There Are 5 Fundamental Tenses in Turkish

There are 5 fundamental tenses in Turkish. These are:

1. Present simple tense (Geniş zaman)

2. Present continuous tense (Şimdiki zaman)

3. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)

4. Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tense

5. Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) --> Also called the story

past tense

In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense

and the future tense. Rest will be covered in the intermediate level

lessons.

To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons

and their meanings:

gelmek --> to come

gitmek --> to go

okumak --> to read

kapatmak --> to close

koşmak --> to run

aramak --> to call

konuşmak --> to talk

vermek --> to give

kaynamak --> to boil

çalışmak --> to work

yemek --> to eat

beklemek --> to wait

The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some

important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense:

The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is

positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.

o Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense

+ present tense to be

o This is different only for the regular past tense, where past

tense form of to be is used.

1. Present continuous tense (Şimdiki zaman)

The suffix for present continuous tense is -iyor. Present continuous tense

is used, very much like the one in English:

To tell what you are currently doing

o I am working now. --> Şimdi çalışıyorum.

o I am eating ice cream. --> Dondurma yiyorum.

To tell something you will do in the close future

o Wait, I'm coming in 5 minutes. --> Bekle, 5 dakika içinde

geliyorum.

Present continuous tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for

nouns and adjectives.

Present continuous tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + (negative) + iyor + present tense to be

If the verb you want to add the suffix -iyor ends with a vowel, drop the

last vowel and add -iyor. Otherwise, just simply add -iyor. Be careful

about the vowel harmony rules for the 'i' of -iyor. Let's see how a verb is

put into present continuous tense on the following examples:

gel-iyor --> geliyor --> he is coming

git-iyor-im --> gidiyorum --> i am going

oku-iyor --> okuyor --> he is reading

kapat-iyor-iz --> kapatıyoruz --> we are closing

koş-iyor --> koşuyor --> he is running

ara-iyor-sin --> arıyorsun --> you are calling

konuş-iyor --> konuşuyor --> he is talking

ver-me-iyor --> vermiyor --> he is not giving

ye-me-iyor --> yemiyor --> he is not eating

gel-me-iyor-siniz --> gelmiyorsunuz --> you are not coming (plural you)

And let's see how present continuous tense is used with different cases of

person.

English Turkish

to come --> gelmek

i am coming (ben) geliyor-im --> geliyorum

you are coming (sen) geliyor-sin --> geliyorsun

he  \

she  |  is

coming

it    /

(o) geliyor

we are coming (biz) geliyor-iz --> geliyoruz

you are coming (siz) geliyor-siniz --> geliyorsunuz

they are coming (onlar) geliyor-ler --> geliyorlar

In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense

and the future tense. Rest will be covered in the intermediate level

lessons.

To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons

and their meanings:

gelmek --> to come

gitmek --> to go

okumak --> to read

kapatmak --> to close

koşmak --> to run

aramak --> to call

konuşmak --> to talk

vermek --> to give

kaynamak --> to boil

çalışmak --> to work

yemek --> to eat

beklemek --> to wait

The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some

important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense:

The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is

positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.

o Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense

+ present tense to be

o This is different only for the regular past tense, where past

tense form of to be is used.

2. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)The suffix for future tense in Turkish is -ecek. There are not two different

cases like in Englishwill and is going to. Future tense is always

constructed using the suffix -ecek. The uses of the Turkish future tense is

just like a union of the uses of will and going to in English.

To express any action that will take place in the future.

Future tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and

adjectives.

Future tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + (negative) + ecek + present tense to be

When you want to append the suffix -ecek to a verb that ends with a

vowel, you add the fusion consonant 'y' between the verb and the suffix to

separate the two vowels. Otherwise, just simply add the suffix -ecek. Be

careful about the harmony rules though, as always. Let's see how future

tense is obtained using some example verbs:

gel-ecek --> gelecek --> he will come

git-ecek-im --> gideceğim --> I will go

oku-ecek-sin --> okuyacaksın --> you will read

kapat-ecek-iz --> kapatacağız --> we will close

koş-ecek-siniz --> koşacaksınız --> you will run (plural you)

ara-ecek-ler --> arayacaklar --> they will call

konuş-me-ecek --> konuşmayacak --> he will not talk

ver-me-ecek-sin --> vermeyeceksin --> you will not give

To see the use of future tense with different cases of person, check the

following table:

