The telephone is where B1 grammar earns its keep: you relay what other people said, you stack clauses inside one another, and you steer the conversation with little discourse words that textbooks rarely teach. The exchange below is an original dialogue written for this guide — a slightly formal call between a customer and a clinic receptionist, relaying a message from a third person, the doctor. Read it through, then follow the annotations.
The dialogue
Alo, iyi günler. Doktor Yılmaz'ın sekreteriyle mi görüşüyorum?
Hello, good day. Am I speaking with Doctor Yılmaz's secretary?
Evet efendim, buyurun. Size nasıl yardımcı olabilirim?
Yes sir/ma'am, go ahead. How can I help you?
Dün doktor bey beni aramış. Ne dediğini öğrenebilir miyim?
The doctor apparently called me yesterday. May I find out what he said?
Tabii. Tahlil sonuçlarınızın geldiğini söyledi.
Of course. He said that your test results have come in.
Anladım. Bir şey daha söyledi mi?
I see. Did he say anything else?
Evet, yarın uğramanız gerektiğini de ekledi.
Yes, he also added that you need to drop by tomorrow.
Peki, saat kaçta gelmemi istiyor?
All right, what time does he want me to come?
Saat onda gelin, dedi. Boş bir randevu var.
Come at ten, he said. There's a free appointment.
Tamam, not aldım. Çok teşekkür ederim, kolaylıklar.
Okay, I've noted it. Thank you very much, take care.
Rica ederim, geçmiş olsun. İyi günler efendim.
You're welcome, get well soon. Good day, sir/ma'am.
Line-by-line
Line 1 — "Alo, iyi günler. Doktor Yılmaz'ın sekreteriyle mi görüşüyorum?" Alo is the telephone-only "hello" (you never greet someone face-to-face with alo). Doktor Yılmaz'ın sekreteri = "Doctor Yılmaz's secretary," a possessive chain with the genitive -ın on the proper noun (apostrophe before the suffix: Yılmaz'ın). Sekreteriyle adds the instrumental -yle ("with the secretary"), and mi placed mid-sentence focuses the question on exactly that phrase: "is it the secretary I'm speaking with?" Throughout, the caller uses siz-level politeness with a stranger (see register/formal-siz).
Line 2 — "Evet efendim, buyurun. Size nasıl yardımcı olabilirim?" Efendim is the indispensable polite marker on the phone: it means "sir/ma'am," but also "yes?", "pardon?", and "go on" depending on intonation — a Swiss-army discourse word. Buyurun invites the caller to proceed. Size nasıl yardımcı olabilirim? = "how may I help you?" with the dative size ("to you") and the abilitative olabilirim ("can I be").
Line 3 — "Dün doktor bey beni aramış. Ne dediğini öğrenebilir miyim?" Two B1 jewels here. Aramış is the evidential/reported past -mIş: "he (apparently/reportedly) called me" — the caller did not witness the call, only heard of it, and -mIş flags that secondhand knowledge. Then Ne dediğini = "what he said," an embedded question built by nominalizing the verb: de- ("say") + -diği (the -DIK nominalizer with possessive) + accusative -ni = "the thing-he-said," as the object of öğrenebilir miyim ("may I learn?"). This nominalized-complement machinery is the heart of non-finite/nominalized-complements.
Line 4 — "Tabii. Tahlil sonuçlarınızın geldiğini söyledi." A textbook reported statement. The original was "Tahlil sonuçlarınız geldi" ("your test results came in"). To report it, the inner verb is nominalized: gel- + -diği + accusative -ni → geldiğini ("that they came"), the subject sonuçlarınız takes the genitive -ın → sonuçlarınızın ("of your results"), and the main verb is söyledi ("said/told"). Pattern: [X-genitive] [verb-DIK-possessive-accusative] söyledi = "said that X did Y." See complex/reported-speech.
Line 5 — "Anladım. Bir şey daha söyledi mi?" Anladım = "I understood / I see." Bir şey daha = "one more thing / anything else," with söyledi mi? a straightforward yes/no past question.
