Gemilerde talim var There are drills on the ships
Bahriyeli yarim var I have a lover in the navy
O da gitti sefere He went on a journey
Ne talihsiz başım var I have such an unlucky head
Hani benim Recebim Recebim Where is my Recep?
Sarı lira vereceğim I'll give you a golden lira
Almazsan karakola gideceğim If you don't take it, I'll go to the police
Gemi gelir yanaşır The boat comes, it pulls up
İçi dolu çamaşır It's full of laundry
İstanbulun kızları The girls of Istanbul
Recep diye ağlaşır Lament saying "Recep"
Hani benim Recebim Recebim
Sarı lira vereceğim
Almazsan karakola gideceğim
Mavi giyme tanırlar Don't wear blue, they'll recognize you
Seni yolcu sanırlar They'll think you're a passenger
Geçme kapım önünden Don't pass by my door
Seni benden alırlar They'll take you from me
In our last lesson, we learned about traces of past love that linger in our ears, eyes, and lips. Now we leave the past behind for a bit to return to the heart and utilize our knowledge from past lessons and learn about the marvelous act of "having".
Zeki Müren 45 cover
Whereas most Indo-European verbs most commonly use a verb to connote the concept of "to have," this is not a linguistic universal. For example, Arabic uses prepositions to complete the same function. Turkish on the other hand uses a word that is a verb yet not quite a verb that means "it exists." So in order to say you "have a heart" for example, you have to say "my heart exists". It is less complicated than it sounds.
The singer featured in this lesson, however, is exactly as complicated as he sounds. Zeki Müren was for decades one of the most important figures in Turkish culture, and as his career went on, he also became one of the most eccentric. His genre was sanat music, and he is widely regarded as having the most precise articulation of any singer of the time. Beyond his iconic recordings and performances, Zeki Müren is also famous for having incrementally inched towards wearing flamboyant costumes that flouted gender norms during a period in which rugged masculinity was increasingly the norm in film and television (click here for an article by Martin Stokes). This, however, is one of his earlier recordings from the late 1960s.
We'll be dealing lots more with Zeki Müren in subsequent lessons. For now, our focus will be the use of the word "var" in this song to convey the meaning of "to have" and the word "değil" meaning "not".
One of the lines in the chorus is "benim de kalbim var", meaning "I too have a heart." The word "var" corresponds to the word "kalp" meaning "heart." In order to show that it is Zeki's heart, we have the words "benim kalbim (my heart)". The word "benim" here is basically optional. What is critical, however, is that "kalbim var", which breaks down to "my heart exists", means "I have a heart". He also says "benim canım var" or "I have a soul". Here is a derivation of those sentences for all the pronouns in Turkish:
Benim
kalbim var
canım var
Senin
kalbin var
canın var
Onun
kalbi var
canı var
Bizim
kalbimiz var
canımız var
Sizin
kalbiniz var
canınız var
Onların
kalpleri var
canları var
This might appear a little bit confusing alongside the sentence "ben de insanım" or "I am a person too." "İnsanım" carries an ending that appears to be the same as the -im in "kalbim" but that is coincidental. It is in fact a conjucation of the verb to be or "olmak" in the simple present for the first person. Thus:
insanım - I am a person
insansın - You are a person
insan(dir) - He/she is a person
insanız - We are people
insansınız - You (pl.) are people
onlar insan - They are people
This brings us to the last grammar point of the lesson, which is the word "değil" meaning "is not". Here Zeki's love is not a game: kumar değildir. We know from Lesson X that the -dir gives a sense of definiteness and is optional. "Değil" can be conjugated for other pronouns just as the "insan" example above:
var - to exist, to be there, to have
canım var - I have a soul
benim kalbim - my heart
insanım - I am a person
oynamak - to play, to dance
değil - is not
demek - to say, to mean
gelmek - to come
can - soul, life
kalp - heart
insan - person, human
kumar - gambling
acı - pain, bitterness
bedbaht - unfortunate
belki - perhaps
amma - however, but
Zeki Müren - Aşkımla oynama kumar değildir
Click the image above to play the song
Aşkımla oynama kumar değildir Don't play with my love, it is not a game (literally gambling)
Seviyorum demek hüner değildir Saying "I love you" is not a talent
Benim de canım var, ben de insanım I too have a soul, I too am a person
Benim de kalbim var, ben de insanım I too have a heart, I too am a person
Belki mutlu değil, bedbahtım amma Maybe I'm not glad, I might be unfortunate but
Gel sen acı bari, düşürme gama Have some mercy for once, don't drop me into sorrow
Benim de canım var, ben de insanım
Benim de kalbim var, ben de insanım
Congratulations, we're half way done with Unit 1. Why not quiz yourself on Lessons 1-6 before moving onto Lesson 7: As If?
Walking on Istanbul's İstiklal Street (Source: Daniel Pontillo)
Lesson 1 | -iyor Present Tense
The Beyoğlu neighborhood sits at the heart of the European side of Turkey's largest metropolis. Since the late nineteenth century, İstiklal Street (formerly called Pera) has served as a populous promenade for residents and tourists alike. Today, walking in Beyoğlu between the crowds and the "Nostalgic Tram" that runs up and down İstiklal is a fundamental experience for any visitor.
