You will learn the basic drinks, order them with a number and a container, and say what you are drinking.
The idea
Turkish names a drink on its own (çay, kahve, su, süt, ayran) and counts it with a container: number, container, drink, with no ending anywhere: iki bardak çay. You order with lütfen, ask with istiyorum and drink with the verb içmek: çay içiyorum.
| Drink | Container | Phrase |
|---|---|---|
| çay | bardak | iki bardak çay |
| kahve | fincan | bir fincan kahve |
| su | şişe | üç şişe su |
| süt | bardak | bir bardak süt |
| ayran | bardak | iki bardak ayran |
| portakal suyu | bardak | bir bardak portakal suyu |
Examples
- Bir çay, lütfen.A tea, please.
- Şimdi çay içiyorum.I am drinking tea now.
- Çay sıcak, su soğuk.The tea is hot, the water is cold.
- Bir portakal suyu, lütfen.An orange juice, please.In portakal suyu the word su becomes suyu; learn the phrase whole, as with meyve suyu (fruit juice).
- Çaya şeker koyuyorum.I put sugar in the tea.The sugar goes into the tea, so tea takes the dative: çay ends in the consonant y, so the ending is just -a.
- İki bardak su istiyorum.I would like two glasses of water.After the number, the container stays singular and the drink follows without any ending.
- sütlüwith milksütlü-li / -lı / -lu / -lü: with, having
- çaysızwithout teaçaysızWithout: -siz / -sız / -suz / -süz
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Watch out
Do not add a plural and do not look for a word for "of": iki bardak çay is right and iki bardaklar çay is not, because the two nouns simply sit side by side and the number already shows the plural. And tea is drunk, not eaten: çay içmek, never çay yemek.
Try it yourself
Write the container word: two glasses of tea.
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bardak
bardak: tea is served in a small tulip-shaped glass, a bardak; after iki it stays singular, so the gap takes the bare word.
Complete the order: a bottle of water, please.
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su
su: after the container şişe the drink follows unchanged, so water is simply su.
Complete with the verb to drink in the present continuous: I am drinking tea.
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içiyorum
içiyorum: you drink tea, so the verb is içmek, not yemek; the stem iç takes -iyor and -um for "I".
Add the with-suffix to süt (milk): with milk, as in coffee with milk.
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sütlü
sütlü: the last vowel of süt is front and rounded, so -li takes ü here; its l stays l even after t.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Write the container word: two glasses of tea.
Complete the order: a bottle of water, please.
Complete with the verb to drink in the present continuous: I am drinking tea.
Add the with-suffix to süt (milk): with milk, as in coffee with milk.
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: with milk
Tap the parts in order to build this word: without tea
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Write what you drink in the morning, at noon and in the evening, each as number, container and drink, and check that the container has no ending.