A toast can be a single word or name the person or occasion you are celebrating. Practise a short exchange, then make it personal without turning it into a long speech.
The idea
Şerefe! is a complete toast; you can answer with Şerefe! too. It stays the same whether you address one person or a group. Sağlığına! means “to your health” to someone you address as sen; Sağlığınıza! suits siz, either plural or polite. To name an occasion, use a phrase such as yeni işinin şerefine, “to your new job”. Learn şerefine with that phrase, rather than attaching a job title to the standalone şerefe.
Examples
- Bu akşam dostluğumuza içelim.Let's drink to our friendship tonight.
- Hepimiz senin sağlığına içiyoruz.We are all drinking to your health.
- Ben de kadehimi kaldırıyorum.I am raising my glass too.
- Şerefe!Cheers!
- Sağlığına!To your health! (to one familiar person)
- Sağlığınıza!To your health! (to several people or politely)
- Yeni işinin şerefine!Here's to your new job!
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
English “cheers” can mean “thanks” or “bye”; şerefe does not do those jobs. Thank someone for passing a glass with teşekkürler, and use şerefe when making the toast. Keep the dotless ı and soft ğ in sağlığına.
Try it yourself
Complete the toast beginning with Ş: cheers!
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Şerefe
Şerefe: the glass-raising context calls for a toast. The initial letter points to this fixed expression, which can also serve as the reply.
Use sağlık to toast one friend: to your health!
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sağlığına
sağlığına: senin identifies one familiar addressee. In sağlık + ın + a, the final k softens to ğ before the vowel, giving the written form here.
Use sağlık to toast several guests: to your health!
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sağlığınıza
sağlığınıza: sizin addresses the guests together. The possessive form sağlığınız takes -a, so the ending matches the group rather than one familiar friend.
Complete the toast to a friend’s new job using şeref.
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şerefine
şerefine: the toast names a particular occasion. Yeni işinin needs the following form meaning “in honour of”; standalone şerefe would leave that noun phrase unfinished.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete the toast beginning with Ş: cheers!
Use sağlık to toast one friend: to your health!
Use sağlık to toast several guests: to your health!
Complete the toast to a friend’s new job using şeref.
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 a two-line toast and reply between friends. Then change the toast to address several guests and add a separate toast to a new job.