Lütfen and rica ederim: two pleases
The English 'please' does two jobs at once: it makes a request and it answers a thank-you. Turkish split these jobs between two different words, and putting one in place of the other is not rude — it is simply incomprehensible. For example: “Bir çay, lütfen” — One tea, please. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The English 'please' does two jobs at once: it makes a request and it answers a thank-you. Turkish split these jobs between two different words, and putting one in place of the other is not rude — it is simply incomprehensible.
lütfen lives in the request. It stands next to what is being asked for, most often at the end: bir çay, lütfen, bir daha, lütfen — again, please. It is never said in answer to a thank-you.
rica ederim answers the thanks — literally 'I ask'. Between your own the same thing sounds shorter: ne demek, 'what is there to speak of'. To a teşekkürler either of these two fits, and lütfen fits in neither.
One caveat keeps this from being 'the answer word only'. Rica etmek is a real verb, 'to ask', and in book-and-office turns of phrase it does frame a request: gereğini rica ederim — 'I ask that the necessary be done', the standard closing line of an official letter. Seeing it, do not decide it is a mistake: it is another register. In a live request across the counter a Turk will say lütfen.
Table
| the situation | what is said | word for word |
|---|---|---|
| a request | lütfen | please |
| the answer to thanks | rica ederim | "I ask" — don’t mention it |
| the answer among your own | ne demek | "what is there to speak of" |
| a request in an official letter | rica ederim | "I ask" — the bookish register, not for talk |
By example
- Bir çay, lütfenOne tea, please
- Teşekkürler. — Rica ederim.Thank you. — Don’t mention it.
- Tekrar eder misiniz, lütfen?Could you repeat that, please?
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Lütfen or rica ederim: which please?
The English 'please' does two jobs at once: it makes a request and it answers a thank-you. Turkish split these jobs between two different words, and putting one in place of the other is not rude — it is simply incomprehensible.
How to reply to teşekkürler?
lütfen lives in the request. It stands next to what is being asked for, most often at the end: bir çay, lütfen, bir daha, lütfen — again, please. It is never said in answer to a thank-you.
How to say you are welcome in Turkish?
rica ederim answers the thanks — literally 'I ask'. Between your own the same thing sounds shorter: ne demek, 'what is there to speak of'. To a teşekkürler either of these two fits, and lütfen fits in neither.
Why lütfen is not the answer to thank you?
One caveat keeps this from being 'the answer word only'. Rica etmek is a real verb, 'to ask', and in book-and-office turns of phrase it does frame a request: gereğini rica ederim — 'I ask that the necessary be done', the standard closing line of an official letter. Seeing it, do not decide it is a…
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Bir çay, lütfen” — One tea, please. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.