I Have a Problem

Ajda Pekkan (Source: youtube.com)

Lesson 33 | -dirmek Causitive Verbs

Turkish morphology is extraordinarily productive, and as we've seen throughout these early lessons, the various affixes within the Turkish language allow us to create some pretty interesting words. In this lesson, we'll focus on the -dirmek verbal tense, which allows us to create verbs with a "causitive" meaning sometimes difficult to express in English.

The singer in this lesson is Ajda Pekkan, who began performing in her teens during the 1960s and has refused to relinquish her youth through the intervening decades. She is one of the most commercially successful recording artists in Turkey, and has appeared in numerous films. The song, "Dert Bende (I have a Problem)," has been performed by many famous singers from the 1970s and while sometimes attirubted to Orhan Gencebay, is in fact the composition of Vedat Yıldırımbora.

In this song, I would like to highlight the -dirmek verbs, which we have seen plenty of and you should be able to easily recognize going forward. In the song we have three -dirmek verbs that give a causative meaning to a more basic Turkish verb. By causative, we mean that the verb is not merely "to do" but "to make someone or something do." Here are our examples in this song:

Verb	Meaning	Causative	Meaning
ölmek	to die	öldürmek	to kill
gülmek	to smile, laugh	güldürmek	to make smile/laugh
ağlamak	to cry	ağlatmak	to make cry

As you can see, the causative tense has two essential forms, the default being -dirmek and the alternate form being -tmek for verb stems that end in a vowel or sometimes liquid consonants like "r" and "l". This includes, much to our chagrin verbs that are already causative. Here are some more examples of -dirmek and -tmek:

Verb	Meaning	Causative	Meaning
yapmak	to do	yaptırmak	to make/have do
tanışmak	to meet, get to know	tanıştırmak	to introduce
donmak	to freeze (reflexive)	dondurmak	to freeze/make freeze
acımak	to hurt (reflexive)	acıtmak	to hurt, injure
anlamak	to understand	anlatmak	to explain
doğrulmak	to straighten (reflexive)	doğrultmak	to straighten out/correct

As you can see, while this affix is sometimes used to produce verbs for which there are equivalents in English, in other cases, it is used more productively to create meanings for a which a simple translation is more difficult. And the -dirmek ending can be tacked onto just about any verb stem to create meaning. Give it a try when you're practicing your own Turkish and see how people will magically understand what you mean!


Vocabulary


dert - pain, problem (from Persian)
derman - here: cure, also strength
ferman - control
leke - stain (noun)
kor - ember
yokluk - absence

öldürmek - to kill, literally to make die
güldürmek - to make smile, laugh, to please
ağlatmak - to make cry

ise de - even if

Ajda Pekkan - Dert Bende Derman Sende

Dert bende derman sende
I have the trouble, you have the cure
Aşk bende ferman sende
I have love, and you have the control
Öldüren güldüren / her gün ağlatan kalp sende
You have a heart that kills, makes me laugh, and makes me cry everyday
Mevsimler gelip geçse de
Even if the seasons come and go
Aşk beni benden etse de
Even if love makes me your slave
Dünyada hayat bitse de
Even if life ends in this world
Yine ölümsüz aşk bende
Nevertheless, I have an immortal love

İstemem ayrılık boynumu büksün
I don't want separation to abase me
İstemem aşkıma leke sürülsün
I don't want my love to be stained
Ben rüyamda bile yalnız seni sevdim
Even in my dreams, I've only loved you
İstemem baharda yaprak dökülsün
I don't want the leaves to fall in the spring
Aşkın alevse hasretin bir kor
If loving you is a fire, missing you is an ember
Senin yokluğunu kalbime sor
As my heart about your absence
Dünyaya seninle gelmiş gibiyim
It's like I came into the world with you
Sensiz yaşamayı düşünmek çok zor
It is very hard to think about living without you

Come Back in September

Alpay on Ayrılık Rüzgârı album cover

Lesson 18 | -meden Without

Now that we've learned to express the nuanced meanings of "while" in a number of ways, let's work on its opposite.

