A compliment about flavour describes the food; eline sağlık also recognises the work behind it. Practise choosing who receives the thanks, whether you speak to that person directly or mention them to someone else.
The idea
Use Eline sağlık with one person you address as sen, and Elinize sağlık with someone you address as siz, including several people. Ellerine sağlık and Ellerinize sağlık are also natural: the plural in eller means “hands”, not “several cooks”. The image is a wish of health to the hands that did the work. You can add a specific compliment. In Yemeği yapanın eline sağlık, yapanın identifies whose work you appreciate: the person who made the meal. A cook can reply Afiyet olsun.
Examples
- Elinize sağlık, çorba harika olmuş.Thank you for cooking; the soup has turned out wonderful.
- Eline sağlık, böreği çok beğendim.Thanks for making it; I really liked the savoury pastry.
- Ellerinize sağlık, tatlı çok hafif olmuş.Thank you for making it; the dessert has turned out very light.
- Yemeği yapanın eline sağlık.Compliments to whoever cooked the meal.
- Aşçıya teşekkürlerimi iletir misiniz?Would you pass my thanks on to the cook?
- Çok teşekkür ederim, afiyet olsun.Thank you very much; enjoy your meal.
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
Do not use Afiyet olsun as your thank-you to someone simply because they cooked: it wishes the eater well. If a server did not prepare the food, Aşçıya teşekkürlerimi iletir misiniz? makes the intended recipient explicit. Yemek için teşekkürler is a general thank-you for the meal.
Try it yourself
Your host has cooked for you on your first visit. Thank them politely with a phrase ending in sağlık.
Show answer or example answer
Elinize sağlık / Ellerinize sağlık
Elinize sağlık / Ellerinize sağlık: this first visit calls for respectful address. Either works for one host; mentioning hands in the plural does not require several people.
A close friend made savoury pastry. Use familiar singular address and a thank-you ending in sağlık.
Show answer or example answer
Eline sağlık / Ellerine sağlık
Eline sağlık / Ellerine sağlık: the prompt specifies a close friend and familiar address. The extra plural refers to the hands, so both forms suit that one friend.
Complete “Compliments to whoever cooked”: Yemeği ___ eline sağlık. Put yapan in the genitive.
Show answer or example answer
yapanın
yapanın: yemeği yapan is the person who made the meal. The genitive connects that person to eline, here “to their hand”, rather than addressing the listener as “you”.
Ask the server to pass on your thanks: Aşçıya teşekkürlerimi ___ misiniz? Use the aorist of iletmek.
Show answer or example answer
iletir
iletir: the aorist of iletmek completes a polite request to relay a message. The final t stays, and misiniz is written as a separate word.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Your host has cooked for you on your first visit. Thank them politely with a phrase ending in sağlık.
Elinize sağlık / Ellerinize sağlık
A close friend made savoury pastry. Use familiar singular address and a thank-you ending in sağlık.
Eline sağlık / Ellerine sağlık
Complete “Compliments to whoever cooked”: Yemeği ___ eline sağlık. Put yapan in the genitive.
Ask the server to pass on your thanks: Aşçıya teşekkürlerimi ___ misiniz? Use the aorist of iletmek.
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 a compliment and thanks to a close friend who cooked, then adapt the address for a first visit to someone’s home. Add a request to a server to pass on your thanks. Read the examples aloud; if a Turkish browser voice is available, use it to hear them too.