What Duolingo Doesn't Teach You About Turkish
I started learning Turkish knowing exactly zero words.
I took Duolingo’s placement test, made some educated guesses based on context and structure, and was promptly placed in Section 2.
This was my first indication that something in the system was off.
Duolingo quickly taught me how to score points in Turkish exercises. But it quickly became clear to me that I hadn’t been taught how to say anything I’d actually need.
For a native English speaker, some early grammatical guidance in Turkish is not a burden but a help. Turkish syntax is systematic enough that understanding the structure upfront is more efficient than hoping it will emerge implicitly over time.
And more fundamentally, it seems backwards to learn sentences like “the woman and the artist drink milk” before learning how to say “good morning” or “how are you?”—phrases that actually let you exist in the language.
Some Basic Phrases
Before animals, colors, or abstract sentences, there are a few phrases that let you survive.
These recordings reflect my pronunciation at a very early stage. I started learning Turkish this week, and I didn’t have time to record audio for every phrase, so treat the recordings that are present as provisional rather than authoritative.
For correct pronunciation, consult the IPA provided. If you don’t read IPA, you can use IPA Reader to hear a neutral rendering based on the transcription.
Greetings & Goodbyes
| Turkish | English Meaning | IPA | Audio Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Merhaba | Hello | /ˈmeɾ.ha.ba/ | |
| Selam | Hi (casual) | /seˈlam/ | — |
| Günaydın | Good morning | /ɟyˈnaj.dɯn/ | |
| İyi günler | Good day | /iˈji ˈɟyn.leɾ/ | |
| İyi akşamlar | Good evening | /iˈji akˈʃam.laɾ/ | — |
| İyi geceler | Good night | /iˈji ɟeˈdʒe.leɾ/ | — |
| Hoş geldiniz | Welcome (to guests) | /hoʃ ɟel.diˈniz/ | |
| Hoş bulduk | Response to welcome (Glad to be here) | /hoʃ bulˈduk/ | |
| Güle güle | Goodbye (said by the person staying) | /ˈɟy.le ˈɟy.le/ | — |
| Hoşçakal | Goodbye (said by the person leaving) | /hoʃ.tʃaˈkal/ | |
| Görüşürüz | See you | /ɟøˈɾy.ʃy.ɾyz/ | — |
| Şerefe | Cheers! | /ʃeˈɾe.fe/ |
Negotiating
| Turkish | English Meaning | IPA | Audio Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evet | Yes | /eˈvet/ | |
| Hayır | No | /haˈjɯɾ/ | |
| Ne kadar? | How much? | /ne kaˈdaɾ/ |
Politeness, Help, Clarification
| Turkish | English Meaning | IPA | Audio Recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lütfen | Please | /ˈlyt.fen/ | |
| Teşekkür ederim | Thank you | /teˈʃek.kyɾ e.deˈɾim/ | |
| Teşekkürler | Thanks | /teˈʃek.kyɾ.leɾ/ | |
| Rica ederim | You’re welcome | /ɾiˈdʒa e.deˈɾim/ | |
| Bir şey değil | You’re welcome / It’s nothing | /biɾ ʃej deˈjil/ | |
| Afedersiniz | Excuse me | /a.fe.deɾ.siˈniz/ | |
| Özür dilerim | I’m sorry | /øˈzyɾ di.leˈɾim/ | |
| Yardım edebilir misiniz? | Can you help me? | /jaɾˈdɯm e.deˈbi.liɾ mi.siˈniz/ | |
| Anlamıyorum | I don’t understand | /an.la.mɯˈjo.ɾum/ | |
| Tekrar eder misiniz? | Can you repeat? | /tekˈɾaɾ e.deɾ mi.siˈniz/ | — |
| Bu ne demek? | What does this mean? | /bu ne deˈmek/ | — |
If you can say these, you can keep learning inside a conversation.
Turkish as a “Glue” Language
Turkish builds meaning by attaching it.
Very little happens inside a word. Almost everything happens after it.
The technical term for this is agglutinative, but “glue” captures the experience better. Meaning is stacked in a fixed, visible order. Once you see the order, Turkish stops feeling expressive and starts feeling executable.
The Order Is the Key
Turkish does not let you improvise the structure.
Meanings appear in a predictable sequence.
That’s the whole trick.
How Nouns Stack Meaning
The basic order for nouns is:
root → possession → plural → case → modifiers
Root
The thing itself.
- ev – house
- kitap – book
Possession
Who owns it.
- ev-im – my house
- ev-in – your house
- ev-i – his/her house
If there is a named owner, both sides must be marked:
- Ali’nin evi – Ali’s house
- Ali-nin = Ali (marked as “of”)
- ev-i = house (marked as owned)
Turkish insists on symmetry.
Plural
Plural comes after possession.
- ev-ler-im – my houses
- kitap-lar-ı – their books
Case (instead of prepositions)
Location, direction, and source are glued on.
- ev-im-de – in my house
- ev-im-den – from my house
- ev-im-e – to my house
Stacking example
arkadaş-ım-ın ev-ler-i-n-de
my-friend-OF house-PL-HIS-in
= in my friend’s houses
There is no ambiguity; the structure determines the meaning.
How Verbs Stack Meaning
Verbs follow an even stricter sequence:
verb root → negation → tense/aspect → mood → person
Example: “I don’t understand”
anla-ma-yor-um
- anla – understand
- ma – not
- yor – ongoing / present
- um – I
Literally:
I am not understanding
Naturally:
I don’t understand
Swap the root, keep the structure:
- bil-mi-yor-um – I don’t know
- iste-mi-yor-um – I don’t want
Once you learn the order, you’re no longer memorizing sentences. You’re assembling them.
Closing Thought
Turkish is explicit.
Meaning is not carried by word order, helper words, or irregular forms. It is attached, visibly, in a fixed sequence. If you know the order, you can see what a word is doing. If you don’t, you can’t.
Duolingo is effective at training recognition and pattern-matching within its own exercises. What it postpones is making that underlying order legible early on.
That delay matters, because without the order, vocabulary remains inert.