This lesson's song entitled "Eylül'de Gel" or "Come Back in September" is one of the most famous compositions of a Turkish recording artist with over four decades of experience by the name of Alpay. He has experimented with many genres, and has not shied away from adapting the melodies of successful foreign artists for a Turkish audience. This song is based on the original 1966 composition of French artist Marc Aryan (real name Henri Markarian), whose parents were Armenian-French immigrants from Malatya in Turkey. His music had become popular in Turkey after he visited and performed in Istanbul during the 1960s.

In terms of its lyrics, it may be found to have a tremendous resemblance to the song "Sealed With a Kiss," performed by numerous British artists during the 1960s and 1970s. It is sung from the vantage point of a student-age lover terrified by the fact of being separated from their special someone over the course of summer vacation (Alpay was over 40 years old when he performed it). The theme might have resonated particularly in Turkish cities, where families often leave to a native village or vacation home for a portion of the summer. 

This lesson will offer a good review of the imperative tense. In addition, I will highlight the -meden ending, which is the opposite of the -erek ending, meaning "while".

What is the opposite of "while" you ask? One way to put it is "while not" but here, let's thinking of it as "without (doing something)" or "before (doing something)". Like -erek, -meden is not conjugated for person. Here are some examples from the song and elsewhere:

bakmak	to look	bakmadan
konuşmak	to speak	konuşmadan
gitmek	to go	gitmeden
gelmek	to come	gelmeden
durmak	to stop	durmadan
söylemek	to say	söylemeden

Alpay uses this form in two sentences during the song. The first is "Gidiyorsun işte / arkana bakmadan". We can restructure it to say "arkana bakmadan gidiyorsun", meaning "you're leaving without looking back".

The other one is "Eylül'de okul yoluna konuşmadan yürüyelim" meaning "In September, let's walk (remember -elim?) on the way to school without talking" i.e. silently. 

Vocabulary

Practice this vocabulary list on Quizlet



inanmak - to believe
yazmak - to write
gitmek - to go
girmek - to enter
bekletmek - to make (someone) wait

tatil - vacation
dün - yesterday
Eylül - September
yaprak - leaf
ağaç - tree
ad - name
kol - arm
baş - head

arkana bakmadan - without looking back
konuşmadan - without talking

Alpay - Eylül'de Gel

Tatil geldiği zaman / ağlarım ben inan
When vacation time comes / I'll cry, believe me
Gidiyorsun işte / arkana bakmadan
You're really going / without looking back

Nasıl geçer bu yaz / Ne olur bana yaz
How will this summer pass? Please write to me

You'll notice that with some of his commands he uses the phrase "ne olur" which means "please". However, this is "please" in the sense of pleading. The regular polite request form of "please" is "lütfen".

Sen sen sen / sen bir ömre bedel
You you you / you in exchange for a lifetime

Yok yok yok
No, no, no

Gitme gitme gel
Don't go, don't go, come (back)
Eylülde gel
Come back in September

Okul yolu sensiz / ölüm kadar sessiz
The road to school without you (literally "you-less") / is as silent as death
Geçtim o yoldan dün / içim doldu hüzün
I went down that road yesterday / my insides filled with sadness
Yapraklar solarken / adını anarken
As the leaves fade / as I remember your name

Here the -ken ending means "while", "as", or "when".

Bekletme ne olur
Don't make (me) wait, please
Gelmek zamanı gel
It's time to come, come!

Yok yok yok
No, no, no
Gitme gitme gel
Don't go, don't go, come
Eylül'de gel
Come in September

Eylül'de gel Eylül'de okul yoluna
Come in September to the road to school
Konuşmadan yürüyelim gireyim koluna
Without speaking let's walk, let me put my arm in yours
Görenler dönmüş hem de mutlu diyecekler
Those who see will say she's back and she's happy
Ağaçlar sevinçten başımıza konfeti gibi / yaprak dökecekler
Out of joy the trees will pour leaves on our heads like confetti

Use the test below to quiz yourself on this lesson's vocabulary before moving to Lesson 19: Let Me Go to Rumeli.

