~ Basic Turkish ~
Important Info
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Alphabet/
Pronounciation
Basic Information
~ Grammar ~
Essentials
Vowel Harmony 1
Vowel Harmony 2
Consonant Changes
Suffixes
Plurals
Personal Pronouns
~ Grammar ~
Tenses
'To Be' - Positive
'To Be' - Negative
Present Continuous
Tense
Past Continuous Tense
Simple Present - Positive
Simple Present - Negative
Simple Past Tense
Future Tense
~ Grammar ~
Other
Possession
Express Need
'There is/There isn't..'
'I can/I can't...'
'Let...'
'If...'
'Apparently...'
Telling The Time
~    Useful    ~
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There Is.../There Isn't...
learn-turkish@hotmail.com

'There is...'
-
To say 'there is....', or to say that something exists we use the word 'var' after   the word.

'There isn't...'
-
To say 'there is....' or to say that something doesn't exist we use the word 'yok' after the word.


Examples

araba var = there is a car
odada bir masa var = there is a table in the room

kedi yok = there isn't a cat
masada bir kitap yok = there isn't a book on the table

We can also use the words 'var' and 'yok' to show that we have something. We do this by adding the word after a possessive sentence.

The literal translation into English of this would be 'my ...... exists' or 'my ...... doesn't exist'.

Examples
kedi = cat
kedim = my cat
benim kedim var = i have a cat (my cat exists)

senin evin var = you have a house
onun araba yok = he doesn't have a car





To say 'there was.....' or 'there wasn't.....', we must use 'var' or 'yok' in the past tense by adding the past suffix '-di'. This will then change to vowel harmony to become;

'var' and 'yoktu'

Examples

araba var = there was a car
araba yoktu = there wasn't a car




To ask a question, for example 'is there a car?', we must add the question marker.

'.....var mı?' = 'is there......?'
'.......yok mu?' = 'isn't there.......?'

Examples
is there a car? = araba var mı?
is there not a car? = araba yok mu?
bahçede kedi var mı? = is there a cat in the garden?
senin kedin var mı? = do you have a cat?
onun kalem yok mu? = doesn't he have a pen?

'There was../There wasn't..'

Questions with Var/Yok
To test yourself on what you've just learnt, click here.