# Helal olsun



## James Bates

A Turk asked me if I had good English. When I replied in the affirmative he said, "Helal olsun".
Could a native please tell me what that's supposed to mean? Thanks!


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## Volcano

*Bravo, well done *


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## James Bates

Teşekkür ederim!


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## Volcano

*Rica Ederim*


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## nywcrc

It's more like "Way to go!". It seems he/she's impressed by your answer.
It's not a very formal expression.


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## James Bates

Thanks!


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## Sheikh_14

Olsun on its own means something round about  "may it happen" so my question is why does may it be halal or something very much approximate to it, mean Bravo?


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## FlyingBird

you also say helal olsun when someone say to you 'hakkını helal et' 
i also dont understand literaly what it mean


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## AussieTurk

FlyingBird said:


> you also say helal olsun when someone say to you 'hakkını helal et'
> i also dont understand literaly what it mean


well Helal is the Turkish way to say the Arabic/Quranic term Halal , which by definition means pure 

so  a Grammatical fundamentalist translation of Helal olsun is : let it be pure
the Creative or Liberal ( Colloquial) translation of the term Helal Olsun is : you are the best 
hakkını helal et , however transliterated is  :  make what is yours pure .. but if one was to be absolutely correct in its usuage , it would be 




> " you will have no claims against me in the divine court, when we face each other to clear our mutual accounts in the presence of God Almighty..."




and the creative translation of this in English is , you own your share , 

as both these terms are Islamic , its hard to translate or  find an English equivalent term or phrase.


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## Sheikh_14

Perhaps its like saying may it be Halal or may you make it Halal in that the credit be righteously yours or the work you do be righteous and well done. As you said its quite hard to translate but I perhaps can make some sense of it from my native language Urdu, where Halaal karnaa could mean to make something Halaal and thus done to one's full ability and thereby righteous.


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## shafaq

"Helal" has at least three meaning in Turkish.
As a standalone word it is a religious term means an "Islamicly accepted food, moral/material earning, right and behaviour".

As for phrases suchlike "helal olsun!", "helal sana!", "helal beee!", they mean "You deserved (a praise/compliment/applause) like bravo!, well done! but a little more intensive.
or "You deserved all what I/we spended for you as effort/money or sthg like that manner !" when -as an example- your son/daughter has earned high points after an examination or sthg like that.
With this you have been said "Now you deserved all what I spend after you till today!".

As for "helal etmek"; it means "to donate or give without any compensation".
Helal et! =(something material or spiritual) give me it without asking a compensation!.
If you want say Ok! you may say either :
-Helal ettim= I gave (it you) with no charge ; I cleared all my rights on it !; or
-*Helal olsun* .  This time; it means "Ok! Take it with no charge !


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## dcx97

So in Ottoman Turkish was the first part of "Helal olsun" spelled حلال or ھلال? If it's from the Arabic word حلال, I think it should have been spelled "halal" in modern Turkish.


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## shafaq

Yes . It is Arabic " حلال"; but unlike three different "H"s in Arabic;  in modern day alphabet  we have only one letter "H" prononced as Arabic "ھ ". 
In Ottoman Turkish it is spelled as "حلال " and still prononced as "هَلالْ " .


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