36 Turkish Expressions You Want to Know
Aç ayı oynamaz.
Literal translation: Hungry bear doesn't dance.
Figurative meaning: One must be well fed/paid to be able to complete a task.
Origin: According to an Ottoman fable, a nomad Turk adopts a baby bear. However, in time, he finishes his money and he decides to sell the bear. One day a buyer asks whether the bear dances, he convinces him that he dances when fed.
Örnek: Burada daha çok çalışamam artık, aç ayı oynamaz.
Example: I cannot work here anymore, the given wage doesn't meet my expectations nor is sufficient for me.
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Alakaya çay demle!
Literal translation: Brew tea (to celebrate) how irrelevant is what you said to what we are talking about.
Figurative meaning: Utterly irrelevant!
Origin: Turks consume five cups of tea a day! And if you want to talk to a colleague or to your mum, you usually talk over a tea. Any excuse for drinking tea is welcome in Turkey! If you bore a Turk, they might look for a teapot instead.
Örnek: Alakaya çay demle! KonuÅŸtuÄŸumuz ÅŸeyle ne alaka ÅŸimdi!
Example: I don't understand the connection, you don't make sense! Really it's not even slightly related to what we are talking about!
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Ayvayı yemek.
Literal translation: To eat quince.
Figurative meaning: To confront a very difficult situation.
Origin: The idiom is based
Örnek: Ya bırak onu, o ayvayı yemiÅŸ! Onu kimse kurtaramaz!
Example: Oh leave him to his own, he is screwed! No one can save him!
Azıcık aşım, kaygısız başım.
Literal translation: My small portion of food, my head without worries.
Figurative meaning: To not have very tall orders in mind and therefore to live a carefree life.
Örnek: Bu küçük ev bana yeter! Azıcık aşım, kaygısız başım.
Example: This small house is well enough for me! I am happier with less.
Balık etli olmak.
Literal translation: To be of fish meat.
Figurative meaning: To be chubby, however, the expression has a positive denotation. It's more of a compliment than an insult.
Örnek: Ben balık etli sevgilim olsun isterdim! Anoreksik biriyle yapamam ben!
Example: I would like to have a chubbyish girlfriend/boyfriend! I can't be with someone anorexic!
Ballı olmak.
Literal translation: To be with honey.
Figurative meaning: To be very lucky.
Turks believe that luck and honey are related, so if you are lucky, then you are with a lot of honey!
Örnek: Çok ballısın yaa!
Example: You are very lucky!
Birbirini yemek.
Literal translation: To eat each other.
Figurative meaning: To be fighting with each other all the time.
Örnek: Sürekli kavga ediyorlar. Hep birbirlerini yiyorlar!
Example: They are always fighting. They are arguing non-stop!
Bol kepçeden sallamak.
Literal translation: To shake (food) frequently from a large ladle.
Figurative meaning: To make up facts.
Origin: According to a Turkish tale, during the absence of his chef, a sous-chef was telling that it's his oeuvre all the food he is serving. Large ladle narrates that the food is given to many people at an open buffet, as regular size ladles are used at home.
Örnek: Sen beni saf sandın heralde! Bol kepçeden sallıyorsun!
Example: You thought that I am a fool I guess! You keep making up facts!
Büyük lokma ye, büyük söz söyleme.
Literal translation: Have a big bite, don't tell a big word.
Figurative meaning: Don't give promises that you can't hold.
One mustn't promise things he can't provide or one mustn't speak highly of himself. One might get into a situation in which he can't hold a given promise. The saying remarks the importance of honesty.
Örnek: Bak oÄŸlum! Büyük lokma ye, büyük söz söyleme.
Example: Look son! Don't give promises that you can't hold.
Çerez bunlar hep.
Literal translation: These are trail mix of nuts.
Figurative meaning: Easy as winking.
Origin: Turks consume a lot of nuts. They 'çekirdek çıtlatmak' in order words 'crack sunflower seeds' when they watch a football game. Especially in 90's, after a football game, all stadium would be filled with sunflower seeds. Turks usually watch a game of preference with 'full concentration' and eat sunflower seeds. This activity doesn't require any concentration for Turks, it's as if they are only watching a game. It's the most basic activity for Turks.
