I Would Gladly Die

Jehan Barbur

Lesson 16 | -e Adverbial Ending

In Lesson 15, we learned about all the ways to express how much you would not do something. In one final lesson that highlights the function of the aorist -ir ending, we explore how to express how much ever so willing we are to do anything.

The singer of this lesson's song is Jehan Barbur. She was born into an Arab Christian family from İskenderun in the southernmost province of Turkey of Hatay. She studied American culture and literature at Bilkent University in Ankara before beginning her career as a performer.

In the first line of the song, "seve seve ölürüm senin için", Jehan uses the two grammatical features that we seek to highlight in this lesson. The first is the now-familiar aorist tense in the verb "ölürüm" or "I would die". Note that while Lesson 14 highlighted the aorist's ability to express repetitive actions such as the movement of boats in Istanbul, here it is certainly not a repeated action but a possible action that "would" occur under certain circumstances.

Moreover, the extent to which Jehan would be willing to die is emphasized using the adverb "seve seve". It is formed from the verb "sevmek" meaning "to love" or "to like". Here we "seve seve" as an adverb meaning "loving". While the -erek form in Lesson 13 came with the meaning "while loving" or "while being in love", "seve seve" brings a different meaning to the verb "sevmek". The action is done lovingly or while "liking it", and thus, "seve seve" becomes "gladly", "readily", or "willingly".

Vocabulary



seve seve - gladly, to do while liking it
bile bile - knowingly

hadi - come on, let's go
yine - again, once more, still
tek - single, one
yarın - tomorrow
bir daha - one more
bakış - glance

kandırmak - to deceive, to persuade
koşmak - to run

cesaretin varsa - if you have the courage

Jehan Barbur - Seve Seve Ölürüm Senin İçin

Seve seve ölürüm senin için
I would gladly die for you

Here we see the precise function of the -e ending as in "seve seve". While the -erek form would be used to say "while loving", "seve seve" brings a different meaning to the verb "sevmek". The action is done lovingly or while "liking it", and thus, "seve seve" becomes "gladly", "readily", or "willingly".

Yine yine tek bir bakışın için
For just one more look from you
Hadi hadi bak bana cesaretin varsa aşka
Come on, come on, look at me if you have the courage to love

"Cesaretin varsa" can be understood as "if you dare".

Seni ilk gördüğüm günü hatırladım
I remembered the first day I saw you
Kandırdı beni birden tek bir bakışın
I was taken in just by one glance of yours

"Kandırmak" normally means to deceive but here it is more in the sense of "to persuade". Also, note how the word "bakış" meaning "glance" or "look" comes from the verb "bakmak".

Senin bütün aşkım senin bir hayatım
All my love is yours, my only life is yours
Kalbimi kırıp bıraktın
You broke my heart and left it

Seve seve ölürüm senin için
yine yine tek bir bakışın için
hadi hadi bak bana cesaretin varsa aşka

Bile bile ölürüm senin için
I would knowingly die for you

Here, "bile bile" or knowingly is formed from the verb "bilmek".

Seve seve bir daha aşkın için
Gladly for your love again
Hadi hadi koş bana yarınlarımıza
Come on, come on, run to me, to our tomorrow

Before moving on to our next lesson, don't forget to review this lesson's short vocabulary list: