English and Turkish Article Usage
Article "rich" versus article "poor"
Is one way better than the other?
The English way
We English-speakers always sprinkle our conversation
liberally with grammatical articles when discussing
the daily news with a friend...
Marvin: Did you hear,
Mabel?
The
Non-Smoking Call Girl's Union of South Dakota is suing the
ex-President for a
half-trillion dollars.
Mabel: No, Marvin, I didn't.
What's the charge?
Marvin: They haven't decided
yet. But, they promise to let him know before the
trial starts.
Mabel: Well, whatever it is,
I hope they get a
bundle. After all, it did happen
on his watch, right?
Marvin: Right. Now, will ya'
please pass the
beer?
Mabel: Would you like an
egg in the beer, Marv?
Marvin: Honey, you're the
greatest...
But, when it comes to our newspaper headlines, we've gotten used
to the article-less
approach...
Call Girl's Union Sues ex-President
for
Half-Trillion Dollars
Landmark Sex & Smoking Issues under Debate
in South Dakota
The Turkish Way
Well, it turns out that the Turkish language comes out in favor
of this article-less
approach in the majority of written and spoken cases. The idea
that "Less is More" finds a happy home in Turkish.
So, you may have some additional adjustments to
make as you tackle the difficulties of Turkish expression
(and comprehension) -- difficulties that arise
because of the general [but, not total]
lack of articles in the language.
Translating Articles from
Turkish to English
"Rule" for including the
the
article --
during translation
Take this simple article-less
Turkish sentence:
Şarap dömisek.
Since wine is not inherently
semi-dry, it's understood that this sentence refers to
some particular wine. So the the article
should be included as part of the English translation.
The
wine is semi-dry.
slurp...
Therefore, the general rule is:
To denote particular meaning, you should include the the
article during translation.
But this rule doesn't cover inclusion of the the article
in an English sentence like,
The camel is an oddly shaped creature;
[Deve garip şekilli bir yaratıktır]
in which "The camel" is surely meant to denote camels-in-general --
not a particular camel.
So there are exceptions to this rule...
"Rule" for excluding the
the
article
Take another simple article-less
sentence:
Elmaslar ölümsüzdür.
In this case, the sentence relates to the general, inherent characteristic of diamonds -- that they are a girl's best friend (oh yes...and long-lasting too). So the the
article should be excluded from the English translation.
Diamonds are forever.
Therefore, the general rule is:
To carry general, inherent meaning, you should exclude
the the
article during translation.
But this rule doesn't cover exclusion of the the article
in an English sentence like,
Congress has failed to accomplish its goals again;
[Meclis amacına yine ulaşamadı]
in which this "Congress" is surely a particular one.
Because... not all Congresses, all over the world,
fail always to accomplish their goals.
(We know for a fact that the one in Southern Ooobopshabamstan
recently succeeded in voting itself another pay raise --
and that's a time-honoured Congressional goal, if there ever was one.)
Anyway...Trust us. There are exceptions to this rule, too...
Exceptions
to the rules
But you may ask, "Well, if those are the rules, then why
doesn't,
Michigan soğuktur...
translate as,
The
Michigan is cold...?"
"That's a particular
statement, isn't it?"
you continue...
"Michigan isn't inherently cold.
So why doesn't the rule apply?
Why isn't the article
included?"
Well, the answer is because Michigan is a special kind of proper noun,
that is exempt from this rule.
And remember too that general-concept
nouns --
like destiny,
espionage, and fidelity --
rarely,
if ever, appear with articles
in well-spoken English.
Oh, we suppose you could say,
"James Bond engages in
the
espionage,"
but, if you mangled our language like that, we'd know you were
from SMERSH, wouldn't we?
Exceptions to the exceptions
(Say...These are English language
peculiarities, remember.
Don't blame Turkish...)
"Weeel then," you ask again, "why does the proper
noun
in,
New York Yankees,
kendi sahasında ince çizgili takım elbise giyer...
 On CD...
get translated with the the article included:
The
New York Yankees wear
pin-striped uniforms at home....?"
"Furthermore," you continue, "it's 'inherently'
true that the Yanks wear pinstriped uniforms at their home stadium,
so (for two reasons then) shouldn't
the article be excluded -- according to the above rules?
Shouldn't the sentence be translated as,
New York Yankees wear
pin-striped uniforms at home...?"
Well, the answer is no. And it's because some English proper (and
most 'ordinary') nouns are usually, if not always,
associated with a grammatical article such as:
the Yankees,
the Labor Relations Board,
the Supreme
Court,
the (or
an)
ocean, the (or
a)
star,
the (or
a)
galaxy...
So such nouns always get translated from Turkish to English
together with the appropriate article...
unless, of course,
(are you getting
tired of this?)
they are matched up with a personal pronoun,
as in:
City council'imiz her salı
toplanır;
Our City Council
meets every Tuesday.
Redskins'im Super Bowlı
kazandı;
My Redskins won the Super Bowl!
(Sometimes) Required Articles
Sometimes you can't avoid translating articles from
Turkish to English -- such as when a noun (or noun
phrase) is the direct object of a sentence.
But, this is not a hard and fast rule -- as you'll
see in a mo'.
