15 Common & Awkward Mistakes Turkish Learners Should Avoid

1) ARKADAŞ vs KARDEŞ

+ Üç tane erkek arkadaşım var.
– ?!

What do you want to say? “I have three brothers.”
What are you actually saying? “I have three boyfriends.”

Üç tane erkek kardeşim var.

2) İNEK VAR vs İNECEK VAR

+ İnek var! İnek var!
-?!

You are in a minibus and you want to get off. What do you want to say? “I want to get off”

What are you actually saying? “There is a cow!”

İnecek var!

3) BAKAR MISINIZ? vs BEKAR MISINIZ?

+ Pardon, bekar mısınız?
– ?!

You are in a restaurant or a bar. What do you want to say? “Excuse me”
What are you actually saying? “Are you single?”

Bakar mısınız?

4) İŞİYORUM vs ÇALIŞIYORUM

+ İstanbul’da ne yapıyorsun?
– İşiyorum.
+ ?!

What are they asking? “What do you do in Istanbul?”

What do you want to say? “I work.”

What are you actually saying? “I pee.”

Çalışmak is a verb that means “to work”. İş is a noun that means “work”. When you use iş which is a noun as a verb, it causes this weird misunderstanding because of another verb işemek which means “to pee “.

Çalışıyorum.

5) ÇORAP vs ÇORBA

+ Bana çorap lütfen.
– ?!

You are in a restaurant and you want to order soup. What do you want to say? “Soup for me, please”

What are you actually saying? “Socks for me, please”

Bana çorba lütfen.

6) ERKEK vs EKMEK

+ İki tane taze erkek alabilir miyim?
– ?!

What do you want to say? “Can I have two fresh bread?

What are you actually saying? “Can i have two fresh men?”

İki tane taze ekmek alabilir miyim?

7) İYİLEŞTİRMEK vs GELİŞTİRMEK

+ Türkçemi iyileştirmek istiyorum.

– ?!

What do you want to say? “I want to improve my Turkish.”

What are you actually saying? “I want to heal my Turkish.”

Türkçemi geliştirmek istiyorum.

8) SIKICI vs SİKİCİ

+ Günün nasıl geçti?
– Sikici.
+ ?!

What are they asking? “How was your day?”

What do you want to say? “Boring”

What are you actually saying? “F***ing” (with actual meaning!!!)

Another expression you should be really careful with is sıkıldım, which means “I’m bored”. I know you have the habit of putting dots on “ı”, but make sure that you do NOT on this one.

Sıkıcı

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9) SOĞUK MUSUN? vs ÜŞÜYOR MUSUN?

+ Soğuk musun?
– ?!

What do you want to ask? “Are you cold?”

What are you actually saying? “Are you an unfriendly person?”

Üşüyor musun?

10) YARIM vs YİRMİ

+ Yirmi kilo kivi alabilir miyim?
– ?!

What do you want to say? “Can I have half a kilo of kiwi?”

What are you actually saying? “Can I have 20 kilos of kiwi?”

Yarım kilo kivi alabilir miyim?

11) BİTTİM vs BİTİRDİM

+ Bittim!
– ?!

What do you want to say? “I finished it.”

What are you actually saying? “I’m screwed up.”

Bitirdim.

12) ÜŞÜDÜ vs SOĞUDU

+ Çayım üşüdü.
– ?!

What do you want to say? “My tea is cold.”

What are you actually saying? “My tea is feeling cold. My tea is feeling a chill.”

Çayım soğudu.

13) YAŞLI vs ESKİ

+ Anneannem çok eski.
– ?!

What do you want to say? “My grandmother is very old.”

What are you actually saying? “My grandmother is worn-out, used.”

Eski is used for things. However, yaşlı is used when we talk about age of the people.

Anneannem çok yaşlı.

14) İYİ vs GÜZEL

+ Çok güzelsin.
– ?!

What do you want to say? “It’s very nice of you.” or “You are a very good person.”
What are you actually saying? “You are very beautiful.”

When you use güzel for things and situations, it means “good, nice”, but when it’s used for people, it means “beautiful”.

Çok iyisin!

15) SUCUK vs SOĞUK

+ Çok sucuk!
– ?!

What do you want to say? “It’s very cold”
What are you actually saying? “Many sausages”

Çok soğuk.

If you already made any of these mistakes, now you understand that confused expression on people’s face and you know how to fix these mistakes next time.