Aslı : Aaa isn’t that Banu?
Zeynep : Yes. That’s her.
Aslı : Who is that next to her?
Kaan : Allah Allah* How can I know that?
Aslı : Ay I am very curious. Just asking.
Kaan : Go and ask her.
Aslı : I don’t know him. Zeynep is telling though. Go ahead.
Zeynep : I don’t know his name, but he is Banu’s new boyfriend.
Aslı : Isn’t Banu dating Ozan?
Kaan isn’t Banu in your class.
Kaan : Yes.
Zeynep : They broke up. He is Banu’s new boyfriend. He is new at school as well.
Aslı : Really? Where did he come from?
Kaan : How am I supposed to know? Space?
Aslı : Kaan, please take care of your own business
Zeynep : This guy was also in your class, right?
Kaan : Yes.
Aslı : Did Banu and Ozan break up after he came?
Zeynep : Aa No. They broke up before he came.
Aslı : We haven’t heard.
Kaan : Oh no, they forgot to tell you.
***You may read the related blog post below to understand cultural and linguistics context better.
Sometimes, while translating from Turkish into English, past indefinite tense may be translated as present perfect tense, giving similar meaning. However when there are two past indefinite events in English, the one ocuring earlier is written in past perfect tense followed by the next event in past indefinite tense.That’s for sure. What do you say. Ne dersiniz?
Kaan : Nereden bileyim canım, uzaydan gelmiş.
Kaan :
How come I know; he has come from far.
Aslı :
Banu’yla Ozan bu çocuk geldikten sonra mı ayrılmış?
Aslı :
Did Banu and Ozan break up after he had came?
Zeynep :
Aa Hayır. Bu çocuk gelmeden önce ayrılmışlar. Zeynep :
Aa No. They broke up before he had came.
I agree with you, I am not a professional translator, but in some cases we can use past perfect tense while translating, but the basic difference between indefinite and definite tenses comes from the fact that events are conveyed as either witnessed or heard from another source. “-miş” past tense (indefinite) changed the meaning a lot in Turkish. I think the best solution is to use some conjunctions to give the same meaning such as “apparently, what I hear/from what I’ve heard”
Thanks again for your interest and suggestion.
Ayşin Önder