Observe the direct objects -- shown with their required
articles --
in the following English sentences...
Joe Montana arched the
ball to Jerry Rice
for another
San Francisco touchdown.
Hemingway enjoyed the
running of the bulls
at Pamplona.
Diana captured the
hearts
of the British people.
But, as you know, just because an English noun (or
noun phrase)
serves as a direct object, it
doesn't mean that it must be fronted
by an article.
The following sentences have direct objects --
but no article.
Georgia O'Keefe painted flower
pictures
that were controversial.
Janis Joplin sang "Bobbie
McGee"
when she was high.
Bill Clinton likes chasing
girls
if Hillary isn't watching.
(We're on a tautology binge, eh what!?)
Direct objects and articles
In Turkish, the direct object suffix may indicate
that the the
article should be translated into English,
as in:
Saçımdan kurdelayı
al;
Take the
ribbon from my hair.
(As opposed to: Saçımdan kurdela
al; Take
a
ribbon from my hair.)
But, just because a direct object suffix has been attached to
a Turkish noun, doesn't mean that the
the article must
always be translated into English.
And that's because of considerations mentioned earlier --
considerations
to do with English proper nouns like Michigan
(and with general-concept nouns like
espionage)...
For example, even though "Bobbie
McGee" is the specific direct object in the following
sentence,
we wouldn't say:
Janis Joplin sang the
"Bobbie McGee"
when she was high.
Nonetheless, in the corresponding Turkish sentence
"Bobbie
McGee" does carry the direct
object suffix.
Janis Joplin,
alkol etkisi altında olduğunda
"Bobbie
McGee"yi
söyledi.
(There's more about Specific and Non-specific Direct Objects
in the next section below...)
Translating Articles from
English to Turkish
Translating articles in the other direction --
from English to Turkish -- isn't half so brain-busting. Most
of the time you just forget about 'em.
In fact, the only time you
include any trace of an article during such translation is in the
specific direct
object case.
(See some examples below.)
So if you just remember always to use the Turkish direct object
suffixes (i, ı, ü, u) -- in
accordance with
the Rule
of Vowel Harmony
when you translate
specific
English direct objects --
then you can never go wrong.
But, don't forget the
possible need for a buffer letter (the letter y or the letter n) between vowels --
when you add the direct object suffix.
You may have already noticed, but you can't have
two vowels coming together in a 'pure' Turkish word.
Check out the "Specific Direct Object"
Turkish sentence examples below
to see the 'buffer' letters at work.
Specific Direct Object:
The woman watched the
male stripper;
Kadın erkek striptizciyi
seyretti.
Note the 'y' buffer letter...
On CD...
Non-specific:
The male stripper believed she was a policewoman;
Erkek striptizci, kadının polis olduğunu anladı.
On CD...
Specific Direct Object:
Bonnie and Clyde robbed the
Wells Fargo bank;
Bonnie ve
Clyde Wells Fargo bankasını
soydu.
Note the 'n' buffer letter...
On CD...
Non-specific:
But, they didn't have to do time
in jail;
Fakat, cezaevinde hiç yatmamalıdılar.
(because they were so hole-y...)
On CD...
Specific Direct Object:
In Turkey, we toured Bingöl;
Türkiyede, Bingöl'ü gezdik.
On CD...
(Note the required direct object suffix,
because Bingöl is a specific place,
even though the the English
article isn't present...)
Non-specific:
I saw thousands of lakes
in the vicinity of Bingöl;
Bingölün
çevresinde binlerce göl gördüm.
On CD...
Specific Direct Object:
In South America, we visited Peru;
Güney Amerikada, Peruyu ziyaret ettik.
On CD...
(Note the required direct object
suffix, because Peru is a specific place,
even though the the English
article isn't present.
Also note the 'y' buffer letter...)
Non-specific:
I came face to face with
a black widow (spider) there;
Orada kara dul ile karşı karşıya geldim.
On CD...
Therefore, except in the case of specific direct objects, you
can totally ignore the concept of English
articles when translating from English to Turkish!
Now, iddin' tha' nice...
One final exception to all the above
(You knew there was going to be one,
didn't you?)
Using bir
to mean a
or an
There is just one instance where the Turkish language seems to give a damn
about articles. And that's when, if you wish,
you can force the meaning of the English articles a
or an through
the use of the Turkish word bir (which
usually means one).
Peruda kara bir
dula kur yapmıştım;
I tried to cozy up to
a black widow (woman) in Peru.
On CD...
O benim tarafımdan yapılan bir hataydı;
That was an
error on my part.
On CD...
Eşim kıskanç bir
kadındır;
My wife is a
jealous woman.
On CD...
Şimdi, bir siyah gözüm
var;
I now have one black
eye.
On CD...
Note the positioning of bir
-- in all sentences above.
As long as the bir
fronts the noun, it should be translated as 'a'
or 'an'.
But if bir
fronts the adjective, then it is usually translated as 'one'.
Still...it is somewhat curious that the meaning of these example
sentences would be about the same -- with or without the bir.
So who knows why there is this use of it?
Probably for emphasis, we guess.
But, for what sort of emphasis?
For an emphasis that has an obscure origin, we opine.
Too obscure for our limited brainpower, we
fear...
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