Örnek: Çerez ya bu test, iki saniyede bitirdim!
Example: The test was easy peasy, I finished it in two seconds!
Çevir kazı yanmasın.
Literal translation: Turn the goose so it wouldn't burn.
Figurative meaning: To change statement while explaining a point by understanding you are wrong.
Origin: Before Ottoman Empire, when Turks were scattered by Turkic tribes, many nomad tribes used to celebrate the return of the army with feasts, and to honour the army's victory, a goose was cooked in the centre of the settlement or village. However, it wasn't always easy to tell if the army won or lost from far away. If lost, the goose was shared between the habitants of the town before the army comes.
Örnek: Çevir kazı yanmasın, komÅŸular uyanmasın!
Example: You understood you were wrong and you changed your statements while defending your previous statement and you wish no one remarks it huh!
Çöreklenmek.
Literal translation: To braided bread.
Figurative meaning: To sit down or occupy somewhere without an invitation and to act carelessly as if the person who you stole his seat wouldn't mind at all.
Origin: Çörek is a braided bread that might be savoury or sweet, there are many varieties of tsoureki. This circular bread puffs up in the oven and puffs down a bit when it is taken out from the oven. The act of puffing up and puffing down is used as a metaphor for someone who comes and steals your place and acts cosily, as if he is a heavy, careless çörek dough or a sumo!
Örnek: Sen de iyice çöreklendin buraya ha! Burası benim yerim, git baÅŸka yerde otur! Bi gitmek bilmedin!
Example: You occupied my place as if yours! This is my place, go sit somewhere else! We couldn't get rid of you!
Eti senin kemiÄŸi benim.
Literal translation: His flesh is yours, his bones are mine.
Figurative meaning: Let's have no mercy on the young apprentice.
Origin: Post-world war, there was unemployment everywhere, people wanted to educate their kids from a young age. This saying is mainly used by an elder relative who delivers his son or daughter to work as an apprentice at a company or traditionally at a small-scale supermarket, also known as bakkal. This saying gives grant to someone to overwork the given young employee.
Örnek: Al bu çocuÄŸu adam et, eti senin kemiÄŸi benim!
Example: Take this kid and make him a decent person!
Falan fıstık.
Literal translation: Etcetera pistachio.
Figurative meaning: Etcera.
Origin: Turks love pistachio, etcetera derives from Latin for "and other things", in this case "and other things and pistachio". This saying sounds very Turkish, it is recommended for you to use it if you have got the hang of the Turkish accent.
Örnek: Ä°ÅŸte anlattırma, bizi kapılarda karşıladılar, kolonya ikram ettiler falan fıstık.
Example: Don't make me tell it all, they greeted us at the door, they treated us with a cologne etcetera!
Fıstık gibi kız.
Literal translation: Girl like a pistachio.
Figurative meaning: What a fit and beautiful girl!
A girl who is fit and beautiful at the same time, a girl who is ten out of ten.
Örnek: Vay be fıstık gibi kız!
Example: Wow what a bombshell!
Fol yok, yumurta yok.
Literal translation: There is no nest, no egg.
Figurative meaning: It is all in the air yet. There is no proof to lead us to think or hope for anything.
Örnek: Ortada fol yok, yumurta yok. Ne bilelim kızın benden hoÅŸlandığını!
Example: There is nothing that would lead me to think she likes me. How can we know she likes me!
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Her yiğidin yoğurt yiyişi farklıdır.
Literal translation: Every valiant man has a different way of eating yoghurt.
Figurative meaning: Everyone has their own way to do things.
Every person has a different way of finishing a task, differences must be respected within society.
Örnek: Her yiÄŸidin yoÄŸurt yiyiÅŸi farklıdır. Bu iÅŸi o gence bırakın, yapsın!
Example: Every man has their own way of doing things. Let him complete this task!
Her ÅŸeye maydanoz olma!
Literal translation: Don't get yourself drizzled on top of everything [food] like a parsley!
Figurative meaning: To stick one's nose. To interfere or meddle in some matter that doesn’t concern one.
