In the Turkish language, a different name is used for almost every member of a family. When you start learning Turkish, it can sometimes cause confusion. Therefore this overview.
Names for family in Dutch
The Dutch language is quite simple with regard to family names.
Take the word aunt, for example.
This can mean:
- your mother’s sister
- your father’s sister
- the wife of a brother of your mother
- the wife of a brother of your father
The other names such as uncle, brother-in-law, sister-in-law are also not unified. Often an explanation follows which person is exactly meant by the term used. This system may be confusing, but it is easy for a foreigner trying to learn Dutch.
Names for family in Turkish
Unfortunately, if you’re trying to learn Turkish, you have a much harder time. So there are no general names as in the above example of aunt, but there is a different term for almost every member of the (in-marriage) family. One exception concerns the the. This is both the father of mother and father of father.
An overview:
- the the: the father of mother and father of father
- babaanne: the mother of father
- anneanne: mother’s mother
- amca: father’s brother
- dayı: mother’s brother
- teyze: mother’s sister
- hala: father’s sister
- abi: an older brother
- abla: an older sister
- erekek kardeş: a younger brother
- kız kardeş: a younger sister
- enişte: the husband of a sister, is also used for the husband of teyze and hala
- yenge: a brother’s wife, is also used for amca and dayı’s wife
- görümce: a sister of your husband
- baldız: a sister of your wife
- elti: the wife of a brother of your husband
- bacanak: the husband of your wife’s sister
- gelin: your son’s wife
- damat: your daughter’s husband
cousins
The word to choose means cousin and the word kuzin means niece.
In practice, however, these are rarely used, but the following names are preferred:
- amca oğlu: son of a brother of father
- dayı oğlu: son of a brother of mother
- teyze oğlu: son of a sister of mother
- hala oğlu: son of a sister of father
- amca kızı: daughter of a brother of father
- dayı kızı: daughter of a brother of mother
- teyze kızı: daughter of a sister of mother
- hala kızı: daughter of a sister of father