Line 6 — "Evet, yarın uğramanız gerektiğini de ekledi." A reported obligation, nested two layers deep. The core idea "you need to drop by" is uğramanız gerek ("your dropping-by is necessary"). To report it, gerek- is nominalized: gerek- + -tiği + accusative -ni → gerektiğini ("that it is necessary"), and inside it sits the action noun uğramanız ("your dropping by," from uğra- + -ma + possessive). The clitic de ("also") and ekledi ("added") finish it: "he also added that you need to drop by."
Line 7 — "Peki, saat kaçta gelmemi istiyor?" Peki = "all right / okay then," a soft acceptance-and-pivot marker. Saat kaçta = "at what time" (saat kaç "what time" + locative -ta). Gelmemi is the nominalized object of istiyor ("wants"): gel- + -me + 1st-person possessive -m + accusative -i = "my coming," so gelmemi istiyor = "he wants me to come." English uses an infinitive ("wants me to come"); Turkish nominalizes the verb and possesses it — there is no infinitive complement here.
Line 8 — "Saat onda gelin, dedi. Boş bir randevu var." This is the other reporting strategy: direct (quoted) speech with dedi ("said"). Rather than transform the sentence, the secretary quotes the doctor's exact words — "Saat onda gelin" ("come at ten," polite imperative) — and tags it with dedi. Turkish freely mixes direct quotation + dedi with the diye quotative (e.g. "saat onda gel" diye söyledi); both are everyday. Boş bir randevu var = "there's a free appointment" (var = "there is").
Line 9 — "Tamam, not aldım. Çok teşekkür ederim, kolaylıklar." Tamam = "okay" (acknowledging, closing). Not aldım = "I took a note / noted it." Kolaylıklar ("[wishing you] ease") is a friendly sign-off to someone heading back to work — phone calls in Turkish almost always close with a wish, not a bare "bye."
Line 10 — "Rica ederim, geçmiş olsun. İyi günler efendim." Rica ederim = "you're welcome / not at all." Geçmiş olsun ("may it be past") is the set phrase of sympathy for anyone ill, recovering, or having gone through something hard — apt here given the test results. İyi günler efendim closes the call politely. Notice how the whole conversation is bracketed by these wishes; relentlessly transactional phone manners read as cold in Turkish.
Common mistakes
❌ O söyledi ki sonuçlar geldi.
Incorrect — the 'ki … that' calque is heavy and unnatural; nominalize instead.
✅ Sonuçların geldiğini söyledi.
He said that the results came in.
❌ Saat onda gelmek istiyor (beni).
Incorrect — 'wants me to come' is not an infinitive; the inner verb must be nominalized and possessed.
✅ Saat onda gelmemi istiyor.
He wants me to come at ten.
Key takeaways
- Reported speech nominalizes the inner verb with -DIK / -(y)AcAK plus a possessive, then case-marks it: geldiğini söyledi, geleceğini söyledi.
- Direct quotation is equally common: quote the words, then tag with dedi or … diye söyledi.
- Embedded questions and wants use the same machinery: ne dediğini öğrenmek, gelmemi istiyor.
- -mIş marks reported/evidential past — "apparently / it seems": doktor beni aramış.
- Polite siz runs throughout; efendim, buyurun, peki, tamam, alo carry the conversation.
- Bracket phone calls with wishes — kolaylıklar, geçmiş olsun, iyi günler — not a bare goodbye.
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Reported Speech: diye, -DIK, and demekB2 — How Turkish reports what people say — direct quotation with diye and dedi versus indirect nominalized clauses with -DIK and -(y)AcAK.
- Nominalized 'That'-ClausesB1 — How Turkish renders English 'that'-complements with -DIK (factual) or -(y)AcAK (future) plus a possessive and case, with the embedded subject in the genitive.
- Formal Register: siz, -(y)InIz, HonorificsA2 — How spoken and written Turkish signals respect through siz, the polite imperative -(y)InIz, and honorifics like Bey, Hanım, and Sayın.
- yani, işte, şey: Reformulation and FillerB1 — How yani reformulates and concludes, işte points to a reached conclusion or fills a beat, and şey serves as the universal placeholder noun that even takes case endings.