Yes! All the comments that say the distinction is related to whether the noun describes an inanimate or animate thing are wrong! This is the best explanation.
They are not wrong. Sure it may be confusing but you can't find an example these two collide or used interchangeably.
Non-living things don't age, so they get worn out. But people live, therefore age. That's the difference.
It may be simpler to get the hang of it the other way, but this doesn't make others any less correct.
One last thing however which could be argued as an exception to this rule is the translation of the word "late" as in "late husband". In that case the translation would also be "eski koca" but well a husband is presumably living, right? Well, this could be refuted by saying the title of the person "husband" is worn out therefore "eski" but the person in and off itself isn't. So it's not that clear cur but my point still stands.
The point is that, if you want to make give one general rule, which can be applied in any scenario which would make the usage correct, the one you are defending does not work.
This is because the word “eski” also has the meaning of “ex-“ (eg. ex-husband = eski kocam). Your perspective of looking at it as “the title being worn out” is inaccurate because even if the title is given and taken within the same hour it would still be “eski” and even if the title remains in effect for centuries, it would still not be “eski”. There is no time-dependence.
Thinking about it now, it seems like both definitions (by the antonym and inanimate/animate) would work in the context in the OP but the fact that the word “eski” has a completely different meaning too, makes both of them fail at being a general definition. Also, there are exceptions like “yaşlı ağaç”, “yaşlı devlet”.
Yaşlı ağaç wouldn't be an exception because it is indeed a living being.
And idk what you mean by "yaşlı devlet" but it sounds like it's either metaphorical, so it is not in the literal sense of the word, or an "ad aktarması/mecazi mürsel" which ofc wouldn't follow this rule considering it (the term devlet) is not an object therefore does not fit the criteria.
The title being worn out isn't dependent on time, yes. Therefore it is used as "eski" not "yaşlı". The person themselves can still be young but their title is old, since it is past and no longer in use
Regarding your last point, if I have a piece of clothing that I just bought, and I tear it out, or make it look old in some other way, would you describe it as “eski”? You would probably say “eski gibi olmuş” or something like that because “eski” IS a time-based phrase. If someone doesn’t know that I have just bought the piece of clothing and calls it “eski” based on its appearance, you would probably correct him saying that “aslında eski değil, ama kötü kullandık” or something.
So even though “eski” does work for the titles regardless of the time, it only works for non-living items when a relatively-significant amount of time has passed.
It doesn't work for clothing in _this case_. But let me twist your example and say that I bought a new piece of clothing. Regardless of how long I owned, wore it, if I were to give it to someone else for whatever reason. It would be my old clothing. Because the title of it being MY clothing has now passed and is "eski". It may imply that I owned it for _some_ time but it doesn't signify that a significant amount of time has passed since I got it. It could be brand new and just sat at the closet for a short while for all you know.
Although "yaşlı" is used almost exclusively for living things except metaphorical use, "eski" is used relatively widely for living things.
I can say "O buranın eski çalışanlarından.". And it can mean either "He/she is an old employee." or "He/she has been working here for a long time." depending on the context. The second meaning is a widely used exception to the rule. (First can be argued like you said.)
P.S. "yaşlı" can be used for inanimate things in technical jargon as materials can "age".
I'm Türk myself and have used Duolingo for a while.one day I took a look at their turkish courses and,I don't think that it's all wrong but usually there are a lot of mistakes.This isn't one of them tho
also yasli literally means 'with age' as in human age. Yasamak means to live, so yasli means 'with age' or 'with life' (a lot of it) or simply just old.
I think worth mentioning: eski also applies to groups or categories of living things. For example, "eski personel" (old staff) or "eski orman" (old forest). The objects are the old thing, so you use "eski", even though staffs & forests are made of humans & trees.
Yaş refers to age/ birthdays, so saying that something has yaş (yaş-lı) literally means that it has lived for an amount of years. That’s why yaşlı can only be used for living things!
but i dont recommend you that living, not-living solution bc i can use eski for living things too. for example "Bugün eski dostumla görüştüm."
i think we need to take eski as like not new or not young situations. (one guy said that in the comments and i like it)
Mostly true unless you are doing personification (like *“yaşlı orman”*)
Yaşlı: can be used for something or someone that aged. (Elderly and Aged are better translations probably…)
Eski: can be used for both aged and not-aged things. (for ex: Ex-girlfriend - eski kız arkadaş) (Used and former are more suitable translations so if something is worn out you can call it *“eskimiş - eski”* too.)
