You hear a sneeze, offer a wish, and may receive a wish in return. At this level, the challenge is choosing the right social register and understanding who says each line, rather than memorising one English equivalent.
The idea
After someone sneezes, çok yaşa wishes that person a long life. Although yaşa has the imperative form, it expresses goodwill here, not an order. Use çok yaşayın for polite address or several people. The person who sneezed can return the wish with sen de gör: roughly, may you live to see that long life too. In polite address this becomes siz de görün. Hep beraber wishes a long life together; a simple teşekkür ederim is also possible. The reply need not follow a compulsory script.
| Familiar address | Polite or plural address |
|---|---|
| Çok yaşa. | Çok yaşayın. |
| Sen de gör. | Siz de görün. |
Examples
- Çok yaşa, Deniz.Bless you, Deniz.
- Çok yaşayın, Selma Hanım.Bless you, Ms Selma.
- Sen de gör, Ece.May you live to see it too, Ece.
- Siz de görün.May you live to see it too. (Polite address.)
- Hep beraber!May we all live long together!
- Sağ ol, sen de gör.Thanks; may you live to see it too.
- Sıhhatler olsun, saçların çok güzel olmuş.Good health to you after your haircut; your hair looks lovely.
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Watch out
Do not treat sıhhatler olsun as another standard sneeze response: it is associated with a bath, shave or haircut. In sen de gör, keep de separate because it means “too”; sende means “in/on you” and does not return the wish.
Try it yourself
A close friend sneezes. Complete: Çok ___!
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yaşa
yaşa: the addressee is a close friend, so the familiar wish fits; the person who hears the sneeze speaks first.
Address your teacher politely with siz. Complete: Çok ___, öğretmenim!
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yaşayın
yaşayın: the prompt asks for polite address to the teacher. The ending marks that relationship even though only one person sneezed.
You sneeze and a friend says çok yaşa. Write the three-word reply beginning with sen.
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Sen de gör
Sen de gör: the person who sneezed now wishes the friend a long life too. The separate de includes the friend in the wish.
Change sen de gör to polite address, beginning with siz.
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Siz de görün
Siz de görün: both the pronoun and the verb change for polite address. Changing only sen would leave the reply inconsistent.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
A close friend sneezes. Complete: Çok ___!
Address your teacher politely with siz. Complete: Çok ___, öğretmenim!
You sneeze and a friend says çok yaşa. Write the three-word reply beginning with sen.
Change sen de gör to polite address, beginning with siz.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Write two short exchanges after a sneeze: one between close friends and one with a person you address politely. Mark who sneezes and check that the reply keeps the same level of formality.