Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 276
20.3 yok
The negative existential expression yok ‘non-existent’ is the negated form of var
‘existent’ (12.1.1.2):
(32) Evde bir tane bile fazla ampul yok.
‘There isn’t even one spare light bulb in the house.’
(33) Çorbanın tuzu yok.
‘The soup doesn’t have any salt [in it].’
yok can also be used in a double negative construction with değil:
(34) Maaşımdan şikayetim yok değil ama idare ediyorum işte.
‘I’m not without complaints about my salary, but I get by all the same.’
In colloquial speech, yok is commonly used as the negative response to a question,
instead of hayır ‘no’:
(35) A.- Bugün sinemaya gidecek misin?
‘Will you be going to the cinema today?’
B.- Yok (gitmeyeceğim).
‘No (I won’t).’
See 28.3.4.9 and 28.3.5 (ii) for the usages of yok as a connective.
Where a negative linking sentence includes a locative-marked expression, yok and
değil are interchangeable (cf. 12.1.1.2, (19)–(20)):
(36) Semra parti-de değil-di/yok-tu.
party-LOC not-P.COP/absent-P.COP
‘Semra wasn’t at the party.’
Note that when yok is used, the position of the locative noun phrase (partide ‘at the
party’) is not fixed in the sentence, whereas when değil is used the locative-marked noun
phrase has to immediately precede it.
20.4 THE NEGATIVE CONNECTIVE ne…ne ‘NEITHER…NOR’
ne…ne is a negative connective where each ne attaches to a phrase (either simple or
complex). The last ne conjunct can be emphasized by using de:
(37) Ne yabancılar ne (de) mahalle halkı otobüs turlarından memnunlar.
‘Neither the foreigners nor the locals are happy with the coach tours.’
(38) Görüşmeler hakkında ne hükümetten, ne iş adamlarından, ne (de) işçi
sendikalarından bir bilgi alamadık.
‘We weren’t able to get any information about the negotiations from either the
government, the businessmen or the trade unions.’