# Turkish exclamations and questions



## NataliaZ

Dear readers,

I'm doing a linguistic research on exclamations and questions in Turkish as well as in other languages.
I would highly appreciate your help in translating and judging the following sentences.

1. Could you please translate the following sentences?
How you swim! (exclamation, a speaker is suprised by the way how his/her addressee is swimming)
How do you swim? (question)

2. Could you please translate the following sentences using "ne", "ne kadar", or "nasil"? If a sentence sounds good with a particular word -- write them please. If any sentence with any word doesn't sound good -- write them anyway please.
How beautiful the dress is! (exclamation, a speaker is suprised by the beauty of the dress)
How beautiful is the dress? (question)

3. Can you say so? If you insert "bir", will the sentences sound better to you?
Ablam nasil güzel elbise aldi!
Ablam nasil güzel elbise aldi?
Ablam ne güzel elbise aldi!
Ablam ne güzel elbise aldi?
Ablam ne kadar güzel elbise aldi!
Ablam ne kadar güzel elbise aldi?

4. Could please translate the following sentences using "bir"?
What a beautiful mother's dress my sister wore!
My sister wore a beautiful mother's dress.

Thank you very much in advance!

Best wishes,
Natalia


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## Black4blue

1) Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun!

2) Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!

3) Ablam ne kadar güzel bir elbise al*mış*! (If you use "aldı" (definite past tense), you cannot be surprised. It's about contents of tenses.)

4) First of all, what is a mother's dress?  Is it a dress that is worn by pregnant women? If so, the translation is:

    Kız kardeşim ne kadar güzel bir hamile elbisesi almış!


Hope it helps


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## NataliaZ

Thank you very much for the answer!

1) Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun!

Can you also say "Nasıl yüzüyorsun!" and "Nasıl yüzüyorsun?"?

2) Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!

Can you also say "Ne güzel bir elbise!" and "Nasıl güzel bir elbise!"?
Can you also say "Ne güzel bir elbise?" and "Nasıl güzel bir elbise?"?

3) Ablam ne kadar güzel bir elbise al*mış*! (If you use "aldı" (definite past tense), you cannot be surprised. It's about contents of tenses.)

OK, I see. I corrected my sentences. Could you please comment on each of them? Sorry for that but I am of high need for judgments of each sentence.
Ablam nasil güzel elbise almış!
Ablam nasil güzel elbise almış?
Ablam ne güzel elbise almış!
Ablam ne güzel elbise almış?
Ablam ne kadar güzel elbise almış?

4) First of all, what is a mother's dress?  Is it a dress that is worn by pregnant women? If so, the translation is:

    Kız kardeşim ne kadar güzel bir hamile elbisesi almış!

Interesting!  I meant first of all the dress that belongs to mother not necessarily pregnant.

I would highly appreciate your help that I need a lot.
Many thanks in advance!


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## spiraxo

Hi NataliaZ,

1) Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun!

*Can you also say "Nasıl yüzüyorsun!"* 


*Nasıl yüzüyorsun? = How do you swim?
*There may be two reasons to ask this question.
* I want to learn swimming,  tell me what to do to be able to swim. 
* I want to learn your speed, your style, etc. 
If not any of the above, please explain.


   2) Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!
*Can you also say "Ne güzel bir elbise!"* 

*and "Nasıl güzel bir elbise!"* 
However, there is one way to use this expression. If you tell a friend about your sister’s new dress, you can say *“Nasıl güzel bir elbise anlatamam!”*. It literally means “_I can not describe how beautiful the dress is!_”. 

*Can you also say "Ne güzel bir elbise?" * 
It is not a question. What do you want to know about this dress? We can express in meters how high a tower is, but we can not say how "much" beautiful a dress is, since beauty is an uncountable quality.

*and "Nasıl güzel bir elbise?" *
  When I ask a question with “_nasıl_”, I aim to know how you do or did, how it happens or how it is done, etc. Your sentence does not have the verb. In this case, what is your question?

  3) Ablam ne kadar güzel bir elbise almış! (If you use "aldı" (definite past tense), you cannot be surprised. It's about contents of tenses.)
  OK, I see. I corrected my sentences. Could you please comment on each of them? Sorry for that but I am of high need for judgments of each sentence.
*Ablam nasıl güzel elbise almış! No*
*Ablam nasıl güzel elbise almış?* maybe, depending on what you have in mind. Does she always buy ugly dresses? 
*Ablam ne güzel elbise almış!* *Yes! *
*Ablam ne güzel elbise almış?* *No*, What do you want to know?
*Ablam ne kadar güzel elbise almış?* *No*, What do you want to know? 


  Ne (kadar) güzel (bir) …!  

  Nasıl güzel …!     *No*

  Ne güzel …?   *No*

  Nasıl güzel ..? *No*, if the verb does not exist.


  Let’s wait other members’ comments to see if I missed something.

  Good Luck!


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## NataliaZ

Thank you very much!
What you wrote is very easy to read and comprehend. Thank you for that!
If you don't mind, I just want to ask you few more questions not to miss anything.

1.
*Can you also say "Nasıl yüzüyorsun!"* 

Could you please create an example where you can use "nasıl" only with verbs (without adverbs)?
I mean analogous constructions to "How you swim!" though grammatical ones.