In Translation | Selma Devrim - Sen (You)

Sen, sen büktün boynumu
You, you abased me
Sen, sen kırdın kolumu kanadımı
You, you broke my wings
Sen, sen yıktın kalbimi
You, you destroyed my heart
Sen, sen yıktın gencecik hayatımı
You, you destroyed my young life

Bu gönlün acısı yıllarca silinmez
This heart's agony will not be erased for years
İçim kan ağlar kimse bilmez
My insides cry blood, nobody knows
Senin bu yaptığın affedilmez
What you've done is unforgivable

Sen, sen aldattın beni
You, you deceived me
Sen, sen ağlattın beni içim için
You, you made me cry, for my insides
Sen, sen yıktın aşkımı
You, you destroyed my love
Sen, sen artık bir hiçsin benim için
You, you are nothing to me anymore

Lyrics and Composition by Reyman Eray

The Train to Germany

Haydarpaşa Train Station, Istanubl (Source: Faruk Köksal)

Lesson 12 | Negative Imperative

As we near the finish line of Unit 1, we will focus some more on imperative verbs, this time in the negative, and offer another side of the arabesk genre.

Our singer, Ferdi Tayfur, is another iconic figure of the arabesk movement. If Orhan Gencebay was considered the most talented early arabesk musician, Ferdi Tayfur was perhaps the most authentic. Arabesk was largely driven by its appeal to and production largely by urban migrants who had come to the cities of Turkey and beyond in from the Anatolian countryside in search of work. Ferdi knew this social world from experience. His father died young and as a teenager in Adana, Ferdi was forced to work in the cotton industry to provide for his family. However, after some attempts at launching a music career in Istanbul, he finally broke through and become one of the most successful recording artists of that decade.

Ferdi's fan base was not limited to urban migrants like himself in Istanbul or provincial audiences like that of his native Adana. Ferdi and other arabesk singers appealed to emigrants who left Turkey in search for work in Germany and elsewhere. This song touches on that experience. It is sung from the vantage point of a young man leaving on a train to Germany who addresses his beloved with some parting requests. Much of what he has to say comes in the form of negative commands, making it an ideal follow up to Lesson 11 on the imperative.

A negative imperative verb is formed simply by adding -me to the verb root. Thus "gel (come)" becomes "gelme (don't come)". There are other imperative forms but we will not worry about these at the moment. Just make sure to find the imperative verbs highlighted in the lyrics below in bold.

You'll notice that the direct objects of all of Ferdi's commands, which is himself, come after the verb, even though as we know the direct object normally comes before the verb in Turkish. Of course, the sentence structure is more flexible in music, but particularly when it comes to imperatives, it is common to see the verb come first. Thus, Ferdi says, "Almanya'da mektupsuz bırakma beni" or "Don't leave me in Germany without letters (i.e. write to me)".

Finally, you'll notice that going to Germany is very emotionally distressing for Ferdi. This is not just because he is leaving behind someone he loves, but because he is terrified by the feeling of estrangement that awaits him abroad. As he says, "In a foreign land, the pain never ceases / Gurbet elde acıların kesilmez ardı". The important concept of "gurbet" here, which simultaneously signifies a foreign location and a feeling of alienation is a key to understanding the sensibilities of Ferdi and his audience. The fact that migrant workers are likewise referred to as "gurbetçi", i.e. someone who "does gurbet", completes the picture of why the train to Germany is such a bitter figure within the arabesk cosmos.

