B1 · Expressions and particles · about 7 minutes
Even and whereas: “bile” and “ise”
even, not even, as for …
Two little words after the word they mean: one heightens, one contrasts.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 2 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need4
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- selamhi (casual)
- benI
- içinside; in
- keztime (occasion)
Understand
Rememberbile “even” and ise “whereas” come after the word they mean.
- Signal words
- bile
- ise
- hatta
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Turkish.
negation
| even | çocuklar bile · bugün bile |
| not even | selam bile vermedi |
| whereas (separate) | ben ise · Mehmet ise |
| whereas (attached) | bense · Mehmet'se |
| after a vowel | kardeşiyse · Ayşe'yse |
| already (in conversation) | gitti bile |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
bile means “even” and comes after the word.
Çocuklar bile bunu biliyor.Even the children know that.
With a negative: “not even”.
Bana selam bile vermedi.He didn’t even say hello to me.
bile never changes.
Pazar günü bile çalışıyor.She even works on Sundays.
ise contrasts: “whereas”.
Ayşe çay içiyor, Mehmet ise kahve.Ayşe drinks tea, whereas Mehmet drinks coffee.
Attached: -se/-sa, with y after a vowel.
Bense evde kaldım.As for me, I stayed at home.
Example sentences
O kadar yorgundum ki yemek bile yemedim.I was so tired that I didn’t even eat.
Bu soruyu öğretmen bile bilemedi.Not even the teacher could answer this question.
Kışın bile denize giriyor.He even goes swimming in the sea in winter.
6 more example sentences
Ben denizi seviyorum, eşim ise dağları.I love the sea, whereas my husband loves the mountains.
Hafta içi çok çalışıyorum, hafta sonu ise dinleniyorum.I work a lot during the week, but at the weekend I rest.
Bir kez bile aramadı.He didn’t call even once.
Elif İstanbul'da yaşıyor, kardeşiyse Berlin'de.Elif lives in İstanbul, while her sister lives in Berlin.
Otobüs gitti bile.The bus has already gone.
Bense hiçbir şey bilmiyordum.I, on the other hand, knew nothing.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English “even” comes before the word it refers to: “even the children”. bile comes after it, like de “too”. At the start of a sentence it has nothing to refer to.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
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Next on the path: 83 · The participle in “-en”: the man who comesBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
bile means “even” and comes after the word it refers to: Çocuklar bile bunu biliyor. “Even the children know that.” With a negative verb it means “not even”: Bana selam bile vermedi. “He didn’t even say hello to me.” bile never changes.
ise contrasts two things, like “whereas”, “while” or “as for”: Ayşe çay içiyor, Mehmet ise kahve. “Ayşe is drinking tea, whereas Mehmet is having coffee.”
Often ise is attached to the word as an ending and then follows two-way harmony: -se/-sa, after a vowel -yse/-ysa. Bense “as for me”, onlarsa, kardeşiyse, after a name with an apostrophe: Mehmet'se.
In conversation bile after a verb in the past also means “already”: Otobüs gitti bile. “The bus has already gone.”
A closer look
“ise” and the condition
You also know the ending -se as a condition: gelirse “if he comes”. On a noun without a verb it usually means “as for”: Mehmet'se gelmedi. “Mehmet, however, didn’t come.” Both come from the same ise; the sentence shows which is meant.
“dahi” and “hatta”
dahi means the same as bile and sounds more formal. hatta starts a phrase and means “in fact, even”: Çok iyi Türkçe konuşuyor, hatta şarkı söylüyor. “He speaks Turkish very well — in fact he even sings.”
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English puts “even” before the word and says “not even” with the negative. Turkish puts bile after it, and whether it is “even” or “not even” is decided by the verb.
Annem bile geldi. Annem bile gelmedi.Even my mother came. Not even my mother came.
Worth knowing
“ise” instead of “but”
Where English contrasts two things with “but”, “while” or “whereas”, Turkish likes to use ise. The verb can then be left out of the second part.
Annem çay seviyor, babam ise kahve.My mother likes tea, my father coffee.
The verbs on this page, in every form: çalışmak · içmek · yemek · sevmek · bilmek · girmek · dinlenmek