A large chunk of day-to-day conversations in Türkiye involves some amount of dedikodu or gıybet. I mean, it's not surprising – we have an entire tense dedicated to gossiping and spreading stories via word-of-mouth. Here is a guide for you that will teach you everything about gossip (dedikodu) in Turkish.
When engaging in "dedikodu", though, you not only have to use the reported past tense, but also follow the traditional structure of gossiping, which involves the introductory phase, body, and some form of conclusion.
Without further ado, let's get into the grammar and vocabulary you'll need to gossip in Turkish.
Reported Past Tense
The reported past tense is used to describe actions which were not directly witnessed by the speaker. These actions are usually heard about, theorized, or deemed as the likely truth based on relevant evidence.
The reported past tense suffix is -mIş (-mış/-miş/-muş/-müş), and it follows 4-way vowel harmony:
-mIş | |
a, ı | -mış |
e, i | -miş |
o, u | -muş |
ö, ü | -müş |
Babam kaza yapmış. - (Reportedly/Apparently/I heard that) my father had a (car) accident.
Dilara Londra'ya gitmiş. - Dilara went to London.
Kuzenim ikiz doğurmuş. - My cousin gave birth to twins.
Orhan mağazada eski sevgilisini görmüş. - Orhan saw his ex at the store.
Easy! Now, it's time for our first grammar quirk.
The -mIş suffix can be doubled (or rarely tripled) to underline that the speaker highly doubts the truthfulness of the reported action:
Simge vergi kaçırmışmış, batmışmış, yurtdışına yerleşmişmiş! Bomboş iftiralar! - (Rumor has it/I highly doubt that) Simge committed tax fraud, went bankrupt, moved abroad. These are completely unfounded slanders!
Polis gerçek katili bulmuşmuş, sanki buna inandık... - (I highly doubt that) the police found the real killer, as if we believe it…
Here are some examples of double mış;
Reported Copula
The reported copula (imiş) allows the speaker to add reportedness to nouns/adjectives, and combine other tenses (aorist, future, present continuous) with the reported past tense. The copula can either be written as a separate word after the verb, or contracted onto the verb (-[y]mIş), making it homophonous with the reported past tense. Unlike normal tense suffixes, contracted copulas are not stressed, and the stress remains on the previous syllable.
!! The reported copula doesn’t always add pastness to the verb, it may be used only for its reportedness. In such scenarios, it’s important to look at the context and marker words.
Merve Almanya’daymış (Almanya’da imiş) şimdi. - (Reportedly/Apparently/I heard that) Merve is in Germany right now.
Sarp eskiden öğretmenmiş (öğretmen imiş). - Sarp used to be a teacher.
Anıl her gün sevgilisine mektuplar yazarmış (yazar imiş). - Anıl would write letters to his significant other.
Kızlar bu yaz Antalya’ya gideceklermiş (gidecekler imiş). - The girls are going to Antalya this summer.
Müdür geçen dönem klima taktıracakmış (taktıracak imiş) ama sonra caymış nedense. - The principal was going to have ACs installed last semester, but he changed his mind for some reason.
Sude ile Mehmet çıkıyorlarmış (çıkıyorlar imiş). - Sude and Mehmet are dating.
Ailesi onun hamile olduğunu bilmiyormuş (bilmiyor imiş) önceden. - Her family didn’t know she was pregnant beforehand.
The suffix -miş can be used by itself (miş miş) to mean blah blah.
Here’s an example of both the reported copula and the standalone use of -miş: https://youtube.com/clip/Ugkxk7HtgrVatDqIBrV86WxV_KAyU8cZNP5a?feature=shared
How To Gossip in Turkish
Dedikodu usually consists of three quintessential stages - introduction, body, and conclusion. It is also expected for the listening party to keep the conversation going with reactions and interjections throughout the body phase. Here are some of the most widely used dedikodu phrases:
Introductory phrases:
Bomba (gibi) haber(ler)im var! - I have big news!
Bizim Ayşe var ya? - You know Ayşe, right? - introduces the main characters of the gossip
Benden duymuş olma (da)... You didn't hear this from me, but...
Here are examples of a typical gossip introduction:
Interjections:
Ee? - And? - the listening party asks the informing party to continue
Sonra n’oldu? - What happened then?
Gerçekten mi? - Really?
Yok artık! - No way!
Şaka yapıyorsuuun!* - You’re joking!
İnanmıyoruuum!* - I don’t believe it!
Ne diyorsuuun?* - Really? (lit. What are you saying?)
A-a! - Oh/What! - used to express a slight shock
Oha! - Wow! - used to express a bigger shock
Yuh! - Fie! - used to express disgust or disapproval
Nasıl ya/yani? - But how?
(Bizim) Ayşe’ye bak (sen)! - Won’t you look at (our) Ayşe! - if Ayşe has done something out of character, the listening party can use this phrase to express their shock
Here are examples of how the interjections are used: https://youtu.be/0R2LivDo2wQ?t=4682
Concluding phrases:
Bize/bana/sana ne? - What is it to us/me/you?
(Aman), boş ver! - Oh, forget it/don’t care about it!
Dedikodu yapmış olmayalım! - Let’s not gossip! (lit. Let us not have gossiped!)
Neyse. - Whatever.
Here’s how a gossip session can come to a conclusion: https://youtu.be/5l5S480sBJk?t=194
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