The glamour, excitement, and consumption that have come to define the Beyoğlu neighborhood are one side of this story, but in this first lesson, we'll explore the other. Our singer, Yaşar Kurt, recorded this song entitled "Hünerli Çocuklar" or "Talented Kids" of his album Street Songs (Sokak Şarkıları) during the mid-1990s when Beyoğlu was transforming but yet to become the area it is today. It touches on the lives of street kids, who appear in the song poor, depressed, and caught up in activities such as huffing paint thinner or tiner, the quintessential symbol of troubled youth in modern Turkey. The title of the song "Hünerli Çocuklar (Gifted Children)" is put in contrast with the subject of the song, which is "Tinerli Çocuklar (Children With Paint Thinner)". The socioeconomic situation of Beyoğlu has changed quite a bit since those days - as has the life and career of Yaşar Kurt - but the street kids with paint thinner will still be found on the margins of the bustling economy of this Istanbul neighborhood.
Don't worry about everything in the lyrics. I've selected this song for the sentence "Beyoğlu'nda yürüyorum" or "I am walking in Beyoğlu," which utilizes the present tense -yor ending. Note that the suffix "-da" refers to "in" or "at", but in this case a helping "n" has been added. If you aren't familiar with this grammatical rule, don't worry about it at the moment. Just remember when you're meeting with friends in Istanbul to tell them "Beyoğlu'ndayım" for "I'm in Beyoğlu" and not "Beyoğlu'dayım."
This will be the only lesson on the continuous present tense ending -yor, which is not the tense most commonly represented in song lyrics, though it will certainly come up in many of our lessons. Here is a conjugation of two of the verbs in the song yürümek (to walk) and ağlamak (to cry).
Ben
yürüyorum
ağlıyorum
Sen
yürüyorsun
ağlıyorsun
O
yürüyor
ağlıyor
Biz
yürüyoruz
ağlıyoruz
Siz
yürüyorsunuz
ağlıyorsunuz
Onlar
yürüyorlar
ağlıyorlar
This song is slow and easy to follow along with by reading. Try to learn the words and pick up on the linguistic points highlighted below:
Vocabulary
Use the flashcard below to review the vocabulary. Click on the words to hear their pronunciation. Vocab audio courtesy of Seçil Yılmaz.
Beyoğlu'nda yürüyorum, yürüyorum Beyoğlu'nda I'm walking in Beyoğlu, walking in Beyoğlu
See how yürümek becomes yürü-yor(present tense)-um(I). Normally a noun with a locative suffix such as "Beyoğlu'nda / In Beyoğlu" comes at the beginning of the sentence, but for emphasis or poetic effect, it can be moved to the end of the sentence as we see here.
Ölüm gibi bir şey oluyor / Çürüyorum Beyoğlu'nda Something like death is happening / I'm feeling worn in Beyoğlu
"Ölüm gibi" means "like death." When he says "something like death is happening (oluyor)", perhaps he means that it feels like death as we say. Note that the word for "like (gibi)" comes after the noun. The verb çürümek means "to rot or decay", but here what Yaşar Kurt is saying is that the sight he sees wears him out emotionally. He could have said this in many other ways, but çürüyorum rhymes with yürüyorum.
Beyoğlu'nda yürüyorum, yürüyorum Beyoğlu'nda
Bir çocuk ağlıyor avuçlarında / Yürüyorum beyoğlunda A child is crying in the palms of his hands / I'm walking in Beyoğlu
Again, see how "ağlamak" becomes ağlı-yor(present tense). There is no ending on the verb for the third person (he/she).
Beyoğlu'nun arka sokaklarında hünerli çocuklar vardır On the backstreets of Beyoğlu, there are talented children.
Recognize the special verb at the end of the sentence "var", which means here "there is/are." We will deal with the -dır suffix later.
Bu çocuklar yağmuru bile çalarlar.. Bu çocuklar These kids would even steal the rain
"Çalmak" means both to "steal" and "to play", as in an instrument or sound. Here, the meaning is "to steal".
Bu çocuklar türkü söylemez / Islık çalarlar, ah bu çocuklar These children don't sing songs / They whistle at you, oh these children
"Türkü söylemez (they don't sing songs)" is from the verb söylemek (to say). Note that its conjugation is different from the present tense verbs above. That is because it is a different verb tense that will be dealt with later (advanced point: Also note that "çalmak" here comes in the meaning of "to play" rather than "to steal").
Beyoğlu'nun arka sokaklarında / Tinerli çocuklar vardır
On the backstreets of Beyoğlu, there are children with paint thinner
Bu çocuklar gökyüzü olsalar / Gece bile mavi kalırlar, ah bu çocuklar If these children were the sky, they would stay blue even at night, oh these children.
Not everything should be explained. I'll leave it to you to ponder what Yaşar Kurt means by saying that "if these children were the sky, they would stay blue even at night."
That's it for our first lesson. If you were able to follow along with the text and identify our phrase "Beyoğlu'nda yürüyorum", you're already well on your way. But if you want more present tense listening, try these:
Before moving to Lesson 2: Essential Things, work on this quiz below, which will help you learn the lesson's vocab as well as improve your typing skills (click here to learn about typing in Turkish).
