Planning a Wedding
Lesson 17intermediate Turkish Intermediate
Planning a Wedding
Turkish has many different ways to express need. We've shoved an unhealthy amount of them in today's dialog about a bride-to-be that really needs to relax.
Expressing need.
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Öğrenci
Hi!

So i wanna say i need to call my friend in Turkish and this is what i got which is marked as wrong n i dunno why exactly? "arkadaşım aramam lazım"

Help me out please!
Jun 22, 2013
Aminah
arkadaşımı*
Jul 03, 2013
Öğrenci
I'm having a hard time figuring out the difference between the verbs in a few sentences from the language points section. Could you tell me why we use the infinitive in "Buradaki interneti kullanMAK için bir şifreye ihtiyacımız yok?" Is it something special about the verb kullanmak? In other sentences, you have things like, "Bu spor salonu girMEN için bir üyeliğe ihtiyacın var," and "Bizimle konuşmaLARI için Skype'a ihtiyaçları var."

So, for example: "Fenerbahçe Spor Külübü'nün yüzme havuzunu kullan(-MANIZ?/MAK?) için bir üyeliğe ihtiyacınız var." In general, I can never predict the form that a verb will take when its not the main verb in the sentence. Is there a good lesson out there already on this? Thanks so much!
Jul 26, 2013
Justin
This is a really good question. We do actually have a lesson on infinitives scheduled in the next few weeks that will cover this in some detail.

In all of the sentences you gave, you can use either the non-conjugated (kullanmak) or conjugated (kullanmanız) form, though the meaning changes slightly. In the first case, you are talking about generic usage; in the second, you are speaking specifically about MY (or YOUR or OUR) specific usage. It's the difference between English "A membership is required to use" and "A membership is required for you to use." Only in specific cases will the difference between these two be important.

Does that clear things up a bit?
Jul 29, 2013
Öğrenci
That totally helps, thank you! And I'm excited for that lesson!
Jul 30, 2013
Fatih
let us use some of your lesson in free I am in Iraq I have no way to cotact you
Aug 20, 2013
Öğrenci
I am totally confused with this lesson, when using ( Lazim) are we using negative words before Lazim, the M in some words are confusing me? maybe i need to study more?
Jan 01, 2014
Justin
I understand your confusion. Let's see if we can clear it up.

Hopefully, you're familiar with the regular old infinitive (the conjugated "dictionary form" of a verb):

gitmek = to go

Turkish also has another form that we call the "short infinitive." It's just like the full infinitive in that it is a noun form of the verb, but it doesn't include the final k. Think of it like English words such as "going," "coming," or "cooking."

gitme = going

Your confusion is coming from the fact that the negative command looks exactly the same (the negative -me suffix appended to the stem). In fact, though, they are completely different words that mean completely different things.

gitme = git + me = don't go

You will always be able to tell the difference between the two from context. Also, you almost never see the short infinitive "gitme" without additional suffixes (as in the case of lazım).

So, back to the short infinitive. We can possess the short infinitive to say things like:

gitme = going
benim gitmem = my going
onun gitmesi = his/her going
bizim gitmemiz = our going

This is what you see in the lazım construction. Turks say "my going is needed." Lazım here is just acting like a plain old adjective, like güzel.

Benim gitmem lazım.

And just to tie it all together, we actually can have a negative suffix in the short infinitive to say something like:

Benim gitmemem lazım. = I need to NOT go.

Does that clear everything up?

Also take a look at this lesson where we go into more detail about the short infinitive and lazım.

https://turkishteatime.com/lesson/86/
Jan 01, 2014
Öğrenci
Hi Justin
Thanks for your help. I understand it completely now, I really should have seen this, it clears up a lot .Love this site, ye have a brilliant way of teaching .

buyuk tesekkur
Alice
Jan 01, 2014
nur
Hi guys . I wanna ask about question number .(3) in the review
..
Which of the following are correct constructions?
Gitmeyim lazım.
Gelmem zorundayım.
Aramak ihtiyaç var.
Koşmam mecburum.
Yapmam gerekiyorum.
Söylemeyi mecburum.

Thanks ..
Mar 26, 2014
Justin
Merhaba Nur!

Sure - you can get the correct answers by click the "show answers button" after you've submitted. Which of those in particular are tripping you up?
Mar 27, 2014
Moritz
Hi Justin,

I subscribed to this show about a month ago, because I cannot partake in regular Turkish lessons at university at the moment. I have the same question as Nur - the "show answer button" seems to not work for this lesson. It unlocked the video when I checked... none of the 6 possibilities!
Apr 12, 2014
Justin
Sounds like it's working perfectly ;-)
Apr 12, 2014
Moritz
Uff. Well, I am at early intermediate level (between A2 and B1) so I still have some learning to do. Luckily, I am married to a native speaker.
Apr 12, 2014
Graham
Justin
Like the 2 guys earlier I can't get the show answers on Q3 to work. Nothing happens when I click it.
I can only see the "Yapmam gerekiyorum" as definitely right. "Aramak ihtiyaç var" should be ok if ihtiyaç is allowed with infinitives. I am sure the other 4 are all wrong or I'll eat my hat.

Graham
May 10, 2014
Justin
Haha, our tricky question is tricky ;-)

It's working as it should and you don't need to eat your hat.
May 13, 2014
Graham
D'oh. I get it now.
May 13, 2014
Ward Family
wow. Turkish is tricky
Jun 19, 2015
Can
any explanations for the negative forms:

I must not / I should not / I don't need to.... ?
Jul 28, 2015
Maciek
Hello,
Ha, in REVIEW "yapmam gerekiyorum" IS tricky, because it's hard to comprehend why the verb can use only 3rd sing form "iyor":)
Maciek
Apr 12, 2017
Öğrenci
Hi Justin,

here some little feedback.

1) As mentioned earlier, the review doesn't work for question 3.

2) I have done all noobie and beginners lessons in order. Now I am tackling the intermediate level. I don't understand why you introduce gerek, gerekmek, zorunda, mecbur, meli and ihtiyac all in one lesson. Some of them (like zorunda, meli) you don't even explain in the language section!? I am a big fan of your website, but this lesson is messed up. I needed to look up the entire rules on other websites unfortunately.

Thanks,

Fabian
Nov 15, 2017
Öğrenci
I withdraw feedback number 1 :D
Nov 15, 2017
Justin
Merhaba Fabian!

That's a fair critique - this lesson was very much intended to be a comprehensive overview of the way in which need is expressed. It's more of a review than an introduction, and you're right that its current placement is less than ideal. I'll try to find a better spot for it.

Thanks for the feedback :)
Nov 17, 2017
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