English Turkish

to close --> kapatmak

i will close (ben) kapatacak-im --> kapatacağım

you will close (sen) kapatacak-sin --> kapatacaksın

he  \

she  |  will

close

it    /

(o) kapatacak

we will close (biz) kapatacak-iz --> kapatacağız

you will close (siz) kapatacak-siniz --> kapatacaksınız

they will close (onlar) kapatacak-ler --> kapatacaklar

Question SentencesQuestion sentences in Turkish can be classified into two groups like in

English:

1. Yes-no questions

2. Regular questions

There are also question tags, i.e. questions of the form "You are coming,

aren't you?".

In this lesson, we will see how these different types of questions can be

asked in Turkish.

Before looking at how questions are constructed, let's see the question

words in Turkish.

English Turkish

what? ne?

who? kim?

which? hangi?

where? nere?

when? ne zaman?

how? nasıl?

how many? kaç tane?

how much? ne kadar?

how often? ne sıklıkla

Now, let's see how different types of question sentences can be

constructed.

1. Yes-no questionsIn Turkish, yes-no questions are constructed with the question suffix '-mi'.

It is important to note, however, the question suffix -mi is written

separate from the word it is appended to. You can ask at this point: "Why

is it a suffix instead of a separate word if it is written separately?". The

reason question suffix -mi is regarded as a suffix is that it has to satisfy

the major and minor vowel harmony rules for the word it is appended to.

Let's see some example sentences demonstrating the use of the question

suffix -mi.

A. This is a book. --> Bu bir kitap.

B. Is this a book? --> Bu bir kitap mı? (Note how the regular sentence is

turned into a yes-no question sentence by the addition of the question

suffix -mi)

A1. Yes, this is a book. --> Evet, bu bir kitap.

A2. No, this is not a book. This is a notebook. --> Hayır, bu bir kitap değil.

Bu bir defter.

A. His name is Ahmet. --> Onun adı Ahmet.

B. Is his name Ahmet? --> Onun adı Ahmet mi?

A1. Yes, his name is Ahmet.

A2. No, his name is not Ahmet. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır, onun adı

Ahmet değil. Onun adı Mehmet.

A3. No. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır. Onun adı Mehmet.

A. This is my house. --> bu benim evim

B. Is this your house? --> Bu senin evin mi?

A1. Yes, this is my house. --> Evet, bu benim evim.

A2. No, this is not my house. This is my mother's house. --> Hayır, bu

benim evim değil. Bu annemin evi.

2. Regular questionsRegular questions are the ones constructed using the question words

listed above and the answers to these questions are not simply yes or no.

In English, there is a certain word order for regular question sentences.

The question word comes first, and the rest of the sentence elements

follow it. In Turkish, however, questions are constructed in a quite

different way. To learn how to construct a question, a simple way is to

follow the following steps. This will work in most cases:

1. Construct the answer sentence.

2. Locate the word or phrase that is the actual answer to the question.

3. Just replace that word or phrase with the appropriate question word.

Let's apply this on an example. The question we want to ask is, "Who is

this?".

1. The answer sentence will be something like "This is my brother. --> Bu

benim kardeşim."

2. The answer to the question is the phrase "my brother --> benim

kardeşim".

3. Replace this phrase with the question word "who --> kim" and the

question sentence becomes "Bu kim?".

To summarize, a question sentence has the same word order as a regular

sentence. The difference is that the part of the sentence that is asked is

replaced by the appropriate question word. The question word takes all

the suffixes of the word it is replaced for.

Consider the sentence "Ahmet eve gidiyor. --> Ahmet is going home."

Who is going home? --> Kim eve gidiyor? (Ahmet in the regular sentence

is replaced by who. The rest of the sentence is the same.)

Where did Ahmet go? --> Ahmet nereye gitti? (ev in the regular sentence

is replaced by nere. Note that the question word nere also takes the

suffix -e of the word ev and becomes nereye, meaning 'to where')

What is Ahmet doing? --? Ahmet ne yapıyor? (The phrase 'eve gidiyor' in

the original sentence is replaced by "ne yapıyor --> what's he doing")

Note that to make a question sentence asking a verb, we use :

"What + to be (in the appropriate tense) + object + to do (in the

appropriate tense)"

Ex1: What are you doing?

