Greetings and introductions

What you will practice

• Choose a greeting for the morning, the daytime, the evening, and leaving at night.
• Ask how someone is and ask their name, in a familiar or a polite form.
• Say you are pleased to meet someone and ask where they are from.

Explanation

Time of day

Merhaba is a hello you can use at any hour. Günaydın is the morning greeting. İyi günler covers the rest of the daytime, and people also say it when they leave during the day. İyi akşamlar is for the evening, when you arrive or when you meet someone. İyi geceler is different. You say it when you leave at night, or before sleep. It is a goodbye, not the phrase you use when you walk in.

Questions and names

Nasılsın? asks “How are you?” of one person you know well. Nasılsınız? is the polite form for an adult you do not know, and it is also the plural. Names follow the same split. Adın ne? is informal, and Adınız ne? is polite or plural. You give your own name with Adım, as in Adım Leyla. These questions already contain the question word, so you do not add mi.

Meeting someone

Memnun oldum means “Pleased to meet you.” You say it at a first meeting. It is a set phrase, built on the past of “become,” and that is the form to memorize. Nerelisin? asks where one familiar person is from. The polite or plural question is Nerelisiniz? A fuller answer adds “I am from,” with vowel harmony, as in Ankara'lıyım. The city name alone is also understood.

Examples

1. Günaydın.Good morning.
2. İyi geceler.Good night, when leaving.
3. Nasılsınız?How are you? (polite)
4. Adın ne?What is your name? (informal)
5. Memnun oldum.Pleased to meet you.

Common mistakes

• When you meet someone in the evening, say İyi akşamlar. Save İyi geceler for leaving at night.
• Memnun oldum is the introduction. Memnunum means “I am content,” and it is a different sentence.