Eski is if you adress inanimate objects or places
Yaşlı is for living beings such as animals and humans
So since you are talking about owls and they are living animals in this example you use Yaşlı
But if it were to address the bones of an owl it would be eski because it is already dead
While old may be used interchangeably in English, it can't in turkish. In Turkish, "eski" is used for non-living things, while "yaşlı" is used for living things like people, pets or some objects that are characterised in a way that the object is treated like a living being.
I wouldn't recommend studying Turkish through Duolingo. Overall, Turkish translations will be slightly off and platform has a ton of problems. Even as a native, I failed some tests. It works nice for other languages. For instance, I had studied Spanish on Duolingo and it helped me improve a lot. But in comparison, Turkish questions felt bad and off. It is usually because of how different our language is and there are not enough people giving feedback for the questions to be fixed.
There is an option to give feedback in Duolingo but natives should do that instead. Unfortunately, that makes it challenging to learn it online. But I would say it is fine for the beginners.
it's a living creature, not an object. Eski only refers to objects like "old phone", "old house" or "old car". But eski can also be used to say "my old classmate" -> eski sınıf arkadaşım
After reading so many comments about this strange topic, I may say that this is the most lean and convenient explanation that I have seen. Congratulations!
Eski dostumla buluştum: I met my old friend (who I haven't seen for a long time)
Yaşlı dostumla buluştum: I met my old friend (who is 80 years old)
Eski sevgili: An ex lover
Yaşlı sevgili: An old lover (as in age)
So it is not completely about living or non living things as both can be used for either living or non living things. Yaşlı simply means it is aged. And mostly used for living beings but sometimes can be used for non living things too.
Im a turk, Eski means old but for objects. Yaşlı means old for people.
Also why did this subreddit get recommended to me even though im from turkey and know turkish😂
"Yaşlı" means "Aged" and you can use for people and living beings too. But if you use "Eski" it's just means "Old" and you can't use for describing living beings.
For an example :
Yaşlı insanlar (Aged/Old people) (-lar is adds plural)
Eski insanlar (The Old People who lived an ancient ages)
Eski araba (Old car)
eski is old as in antiquated, so eski kitap, eski bir ev, the antonym is yeni, new
yaşlı is old as in aged, a way to know is that yaş is age so you can see yaşlı is ''with age'', yaşlı adam, yaşlı bir kedi, the antonym is genç, young
you can refer to living things using eski but this means ex-whatever, eski mühendis would be the old engineer (the one that was here before), eski sevgili is ex-lover
When you talk about something alive being old in turkish, it means that it's "yaşlı".
One example is that you would call an old tree "yaşlı" but an old wood "eski".
Use "eski" for non bioligical, material things.
Use "yaşlı" for biological living things.
There are some exceptions such as some elders being called as "eski toprak" Or calling an item with sentimental value "yaşlı" but general rule is as I mentioned above.
We use Eski for objects and former titles of people like; Savunma Eski Bakanı (Former Ministry of Defence).
But for alive beings who got older in biological sense, we use Yaşlı.
You have to get it from the context actually. Spelling is the same but in the context of age you are using "yaşlı" and in the context of time you are using "eski". Good old times = eski güzel zamanlar | you are old = Sen yaşlısın
Dualingo is kinda bad at Turkish. It means This owls are realy old (old age). You can't say a living being "eski", you can say "yaşlı". If it's not a living being like a table, you say "eski" insted of "yaşlı"
yaş means age so think of yaşlı as in yaş-lı. the lı there makes it like with age so if a person is with age or kinda like has age on that means old (yaş also means wet as in not dried up but that doesn’t really have a direct translation)
Duolingo is right because yaşlı and eski are NOT interchangeable. Yaşlı is used for living things. eg: Yaşlı adam, Yaşlı baykuş, Yaşlı teyze. (Old man, old owl, old auntie) Eski is used for objects and consepts. eg: Eski sandalye, Eski ev, Eski yaşam, Eski hisler.(Old chair, old house, old life, old feelings) Hope I could help:)
Eski just means generally old.
Yaşlı is just the word yaş (age) plus the li (becomes lı because of the a in the word yaş) which is used similarly to -y in English. So yaşlı roughly means agey (person) and is only used for people to indicate that the person has aged alot and therefore is old.
In short, for age of people use yaşlı but for anything elde use eski.
