daire
“daire” — apartment in Turkish. Noun, level A1, topic — home and things. A flat in a building — this is the word in every rental ad. daire is also "a circle" in geometry. In a live sentence: “Yeni bir daire arıyorum” — I am looking for a new apartment. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 194 words in the set “home and things” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | daire |
| Translation | apartment |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
- daireapartment
Why it looks that way
A flat in a building — this is the word in every rental ad. daire is also "a circle" in geometry.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Yeni bir daire arıyorumI am looking for a new apartment
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- evhome"To home" is eve, "at home" is evde. Direction and place take different endings.
- odaroomThe root of "odalisque" — "the woman of the room". Flats are counted by rooms: "2+1" means two rooms and a living room.
- mutfakkitchenBoth the room and the cuisine: Türk mutfağı is "Turkish cuisine". The k in the middle softens into ğ.
- banyobathroomItalian bagno. Both the room and the washing itself: banyo yapmak is "to take a bath".
- balkonbalconyA French loanword — Turkish has hundreds like it: balkon, asansör, kuaför, şoför.
- katfloor (story)Both a floor of a building and a layer: kat kat is "in layers". The ground floor is usually zemin kat — "on the ground".
- asansörelevatorö with rounded lips, tongue as for "e": a-san-SUR
- merdivenstairsThe staircase in the building and a step ladder alike. merdivenle is "by stairs", on foot.
- masatableFrom Greek. masada is "on the table": the same -da ending as in the familiar evde.
- sandalyechairy as in "yes": san-dal-YE
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “apartment” in Turkish?
A flat in a building — this is the word in every rental ad. daire is also "a circle" in geometry.
- How do you say “elevator” in Turkish?
From French ascenseur, ö included. In older buildings there may be none at all.
- How do you say “kitchen” in Turkish?
Both the room and the cuisine: Türk mutfağı is "Turkish cuisine". The k in the middle softens into ğ.
- How do you say “chair” in Turkish?
An Arabic word. A long word for a simple thing — that happens often in Turkish.
- How do you say “floor (story)” in Turkish?
Both a floor of a building and a layer: kat kat is "in layers". The ground floor is usually zemin kat — "on the ground".
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “apartment” in Turkish?
«daire». In a live sentence: “Yeni bir daire arıyorum” — I am looking for a new apartment. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
A flat in a building — this is the word in every rental ad. daire is also "a circle" in geometry. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.