Vocabulary

Practice this vocabulary list on Quizlet


kalkmak (tren) - to leave, depart, embark
dönmek - to return
bırakmak - to leave
bırakma beni - don't leave me
terketmek - to leave, to abandon
sızlatmak - to upset
ağlatmak
ağlatma beni - don't make me cry

tren - train
gar - station
Almanya - Germany
felek - the universe, fate
böyle - thus, this is how, so
mektup - letter (as in message)
gül - flower, rose
hatıra - memory, memento
sıla - home (in the abstract sense)
gurbet - alienation, abroad
kesilmez - ceaseless
acılar - pains, sorrows

Ferdi Tayfur - Almanya Treni

Almanya treni kalkıyor gardan
The train to Germany is leaving the station

Gönül ister mi hiç ayrılmak yardan
Could the heart at all want to separate from its beloved

Feleğe sözüm yok böyle yazmış yaradan
I have nothing to say to fate, seems this is what the Creator has written

Here "yaradan" is a name for God. "Felek" has the meaning of both "the universe" as well as "fate" or "destiny".

Belki bir gün dönerim / sen gelme ardımdan
Perhaps I'll return one day / Don't come after me

Ağlatma beni, sızlatma canım beni
Don't make me cry, don't make me hurt, my dear
Ağlatma beni, sızlatma gülüm beni
Don't make me cry, don't make me hurt, my flower
Almanya çok uzak, terketme beni
Germany is very far, don't leave me
Almanya'da mektupsuz bırakma beni
Don't leave me without letters in Germany

There is only a subtle difference between the verbs "bırakmak" and the verb of Arabic origin "terketmek". Where as "bırakmak" has the connotations of "to leave" and "to leave alone" or "quit", "terketmek" perhaps has stronger flavors of abandonment.

Almanya treninde gözlerim doldu
In the train to Germany, my eyes filled (with tears)
Tatlı hatıralarım sılamda kaldı
My sweet memories remained in my home
Gurbet elde acıların kesilmez ardı
In a foreign land (where he is headed), the pain never ceases

Felek pençesini bağrıma vurdu
The claw of fate has struck my chest

Ağlatma beni, sızlatma canım beni
Ağlatma beni, sızlatma gülüm beni
Almanya çok uzak terketme beni
Almanyada mektupsuz bırakma beni

We have just one more lesson, Lesson 13: Let's Break Up, before the end of this unit. Quiz yourself on this lesson's vocabulary before moving on.

I Will Die in a Run-Down Tavern

From Seyfettin Sucu 45 cover

Lesson 8 | -ecek Future Tense

When asked about the future, we might speak of plans, ambitions, hopes, fears, and uncertainty, but there is nothing more certain about our futures than death. This lesson introduces the future tense using a prediction of one's own death.

Seyfettin Sucu was an Arab-Turkish singer from Urfa. Like many other singers of the period, he grew up poor and went to Adana for work before beginning a recording career during the mid-1960s. His renowned skill with uzun hava, a semi-improvized free-form singing style, earned him some popularity not only in Turkey but also in norther Syria. However, Seyfettin Sucu lived hard and died in 1987 at the age of 45. Though he had not been the most famous among the performers to come out of Urfa in the 1980s such as İbrahim Tatlıses, he was highly influential and widely regarded in that scene. His songs and most memorable lyrics continue to circulate widely on the internet today.

In this song, he predicts his untimely demise, describing a bitter scene in which he dies drinking in a meyhane listening to the song he shared with a lost love. The future tense -ecek verbs are highlighted in bold in the song. The Seyfettin's uzun hava is preceded by a short poem about the life he led. I haven't translated it but advanced listeners will be able to follow it. Here is a future tense translation of "ölmek (to die)" and "bilmemek (to not know)", two verbs that are found in the song:

Future tense - ölmek

Ben öleceğim	I will die
Sen oleceksin	You will die
O ölecek	He/she/it will die
Biz öleceğiz	We will die
Siz öleceksiniz	You (pl.) will die
Onlar ölecekler	They will die

