Turkish 30 - Conjunctions

In this lesson we will learn to use conjunctions in Turkish, a very important class of words. After learning these, you will be able to make longer sentences in Turkish.

Let's take a look at some conjunctions:

There is coffee and teaKahve ve çay var.
There is no coffee, but there is tea.Kahve yok, ama çay var.
There is no coffee, but there is tea.Kahve yok, fakat çay var.
I want to eat because I'm hungry, but there is no food.Yemek istiyorum çünkü açım, ama yemek yok.

Ama and fakat mean exactly the same and are interchangeable. In practice, ama is used more by younger people and fakat is used more by older people.

Do you want coffee or tea?Kahve ya da çay istiyor musun?
Do you want coffee or tea?Kahve veya çay istiyor musun?
Do you want coffee or do you want tea?Kahve mi yoksa çay mı istiyorsun?

Ya da and veya also mean exactly the same and can also be used interchangeably.

Yoksa's meaning is closer to otherwise or if not. In the sentences below containing ya da or veya, there might be more options, for example water, that the listener can choose from. In the sentence containing yoksa, the choice is between coffee and tea, and nothing else.

When using yoksa it is necessary to put the question particle after both alternatives, and the verb does not receive a question particle.

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