I can read the signs on doors, top up a transit card, ask which bus or ferry goes where I need to go and where to get off, stop a dolmuş, and give a taxi driver the address.
Around town: signs, the transit card, the dolmuş, taxis
Around town: signs, the transit card, the dolmuş, taxis
On doors: Giriş — entrance, Çıkış — exit, Danışma — information, Açık — open, Kapalı — closed. İtiniz — “push”, Çekiniz — “pull”: these are polite commands; learn them as signs.
Buses, the subway, and ferries take a transit card, ulaşım kartı. Topping it up is kart doldurmak: Nerede kart dolduruyorum? A reduced-fare ticket is indirimli bilet.
Ask about the route: Bu tramvay müzeye gidiyor mu? Hangi otobüs meydana gidiyor? English says “get on” and “get off” the bus; Turkish says “to” and “from”: otobüse binmek, otobüsten inmek. To ask where to get off: Nerede iniyorum? The last stop is son durak.
A dolmuş, a shared minibus, stops on request. Say it loudly: İnecek var! (“someone's getting off!”) or Müsait bir yerde, lütfen — “wherever is convenient”. Fares are passed to the driver through the other passengers. Tell the taxi driver the place with the “to” ending: Otele, lütfen.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Otobüsü biniyorum” → Otobüse biniyorum
• NOT “Dolmuştan çıkıyorum” → Dolmuştan iniyorum (English “get out”; from a vehicle it's inmek)
• NOT “Bu tramvay müzede gidiyor mu?” → Bu tramvay müzeye gidiyor mu?
Signs on doors
Pairs of signs: entrance and exit, open and closed, push and pull.
| Sign | What it means |
|---|---|
| Giriş | entrance |
| Çıkış | exit |
| Açık | open |
| Kapalı | closed |
| İtiniz | push |
| Çekiniz | pull |
Lesson notes
Around town: signs, the transit card, the dolmuş, taxis
On doors: Giriş — entrance, Çıkış — exit, Danışma — information, Açık — open, Kapalı — closed. İtiniz — “push”, Çekiniz — “pull”: these are polite commands; learn them as signs.
Buses, the subway, and ferries take a transit card, ulaşım kartı. Topping it up is kart doldurmak: Nerede kart dolduruyorum? A reduced-fare ticket is indirimli bilet.
Ask about the route: Bu tramvay müzeye gidiyor mu? Hangi otobüs meydana gidiyor? English says “get on” and “get off” the bus; Turkish says “to” and “from”: otobüse binmek, otobüsten inmek. To ask where to get off: Nerede iniyorum? The last stop is son durak.
A dolmuş, a shared minibus, stops on request. Say it loudly: İnecek var! (“someone's getting off!”) or Müsait bir yerde, lütfen — “wherever is convenient”. Fares are passed to the driver through the other passengers. Tell the taxi driver the place with the “to” ending: Otele, lütfen.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Otobüsü biniyorum” → Otobüse biniyorum
• NOT “Dolmuştan çıkıyorum” → Dolmuştan iniyorum (English “get out”; from a vehicle it's inmek)
• NOT “Bu tramvay müzede gidiyor mu?” → Bu tramvay müzeye gidiyor mu?