Negative future tense - bilmek

Ben bilmeyeceğim	I will not know
Sen bilmeyeceksin	You will not know
O bilmeyecek	He/she/it will not know
Biz bilmeyeceğiz	We will not know
Siz bilmeyeceksiniz	You (pl.) will not know
Onlar bilmeyecekler	They will not know

Also pay attention to the phrase "senin yüzünden" meaning "because of you" when Seyfettin blames his love for his bitter, drunken death. This structure is formed using the same structure as possession discussion in Lesson 6. Here is a full derivation:

Benim yüzümden | Senin yüzünden | Onun yüzünden | Bizim yüzümüzden | Sizin yüzünüzden | Onların yüzlerinden

In common speech one can also simply say "o yüzden" to signify "because of that."

Lastly, note how Seyfettin Sucu uses exclamations in his improvisations, and in particular the word "aman", which we can understand to mean "oh my" or "oh God" or "oh mercy" as an exclamation of grief or pain.

Vocabulary

Practice this vocabulary on Quizlet



ölmek - to die
öleceğim - I will die
içmek - to drink
kokmak - to smell like
çalmak - to play
çaldırmak - to make someone play
taşımak - to carry

senin yüzünden - because of you
her zamanki gibi - as always

meyhane - tavern, place for drinking
kırık - broken
kadeh - glass for drinking wine or alcohol
kadeh arkadaşları - drinking buddies
ağız - mouth
damla - drop
kan - blood
son - last, final
dakika - minute
şarkı - song
renk - color
dolu - full
tabut - coffin
serseri - bum, vagrant

Seyfettin Sucu - Öleceğim

Click play button above to listen to the song

Şanlıurfa'da doğdu
Gam ile geçti kısacık ömrü
Acılarla doluydu her günü her gecesi
Kaynamadı kalbinin ocağında mutluluk tenceresi
Açılmadı yemyeşil bir bahçaya garibin penceresi
Baki Allah bir gün bende öleceğim demişti
İnsancıldı merhametliydi ibadetlidi o
Şimdi iyen bahçalarında güller gülistanlar fesliyanlarla dolu başucu
Sen ölmedin kalbimizde yaşasan kabrinde rahat uyu aziz
Seyfettin Sucu

Öleceğim bir gün virane bir meyhanede aman aman
I am going to die one day in a run down tavern

Elimde kırık bir kadeh, ağzımda bir damla kan
In my hand a cracked glass, in my mouth a drop of blood
Nefesim her zamanki gibi içki kokacak
My breath will reek of alcohol as always 

English speakers will be tempted to replicate the structure of "smells like" in other languages, but as we see here, Seyfettin Sucu directly says "nefesim içki kokacak", i.e. "my breath will smell (of) alcohol."

Son dakikalarımda şarkımızı çaldıracağım dertli bir kemancıya
In my last minutes, I will make a troubled (i.e. soulful) fiddler play our song

"Çalmak" means to play and "çaldırmak" means "to have (someone) play (something)." "Dertli" or "troubled", literally "with pain", is meant to connote that the violin player will also be a desperate soul like Seyfettin and that because he is "dertli" his violin will be soulful.

Gözlerim dolu dolu rengim sararıp solacak aman
My eyes will be full as my color fades

Öldüğüm zaman belki de tabudumu taşıyan olmayacak aman aman
When I die, perhaps there will be no one to even carry my coffin

Kadeh arkadaşlarımdan başka görenler serseriydi geçti diyecekler
Aside from my drinking buddies, those who see will say "he was a bum and he passed"

Senin yüzünden içtim, senin yüzünden öldüğümü bilmeyecekler gönül hey
I drank because of you, they will not know that I died because of you, my heart
Aman aman aman aman aman aman

Maybe an uzun hava about death is a bit heavy for Unit 1, but hopefully you've picked up some valuable vocabulary along the way. Take your mind of mortality with the Scatter game below before moving onto Lesson 9: You Will See.