Turkish grammar

Turkish grammar(Turkish:Türkçe dil bilgisi), as described in this article, is thegrammarof standardTurkishas spoken and written by the majority of people in theRepublic of Türkiye.

Turkish is a highlyagglutinative language,in that much of the grammar is expressed by means ofsuffixesadded tonounsandverbs.It is very regular compared with many European languages. For example,evlerden"from the houses" can be analysed asev"house",-ler(plural suffix),-den(ablative case,meaning "from" );gidiyorum"I am going" asgit"go",-iyor(present continuous tense),-um(1st person singular = "I" ).

Another characteristic of Turkish isvowel harmony.Most suffixes have two or four different forms, the choice between which depends on thevowelof the word'srootor the preceding suffix: for example, the ablative case ofevlerisevlerden"from the houses" but, the ablative case ofbaşlar"heads" isbaşlardan"from the heads".

Verbs have sixgrammatical persons(three singular and three plural), variousvoices(active and passive, reflexive, reciprocal, and causative), and a large number ofgrammatical tenses.Meanings such as "not", "be able", "should" and "if", which are expressed as separate words in most European languages, are usually expressed with verbal suffixes in Turkish. A characteristic of Turkish which is shared by neighboring languages such asBulgarianandPersianis that the perfect tense suffix (in Turkish-miş-,-müş-,-mış-,or-muş-) often has an inferential meaning, e.g.geliyormuşum"it would seem (they say) that I am coming".

Verbs also have a number ofparticipialforms, which Turkish makes much use of. Clauses which begin with "who" or "because" in English are generally translated by means of participial phrases in Turkish.

In Turkish, verbs generally come at the end of thesentenceorclause;adjectivesandpossessivenouns come before the noun they describe; and meanings such as "behind", "for", "like/similar to" etc. are expressed aspostpositionsfollowing the noun rather than prepositions before it.

Introduction

Suffixes

Asuffix(ek) is attached to astem(gövde). A stem may be aroot(kök) or further analyzable. The suffixes used in Turkish fall roughly into two classes: constructive suffixes (yapım ekleri) and inflectional suffixes (çekim ekleri). A constructive suffix makes a new word from an old one, that is, it is aderivationalsuffix. An inflectional suffix indicates how a word is used in a sentence. The article on Turkish grammar pertains chiefly to inflectional suffixes. The article onTurkish vocabularytreats the constructive suffixes.

The vowels of suffixes undergovowel harmony.When a suffix is attached to a stem, the vowel in the suffix generally agrees infrontnessorbacknessand inroundednesswith the last vowel in the stem or of the preceding suffix.

Some suffixes show two-way vowel harmony betweeneanda,for example the plural suffix-ler/-lar.Theeform is found after a syllable withi,e,öorü(e.g.evler"houses",günler"days" ), and also after certain Arabic or French borrowings such assaatler"hours, clocks",kalpler"hearts". Other suffixes show four-way vowel harmony betweeni,ı,u,ü,for example the possessive ending-im/-ım/-um/-üm"my". These endings are found after syllables containing their own vowels or aftere,a,o,örespectively (e.g.evim"my house",gözüm"my eye", etc.)

A Turkish suffix can be calledencliticif its vowel undergoes vowel harmony, agreeing with the last vowel of the stem the suffix is attached to.

Gender

Turkish lacks grammatical gender. The English third-person singular pronounsshe, he,anditall correspond to a single Turkish pronoun,o.Many given names in Turkish are unisex, so it is entirely possible to describe someone in the Turkish language without their gender being discernible from grammatical context.

Person

Turkish has a strongT–V distinction,using thesecond-personplural as the formal form, as inFrenchand many other languages.

Turkish also uses varioushonorifics.

T–V distinction

Family members and friends speak to one another using the second singular personsen,and adults usesento address minors. In formal situations (meeting people for the first time, business, customer-clerk, colleagues)pluralsecond-personsizis used almost exclusively. In very formal situations,double pluralsecond-personsizlermay refer to a much-respected person. Rarely, third-person plural conjugation of the verb (but not the pronoun) may be used to emphasize utmost respect. In the imperative, there are three forms: second person singular for informal, second person plural for formal, and double plural second person for very formal situations. Thus, the imperative forms of the verbgelmek,"to come", aregel(second person singular, informal),gelin(second person plural, formal), andgeliniz(double second-person plural, very formal). The very formal forms are not frequently used.

