Expressing Surprise: Nasıl da
To express astonishment at a situation—especially a dramatic transformation—Turkish uses a structure similar to English exclamations like "How he has changed!"
By combining the question word nasıl (how) with the separate intensifying particle da, you create an exclamation of intense surprise or emotion. Because you are often remarking on a change that happened out of sight or over time, this structure is frequently paired with verbs of transformation and the inferential past tense (-mış / -miş).
| How that old street has transformed over time! | O eski sokak zamanla nasıl da başkalaşmış! |
| How the man has aged after living there for years! | Senelerce orada yaşadıktan sonra adam nasıl da ihtiyarlamış! |
Emphasizing Extent: Ne kadar da
When you want to emphasize how much someone or something has changed, you can swap nasıl for ne kadar (how much). Just like before, add the particle da to intensify the exclamation.
| How much the city has modernized over time! | Şehir zamanla ne kadar da modernleşmiş! |
| How the children have grown taller! | Çocukların boyu ne kadar da uzamış! |
Putting It Together
You will often hear these structures used side by side to emphasize different aspects of growing up, aging, or modernizing.
While the inferential past tense is most common for changes you are just now noticing the results of, the definite past tense (-dı / -di) can also be used when making a firm, immediate observation about how things have become nowadays (şimdilerde).
| How the child has grown, and how much he has matured! | Çocuk nasıl da büyümüş, ne kadar da olgunlaşmış! |
| How much that man has transformed nowadays, how he has grown younger! | Şimdilerde o adam ne kadar da başkalaştı, nasıl da gençleşti! |