Origin: As opposed to popular belief, Turks eat olive-oil marinated food at home, not kebap. It is technically impossible to have that perpendicular machine that turns kebap at home. However, the most popular food at households is Zeytinyaglılar, meaning olive oil-dishes can be prepared with legumes, peas, beans, chickpeas. For example, Ayse Fasulye, Zeytinyaglı Barbunya, Zeytinyaglı Lahana Sarma are the most popular ones. Most of the zeytinyaglılar are served with a pinch of finely cut parsley on top!
Örnek: Her ÅŸeye maydanoz olmasana sen ya! Kendi iÅŸine bak!
Example: Maybe you shouldn't interfere in every single matter! Mind your own business!
Kabak yine benim başıma patladı.
Literal translation: The pumpkin again split my head.
Figurative meaning: To become the scapegoat. To be blamed for wrong-doing of tohers.
Origin: In Ottoman times, people were smoking Afyon herb or opium in English. However, the coffee houses were controlled in order to not allow consumption of opium. Some frequenters have found a solution by carving the inside of the pumpkin and placing the bell-jar inside and their head inside another pumpkin in order to not let any odour to go out. Therefore, when the inspectors come, people who commit the crime of smoking would be long gone while the one who currently smokes would be caught with a pumpkin on his head.
The idiom also implies to be found guilty often by only being the last person to remain on the crime scene.
Örnek: Kabak yine benim başıma patladı! Siz orada bir sürü iÅŸler karıştırın ama kabak yine gelsin benim başıma patlasın, tövbe tövbe!
Example: Again I became the scapegoat! You ran dirty businesses but they made me the scapegoat yet again, may God forbid!
Kafası çorba olmak.
Literal translation: His head becomes soup.
Figurative meaning: To lose one's head, to get really confused.
Örnek: Kafam karman çurman oldu! Ay kafam iyice çorba oldu!
Example: I got my wires crossed! I've got really confused!
Kafayı yemek.
Literal translation: To eat (your own) head.
Figurative meaning: To completely go crazy to a level that you no longer calculate things well.
Örnek: O da iyice kafayı yedi artık!
Example: He/she really lost it!
Kaymağını yemek.
Literal translation: To eat the clotted cream.
Figurative meaning: To benefit from a situation or to be enjoying a reward of a task you completed.
Örnek: Åžimdi sabahlıyoruz, canımız çıkıyor ama merak etme bu iÅŸin de kaymağını yiyeceÄŸiz sonunda!
Example: Now we are pulling all nighters and getting so exhausted but at the end, we will reap the harvest.
Kırk fırın ekmek yemek.
Literal translation: To eat forty ovens of bread.
Figurative meaning: To be in need of a lifetime or very long training in order to reach expertise level or reach someone's level of expertise on a certain matter.
Örnek: Senin benle yarışabilmen için kırk fırın ekmek yemen lazım!
Example: For you to be able to race with me, you have to have a 40 years of training!
Leb demeden leblebiyi anlamak.
Literal translation: To understand someone was going to say (roasted) chickpea, even before that someone couldn't even finish saying chi.
Figurative meaning: To have a quick wit, to understand things very quickly.
Örnek: O çok zekidir! Leb demeden leblebiyi anlar!
Example: He is very smart! He has a quick wit!
Maymun iştahlı olmak.
Literal translation: To have a monkey appetite.
Figurative meaning: To be flighty, whimsey.
Örnek: Ne maymun iÅŸtahlısın ya! Ä°ÅŸini yarıda bırakıp çıktın yine baÅŸka bir kızla buluÅŸmak için!
Example: How whimsey you are! You left work and left your task half way done to meet with yet another girl.
Meyve veren aÄŸaç taÅŸlanır.
Literal translation: The tree that gives fruits gets thrown stones at it.
Figurative meaning: Someone who delivers a particularly a good job can be envied by certain people and can be discredited for the produced work.
Örnek: En çok da o çalışıyordu ÅŸirkette ama etrafındaki iÅŸ arkadaÅŸları onu çekemedi ve iÅŸten çıkarıldı. Ah nolucak meyve veren aÄŸaç taÅŸlanır...
Example: He/she was the hardest working person at the company but his/her colleagues couldn't stand his/her success and he/she got fired. Oh you know people dig a pit for the ones they envy...
Üzüm üzüme baka baka kararır.
Literal translation: A grape by looking to another grape gets darker.