Honorifics

Turkish honorifics generally follow the first name, especially if they refer to gender or particular social statuses (e.g. <name> Bey (Mr.), <name> Hanım (Ms.), <name> Öğretmen (teacher)). Such honorifics are used both in formal and informal situations. A newer honorific isSayın,which precedes the surname or full name, and is not gender-specific. (e.g. Sayın Name Surname, or Sayın Surname, or Sayın Name Bey/Hanım). They are generally used in very formal situations. While these honorifics are normally used in pre-position to Turkish first names, for foreigners, names are preceded byBay(Mr.) orBayan(Ms.): Bay [Fox] Mulder, Bayan [Dana] Scully (cf. Fox [Mulder] Bey, Dana [Scully] Hanım, if these names were Turkish).

Turkish terminology

In the Turkish terms for the constructive and inflectional endings, three roots are involved:

• ek"supplement, affix" (notably Turkish has no prefixes)
• yap-"make"
• çek-"pull, draw"

For the last two verbal roots, the constructive suffix-imcan be added to form nouns for instances of the actions denoted by the roots:

• yapım"construction";
• çekim"[a] pull or draw" (or a "take" in cinema).

Either of these nouns can be compounded with the nounek,resulting in anindefinite compound(belirtisiz tamlama), the sign of which is the inflectional suffix-iattached toek:

• yapım eki"structure-suffix";
• çekim eki"inflection-suffix".

The inflectional suffix-lercomes before the-ito form the plural, soyapım ekleri, çekim ekleri.

Many words in Turkish— particularly many grammatical terms— areneologismsinvented to replace earlier words borrowed from Arabic or Persian, which have largely been successful at permanently superseding the previously used foreign terms. (See the main article onTurkish language.) In some cases, the foreign term continues to be in use alongside the neologism.

Parts of speech

There are nineparts of speech(söz türleri"word-kinds" ) in Turkish.

1. noun(isimorad"name" );
2. pronoun(zamir"inner being", oradılfromad);
3. adjective(sıfat"role, quality", orönad"front-noun" );
4. verb(fiil"act, deed", oreylem"action" fromeyle-"make, do" );
5. adverb(zarf"envelope", orbelirteçfrombelir-"determine" );
6. postposition(ilgeçfromilgi"interest, relation" );
7. conjunction(bağlaçfrombağ"bond" );
8. particle(edat,orilgeç);
9. interjection(nidâ[dated], orünlemfromün"fame, repute, sound" ).

Postpositions are analogous to prepositions in English, the main difference being that they follow their objects. Postpositions can be considered particles, but there are particles in Turkish that are not postpositions.

Only nouns, pronouns and verbs are inflected in Turkish. An adjective can usually be treated as a noun or pronoun, in which case it can also be inflected. Inflection can give a noun features of a verb such as person and tense. With inflection, a verb can become one of the following:

• verbal noun(isim-fiil);
• verbal adjective (sıfat-fiil) orparticiple(ortaç);
• verbal adverb(zarf-fiil;called agerundby Lewis (1967)).

These have peculiarities not shared with other nouns, adjectives or adverbs. For example, some participles take apersonthe way verbs do. Also, a verbal noun or adverb can take a direct object. Some verbal nouns arenotinflected forms in Turkish but are borrowed from Arabic or other languages.

In Turkish, an ascriptive clause can be composed of a common noun standing alone as the Predicative, both the Subject and the Predicator being implicit and assumed from the situation. Example:

köpek– "dog"

Köpek.– "It is a dog."

This means that both a noun and a verb can alone constitute an affirmative clause in Turkish, which is not the case in English.

There are two standards for listing verbs in dictionaries. Most dictionaries follow the tradition of spelling out theinfinitive formof the verb as theheadwordof the entry, but others such as the Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary are more technical and spell out thestemof the verb instead, that is, they spell out a string of letters that is useful for producing all other verb forms through morphological rules. Similar to the latter, this article follows the stem-as-citeword standard.

• Infinitive:koşmak( "to run" )
• Stem:koş-( "run" )

In Turkish, the verbal stem is also the second-person singular imperative form. Example:

koş-(stem meaning "run" )

Koş!( "Run!" )

Many verbs are formed from nouns by addition of-le.For example:

köpek– "dog"

köpekle– "dog paddle" (in any of several ways)

Theaoristtense of a verb is formed by adding-(i/e)r.The plural of a noun is formed by suffi xing-ler. Hence, the suffix-lercan indicate either a plural noun or a finite verb:

Köpek+ler– "(They are) dogs."

