# Can you swim?



## James Bates

A Turk asked me if I knew English. Being a native speaker of English I replied:

Balığa "Yüzmeyi bilir misin?" diye sorulur mu?

Should I have said the following instead?

Balığa "Yüzmeyi biliyor musun?" diye sorulur mu?

Or do they mean the same thing?


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## turgayevski

yes they mean the same thing but "Yüzmeyi biliyor musun?" more common. Also could say Balığa "Yüzme biliyor musun?" diye sorulur mu?


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## bouquinistesofunderworld

In English you can't simply say 'I'm knowing' but in Turkish you can both use Bilirim (I know) and Biliyorum (I'm knowing.)
There are many examples like this.
For instance the verb "sevmek." You can both say 'severim' (I like) and 'seviyorum' (I'm liking)

Balık yemeyi severim/ seviyorum. ( I like eating fish)


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## James Bates

serzt said:


> In English you can't simply say 'I'm knowing' but in Turkish you can both use Bilirim (I know) and Biliyorum (I'm knowing.)
> There are many examples like this.
> For instance the verb "sevmek." You can both say 'severim' (I like) and 'seviyorum' (I'm liking)
> 
> Balık yemeyi severim/ seviyorum. ( I like eating fish)



So which of the following would be better?

Balığa "Yüzmeyi bilir misin?" diye sorulur mu?

Balığa "Yüzmeyi biliyor musun?" diye sorulur mu?


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## bouquinistesofunderworld

James Bates said:


> So which of the following would be better?
> 
> Balığa "Yüzmeyi bilir misin?" diye sorulur mu?
> 
> Balığa "Yüzmeyi biliyor musun?" diye sorulur mu?



Since this is a narrative, I guess 'bilir misin' would sound so much better.


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## WildWest

James Bates said:


> So which of the following would be better?
> 
> Balığa "Yüzmeyi bilir misin?" diye sorulur mu?
> 
> Balığa "Yüzmeyi biliyor musun?" diye sorulur mu?



Hello, James 

The latter sounds more natural to me. Though, I'd rather use the following instead:

"Balığa 'Yüzme biliyor musun?' diye sorulur mu?"


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## eric cartmant

Hi James, just a note on Turkish.

Do you smoke? --- (literal translation to Turkish : sigara içer misin?) but (actual translation to Turkish : sigara içiyor/kullanıyor musun?)

Turkish does not have 'will' modal verb in the sense that English does. Simple present tense in Turkish is used as offer just like 'will' in English. Present continuous tense (-yor) in Turkish is more appropriate if you want to express an habit or general behavior. As an example of accurate translation

sigara içer misin? --- will you smoke?
sigara içiyor/kullanıyor musun? ---- do you smoke?

As for your 'yüzme' question, both work fine because context is clear. For verbs bil-, sev- it is obvious that you are talking about an habit, not offer. But be careful:

Yüzer misin? ----> 'will/would you swim?'. You can't translate this as 'do you swim?' because in Turkish this is like offer and expectation, not a question on your ability.
do you swim? ----> 'yüzmeyi biliyor musun?' or 'yüzmeyi bilir misin?'


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## James Bates

So if you wanted to ask somebody "Do you swim?" (i.e. as a habit or hobby) would you have to say "Yüziyor musun?" Or is there any other way of expressing this?


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## WildWest

James Bates said:


> So if you wanted to ask somebody "Do you swim?" (i.e. as a habit or hobby) would you have to say "Yüziyor musun?" Or is there any other way of expressing this?


I would say "Yüzüyor musun?", but I'm not uncomfortable with "Yüzer misin?" although it may sound like an offer to a non-native speaker of Turkish and also it sounds a little less natural to me. If you want to avoid that, you may add adverbs of frequency.

"Sık sık yüzer misin?"

or one can say the following too:

"Sık sık yüzüyor musun?"

Keep eric's explanation in mind. It's a good point that he drew attention to.


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