Ex2: What did Ahmet do?

In Turkish, this structure becomes:

"Object + ne + yapmak (in the appropriate tense and person)"

Ex1: (Sen) ne yapıyorsun?

Ex2: Ahmet ne yaptı?

This is simply the regular sentence where the action is replaced by

"ne + yapmak", which is consistent with our rule for constructing

question sentences.

3. Question tagsQuestion tags are the questions of the form:

You are home, aren't you?

He did his homework, didn't he?

Mehmet will come today, won't he?

Constructing question phrases in Turkish is very simple and

straightforward. You just add "değil mi" at the end regardless of the

sentence. The translations for the question tags above are then:

Evdesin, değil mi?

Ödevini yaptı, değil mi?

Mehmet bugün gelecek, değil mi?

Imperatives - Let

Making a verb imperative for the second singular person (sen), is the

same as it is done in English. Just use the plain verb without any suffix

or change. When you want to order something to a single person

listening to you, you just say the plain verb. Examples:

Come! --> Gel!

Go! --> Git!

Read! --> Oku!

Sit down! --> Otur!

Stand up! --> Kalk!

However, different from English, there is an imperative form for

different cases of person. Let´s see now how these are constructed:

Personal Pronoun Suffix

Ben No first person singular form

Sen - (no suffix)

O -sin

Biz No first person plural form

Siz -in

Onlar -sinler

Now, let´s see the meaning of each case using the verb to go (gitmek).

Case Meaning

(sen) git go! (singular, to a single person)

(o) git-sin --> gitsin let him go (not like "allow him to go", this

has the meaning that you want him to go in

an imperative way)

(siz) git-in --> gidin go! (plural, to multiple people)

(onlar) git-sinler --> gitsinler let them go (again, the meaning is not like "allow them

to go", gitsinler means that you want them to go and

you are expressing this in an imperative way)

As you can see, a commonly used clause, "let´s", is included in the

imperative definition. If you want to say "Let´s go to the movie", it

becomes "Sinemaya gidelim" in Turkish. Now, let´s see how the example

verbs we used above are made imperative with respect to different cases

of person.

Personal

Pronoun

gelmek - to

come

gitmek - to

go

okumak - to

read

oturmak - to

sit down

kalkmak - to

stand up

sen gel git oku otur kalk

o gelsin gitsin okusun otursun kalksın

siz gelin gidin okuyun oturun kalkın

onlar gelsiler gitsinler okusunlar otursunlar kalksınlar

There is no first person singular or first person plural form of the

imperatives, but there is another form called wish clause that gives a

similar meaning for the first person singular and plural. Note that only

the first person singular and first person plural forms of the wish clause

are used in practice. Here is how the wish clause is constructed:

Personal Pronoun Suffix

Ben -eyim

Biz -elim

Case Meaning

(ben) git-eyim --> gideyim let me go

(biz) git-elim --> gidelim let´s go

Personal

Pronoun

gelmek - to

come

gitmek - to

go

okumak - to

read

oturmak - to

sit down

kalkmak - to

stand up

Ben Geleyim gideyim okuyayım oturayım kalkayım

Biz Gelelim gidelim okuyalım oturalım kalkalım

Degrees of Adjectives

Comparatives and superlatives are constructed in a very straightforward

way in Turkish. Besides these, there is a special way of making

adjectives stronger in Turkish and this is not very trivial. I this lesson,

we will cover all these topics.

1. Comparatives1.1. More, LessComparative of an adjective is obtained by adding the word "daha"

before the adjective. We can say that daha is the word for more and all

adjective comparatives are constructed like 'more clever' (not like

faster).

faster --> daha hızlı

slower --> daha yavaş

more intelligent --> daha zeki

more hardworking --> daha çalışkan

more beautiful --> daha güzel

If you want to say less beautiful or less hardworking, then replace the

word 'daha' with 'daha az'.

less fast --> daha az hızlı

less intelligent --> daha az zeki

less hardworking --> daha az çalışkan

less beautiful --> daha az güzel

Now, let's see how the comparative form of an adjective is used in

sentences.

I am beautiful. --> (Ben) güzelim.

I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha güzelim.

You are more beautiful. --> (Sen) daha güzelsin.

She is more beautiful. --> (O) daha güzel.

This is a fast car. --> Bu hızlı bir araba.

This is a faster car. --> Bu daha hızlı bir araba.

