Buffer Letters!
Lesson 69intermediate Turkish Intermediate
Buffer Letters!
Today is buffer letter appreciation day! They're the glue that holds Turkish together and keeps it sounding great in the face of nasty vowel and consonant clashes. We salute you buffer letters!
Buffer letters.
Psst! Want to access
everything in this lesson?
Shaikha
wow! so many Turkish words sounds like Arabic words. btw great site!
Jun 11, 2013
Diane
So, the past tense buffer letter rule sorta sounds like a 'ghost limb' scenario: the vowel that would justify the buffer letter is no longer there but...the grammar still 'feels' it there :) Yes?
Sep 17, 2013
Justin
@Diane Yeah, that's right. If you're interested, it's actually not exactly a "buffer letter" in the same way that the y in "öğrenciyim" is (that is, it's not explicitly resolving a vowel conflict).

It's actually there because in old Turkish, the way to say "she was pretty" was "güzel idi." The past tense marker was actually an entirely different word. That "y" then is the "left-over" from that separate word being combined into one word in the modern language.
Sep 17, 2013
Diane
Yes, and that's how I remember to use the 'y' even though its not resolving a vowel conflict--it's like not telling some old guy who keeps reporting for work that his job has become obsolete—we're all used to him being there, it would be weird if he simply wasn't there anymore, so what the heck?

Being a super grammar nerd, I actually find this very interesting. Thanks.
Sep 17, 2013
Yuu
so clear now, süpersiniz!

a question, can the translation of 'Uyusaydım' in the language points be 'if i had slept'?
Sep 29, 2013
Justin
Yep! Fixed! Çok teşekkür ederiz :)
Sep 30, 2013
Yuu
rica ederim :)

i do hope your wonderful lessons go far, far beyond 100th!
Sep 30, 2013
Martha
Merhaba! Bu ders harika! Teşekkür ederim.

I am curious about the construction used in the next-to-last review question. "He went with his dad." In English, we would expect the verb to agree with only the subject "he." But in Turkish the agreement seems to include both parties. I have never seen an explanation of this construction anywhere. Is there a lesson here that explains it? Perhaps the verb is plural because you could also read "ile" as "and"?

Ayrıca "Fun" kısmı için seçtiğiniz videoyu çok seviyorum. Bu şarkı çok güzel! İşte bildiğim versiyon. Barış Manço bu versiyonu söyler. "Gesi Bağları" şarkısı bir türkü mü?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EtLVcStMf4

Sorry if I made mistakes in my Turkish! :)
May 07, 2014
Justin
Unless I'm missing something, I think you misread it. The sentence is, "We went with his dad." That should clear up everything, I think.

Evet, eski bir türk şarkısı :)
May 07, 2014
Martha
Sorry, yes, I guess I misread. However, I have seen plural verbs with a construction like this, as in "Ben ailemle İstanbul'a gittik" when I would think it should be "Ben ailemle İstanbul'a gittim." But I guess this may just depend on whether you are reading that "-le" as "and" or "with." ... But on to the next lesson. :)
May 09, 2014
Justin
Merhaba Martha, I double-checked with Büşra - "Ben ailemle Istanbul'a gittik" is not okay. If you ever see it in the wild, shoot us an email. It very well might have been a typo (hopefully not on our site!)
May 13, 2014
Öğrenci
'Connect things existentially' made my day!
When are you coming back for more lessons??????
Aug 07, 2014
Justin
Merhaba! We'll be back in three weeks :)
Aug 10, 2014
Maciek
Hi Justin,

Did I make huge mistake using götürmek instead of almak in the last review question?
Kedisini götürdüm
Jun 27, 2017
Justin
Nah, not a huge mistake :)

But almak is better here, because götürmek is typically used to say that you took something *to* somewhere.
Jun 28, 2017
Tina
I wonder what happened wıth them after ksdfjsjdfj
Jul 13, 2020
Anonymous Commenter
You

To leave a comment or ask a question, login or signup.