Learn Hardcore Turkish: Sıcak ekmek nefis. - The hot bread is delicious.

In Turkish the copula “to be” (is/are) is usually dropped in the present tense. So Sıcak ekmek nefis literally reads “Hot bread delicious,” but it means “Hot bread is delicious.” In more formal or written style you can add the suffix -dir to the adjective: Sıcak ekmek nefistir.

What part of speech is nefis?

Nefis is an adjective meaning delicious or tasty. In this sentence it’s used predicatively (after the subject) rather than attributively (before a noun).

Why does sıcak come before ekmek?

In Turkish adjectives always precede the nouns they modify. So sıcak ekmek literally means “hot bread” just like in English, but you’ll never see ekmek sıcak to mean “hot bread.”

There’s no article before ekmek. How do you know if it’s “the” or “a”?

Turkish has no definite or indefinite articles. Context tells you whether it’s “the bread” or “a bread.” In most cases sıcak ekmek just means “hot bread” in general, without specifying.

What grammatical case is ekmek in? Why is there no ending?

Here ekmek is in the nominative case (the default form) because it’s the subject of a nominal sentence without an explicit verb. Subjects and predicate nouns/adjectives stay in nominative in simple X is Y statements.

How would you turn Sıcak ekmek nefis into a question: “Is hot bread delicious?”

Add the question particle –mi after the adjective, with proper vowel harmony and a space or hyphen:
• Sıcak ekmek nefis mi?
That literally asks “Hot bread delicious?”

Can I use lezzetli instead of nefis? What’s the difference?

Yes. Lezzetli also means delicious or tasty. It’s more common in everyday speech. Nefis is a bit more formal or poetic, though both are perfectly fine.

What if I want to say very delicious?

You can add çok (very) or another adverb in front of the adjective:
• Sıcak ekmek çok nefis.
• Sıcak ekmek gerçekten nefis. (really delicious)

How do I express this in the past: “Hot bread was delicious”?

Attach the past tense marker –(y)di to nefis:
• Sıcak ekmek nefisti.
You can still add çok or gerçekten as needed: Sıcak ekmek çok nefisti.

What about plural? Can I say “Hot breads are delicious”?

You can pluralize ekmek with –ler:
• Sıcak ekmekler nefis.
However, Turkish often treats things like bread in a mass or general sense (uncountable), so the singular form ekmek is more natural when speaking generally.