adjectives. This is different than in English because it is possible to use double negatives in English.

Correct Example:

• Ben hiçbir zaman sigara içmiyorum. (I never smoke)

Incorrect Example:

• Ben hiçbir zaman hiç sigara içmiyorum. (I never smoke never).

Conclusion

In this lesson, you have learned how to use negation in Turkish. By following the examples given above, you can create negative sentences in Turkish with confidence. The use of negation is an essential part of any language, and it is important to know how to use it correctly. If you have any questions or want to practice what you have learned, you can find native speakers and ask them any questions. To improve your Turkish Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website.

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➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Sources

• Turkish Grammar
• Turkish Language
• Double negative in Language