Turkish Phrases for Everyday Survival as a Tourist / Visitors

Every time I show up in a country, I make sure I arrive with a well-versed set of survival phrases. Partly for my own edification, and partly so I know what people are saying to me!

I’ve been in Türkiye (also known in English as Turkey) for a month now and verified that these are the Turkish phrases that I use most often in daily life — eating out, shopping for food, going to the gym, getting a haircut and doing other everyday things.

Below is a summary list (with audio). There are some notes along with them, plus some other commentary below.

Turkish Phrases for Everyday Survival — Summary List

Here’s a summary list of Turkish phrases for survival in everyday life.

If you’re curious to learn more about how the above phrases work, you might want to see our article on basic Turkish grammar.

A Few Notes on the Above Phrases

There are a few notes I think are worth adding regarding the above phrases.

The most common phrase I hear is “Hoş geldiniz!”. Literally, it means “You arrived well”. It’s actually a nice literal equivalent of Spanish “Bienvenidos”, Italian “Benvenuti”, or French “Bienvenus”, or their other equivalent in singular / other gender forms. But “Hoş geldiniz” doesn’t change for gender.

This welcoming Turkish phrase is also equivalent to “خوش آمدید!” (“khosh amadid” in Persian), with the first word in common.

To respond to this, you can say “Hoş bulduk!” which means “We found it well!” But in practise, people say “Hoş geldiniz” to me so often that responding that way gets tiresome and repetitive. I mean, it’s even written on signs. It’s just a greeting.

For “hello”, there are a few alternatives. But “Merhaba” is all you need. You can use this with people of all ages — it’s of universal formality.

One of the most common words I have to learn when visiting a new country is what to say when I bump into someone or want to get past. In Türkiye, Pardon is a simple option.

I haven’t included a “How are you?” or “I’m fine, thanks,” because at the beginner level, nobody is going to get into a conversation!

Quick FAQ on Turkish Grammar

Here are some important things to bear in mind about Turkish grammar — things you might want to know as a tourist.

1. There is a formal and informal tone, and it works much like French or Persian. You can express most things related to “you” in a formal tone in Turkish, and it’s the same as the “you plural” form. For polite or plural “you”, verbs often end in -siniz or -(y)iniz, as in “İster misiniz?” or “Hoş geldiniz!”. An ending such as -iz alone does not always mark politeness: geliyoruz means “we are coming”.
2. Turkish has no grammatical gender. The pronoun o covers he, she and it. There are still words that specify gender, such as kadın (woman) and erkek (man).
3. Vowel harmony changes suffix vowels. The separate question particle is mı/mi/mu/mü; the basic verbal negative suffix is -ma/-me. They are different constructions.

You can read more about Turkish vowel harmony here.

Other Turkish Phrases / Words to Learn for Everyday Survival

I found that aside from the above phrases, I’ve had to learn these other classes of words in Turkish just for everyday survival:

• Everyday foods, like milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and so on: In supermarkets, almost nothing is labelled in English. It can get confusing, and you may not know whether you’re buying milk or a yoghurt drink, unless you know the words written on them.
• Numbers. The numerical system in Turkish is easy to learn (it’s decimal and well organised — about as hard as the German system, for reference), but all the words are foreign. Even as a speaker of three other Middle Eastern languages, it was entirely foreign other than the number “zero”. (and “million”, but I never get up there!)
• Restaurant food items. Things like kebab, the various snacks you get in pastry shops, sweets, and so on. Every food item was unfamiliar and I had to learn them to order food.

Do You Need to Know Turkish in Türkiye?

One of my teachers actually told me I wouldn’t need to know the above Turkish phrases, as everyone in Turkey would speak English to me. Turned out to be wrong!

Whether you need to use Turkish depends on whether you step outside the most heavily-trafficked touristy areas.

If you stay on the European side and just visit the big mosques and museums, no, you don’t need to know Turkish. But despite this, people may still say “Hoş geldiniz!” to welcome you to a restaurant, and it’d be nice to know what to say in return.

If you go to the Asian side, then in my experience, far fewer people know English. I have done several everyday things, like buy pastries/bread, get a haircut, or go to supermarkets, and found that I often needed Turkish rather than English. Even numbers are a struggle — usually, people use calculators to show the number.

The upshot is that if you want to learn Turkish (like, if you have a personal interest, or a family connection), it’s extremely easy to find speaking opportunities. People are chatty, friendly, and willing to engage with you!