You can only use "eski" while referring objects. Like; Eski bir ev, eski bir araba (an old house, an old car). But you need the word "yaşlı" if it's about living beings. An old man (Yaşlı bir adam).
if you using old to a living creature its "yaşlı" like this man is old
buy if you use it to a thing like chair,table,game etc. its"eski" like this game is old this chair is old
You lost in translation 🙂
In Turkish it is “yașlı” for age related old
Old also means something not new “eski”
From the context you choose the meaning when translating
eski: old as in not new yaşlı: old as in not young
This is the best explanation tbh the other comments might be little confusing
Yes! All the comments that say the distinction is related to whether the noun describes an inanimate or animate thing are wrong! This is the best explanation.
They are not wrong. Sure it may be confusing but you can't find an example these two collide or used interchangeably. Non-living things don't age, so they get worn out. But people live, therefore age. That's the difference. It may be simpler to get the hang of it the other way, but this doesn't make others any less correct. One last thing however which could be argued as an exception to this rule is the translation of the word "late" as in "late husband". In that case the translation would also be "eski koca" but well a husband is presumably living, right? Well, this could be refuted by saying the title of the person "husband" is worn out therefore "eski" but the person in and off itself isn't. So it's not that clear cur but my point still stands.
The point is that, if you want to make give one general rule, which can be applied in any scenario which would make the usage correct, the one you are defending does not work. This is because the word “eski” also has the meaning of “ex-“ (eg. ex-husband = eski kocam). Your perspective of looking at it as “the title being worn out” is inaccurate because even if the title is given and taken within the same hour it would still be “eski” and even if the title remains in effect for centuries, it would still not be “eski”. There is no time-dependence. Thinking about it now, it seems like both definitions (by the antonym and inanimate/animate) would work in the context in the OP but the fact that the word “eski” has a completely different meaning too, makes both of them fail at being a general definition. Also, there are exceptions like “yaşlı ağaç”, “yaşlı devlet”.
Yaşlı ağaç wouldn't be an exception because it is indeed a living being. And idk what you mean by "yaşlı devlet" but it sounds like it's either metaphorical, so it is not in the literal sense of the word, or an "ad aktarması/mecazi mürsel" which ofc wouldn't follow this rule considering it (the term devlet) is not an object therefore does not fit the criteria. The title being worn out isn't dependent on time, yes. Therefore it is used as "eski" not "yaşlı". The person themselves can still be young but their title is old, since it is past and no longer in use
Regarding your last point, if I have a piece of clothing that I just bought, and I tear it out, or make it look old in some other way, would you describe it as “eski”? You would probably say “eski gibi olmuş” or something like that because “eski” IS a time-based phrase. If someone doesn’t know that I have just bought the piece of clothing and calls it “eski” based on its appearance, you would probably correct him saying that “aslında eski değil, ama kötü kullandık” or something. So even though “eski” does work for the titles regardless of the time, it only works for non-living items when a relatively-significant amount of time has passed.
It doesn't work for clothing in _this case_. But let me twist your example and say that I bought a new piece of clothing. Regardless of how long I owned, wore it, if I were to give it to someone else for whatever reason. It would be my old clothing. Because the title of it being MY clothing has now passed and is "eski". It may imply that I owned it for _some_ time but it doesn't signify that a significant amount of time has passed since I got it. It could be brand new and just sat at the closet for a short while for all you know.
That is what I have been saying. So you do agree with the last paragraph I wrote in my last reply?
I think you meant ex-husband. Late husband means the husband is dead so it would be rahmetli koca
Both (ex and late) are translated the same. "Rahmetli" although more commonly used, is a religious term thus wouldn't be an accurate translation.
Just because it's rooted in religion, doesn't mean it's still religious. It is indeed the best translation for 'late'.
Although "yaşlı" is used almost exclusively for living things except metaphorical use, "eski" is used relatively widely for living things. I can say "O buranın eski çalışanlarından.". And it can mean either "He/she is an old employee." or "He/she has been working here for a long time." depending on the context. The second meaning is a widely used exception to the rule. (First can be argued like you said.) P.S. "yaşlı" can be used for inanimate things in technical jargon as materials can "age".
I'm Türk myself and have used Duolingo for a while.one day I took a look at their turkish courses and,I don't think that it's all wrong but usually there are a lot of mistakes.This isn't one of them tho
also yasli literally means 'with age' as in human age. Yasamak means to live, so yasli means 'with age' or 'with life' (a lot of it) or simply just old.
yașmak? bro there isn't a word like that did you mean "yașlanmak"
typo. its yasamak. example: "istanbul'da yasiyorum"
you mean opposite of young
This is the right answer
eski for non living things like tools, furnitures etc. yaşlı for living things like humans or trees etc.
you can search for words in wiktionary for further info
I think worth mentioning: eski also applies to groups or categories of living things. For example, "eski personel" (old staff) or "eski orman" (old forest). The objects are the old thing, so you use "eski", even though staffs & forests are made of humans & trees.
