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| Hatasız Kul Olmaz VHS (Source: gittigidiyor) |
Lesson 11 | Imperative
During the last two lessons of Unit 1, we will focus on the simple imperative for the 2nd person singular pronoun "sen (you)". This is the simplest verb form in Turkish, and one of the most frequently used forms in song. We've already encountered it quite a few times in previous lessons, but in order to really emphasize the imperative, we will move to a genre that makes extensive use of it: arabesk.
The artist in this lesson is one of the original pioneering figures of arabesk music, a style that rose to prominence in Turkey during the 1970s. Arabesk or "arabesque" as we may understand it in English, is not quite pop music, not quite folk, and too gritty to be sanat music like the examples we've heard so far. It is called arabesk for its "Arabic" elements, using musical styles common to southeastern Turkey. Though such a music offended the aesthetic sensibilities of some audiences in Turkey, it had mass appeal and quickly developed into not only a huge musical genre but a genre of film as well. All of this is a reflection of the socioeconomic composition of both arabesk musicians and audiences, something I will discuss a little more in the next lesson.
This lesson's performer, Orhan Gencebay, may not have been the typical arabesk performer. He hails from Samsun (Black Sea region), and before embarking on a career in arabesk, he had flirted with jazz and rock music, enrolling in Istanbul's musical conservatory. Eventually, however, he returned to the first instrument he ever learned -- the bağlama -- and before long found himself an arabesk sensation.
"Hatasız Kul Olmaz", first recorded in 1974, not only reflects arabesk musical style but also its emotional sensibilities. If you found some of the expressions of love in previous songs to be intense, this one is much more so. Dramatic statements of devotion, desperation, pleading, incessant questioning, and pathologization of romantic feeling are some of the common features of arabesk lyrics. They represent some of the practices that comprise a certain kind of masculinity embodied by the arabesk ethos. Without imposing too rigid of an interpretation of this ethos, I will simply say that through more songs you will get a better sense of it.
In this song, Orhan Gencebay calls to the one he loves, pleading "love me". This love is such that he has no strength and can barely get himself together. This was a theme in our last song as well, however, you will notice that unlike the guys in Çamur, Orhan Gencebay is not ready to give up.
His expression takes the form of several commands using the simple imperative tense. To form an imperative verb, all you need to do is take the infinitive (i.e. sevmek, bilmek, duymak) and remove the -mak ending. Thus, "bakmak (to look)" becomes "bak! (look!)". Here is a table reflecting imperative verbs found in this song.
| Verb | Imperative |
| sevmek (to love) | sev |
| duymak (to hear) | duy |
| bulmak (to find) | bul |
| almak (to take) | al |
| görmek (to see) | gör |
| gelmek (to come) | gel |
One other point that I would like to highlight here is the -siz ending, which turns a noun into an adjective reflecting the absence of that noun. For example, the word "hata" means "flaw", "mistake", or "fault". Orhan says "hatasız kul olmaz" meaning it is impossible (olmaz) for there to be a person without fault (hatasız) or "flawless". Likewise, he says "dermansız dert olmaz". "Derman" here means "cure", and so "dermansız" means "incurable" or "without cure".
Note that while this is a common way of making adjectives that in English would begin with "un-" or end in "-less", it also has other functions that will become apparent in later lessons. We've already seen it used in the sense of "sensiz" or "without you". Look out for this ending in future lessons to see how it can be employed.
Vocabulary
olmaz - impossible
kaybetmek - to lose
yorulmak - to get tired, to tire
duymak - to hear
duy beni - hear me (imperative)
bulmak - to find
bul - find (imperative)
sevmek - to love
sev - love (imperative)
hata - fault, flaw, mistake, imperfection
hatasız - flawless
ümit - hope
ümitsiz - hopeless
kul - slave, servant, person (literally servant of God)
dert - pain, trouble, woe, worry
feryat - a cry (usually for help)
hasret - longing, missing
razı - content, satisfied
uzak - far
uzaktan - from afar
ne olur - please (somewhat desperate), I beg you
Orhan Gencebay - Hatasız Kul Olmaz
Here, the word "kul" is understood as "human being", but it's real meaning is "slave" or "servant". This is because people are "servants of God".
In our last lesson, "derman" mean "strength" or "energy", but here is means "cure". He is saying that his beloved is the cure for his pain.
The word "yoruldum" or "I'm tired" here is a past tense conjugation of the verb "yorulmak", meaning "to tire" or "to get tired".
Don't be thrown off by the use of "aşk" in this sentence. "(birşey)in aşkına" is understood as "for the sake of (something)". Strangely enough the phrase "allah aşkına" in Turkish can be very directly translated into English as "for the love of God" or "for God's sake".
Those last four lines were a little trick so do not worry if you can't get the grammar.