This car is faster. --> Bu araba daha hızlı.

1.2. More thanIf you want to compare two nouns with respect to an adjective, the

structure used in English is as follows:

noun1 is more adjective than noun2

Ex1: Ahmet is more hardworking than Mehmet.

Ex2: I am more intelligent than you.

The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows:

noun1 noun2-den daha adjective

Ex1: Ahmet Mehmet'ten daha çalışkan. (Note that the ' sign is used to

separate private names from their suffixes)

Ex2: Ben senden daha zekiyim.

Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression.

- Beril is beautiful. --> Beril güzel.

- Gökçe is more beautiful. --> Gökçe daha güzel.

- Gökçe is more beautiful than Beril. --> Gökçe Beril'den daha güzel.

- He is more hardworking than me. --> O benden daha çalışkan.

- My car is faster than your car. --> Benim arabam senin arabandan

daha hızlı.

- US is larger than Turkey. --> Amerika Türkiye'den daha büyük.

1.3. As ... asIf you want to say that two nouns are equal with respect to an adjective,

the strıctıre used in English is:

noun1 is as adjective as noun2

Ex1: Beril is as beautiful as Gökçe.

Ex2: I am as beautiful as you.

The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows:

.noun1 noun2 kadar adjective

or 

  noun1 de noun2 kadar adjective

Both of these expressions have the same meaning, you will understand

the very slight difference as you see them used. One point to note here

is that if noun2 is a simple pronoun (like ben, sen, bu, şu) then it is used

in possessive form (like benim, senin, bunun, şunun).

Ex1: Beril de Gökçe kadar güzel.

Ex2: Ben de senin kadar güzelim.

Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression.

- Beril is beautiful. --> Beril güzel.

- Gökçe is also beautiful. --> Gökçe de güzel. (de means 'also', 'as well')

- Gökçe is as beautifl as Beril. --> Gökçe de Beril kadar güzel.

- He is as hardworking as me. --> O da benim kadar çalışkan.

- My car is as fast as your car. --> Benim arabam da senin araban kadar

hızlı.

- US is almost as large as China. --> Amerika neredeyse Çin kadar

büyük. (neredeyse means almost)

2. SuperlativesSuperlatives are also straightforward in Turkish, like it is in English.

Instead of 'the most', you use 'en', and all superlatives are constructed

using this word.

the fastest --> en hızlı

slower --> en yavaş

the most intelligent --> en zeki

the most hardworking --> en çalışkan

the most beautiful --> en güzel

Now, let's see how the superlative form of an adjective is used in

sentences.

I am beautiful. --> (Ben) güzelim.

I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha güzelim.

When you want to use the superlative form in a sentence, there are two

different cases:

I am the most beautiful. --> (Ben) en güzelim. (This has the meaning of

describing yourself, like an answer to the question "What are your

traits?")

I am the most beautiful. --> En güzel benim. (This has the meaning of

the answer to the question "Who is the most beautiful?")

I am the most beautiful girl. --> En güzel kız benim.

I am the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız

benim.

You are the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel

kız sensin.

She is the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız o.

3. Making an adjective stronger3.1. VeryIn English, when you want to make an adjective stronger, you use the

word 'very'. Saying very fast is a stronger statement than just

saying fast. The same method is applied also in Turkish, and the word

for very is 'çok'. Hence:

very fast --> çok hızlı

very slow --> çok yavaş

very intelligent --> çok zeki

very hardworking --> çok çalışkan

very beautiful --> çok güzel

You are very beautiful. --> (Sen) çok güzelsin.

She is a very beautiful girl. --> (O) çok güzel bir kız.

This girl is very beautiful. --> Bu kız çok güzel.

3.2. TooAnother way of making an adjective stronger, but this time giving the

meaning extreme, is to use the word too. Saying something is too

fast gives the meaning that it is extremely fast and should be slower.

The word for too in Turkish is 'fazla'.

too fast --> fazla hızlı

too slow --> fazla yavaş

too intelligent --> fazla zeki

too hardworking --> fazla çalışkan

too beautiful --> fazla güzel

We are too fast. --> (Biz) fazla hızlıyız.

This car is too fast. --> Bu araba fazla hızlı.