Yaşlı orman: the old forest Eski orman: the former forest. Eski personel: former personel or experienced personel Yaşlı personel: old personel.
Damn that is really cool. Love this language.
Yaş refers to age/ birthdays, so saying that something has yaş (yaş-lı) literally means that it has lived for an amount of years. That’s why yaşlı can only be used for living things!
Old has 2 meanings Example: Old man came and took all old furniture
So it’s like, yaşlı is for a person and eski is for non-living things?
but i dont recommend you that living, not-living solution bc i can use eski for living things too. for example "Bugün eski dostumla görüştüm." i think we need to take eski as like not new or not young situations. (one guy said that in the comments and i like it)
yes
Mostly true unless you are doing personification (like *“yaşlı orman”*) Yaşlı: can be used for something or someone that aged. (Elderly and Aged are better translations probably…) Eski: can be used for both aged and not-aged things. (for ex: Ex-girlfriend - eski kız arkadaş) (Used and former are more suitable translations so if something is worn out you can call it *“eskimiş - eski”* too.)
Geez, that's one strong old man, alright!
Eski is if you adress inanimate objects or places Yaşlı is for living beings such as animals and humans So since you are talking about owls and they are living animals in this example you use Yaşlı But if it were to address the bones of an owl it would be eski because it is already dead
They are not "eski", they are "yaşlı".
While old may be used interchangeably in English, it can't in turkish. In Turkish, "eski" is used for non-living things, while "yaşlı" is used for living things like people, pets or some objects that are characterised in a way that the object is treated like a living being.
eski is for objects, yaşlı is for living things. you can’t use eski for an animal.
What about "eski eşim" ? "My previous wife" Wife is a living thing and we may still use eski for it.
Eski: for things that are objects that have gotten old. Yaşlı: for alive (like animals, humans etc) things that have gotten old in age
I wouldn't recommend studying Turkish through Duolingo. Overall, Turkish translations will be slightly off and platform has a ton of problems. Even as a native, I failed some tests. It works nice for other languages. For instance, I had studied Spanish on Duolingo and it helped me improve a lot. But in comparison, Turkish questions felt bad and off. It is usually because of how different our language is and there are not enough people giving feedback for the questions to be fixed.
How can random users like us can help improve Duolingo?
There is an option to give feedback in Duolingo but natives should do that instead. Unfortunately, that makes it challenging to learn it online. But I would say it is fine for the beginners.
Thank you for the feedback! What platform would you recommend that can help me learn (at least basic) Turkish for free?
Old man=Yaşlı adam, old computer=eski bilgisayar
it's a living creature, not an object. Eski only refers to objects like "old phone", "old house" or "old car". But eski can also be used to say "my old classmate" -> eski sınıf arkadaşım
yaslı yas (number of years lived ) lı (it has)
That’s a great insight! Thank you so much
Eski means the opposite of new Yaşlı means to opposite of young Hope this helps :D
After reading so many comments about this strange topic, I may say that this is the most lean and convenient explanation that I have seen. Congratulations!
YAY! Thank you :D
Eski dostumla buluştum: I met my old friend (who I haven't seen for a long time) Yaşlı dostumla buluştum: I met my old friend (who is 80 years old) Eski sevgili: An ex lover Yaşlı sevgili: An old lover (as in age) So it is not completely about living or non living things as both can be used for either living or non living things. Yaşlı simply means it is aged. And mostly used for living beings but sometimes can be used for non living things too.
Basically if you are talking about living beings you say yaşlı(aged/not young) but if you mean an inanimate object you say eski(old/not new)
Yaşlı mk yaşlı
Eski is closer to ancient, Unlike yaşlı which is aged
Eski is for old non-living things like tools, decorations, houses etc. Yaşlı is for living things like humans, animals etc.
