For today’s Turkish lesson, we can take a break from the more complicated grammar to focus on learning vocabulary for the days and months in Turkish. Knowing general Turkish vocabulary is crucial, however, in this guide, I focus on a comprehensive overview of calendar vocabulary: Turkish days of the week and months of the year, along with general words and phrases for the time of the day and clocks. Whether you’re planning a trip to Turkey or simply want to expand your language skills, this post will equip you with the knowledge to confidently discuss dates and schedule appointments in Turkish, including audio pronunciation and example sentences so you can speak like a native!
The 12 Months in Turkish
To get started, here is a table with all of the months of the year in Turkish. The names are a mix of Turkish, Arabic, and Latin origins. The word for month is ay, and as you will see later in the example section, saying ayında means in the month of. For example, to say in April, you would write Nisan ayında. However, you can also shorten that expression by just adding the locative suffix (-de / -da) directly to the month—just be sure to use the -te/-ta ending when attaching to a whispered consonant. So, Nisan’da also means in April, and Mayıs’ta means in May.
Note: Yes, it is weird, but the word for January (ocak) also means stove in Turkish.
| English | Turkish | Audio Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| January | Ocak | |
| February | Şubat | |
| March | Mart | |
| April | Nisan | |
| May | Mayıs | |
| June | Haziran | |
| July | Temmuz | |
| August | Ağustos | |
| September | Eylül | |
| October | Ekim | |
| November | Kasım | |
| December | Aralık |
Seasons
| English | Turkish | Audio Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | İlkbahar | |
| Summer | Yaz | |
| Autumn | Sonbahar | |
| Winter | Kış |
Turkish Days of the Week
When it comes to the days of the week in Turkish, there’s not much else to do but simply memorize them! The Turkish word for day is gün, and similar to constructing sentences with months, you use the genitive ending (ü) to talk about a particular day. For example, to say on Wednesday, you would say Çarşamba günü.
Unfortunately, you cannot use the shortened version of putting just the locative suffix onto the day like you can with months. So, avoid saying Salı’da for on Tuesday and instead say Salı günü. You can see more of these constructions in the last section where I put many examples of how native Turks would speak about months and days in Turkish.
| English | Turkish | Audio Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Pazartesi | |
| Tuesday | Salı | |
| Wednesday | Çarşamba | |
| Thursday | Perşembe | |
| Friday | Cuma | |
| Saturday | Cumartesi | |
| Sunday | Pazar |
Other Turkish Words Related to Days of the Week & Calendar
Knowing the weekdays in Turkish is obviously crucial, however, I think you may end up using the following phrases more often if you are making plans in Turkish. In particular, geçen and gelecek are words that you will use all the time, so get used to hearing them!
| English | Turkish | Audio Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Day | Gün | |
| Week | Hafta | |
| Month | Ay | |
| This month | Bu ay | |
| Last month | Geçen ay | |
| Next month | Gelecek ay | |
| Year | Yıl / Sene | |
| This year | Bu sene | |
| Next year | Gelecek yıl | |
| Century | Yüzyıl | |
| Today | Bugün | |
| Yesterday | Dün | |
| Tomorrow | Yarın | |
| The day after tomorrow | Öbür gün | |
| The day before yesterday | Önceki gün / Evvelsi gün | |
| These days | Bugünler / Bugünlerde |
Time of Day Vocabulary
Discussing time can get complicated in any language since there are so many nuanced ways to talk about it. I’ll save the more complex time phrases (quarter to eight, half past nine, etc.) for another lesson. For now, here are some words to memorize that will help you communicate specific times during the day. To ask what time it is and/or give an answer, you can say phrases like:
- Saat kaç? (What time is it?)
- Saat iki. (It is 2.)
- Saat kaçta geliyorsun? (What time are you coming?)
| English | Turkish | Audio Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| Second | Saniye | |
| Minute | Dakika | |
| Hour | Saat | |
| Sunrise | Gündoğumu | |
| Morning | Sabah | |
| Midday | Öğle / Öğlen | |
| Afternoon | Öğleden sonra | |
| Evening | Akşam | |
| Sunset | Günbatımı | |
| Night | Gece | |
| Midnight | Gece yarısı |
Writing Dates
Talking about dates can also get complicated, whether that is making plans far in the future or talking about historical events. Those details deserve a separate lesson, so in this section, I’ll just quickly show you how we Turks write and speak dates.
When writing dates either as words or as Arabic numerals, use the order day-month-year. For example, February 25th, 2024 would be 25.02.2024 as numerals, or 25 Şubat 2024 as words. If English is your first language, this adjustment can be annoying since you are used to writing the month first. However, if I can get used to writing dates in America, I’m sure you’ll adjust to the Turkish method as well!
Example Sentences With Turkish Months, Days, and Seasons
In this last section, I thought it would be useful to give some typical example sentences to see how the vocabulary above gets used in real conversations. Remember, aside from some initial memorizing work—for that you should try the AnkiApp flashcard application—I highly recommend using dialogues and full sentences to practice vocabulary. Without examples, you can get stuck knowing a lot of words but freezing up when it comes time to use them in real life!
When applicable, I put common question/answer pairs back to back so you can get used to the flow of a natural Turkish conversation.
Lastly, if any of these sentence constructions are confusing, it means you should probably skim through this beginner Turkish basics guide to learn the core concepts. Alternatively, you can head to this page which has every Turkish Language Learning grammar lesson.
| Audio | Turkish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Istanbul’a ne zaman taşınıyorsunuz? | When are you moving to Istanbul? | |
| Aralık ayında taşınıyoruz. | We are moving in December. | |
| Hava bugünlerde çok soğuk. | The weather is very cold these days. | |
| Gelecek ay güzel bir tatile çıkmak istiyorum. | I want to go on a nice vacation next month. | |
| Onunla hangi gün buluşuyorsun? | What day are you meeting with her? | |
| Pazartesi akşamı beraber yiyeceğiz. | We will eat together on Monday evening. | |
| Onu önceki gün marketten çıkarken gördüm. | I saw him the other day while leaving the market. | |
| Pazar sabahı beraber kahvaltıya gidelim. | Let’s go to breakfast together on Sunday morning. | |
| Öğleden sonra müsaitim. | I am available in the afternoon. | |
| Bu hafta çok yoğunum. | I’m very busy this week. | |
| Bu akşam akşam yemeği saat kaçta? | What time is dinner tonight? | |
| Yemek saat yedide hazır olacak. | The food will be ready at seven. | |
| Doğum günün hangi ay? | What month is your birthday? | |
| Benim doğum günüm Nisan’da. | My birthday is in April. |
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, mastering the calendar vocabulary in Turkish is essential for enhancing your conversational skills, especially when it comes to making plans/appointments and discussing other time-related concepts. Besides memorizing these words, I also recommend memorizing their common constructions, including the more informal sentences. Remember, before a language can become fluent and natural like a native speaker, you must first go through the annoying hard work of repetition!
Kolay gelsin, and feel free to leave a comment or email me at: [email protected]