Köpekle+r– "S/he dog paddles."

Most adjectives can be treated as nouns or pronouns. For example,gençcan mean "young", "young person", or "the young person being referred to".

An adjective or noun can stand, as a modifier, before a noun. If the modifier is a noun (but not a noun of material), then the second noun word takes the inflectional suffix-i:

ak diş– "white tooth"

altın diş– "gold tooth"

köpek dişi– "canine tooth"

Comparisonof adjectives is not done by inflecting adjectives or adverbs, but by other means (describedbelow).

Adjectives can serve as adverbs, sometimes by means of repetition:

yavaş– "slow"

yavaş yavaş– "slowly"

Word order

A general rule of Turkishword orderis that the modifier precedes the modified:

• adjective (used attributively) precedes noun;
• adverb precedes verb;
• object of postposition precedes postposition.

Although the most common order of Turkish transitive sentences issubject–object–verb(SOV), all six permutations are valid (the subject and object are distinguished by case suffixes). The word order serves to express thethemeand focus (rheme) of the sentence: the sentence-initial portion is associated with the topic; the position just before the verb is used for the focus; and the post-verbal position is used for background or clarifying information.

The following sentences illustrate how subject–object–verb order changes the meaning.

Word order	Gloss	Notes
SOV	Ali Ali eve to-house gidiyor. is-going Ali eve gidiyor. Ali to-house is-going Ali is going home.
OSV	Eve to-house Ali Ali gidiyor. is-going Eve Ali gidiyor. to-house Ali is-going Aliis going home.
SVO	Ali Ali gidiyor is-going eve. to-house Ali gidiyor eve. Ali is-going to-house Aliis goinghome.
OVS	Eve to-house gidiyor is-going Ali. Ali Eve gidiyor Ali. to-house is-going Ali Ali is going home.	Same as SOV (anacoluthon).
VSO	Gidiyor is-going Ali Ali eve. to-house Gidiyor Ali eve. is-going Ali to-house There goes Alihome.	Anacoluthon
VOS	Gidiyor is-going eve to-house Ali. Ali Gidiyor eve Ali. is-going to-house Ali There goesAlihome.	Anacoluthon

Meanings may be different depending on emphasis.

In one study, only about half of the transitive sentences used by a sample of Turkish speakers were found to be in the SOV order.

When a sentence has multiple informational components, the stressed component is positioned just before the verb:

Ali

Ali

bugün

today

eve

to-house

arabayla

by-car

gidiyor.

is-going

Ali bugün eve arabayla gidiyor.

Ali today to-house by-car is-going

Today, Ali is going to the houseby car.

Ali

Ali

eve

to-house

arabayla

by-car

bugün

today

gidiyor.

is-going

Ali eve arabayla bugün gidiyor.

Ali to-house by-car today is-going

Today,Ali is going to the house by car.

Ali

Ali

arabayla

by-car

bugün

today

eve

to-house

gidiyor.

is-going

Ali arabayla bugün eve gidiyor.

Ali by-car today to-house is-going

Today, Ali is going tothe houseby car.

Morpheme order

The order ofmorphemesin Turkish is often opposite to English:

Turkish	English	Comment
Avrupa	Europe
Avrupalı	of Europe / European	adjective (European)
Avrupalılaş	become European	(intransitive) verb root
Avrupalılaştır	Europeanise	(transitive) verb root
Avrupalılaştırama	be unable to Europeanise	negated verb root
Avrupalılaştıramadık	we couldn't Europeanise	finite verb
Avrupalılaştıramadık	one that is unable to be Europeanised	noun
Avrupalılaştıramadıklar	unable to be Europeanised ones	plural
Avrupalılaştıramadıklarımız	those whom we couldn't manage to Europeanise	possessive, 1st person plural
Avrupalılaştıramadıklarımızdan	of those whom we couldn't manage to Europeanise	ablative case
Avrupalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmış	is reportedly of those whom we couldn't manage to Europeanise	copula in inferential tense
Avrupalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız	you are reportedly of those whom we couldn't manage to Europeanise	2nd person plural/formal
Avrupalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınızcasına	as if you were reportedly of those whom we couldn't manage to Europeanise	Adverb of equalization/possibility

The above example is also illustrative of the productive nature of Turkish suffixes in creating new verbs, nouns, etc. Note that the wordAvrupalılaştıramadıkcan be a verb, a participle or a noun; in this parse, it is a participle, or verbal adjective, that is used as a noun.