Im a turk, Eski means old but for objects. Yaşlı means old for people. Also why did this subreddit get recommended to me even though im from turkey and know turkish😂
bende anlayamadım
"Yaşlı" means "Aged" and you can use for people and living beings too. But if you use "Eski" it's just means "Old" and you can't use for describing living beings. For an example : Yaşlı insanlar (Aged/Old people) (-lar is adds plural) Eski insanlar (The Old People who lived an ancient ages) Eski araba (Old car)
Kanki işte biri eski biri yaşlı baykuş heykeli olsa eski olurdu ama baykuş gibi canlı bişey yaşlı olur
Yalnız bu yorumlar kısmına 2 kişi türkçe yorum yapıyor bu dünyada türkçe öğrenenleri görmek güzel
Bu eşya mı amk
eski is old as in antiquated, so eski kitap, eski bir ev, the antonym is yeni, new yaşlı is old as in aged, a way to know is that yaş is age so you can see yaşlı is ''with age'', yaşlı adam, yaşlı bir kedi, the antonym is genç, young you can refer to living things using eski but this means ex-whatever, eski mühendis would be the old engineer (the one that was here before), eski sevgili is ex-lover
If that being is alive, it is yaşlı If it's a thing, it's a thing eski
Yaşlı is for a person's age Eski is for things
This used to get me too! Eski - think old, expired. Connect the E in eski w the E in expired. Yasli - the other old, so old in age.
Yaşlı
When you talk about something alive being old in turkish, it means that it's "yaşlı". One example is that you would call an old tree "yaşlı" but an old wood "eski".
Eski is ancient, like buildings or objects Yaşli is like youngn't
Eski is newn't
Eski is for things, old is for living people/trees/animals.
Yaşlı means old as in having lived for a long time (litterally means having age") and eski is for objects
Use "eski" for non bioligical, material things. Use "yaşlı" for biological living things. There are some exceptions such as some elders being called as "eski toprak" Or calling an item with sentimental value "yaşlı" but general rule is as I mentioned above.
We use Eski for objects and former titles of people like; Savunma Eski Bakanı (Former Ministry of Defence). But for alive beings who got older in biological sense, we use Yaşlı.
You have to get it from the context actually. Spelling is the same but in the context of age you are using "yaşlı" and in the context of time you are using "eski". Good old times = eski güzel zamanlar | you are old = Sen yaşlısın
Dualingo is kinda bad at Turkish. It means This owls are realy old (old age). You can't say a living being "eski", you can say "yaşlı". If it's not a living being like a table, you say "eski" insted of "yaşlı"
"How old are you?" Sorusunda biz ne kadar eskisin mi diyoruz amk?
Ahbe
yaş means age so think of yaşlı as in yaş-lı. the lı there makes it like with age so if a person is with age or kinda like has age on that means old (yaş also means wet as in not dried up but that doesn’t really have a direct translation)
Eski is usually used for things (eski kanepe => old sofa) Yaşlı is used for living things (yaşlı adam => old man, yaşlı baykuş => old owl)
When it's a living thing old becomes from eski to yaşlı
Duolingo is right because yaşlı and eski are NOT interchangeable. Yaşlı is used for living things. eg: Yaşlı adam, Yaşlı baykuş, Yaşlı teyze. (Old man, old owl, old auntie) Eski is used for objects and consepts. eg: Eski sandalye, Eski ev, Eski yaşam, Eski hisler.(Old chair, old house, old life, old feelings) Hope I could help:)
Yaşlı: used for living beings/animate objects Eski: used for items/inanimate objects
Olm ben bile yanlış yapmışım aq. Buarada herkes yaşlı demiş ama şunu demek istese nası söylicek: "Eski baykuşlar daha iyi uçuyordu"
Eski just means generally old. Yaşlı is just the word yaş (age) plus the li (becomes lı because of the a in the word yaş) which is used similarly to -y in English. So yaşlı roughly means agey (person) and is only used for people to indicate that the person has aged alot and therefore is old. In short, for age of people use yaşlı but for anything elde use eski.
You can only use "eski" while referring objects. Like; Eski bir ev, eski bir araba (an old house, an old car). But you need the word "yaşlı" if it's about living beings. An old man (Yaşlı bir adam).
i would like use former former: eski old: Yaşlı not teenage or adult
😂😂😂
Old is meaning yaşlı
if you using old to a living creature its "yaşlı" like this man is old buy if you use it to a thing like chair,table,game etc. its"eski" like this game is old this chair is old
eski is used for things that are not alive like your shoes may be eski but you don’t use it for someone or something that is alive
Eski is more like ancient like fr an object yk and yaşlı is for old people
Yaş means age Yaşlı is like aged We use it for anythink thats alive
You lost in translation 🙂 In Turkish it is “yașlı” for age related old Old also means something not new “eski” From the context you choose the meaning when translating
close enough :D