3.3. Other waysA third way commonly used in Turkish (which is not seen in English) to

make an adjective stronger is adding a modified form of the first syllable

before the adjective. Important points to note here are:

There is not a rule for how this first syllable should be modified,

which makes this rule hard to learn.

This gives the same meaning as using the word 'very' and makes

the adjective stronger.

All adjectives can't be made stronger using this method, and there

is not a rule to understand for which adjectives this method can be used.

A group of adjectives you can always use this method is colors, to

express that the color is strong. However, there is no rule to exactly say

which adjectives can be made stronger like this.

Because there is not a well-defined rule, it will be very difficult to

go over adjectives and see what the stronger form of each adjective is. I

think you should not try to learn this for each adjective at this step. The

best strategy here would be to note that there is a rule like this and

when you see it used, you will understand what it means. In your

sentences, you simply can use 'çok + adjective' instead and you will be

clearly understood.

Let's see some examples to this rule:

hızlı --> fast

hıphızlı --> very fast

sarı --> yellow

sapsarı --> very yellow, strong yellow

mavi --> blue

masmavi --> very blue, strong blue

beyaz --> white

bembeyaz --> very white, strong white

çabuk --> quick

çarçabuk --> very quick

kalın --> thick

kapkalın --> very thick

Another way to make an adjective stressed and stronger is to repeat it

twice. Again, this is not done with all adjectives and the best way to

learn for which adjectives this rule is applicable is to note when you

hear an adjective used like this. Don't be afraid by these rules, you will

learn how to use them if you start reading Turkish texts or if you speak

to native speakers. You can still express yourself without using these

methods for making adjectives stronger. Simply use the word 'çok'

before the adjective. I am giving these rules now so that you know the

meaning when you see such a usage somewhere.

büyük büyük evler --> big houses, the property big is stressed

sarı sarı elmalar --> yellow apples, the property yellow is stressed

There is also another way to stress an adjective and make it stronger.

That is, adding a modified form of the adjective after the original form.

This is again an irregular rule and you don't need to know this

completely, just understand it when you see this usage. Sometimes, an

adjective followed by the modified form of that adjective may have a

slightly different meaning.

yaşlı --> old (for people)

yaşlı başlı --> old, mature

eski --> old (for objects)

eski püskü --> very old and useless

Present simple tense (Geniş zaman)

The present simple tense is used, very much ike the one in English:

To make general statements

o Water boils at 100 degrees. --> Su 100 derecede kaynar.

To mention things you do regularly

o I run every morning. --> Her sabah koşarım.

Present simple tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.

Present simple tense of a verb is constructed this way:

verb root + ir or er + present tense to be

The suffix for constructing the present simple tense of a verb is not always the same. The suffix is sometimes -ir, sometimes -er. This is the only tense with this irregularity, but there are certain rules that will tell you which one to choose most of the time. The rules that will help you choose which one of -ir or -er to use as suffix are as follows:

1. If the verb ends with a vowel, the vowel of the suffix falls and you

add only -r.

o ara-r --> arar --> he calls

o oku-r --> okur --> he reads

2. If the verb has more than one syllable, use -ir

o kapat-ir --> kapatır --> he closes

o konuş-ir --> konuşur --> he talks

3. If the verb has only one syllable:

1. If the vowel of this syllable is 'a' or 'e' and if the verb ends

with 'l', 'n' or 'r' then use -ir

gel-ir --> gelir --> he comes

ver-ir --> verir --> he gives

2. Use -er for the other single syllable cases

git-er --> gider --> he goes

koş-ar --> koşar --> he runs

Now, let's look at how the present simple tense is used with different personal pronouns:

English Turkish

Example 1

to come --> gelmek

i come (ben) gelir-im --> gelirim

you come (sen) gelir-sin --> gelirsin

he  \

she  |  comes

it    /

(o) gelir

we come (biz) gelir-iz --> geliriz

you come (siz) gelir-siniz --> gelirsiniz

they come (onlar) gelir-ler --> gelirler

Example 2

to talk --> konuşmak

i talk (ben) konuşur-im --> konuşurum

you talk (sen) konuşur-sin --> konuşursun

he  \

she  |  talks

it    /

(o) konuşur

we talk (biz) konuşur-iz --> konuşuruz

you talk (siz) konuşur-siniz --> konuşursunuz

they talk (onlar) konuşur-ler --> konuşurlar

The negative of present simple tense is a little different than just adding the negative-making suffix -me. Construction of negatives of present simple tense is given in the table below. The negative-making suffix becomes -mez except for I and we. Moreover, when negative suffix is used, the present simple tense suffix is not used.

