I can say where I'm from, my nationality, and which language I know — Amerikalıyım, İngilizce biliyorum — and ask the person I'm talking to: Nerelisiniz?
Nerelisiniz? Where are you from
Nerelisiniz? Where are you from
Why: to say where you're from, your nationality, and which language you know — and to ask the person you're talking to.
“Where are you from?” — Nerelisiniz? (to a friend: Nerelisin?). The answer adds -lı, -li, -lu or -lü to the place, by its last vowel: Ankaralı, İzmirli, İstanbullu. Then the personal ending: Amerikalıyım — I'm from America. No apostrophe here.
The nationality is a separate word: Türk, Alman, İngiliz. Rus — Russian by nationality, Rusyalı — from Russia. After a nationality word the personal ending takes an apostrophe: Rus'um, Türk'üm. An American is Amerikalı, a -lı word, so no apostrophe: Amerikalıyım.
English “Turkish” is both the person and the language; Turkish has two words. The language comes from the nationality: Türk → Türkçe, Rus → Rusça, İngiliz → İngilizce. Learn each word whole: where it's c and where ç. The -ça / -çe ending is unstressed; the stress stays on the stem: TÜRKçe, RUSça. Countries, nationalities and languages take a capital letter, as in English.
Learn it as a whole: Türkçe biliyorum — I know Turkish; Türkçe bilmiyorum — I don't. Only the language changes.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Ben Rusya” → Rusyalıyım (I'm from Russia), Rus'um (I'm Russian)
• NOT “rusça”, “türk” → Rusça, Türk
• NOT “İstanbul'luyum” → İstanbulluyum
A country and its people
Countries, the words for their people, and languages take a capital letter.
| Country | Person |
|---|---|
| Türkiye | Türk |
| Rusya | Rus |
| Almanya | Alman |
| İngiltere | İngiliz |
| Fransa | Fransız |
| İtalya | İtalyan |
| Amerika | Amerikalı |
| Çin | Çinli |
A language is named after the nationality
Learn the words as a whole: where it's c and where it's ç.
| Who | Language |
|---|---|
| Türk | Türkçe |
| Rus | Rusça |
| İngiliz | İngilizce |
| Alman | Almanca |
“From”: -lı, -li, -lu, -lü
The last vowel of the place name chooses the ending.
| The last vowel | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a, ı | -lı | Ankaralı, Rusyalı |
| e, i | -li | İzmirli, Berlinli |
| o, u | -lu | İstanbullu |
| ö, ü | -lü | köylü (from a village: köy — village) |
Lesson notes
Nerelisiniz? Where are you from
Why: to say where you're from, your nationality, and which language you know — and to ask the person you're talking to.
“Where are you from?” — Nerelisiniz? (to a friend: Nerelisin?). The answer adds -lı, -li, -lu or -lü to the place, by its last vowel: Ankaralı, İzmirli, İstanbullu. Then the personal ending: Amerikalıyım — I'm from America. No apostrophe here.
The nationality is a separate word: Türk, Alman, İngiliz. Rus — Russian by nationality, Rusyalı — from Russia. After a nationality word the personal ending takes an apostrophe: Rus'um, Türk'üm. An American is Amerikalı, a -lı word, so no apostrophe: Amerikalıyım.
English “Turkish” is both the person and the language; Turkish has two words. The language comes from the nationality: Türk → Türkçe, Rus → Rusça, İngiliz → İngilizce. Learn each word whole: where it's c and where ç. The -ça / -çe ending is unstressed; the stress stays on the stem: TÜRKçe, RUSça. Countries, nationalities and languages take a capital letter, as in English.
Learn it as a whole: Türkçe biliyorum — I know Turkish; Türkçe bilmiyorum — I don't. Only the language changes.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Ben Rusya” → Rusyalıyım (I'm from Russia), Rus'um (I'm Russian)
• NOT “rusça”, “türk” → Rusça, Türk
• NOT “İstanbul'luyum” → İstanbulluyum