2.
Can you say "Ne kadar güzel elbise?" as a question?

Thank you in advance!
Natalia


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## spiraxo

1.
Could you please create an example where you can use "nasıl" only with verbs (without adverbs)?
I mean analogous constructions to "How you swim!" though grammatical ones. 

*Ablam nasıl da beni düşünürmüş!* Having realized that your sister bought a beautiful dress for you too.
*Okula nasıl gitmez!*                                         Said by an angry parent upon discovering that his/her child skipped the school. see _nasıl_ in _http://tdkterim.gov.tr/bts/_

   2.
*Can you say "Ne kadar güzel elbise?" as a question?*  
This is not a question. By the way, what reply do you expect to this "question"? Less beautiful or more beautiful? 

   You can say *“Bu elbise güzel mi?”*. 

  I suggest you ask this question in English or tell us your possible replies to this question. Maybe we can understand your objective from your replies.


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## NataliaZ

Thank you a lot!
What's about the two following sentences?

What a beautiful mother's dress my sister wore!

My sister wore a beautiful mother's dress.

(Here "mother's" means "my mother's", not "pregnant")


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## NataliaZ

Sorry for multiple requests. I'm almost finishing.
Just a few more questions.
Do you think that the sentences "Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!", "Ne güzel bir elbise!" are exact translations of the English counterparts "How beautiful is the dress!"? Maybe these sentences correspond to the English sentence "What a beautiful dress!"?
I thought maybe the following sentences are better translations of English "How beautiful is this dress!". What do you say?

Ne güzel bu elbise!
Ne kadar güzel bu elbise!
Ne güzel bu elbise?
Ne kadar güzel bu elbise?

Or maybe they should be written like this?
Bu elbise ne güzel!
Bu elbise ne güzel?
Bu elbise ne kadar güzel!
Bu elbise ne kadar güzel?

Did I write correctly the following sentence?
Ablamın ne güzel elbise aldığına inanamayacaksın.
You won't believe what a beautiful dress my sister bought.

And finally, can you say so?
Nasıl güzel yüzüyorsun!
Nasıl güzel yüzüyorsun?

Abin nasıl hızlıkoşuyor!
Abin nasıl hızlıkoşuyor?

Thank you very much!


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## spiraxo

*What a beautiful mother's dress my sister wore!*
In this case, to tell two facts is a little bit awkward in Turkish. 
*Kızkardeşimin giydiği annemin elbisesi ne kadar (da) güzelmiş! *

*Annemin elbisesi kızkardeşime ne kadar (da) yakışmış!* , if you mean that your mother’s dress suits her well. This sentence does not say anything about the dress. We may deduce it being beautiful since you are surprised. 

My sister wore a beautiful mother's dress. 
Kızkardeşim annemin güzel bir elbisesini giydi.


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## spiraxo

Do you think that the sentences "Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!", "Ne güzel bir elbise!" are exact translations of the English counterparts "How beautiful is the dress!"? Maybe these sentences correspond to the English sentence "What a beautiful dress!"?

_"Ne kadar güzel bir elbise!" =  "Ne güzel bir elbise!" = "How beautiful the  dress is!" = "What a beautiful dress!"_


I thought maybe the following sentences are better translations of English "How beautiful is this dress!". What do you say?

Ne güzel bu elbise! Yes.
Ne kadar güzel bu elbise!  I suggest you use this structure.
Ne güzel bu elbise? This is not a question.
Ne kadar güzel bu elbise? Grammatically correct.

Or maybe they should be written like this?
Bu elbise ne güzel! Yes.
Bu elbise ne güzel? This is not a question.
Bu elbise ne kadar güzel!  I suggest you use this structure.
Bu elbise ne kadar güzel? Grammatically correct.

Did I write correctly the following sentence?
You won't believe what *a* beautiful dress my sister bought.
Ablamın ne *kadar* güzel *bir* elbise aldığına inanamayacaksın.
We can not omit _kadar _in this sentence.

And finally, can you say so?
Nasıl güzel yüzüyorsun!  You should say "_Ne  kadar güzel yüzüyorsun!_".
Nasıl güzel yüzüyorsun?  You should say _“Nasıl bu kadar güzel/hızlı/uzun yüzüyorsun?"._

Abin nasıl hızlı koşuyor!  I would say _“Abin ne kadar hızlı koşuyor!”_.
Abin nasıl hızlı koşuyor?  I would say _“Abin nasıl bu kadar hızlı koşuyor?”_ or _“Abin nasıl bu kadar hızlı koşabiliyor?”_.


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## NataliaZ

Thank you very much!!!
You helped me a lot!


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## NataliaZ

Sorry, can you say "_Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun_" as a question?
Does it mean "How good do you swim"?

Thaanks in advance!


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## Black4blue

NataliaZ said:


> Sorry, can you say "_Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun_" as a question?
> Does it mean "How good do you swim"?
> 
> Thaanks in advance!



How good do you swim? = Ne kadar *iyi* yüzüyorsun/yüzersin?


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## spiraxo

"_Ne kadar güzel yüzüyorsun?_" Grammatically correct.

I can describe_ güzel yüzmek _as_ swimming elegantly at a reasonable speed _-as we all do. 
At the moment I can’t think of a meaningful reply to this question. I will be glad to hear, if any.


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## Rallino

I think that one of the more natural ways of asking that question would be: *Yüzüşün nasıl ? *​(lit. How is your swimming?)


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