English Turkish

Example 1

to come --> gelmek

i don't come (ben) gel-me-im --> gelmem

you don't come (sen) gel-mez-sin --> gelmezsin

he  \

she  |  doesn't come

it    /

(o) gel-mez --> gelmez

we don't come (biz) gel-me-iz --> gelmeyiz

you don't come (siz) gel-mez-siniz --> gelmezsiniz

they don't come (onlar) gel-mez-ler --> gelmezler

Present simple tense is the most irregular tense in Turkish, it's not simple as the name implies.

Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tenseThere is no suffix for the regular past tense. The only point is that you

must use the past tense form of to be. Be careful about the harmony rules

though, as always. The use of the past tense with -di is almost the same

as the English past tense.

To tell an action that took place in the past.

o He came. --> Geldi.

To make a statement that was true in the past.

o She was beautiful. --> Güzeldi.

The same way regular past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be

applied to nouns and adjectives using the past tense form of to be. The

meaning in this case is the same as the meaning of 'was' in English.

He was good. --> İyiydi.

I was successful. --> Başarılıydım.

Regular past tense of a word is constructed this way:

word root + (negative) + past tense to be

Let's see how a verb is used in regular past tense on the following

examples:

gel-di --> geldi --> he came

git-me-di --> gitmedi --> he did not go

oku-di --> okudu --> he read

kapat-dik --> kapattık --> we closed

koş-din --> koştun --> you ran

ara-diniz --> aradınız --> you called (plural you)

konuş-me-di --> konuşmadı --> he did not talk

ver-me-dim --> vermedim --> I did not give

çalış-ma-dik --> çalışmadık --> we did not work

ye-diler --> yediler --> they ate

bekle-me-diler --> beklemediler --> they did not wait

Note that making the past tense of a verb and making the past tense of a

noun or adjective is the same, but only as long as they are positive. The

negative suffix for verbs is -me, but negatives of nouns and adjectives are

constructed using değil. Değil is not a suffix, it is used as a seperate

word. Let's see a few examples to how nouns and adjectives are

expressed in past tense.

She was beautiful. --> Güzeldi.

She was not beautiful. --> Güzel değildi. (Note what we did is just to

replace the suffix -me for verbs with the word değil in the case of nouns

and adjectives. The ordering is still the same. Past tense of to be, which

followed -me for verbs, is now put after değil)

You were not kids. --> Çocuk değildiniz.

Let's see how these personal suffixes are used on some example verbs:

English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek

i waited (ben) bekle-dim --> bekledim

you waited (sen) bekle-din --> bekledin

he  \

she  |  waited

it    /

(o) bekle-di --> bekledi

we waited (biz) bekle-dik --> bekledik

you waited (siz) bekledi-niz --> beklediniz

they waited (onlar) bekle-diler --> beklediler

to work --> çalışmak

i worked (ben) çalış-dim --> çalıştım

you worked (sen) çalış-din --> çalıştın

he  \

she 

|  worked

it    /

(o) çalış-di --> çalıştı

we worked (biz) çalış-dik --> çalıştık

you worked (siz) çalış-diniz --> çalıştınız

they worked (onlar) çalış-diler --> çalıştılar

Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) ==> Also called the story past tenseTo obtain the story past tense of a verb, we append the suffix -miş to the

verb. Be careful about the harmony rules. Past tense with -miş is used:

To talk about something you learned from somebody else or some

other resource, there is some uncertainty in the statement. If you use the

story past tense when talking about something, it implies that you are not

the source of the information and you shouldn't be responsible for the

mistakes.

o I talked to his mother. He went to school. --> Annesiyle

konuştum. Okula gitmiş. (The part about talking to the mother is your

direct experience, so you tell it using regular past tense. However, the

part about he going to school is information you got from the mother, so

you tell it using story past tense.)

To talk about something you just learned or understood

o Is this your daughter? She is very beautiful. --> Bu senin kızın

mı? Çok güzelmiş. (You just noticed that she is beautiful, and you express

this using story past tense)

Simple stories are written and told in using this tense.

Story past tense of a word is constructed this way:

word root + (negative) + miş + present tense to be

The same way story past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied

to nouns and adjectives.

