TIME EXPRESSIONS
What we haven’t addressed at all so far are everyday things such as times, days of the week, dates, etc. We want to make up for that here. These aren’t explicitly grammatical aspects, however. They’re established expressions and terms that can simply be learned, like vocabulary.
12.1 DAYS OF THE WEEK AND TIMES OF DAY
hafta = week
bugün = today
dün = yesterday
önceki gün = the day before yesterday
yarın = tomorrow
öbür gün = the day after tomorrow
Pazartesi = Monday
Salı = Tuesday
Çarşamba = Wednesday
Perşembe = Thursday
Cuma = Friday
Cumartesi = Saturday
Pazar = Sunday
Days of the week are also proper nouns in Turkish, so they’re capitalized.
Examples:
Bugün Pazartesi. = Today is Monday.
Yarın Salı (günü). = Tomorrow is Tuesday.
The word gün (= day) is often used in connection with days of the week, but it’s optional – so then it’s literally Tomorrow is Tuesday day. This is of course redundant in the translation, but just in English.
Other examples:
Perşembe (günü) buluşalım mı? = Shall we meet on Thursday?
Dün Pazardı. = Yesterday was Sunday.
The past tense is used here – after all, yesterday is in the past. The appropriate tense of “to be” is added to the day of the week, which isn’t absolutely necessary. The word dün already expresses that this was in the past.
The times of day are broken down as follows:
sabah = morning
öğle = noon
öğleden sonra = afternoon
akşam = evening
gece = night
12.2 THE MONTHS AND SEASONS
ay = month (also moon)
yıl = year
Ocak = January
Şubat = February
Mart = March
Nisan = April
Mayıs = May
Haziran = June
Temmuz = July
Ağustos = August
Eylül = September
Ekim = October
Kasım = November
Aralık = December
Months are also proper nouns.
The date is expressed simply, with a number and the month plus the year.
The answer to the question
Bugün ayın kaçı? = What is today’s date? (literally: How many of the month is it?)
would be as follows:
3 Nisan 1998 (or üç Nisan bin dokuz yüz doksan sekiz) = April 3, 1998
22 Eylül 1632 (or yirmi iki Eylül bin altı yüz otuz iki) = September 22, 1632
And here are the four seasons:
mevsim = season
bahar or ilkbahar = spring
yaz = summer
sonbahar = fall
kış = winter
One special feature has to be kept in mind when it comes to the seasons.
When you’d like to say “in the spring” or “in the fall,” then you use the locative, which you’ve already learned:
(ilk)baharda or sonbaharda
Exception: “in the summer” or “in the winter,” which is:
yazın or kışın
12.3 TIMES
As everyone knows, time is broken down into
saat = hour (also clock)
dakika = minute
saniye = second
Furthermore, there’s also çeyrek (= quarter) and buçuk (= half).
Say it’s 5:15 and you’re asked:
Saat kaç? = What time is it?
You have the following options for your answer:
1) Really simple: saat beş on beş = 5:15
2) Or somewhat more “complicated”: saat beşi çeyrek geçiyor = a quarter past 5 or literally: 5 is passed by a quarter.
The time is thus given with the accusative when you’re in the first half of the hour.
In contrast, if you’re already in the second half of the hour, you use the dative:
1) Simple: saat beş kırk beş = 5:45
2) Complicated: saat altıya çeyrek var = a quarter to 6 or literally: There is a quarter until 6.
The half-hour mark is neutral, on the other hand: saat on iki buçuk (or simply saat on iki otuz = half past 12 or 12:30).
If you’d like to express a time to meet up, for example, you use the dative / accusative. Furthermore, “var” is replaced by kala and “geçiyor” by geçe. When stating the time simply, the locative is used.
Saat kaçta? = What time?:
Saat iki (on dört) buçukta. or Saat iki (on dört) otuzda. = At half past 2. or At 2:30 (p.m.).
Saat dört (on altı) buçuğa beş kala. or Saat dört (on altı) yirmi beşte. = At 5 before half past 4. or At 4:25 p.m.
Saat dokuza çeyrek kala. or Saat sekiz kırk beşte. = At a quarter to 9. or At 8:45.
Saat onu çeyrek geçe. or Saat on on beşte. = At a quarter past 10. or At 10:15.
It’s up to you whether you use the simple number expression or the complicated clock time expression when giving the time because both are correct and commonly used.
12.4 DEFINING PERIODS OF TIME
12.4.1 “Before / ago” and “after / in”
With the little words
önce = before / ago and
sonra = after / in
you can define periods of time.
Examples:
Üç hafta önce. = Three weeks ago.
İki ay sonra. = In / after two months.
Altı gün önce. = Six days ago.
Beş yıl sonra. = In / after five years.
Saat ikiden sonra. = After 10 o’clock.
evvel = before / ago (same usage as önce)
12.4.2 “From … to …”
Furthermore, a combination of ablative / dative and the word kadar also expresses a period of time.
Examples:
Pazartesi’den Cuma’ya kadar. = From Monday to Friday.
Saat dokuzdan üçe kadar. = From 9 to 3 o’clock.
Temmuz’dan Eylül’e kadar. = From July to September.
On buçuktan on ikiye çeyrek kalaya kadar. = From half past 10 to quarter to 12.
12.4.3 Additional auxiliary words (always in combination with the ablative):
beri = since / for
Saat yediden beri arabayı kullanıyorum. = I’ve been driving since 7 o’clock.
Yedi saatten beri arabayı kullanıyorum. = I’ve been driving for seven hours.
itibaren = from
Saat sekizden itibaren arayacağım. = I’ll call from 8 o’clock.
Ocaktan itibaren diyet yapacağım. = I’ll be on a diet from January.
Vocabulary for Lesson 12:
beri = since / for; çünkü = because; diyet = diet; evvel = before / ago; itibaren = from; kadar = to; önce = before / ago; sigara içmek = to smoke (to “drink” the cigarette); ve = and; veya = or