Learn Hardcore Turkish: Karakter çok önemli. - Character is very important.

The Turkish word karakter is borrowed from French/English and here it means “character” in the sense of a person’s moral or ethical qualities. It can also refer to a font or a typographical symbol, but context makes it clear that it’s the moral character that’s “çok önemli” (very important).

Why is there no “is” in the sentence?

Turkish does not use a separate verb for “to be” (in the present tense) when making simple identity or description statements. Instead, you place the subject (karakter) and then the adjective (önemli) together. If you need formality or emphasis, you can add the suffix -dir to önemli, producing önemlidir (“it is important”), but it’s optional in everyday speech.

How do we express “very important” with çok?

In Turkish, çok is an adverb meaning “very” or “much,” and it precedes the adjective it modifies. So çok önemli = “very important.” You can also intensify further: çok çok önemli (“very, very important”) or use synonyms like son derece önemli (“extremely important”).

Why aren’t there any articles like “a” or “the”?

Turkish has no articles equivalent to English a or the. Definiteness or indefiniteness is derived from context or from case suffixes (like the accusative -ı/-i for definite direct objects). Here, karakter is in the nominative case and stands for “character” in general.

What is the word order in Karakter çok önemli?

The basic order here is Subject + Predicate (Adjective). Turkish is typically Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), but when the predicate is an adjective or noun, it follows the subject directly:

Subject: karakter
Predicate (Adjective): çok önemli Literally: “Character is very important.”

Which grammatical case is karakter in?

It’s in the nominative (unsuffixed) case, serving as the subject of the sentence. No ending is needed for subjects in simple descriptive sentences.

What is the origin of önemli?

önemli is formed from the noun önem (“importance”) plus the adjectival suffix -li, creating “important” (literally “one that has importance”). Turkish often builds adjectives this way:

root noun: önem (“importance”)
suffix -li: adds “having” or “full of”
result: önemli (“important”)

Can I add tense or person to this sentence?

Yes. To talk about the past, attach the past‐tense copula -di plus person/tense ending:

Karakter çok önemliydi = “Character was very important.” For the future, use olacak:
Karakter çok önemli olacak = “Character will be very important.”

How do I pronounce karakter and önemli, and where is the stress?

Approximate English renderings:

karakter = kah-RAHK-tehr (stress on the second syllable)
önemli = UH-nem-lee (stress on the first syllable)
Turkish generally places primary stress on the final syllable of native words, but loanwords and certain suffix combinations can retain the original stress pattern.