You will say the set wishes for meals, illness, birthdays and holidays, and choose the friendly or the formal 'your' in them.
The idea
Turkish wishes are short fixed sentences ending in olsun, 'let it be': Afiyet olsun, Geçmiş olsun, Doğum günün kutlu olsun. When the wish names something of the other person's, it takes 'your': -ın style for a friend (bayramın, günün) and -ınız style for a stranger, an elder or several people (bayramınız, gününüz). The vowel follows harmony.
| Situation | Wish | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| At the table | Afiyet olsun | Teşekkür ederim / Size de |
| To the cook | Eline sağlık / Elinize sağlık | Afiyet olsun |
| Illness or an accident | Geçmiş olsun | Teşekkür ederim |
| A birthday | Doğum günün kutlu olsun / Doğum gününüz kutlu olsun | Teşekkür ederim |
| A holiday | Bayramın kutlu olsun / Bayramınız kutlu olsun | Sana da / Size de |
Examples
- Doğum günün kutlu olsun, Elif.Happy birthday, Elif.
- Geçmiş olsun, Ali amca.Get well soon, Uncle Ali.Geçmiş means 'passed': the wish says 'may it be over', for an illness, an injury or a bad day.
- Bayramınız kutlu olsun, Mehmet Bey.Happy holiday, Mr Mehmet.Bayram is a festival, above all the two religious ones. -ınız is the formal 'your', so a stranger or an older person hears bayramınız, a friend bayramın.
- Afiyet olsun!Enjoy your meal!
- Size de afiyet olsun.Enjoy your meal too.
- Eline sağlık, anne.Thank you for cooking this, Mum.Literally 'health to your hands', said to whoever cooked. Eline is the friendly 'your', elinize the formal one. The cook answers Afiyet olsun.
- Yeni yılınız kutlu olsun.Happy New Year.
- Doğum gününüz kutlu olsun, Zeynep Hanım.Happy birthday, Ms Zeynep.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Turkish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No Turkish device voice is available. You can still read the text.
Watch out
Geçmiş olsun means 'may it pass', so it fits an illness, an accident or a setback, but never a death; sympathy for a loss uses other words. And a wish keeps its occasion: Afiyet olsun belongs to food, not to a journey or a gift.
Try it yourself
Wish a friend a happy New Year: add the ending for 'your' to yıl (year).
Show answer or example answer
yılın
yılın: yıl ends in a consonant and its last vowel is ı, so the 'your' of a friend is -ın.
Complete the wish for a friend who is ill.
Show answer or example answer
olsun
olsun: ol alone would be a command to be something; the ending -sun turns it into 'let it be', which is what a wish is.
Thank whoever cooked: complete the wish 'health to your hands'.
Show answer or example answer
sağlık
sağlık: eline sağlık is a noun phrase, 'health to your hand', so it needs no olsun.
Wish your teacher a happy birthday: complete the word for day with the formal 'your'.
Show answer or example answer
gününüz
gününüz: a teacher gets the formal 'your', and the compound doğum günü gives up its own -ü for -ünüz.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Wish a friend a happy New Year: add the ending for 'your' to yıl (year).
Complete the wish for a friend who is ill.
Thank whoever cooked: complete the wish 'health to your hands'.
Wish your teacher a happy birthday: complete the word for day with the formal 'your'.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
Sign up for free to save your practice results in your account.
Sign up to saveI already have an accountUse it today
Write three short exchanges: wishing a sick friend well, congratulating a teacher on a birthday, and wishing a guest at your table a good meal.