You will choose between güzel and iyi by asking what you are praising: the pleasure of something or how well it works.
The idea
Use güzel for what pleases the senses: a view, a song, the weather, a flower, a person's looks. Use iyi for quality, ability, health and character: iyi bir öğretmen, iyi yüzüyor, iyiyim. Before a verb, iyi is also the adverb well. Food that tastes lovely is often called güzel too.
| Looks, sound, taste | Quality, skill, health |
|---|---|
| güzel manzara | iyi öğretmen |
| güzel şarkı | iyi şarkıcı |
| güzel hava | iyi uyku |
| güzel çiçek | iyi doktor |
Examples
- Bugün hava çok güzel.The weather is very nice today.
- Dedem iyi yüzüyor.My grandfather swims well.With a skill, iyi means well in the sense of skilled. Güzel yüzüyor would instead praise how graceful the swimming looks.
- Kafe güzel ama kahvesi iyi değil.The café is lovely, but its coffee is not good.Güzel judges the café: how it looks and feels. İyi judges the coffee: how well it does its job. The ending -si on kahve means its coffee.
- iyiyimI am welliyiyim-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we areİyi is the word for health and wellbeing. The ending -yim (I am) joins it through the buffer y: iyi + yim.
- Bu şarkı çok güzel.This song is really lovely.
- Dün gece iyi uyudum.I slept well last night.Before a verb, iyi is the adverb well: iyi uyudum means I slept well, not that the sleep was pretty.
- İyi geceler!Good night!Fixed wishes take iyi: iyi geceler, iyi akşamlar, iyi günler.
- Bu iyi bir fikir.That is a good idea.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Turkish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
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Watch out
Saying Ben güzelim for I am fine actually means I am beautiful. For health and wellbeing, as in İyi misin? and İyiyim, Turkish needs iyi.
Try it yourself
Add the ending for I am to iyi: I am very well today.
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iyiyim
iyiyim: this is about health, so the word is iyi, and -yim (I am) joins it through the buffer y.
Choose güzel or iyi: The flowers in the garden are very beautiful.
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güzel
güzel: flowers are praised for how they look, so it is güzel, not iyi.
Choose güzel or iyi: My mother is a good teacher.
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iyi
iyi: a teacher is judged by how well they teach, which is quality and skill, so iyi.
Choose güzel or iyi: Good evening!
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iyi
iyi: wishes such as good evening are fixed phrases with iyi: iyi akşamlar.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Add the ending for I am to iyi: I am very well today.
Choose güzel or iyi: The flowers in the garden are very beautiful.
Choose güzel or iyi: My mother is a good teacher.
Choose güzel or iyi: Good evening!
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: I am well
Keep your progress
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Look around you and write three sentences: one with güzel about how something looks or sounds, and two with iyi about how well something works or what someone can do.