I talked to Kemal about her. She is sick. --> Kemal'le onun hakkında

konuştum.Hastaymış. (You learned that she is sick from Kemal)

Prime minister was in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün

Fransadaymış. (You use story past tense because you learned this from

somebody else or from the news)

Prime minister was not in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün Fransada

değilmiş. (Remember that negatives of non-verbs are made with değil)

Let's see the use of story past tense on some example verbs.

gel-miş --> gelmiş --> he came

git-miş-siniz--> gitmişsiniz --> you went (plural you)

oku-miş-sin--> okumuşsun --> you read

kapat-miş-ler--> kapatmışlar --> they closed

koş-me-miş--> koşmamış --> he did not run

ara-me-miş-sin--> aramamışsın --> you did not call

konuş-me-miş-ler--> konuşmamışlar --> they did not talk

ver-miş-iz--> vermişiz --> we gave

Finally, let's see how a verb is used in the story past tense with different

personal pronouns.

English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek

i waited (ben) beklemiş-im --> beklemişim

you waited (sen) beklemiş-sin --> beklemişsin

he  \

she  |  waited

it    /

(o) beklemiş

we waited (biz) beklemiş-iz --> beklemişiz

you waited (siz) beklemiş-siniz --

> beklemişsiniz

they waited (onlar) beklemiş-ler --> beklemişler

1. Must

The best counterpart in Turkish for the meaning of necessity that is given

with 'must' in English is the suffix '-meli'. The skeleton for using a verb

with this suffix is as follows:

    verb-meli-to be

    I must go --> git-meli-im --> gitmeliyim (note the use of the fusion

consonant y)

    We must study --> çalışmalıyız (note that the suffix -meli becomes -

malı due to the major vowel harmony)

    You must sit down (plural) --> oturmalısınız

    You must go home now. --> Şimdi eve gitmelisin.

We can show how to express the necessity of a verb the for different

cases of person:

Personal Pronoun Suffix

Ben -meliyim

Sen -melisin

O -meli

Biz -meliyiz

Siz -melisiniz

Onlar -meliler

2. Have toThe meaning of formal obligation that 'have to' gives in English is best

given by the word'lazım' in Turkish. The structure for using this

construct is as follows:

    verb-me-possession (blank space) lazım

This might seem confusing, let us explain how this structure works. The

suffix -me allows a verb to be used like a noun, it is similar to a gerund.

You might ask at this point, wasn't the suffix -me used for negating

verbs? That is right, but the suffix for negating verbs and the suffix for

using a verb like a noun are the same. So, okuma can mean either don't

read orreading according to the context in which it is used. In this case,

we are concerned about the second meaning. So, in the phrase okumam

lazım, the part okumam means my reading and the

part lazım means required. When we put these together, it becomes my

reading is required and this is what we use for I have to read in

Turkish. Let's look at a few examples to clarify this further:

    I have to go to school tomorrow. --> Yarın okula gitmem lazım.

    I have to work now. --> Şimdi çalışmam lazım.

    We have to get ready. --> Hazırlanmamız lazım.

    You have to go. --> Gitmen lazım.

3. Need toThis is very similar to the use of have to, both in meaning and structure.

The word we use to give the meaning of need to is 'gerekiyor'. It is

similar to 'have to' in meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably

with have to (lazım). It is similar in structure, which can be seen in the

structural skeleton:

    verb-me-posession (blank space) gerekiyor

The following examples will clarify this further:

    I need to go home. --> Eve gitmem gerekiyor.

    You need to be here at 2. --> Saat ikide burada olman gerekiyor.

    You need to sleep early. --> Erken uyuman gerekiyor.

    She needs to see a doctor. --> Doktora gitmesi gerekiyor.

4. Want toThe use of want to is logically almost identical to the English counterpart.

One important difference is that you use the verb 'to want' in present

continuous tense instead of present simple. The turkish verb for to

want is istemek. The structure goes as follows:

    verb(infinitive) (blank space) istiyor-to be

    I want to go. --> Gitmek istiyorum.

    I want to sleep. --> Uyumak istiyorum.

    I want to take a rest. --> Dinlenmek istiyorum.

    I want to go home. -->  Eve gitmek istiyorum.

    What do you want? --> Ne istiyorsun?

    Konuşmak istiyor musun? --> Do you want to talk?