Let's Break Up

Cüneyt Arkın

Lesson 13 | -elim Let's

We have already gone through the basic tenses of Turkish and learned a lot of new vocabulary, but before parting ways with Unit 1 and moving onto some more challenging songs, let's take a look at one last song that offers a preview of the types of grammar points we'll deal with in Unit 2 and learn how to break up properly.

This lesson's song comes to us from the film Severek Ayrılalım (Let's Part While In Love) starring Hülya Koçyiğit and Cüneyt Arkın. It is actually written by Orhan Gencebay (his version is probably better), but for the sake of variety and cultural value I thought I would use this version performed by Belkıs Özener and introduce the genre of 1970s Turkish Yeşilçam melodramas. The term Yeşilçam refers to the Yeşilçam area of Beyoğlu where movie production companies were based during the heyday of Turkish budget cinema, which lasted from the 1960s until the spread of television decreased its impact during the late 70s and 80s. This film from 1971 is from the period of Yeşilçam's absolute peak, when Turkey produced hundreds of full-length films annually, making Yeşilçam third to only Bollywood and Hollywood on the global stage. Hülya Koçyiğit and Cüneyt Arkın are very recognizable faces of the era, known for their roles in some of the period's best and worst films.

The singer, Belkıs Özener, by contrast, rarely appeared in films. Unlike many of the singers from previous lessons, she most often appeared as the sung voice of other actresses in Yeşilçam films. That is the case in this title track from Severek Ayrılalım.

In this short song, I would like to highlight two grammar points. The first is the -elim ending, which performs the function of "let us" or "may we". It is the 1st person plural equivalent of the imperative form we learned in Lessons 11 and 12. As we will see in Unit 2, Turkish has such equivalents for all pronouns.

To make a verb using the -elim ending, you simply add it to the verb root used to make the imperative. Here is a table using some of the verbs from the song as well as some other common verbs:

Verb	Meaning	Conjugation	Meaning
ayrılmak	to part, separate	ayrılalım	let's separate
kalmak	to remain, stay	kalalım	let's stay
vazgeçmek	to abandon, leave	vazgeçelim	let's leave/quit
unutmak	to forget	unutalım	let's forget
barışmak	to make up, reconcile	barışalım	let's make up
gitmek	to go	gidelim	let's go
etmek	to do	edelim	let's do

The second small grammar point I would like to highlight is the -erek ending. We've already gotten a taste of how endings are used to combine sentences, and there is more of that coming. This commonly used ending has the meaning of "while" or "as". Thus, the title of the song "severek ayrılalım" means "let's break up while we are loving (each other)". To be very specific, it makes the suggestion is that they should part although they remain in the state of being in love. We can infer from the song that this should be a painful experience, that is, to part while being in love. Yet, as we learn in the song, this is also the only way to protect that love, should it be to valuable to let go of.

The -erek ending is not conjugated for person, but rather it is understood to correspond to the subject of the verb at the end of the sentence (in this case, the "biz (we)" that goes with "ayrılalım"). Here are some verbs and their -erek equivalents:

sevmek	to love	severek
bilmek	to know	bilerek
yapmak	to do/make	yaparak
gelmek	to come	gelerek
çalışmak	to work	çalışarak
söylemek	to say	söyleyerek

Vocabulary


severek - while loving, in love

son - end, conclusion
kader - fate
mutlu - happy
mutluluk - happiness

(-den) vazgeçmek - to leave, to abandon, to quit
ayrılmak - to separate, to break up
barışmak - to make up, to get back together, to make peace

Belkıs Özener - Severek Ayrılalım

Bıraktım kaderime aşkımızın sonunu
I've left the conclusion of our love to fate

In other words, she is saying that no matter how much they love each other, fate dictates they should be apart.

Aradım / bulamadım mutluluğun yolunu
I searched and could not find the road to happiness

Bırak artık kaderimle kendi halime beni
Leave me alone with my fate, already

Vazgeçelim bu sevgiden / unutalım herşeyi
Let's leave this love behind, let's forget everything

Severek ayrılalım / aşka hasret kalalım
Let's break up in love, let's stay longing for love

Eğer mutlu olmazsak yeniden barışalım
And if we're not happy, let's get back together again

That's the last song for Unit 1. Before moving on to Unit 2, visit the Unit 1 Review to make sure you've got all the essential points and review the vocabulary we've covered thus far.

Nobody's Perfect

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

Hatasız kul olmaz
There's no such thing as a flawless human being
Hatamla sev beni
Love me with my flaws

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".

Dermansız dert olmaz
There can't be an incurable pain
Dermana sal beni
Let me at the cure

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.

Kaybettim kendimi, ne olur bul beni
I've lost myself, please, find me
Yoruldum halim yok, sen gel de al beni.
I'm tired, I have no energy, you come and get me

The word "yoruldum" or "I'm tired" here is a past tense conjugation of the verb "yorulmak", meaning "to tire" or "to get tired".

Feryada gücüm yok, feryatsız duy beni
I have no strength to cry for help, hear me without a cry

"Feryat" is a "cry", but generally understood as a cry for help.

Sevenlerin aşkına, ne olur sev beni / Sev beni...
For the sake of those who love, please, love me, love me!

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".

Bu feryat, bu hasret, öldürür aşk beni
This cry for help, this longing, love is killing me

Uzaktan olsa da, razıyım sev beni
Even if from a distance, I'm content, just love me
Razıyım sev beni...
I'm content, just love me

Ümitsiz yaşanmaz, sevmemek elde mi?
One cannot live without hope, is it possible not to love?
Can demek sen demek, gel de gör bende mi?
Saying soul means you, come and see if it's with me
Sözümde sitem var, kalpte mi dilde mi?
There is reproach in my words, is it in the heart or on the tongue?
Tez elden haber ver, o gönlün elde mi?
Let me know right away, does your heart belong to someone else

Those last four lines were a little trick so do not worry if you can't get the grammar.

Feryada gücüm yok, feryatsız duy beni
Sevenlerin aşkına, ne olur sev beni

In the next lesson, we deal further with the imperative, this time introducing its negative form as we continue an exploration of the arabesk genre. First review the vocabulary list below to make sure you've got everything down.