Figurative meaning: People can assemble to each other after spending a certain amount of time together.
Örnek: Üzüm üzüme baka baka kararır, her geçen gün daha da çok o gıcık arkadaşına benziyorsun.
Example: People start to resemble each other by time, every day you act more like your annoying friend.
Parmaklarını yersin.
Literal translation: You would eat your fingers.
Figurative meaning: To be finger licking good.
Örnek: Öyle güzel bir sakızlı muhallebi yaptım ki parmaklarını yersin!
Example: I made such a beautiful mastica pudding, it's finger licking good!
Paparayı yemek.
Literal translation: To eat the popara.
Figurative meaning: To get insulted or to be scolded.
Origin: Popara is a meal made with leftover or fresh bread, an Eastern European dish. This food was especially consumed after wartimes when people were buying bread by family carnets, therefore it doesn't recall good memories.
Örnek: Biraz daha televizyon izleyip odanı toplamazsan paparayı yiyeceksin!
Example: If you keep on watching TV and not clean your room, you will be scolded soon!
Senden bi' cacık olmaz!
Literal translation: From you not even a tzatziki!
Figurative meaning: You are a lost case, you are not capable of being helpful at anything.
In this case, this person is not serving anyone any good. This person is not helpful, a tzatziki is more helpful than this person.
Örnek: Ya her iÅŸi eline gözüne bulaÅŸtırıyorsun! Senden bi' cacık olmaz! Bırak ya!
Example: You mess everything up! You are a lost case really! Just leave it!
Süt liman.
Literal translation: Milk port.
Figurative meaning: To be in tranquillity, to be calm.
Örnek: Her ÅŸey süt liman! Ne güzel!
Example: Everything is in tranquillity! How beautiful!
Åžekerleme yapmak.
Literal translation: To make sugaring.
Figurative meaning: To have a siesta.
Origin: Ottoman cuisine has an impressively wide variety of desserts, even claimed to be the cuisine with the highest number of desserts, Turks marinate many of their desserts in hot syrup. A dessert that melts slowly by hot syrup is associated with someone who sleeps or passes out by the temptation of siesta.
Örnek: Ben dün pek uyuyamadım, ÅŸuracıkta biraz ÅŸekerlesem bir ÅŸey olmaz heralde...
Example: I couldn't sleep much last night if I were to have a little siesta here, it would be okay I hope...
Yeme de yanında yat.
Literal translation: Don't eat it, lie next to it.
Figurative meaning: To adore something to a context that you wouldn't even have the heart to touch it with a spoon, you would only lie next to it.
Örnek: Dün öyle güzel bir cheesecake yaptım ki yeme de yanında yat!
Example: I made such a beautiful cheesecake yesterday I couldn't dare to eat it!
YemeÄŸin salçalısı, kadının kalçalısı.
Literal translation: Food with tomato sauce, women with curves/hips.
Figurative meaning: Food embellished with sauces taste better, women with curves look better.
Turks tend to put a lot of tomato sauce to olive oil marinated food or in other words zeytinyagli food and some may prefer their woman with curves!
Örnek: Benim tercihim yemeÄŸin salçalısı, kadının kalçalısından yana.
Example: I prefer dishes with tomato sauce and bootylicious women.
Yufka yürekli olmak.
Literal translation: To be a heart of a phyllo dough.
Figurative meaning: To have a soft heart, to be tenderhearted.
Örnek: Ah benim yufka yürekli yavrum! Kimsenin seni kandırmasına izin verme emi!
Example: Oh my tenderhearted baby! Don't let anyone fool you!
Yüzü sirke satıyor.
Literal translation: His face sells vinegar.
Figurative meaning: To look sad, hopeless and not content.
Örnek: KardeÅŸim her ÅŸeyi çok güzel dizmiÅŸsin tezgaha ama yüzün sirke satıyor!
Example: Brother you've put everything nicely on the counter but you look like you are down in the dumps!
Zargana gibi olmak.
Literal translation: To be like garfish. To be like sea needle.
Figurative meaning: To be ridiculously thin.
Örnek: Zargana gibi olmuÅŸsun, bir deri bir kemik kalmışsın!
Example: You've got as thin as a rake!