A handful of small words — "here," "there," "now," "today," "later" — show up in almost every conversation, so they pay for themselves quickly. They are also easy: no endings to memorize, no agreement, just words you drop into a sentence. The one idea worth understanding (rather than just memorizing) is that Turkish "here" already contains the meaning "at this place" — which is exactly why you must not add a word for "at." This page gives you the high-frequency place and time words and shows you how they slot into a sentence.
Place: here and there
Turkish has a neat three-way set for "here / there," and it mirrors the pointing words bu / şu / o ("this / that") that you may already know from the demonstratives:
| Word | English | Linked to |
|---|---|---|
| burada | here | bu (this) — near me |
| şurada | there (the spot I'm pointing at) | şu (that) — just over there |
| orada | there (further away / known) | o (that) — over there |
So the same near / pointing / far logic of bu / şu / o carries straight over: burada is "right here by me," şurada is "there, the spot I'm indicating," and orada is "there, away from us."
Anahtarlar burada.
The keys are here.
Şurada, o ağacın altında oturalım.
Let's sit there, under that tree.
Çantam orada kaldı.
My bag is still over there. (orada = there, away from me)
The big idea: "here" already means "at this place"
Here is the one thing worth truly understanding. The English word "here" is just "here." But the Turkish burada is built from two pieces: bura ("this place") + -da ("at/in"). So burada literally means "at this place." The "at" is already baked in.
That has one practical consequence that trips up every English speaker: because burada already contains "at," you must never add a separate word for "at," "in," or "on." There is no "at here." It is just burada.
Burada bekle, hemen geliyorum.
Wait here, I'm coming right away. (burada alone = 'here / at this place' — no extra word for 'at')
Orada hiç kimse yok.
There's nobody there. (orada = 'at that place')
This also explains the family of related words. To say "to here" (motion toward) you swap the location ending for the "to" ending: buraya ("to here"). To say "from here," you use the "from" ending: buradan ("from here"). You do not need to drill these as a beginner, but it is reassuring to see that they are not new words — just bura with different endings, exactly like any place noun (covered fully at place adverbs).
Buraya gel!
Come here! (buraya = 'to here', for motion toward)
Oradan bana bir su getirir misin?
Could you bring me a water from there?
Time: now, today, yesterday, tomorrow, later
The most frequent time words are simple, unchanging words you just place in the sentence. Here is the core set:
| Word | English |
|---|---|
| şimdi | now |
| bugün | today |
| dün | yesterday |
| yarın | tomorrow |
| sonra | later / afterward |
| her zaman | always |
Notice the spelling care points: şimdi starts with ş (the "sh" sound), and yarın ends in the dotless ı. And her zaman ("always") is two words — her "every" + zaman "time," literally "every time."
Şimdi çok meşgulüm, sonra konuşalım.
I'm very busy now, let's talk later.
Dün yağmur yağdı, bugün hava güzel.
It rained yesterday; today the weather is nice.
Yarın seni ararım.
I'll call you tomorrow.
Unlike the place words, these time words carry no built-in "at" and need none. Bugün is just "today" — you do not add anything. (Some longer time expressions, like "on Monday," do take an ending, but the everyday words bugün / dün / yarın / şimdi are bare.)
Putting a place and a time together
Real sentences usually have both a "when" and a "where," and Turkish has a comfortable default order: time tends to come before place, and both come before the verb at the end. You do not have to be rigid about it, but starting with time, then place, then verb sounds natural.
Yarın burada buluşalım.
Let's meet here tomorrow. (time 'yarın' → place 'burada' → verb)
Şimdi orada kimse yok ama akşam kalabalık olur.
There's nobody there now, but in the evening it gets crowded.
Her zaman buraya gelir, kahvesini içer.
He/She always comes here and drinks their coffee.
A spoken shortcut to recognize
In everyday speech, people often shorten the place words by dropping the middle vowel: burada → burda, orada → orda, şurada → şurda. You will hear Burdayım ("I'm here") constantly. Write the full forms (burada, orada) in anything careful, but train your ear to recognize the short ones, because they are everywhere in conversation.
Neredesin? — Burdayım, kapının önünde.
Where are you? — I'm here, in front of the door. (burda = casual spoken form of burada)
Common mistakes
❌ burada'da bekle
Incorrect — burada already means 'at this place'; don't add another 'at'. Just: burada bekle.
✅ burada bekle
wait here
❌ Buraya bekle.
Wrong ending for staying put — 'wait here' is location, so use burada; buraya means motion 'to here'.
✅ Burada bekle.
Wait here.
❌ Simdi geliyorum.
Spelling — it's şimdi with ş ('sh'), not simdi.
✅ Şimdi geliyorum.
I'm coming now.
❌ Yarin görüşürüz.
Spelling — yarın ends in the dotless ı, not a dotted i.
✅ Yarın görüşürüz.
See you tomorrow.
The signature English-speaker error is adding a word for "at" or "in" before "here / there." There is no such word, because the -da ending already is the "at." Say burada, orada, şurada on their own and you are correct. And keep the location word (burada) separate from the motion word (buraya) — one is for being somewhere, the other for going somewhere.
Key takeaways
- burada (here), şurada (there, pointed at), orada (there, away) mirror bu / şu / o.
- burada literally means "at this place" — the -da is "at," so never add a separate word for "at/in."
- For motion use buraya ("to here") and buradan ("from here") — same word, different ending.
- Core time words: şimdi (now), bugün (today), dün (yesterday), yarın (tomorrow), sonra (later), her zaman (always) — all bare, no ending needed.
- Natural order in a simple sentence: time → place → verb ("Yarın burada buluşalım").
- In speech you'll hear shortened burda / orda / şurda — recognize them, write the full forms.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Place Adverbs and Spatial WordsA2 — Turkish location words — burada/şurada/orada, içeri(de)/dışarı(da), yukarı(da)/aşağı(da) — plus the relational nouns (üst, alt, ön, arka) that do the job of English prepositions like 'on' and 'under'.
- Time AdverbsA2 — Turkish time adverbs — şimdi, sonra, dün/bugün/yarın, her zaman — and the aspectual trio artık, daha/henüz, hâlâ that English splits across several words.
- Demonstratives: bu, şu, oA1 — Turkish has a three-way demonstrative system — bu (this, near), şu (the attention-directing one), o (that, far/known) — used as both determiners and pronouns.
- The Locative -DA: At / In / OnA1 — The locative case -DA marks static location (at, in, on) and powers the var/yok possession construction; unlike English at/in, it can never express motion toward a place.