Thelongest published word in Turkish,muvaffakiyetsizleştiricileştiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmişsinizcesine,means "as if you are one of those that we cannot easily convert into an unsuccessful-person-maker" (i.e., someone who un-educates people to make them unsuccessful).

Inflectional suffixes

For case endings, see§ Case

Theplural suffix(çoğul eki) can be used with nouns and with third-person verbs:

• -ler(front vowel harmony:e,i,ö,ü)
• -lar(back vowel harmony:a,ı,o,u)

Nouns are derived from verbs in several ways. The number of ways of formingverbalnouns (fiil isimleri) from verb-stems can be debated; here are three:

Verbal-noun suffixes

description	suffix
infinitive(mastar"template" )	-mek2
gerund	-me2
"way of doing VERB"	-(y)iş4

Several series of endings show distinctions ofperson(kişi); they are given here, along with the personal pronouns for comparison:

Indicators of person

person		1st		2nd		3rd
number		sg	pl	sg	pl	sg/pl	pl
personal pronouns		ben	biz	sen	siz	o	onlar
possessive suffixes (iyelik ekleri)		-(i)m	-(i)miz	-(i)n	-(i)niz	-(s)i	-leri
personal endings (kişi ekleri)	predicative (I)	-(y)im	-(y)iz	-sin	-siniz	—	-ler
	verbal (II)	-m	-k	-n	-niz	—	-ler
	optative (III)	-(y)eyim	-(y)elim	-(y)esin	-(y)esiniz	-(y)e	-(y)eler
	imperative (IV)			—	-(y)in(iz)	-sin	-sinler

The names given to the personal endings here are not standard. These endings are often just referred to as type I, II, III, and IV respectively; but the order in which the types are numbered is also not standard. Lewis (1967) refers to the suffixes of possession as "personal" endings.

In the third person, plural number is not always explicitly marked, and the same form is used for both singular and plural. If the plural suffix-leris used, it combines with the personal endings as indicated in the final column of the table.

A "suffix of possession" gives the person of thepossessorof the object named by the noun to which the suffix is attached; it also indicates a subject for a participle. (See§ Possession.)

A "predicative" ending can assign a person to a noun, thus creating a complete sentence:

insan"human" →İnsanım."I am a human."

See also§ PredicationandTurkish copula.

All of the personal suffixes can be used in the formation of verbs. Verb-stemshave been mentioned. A verb-baseis obtained from a verb-stemby attachment of certain suffixes orcharacteristicsgiven below. Then the personal endings here called "predicative" and "verbal" attach only to verb-bases;the optative and imperative endings attach to verb-stems.

Verb characteristics

with predicative endings	progressive		-mekte
	necessitative		-meli
	aorist (habitual)	positive	-(i/e)r
		negative	-mez
		impotential	-(y)emez
	future		-(y)ecek
	inferentialperfective		-miş
	imperfective		-iyor
with verbal endings	perfective		-di
	conditional		-se

The first syllable of the present/imperfective tense suffix (-iyor) exhibits vowel harmony while the second is invariable. When suffixed to a stem ending in a vowel, that vowel is elided:ye-+-iyor→yiyor.The aorist negative and impotential forms are given here because they are anomalous. Note, that the-zof the aorist negative (-mez) and impotential (-(y)emez) is dropped in the first-person singular and plural, in order to be able to suffix it (but is retained when the interrogative particlemiintervenes; see below). (Aorist negative first-person singular:-mem;but: aorist impotential third-person plural:-(y)emezler.)

See alsoNegation and potential in verb-stemsunder§ Verbsbelow.

Some third-person verbs also function as participles. Participles can be classified aspersonal,if they take a suffix of possession, andimpersonal,if they do not. The following suffixes attach to verb-stems:

Participial endings

		impersonal	personal
aorist	positive	-(i/e)r
	negative	-mez
	impotential	-(y)emez
imperfective		-(y)en
future		-(y)ecek
perfective		-miş	-dik

Theinterrogative particle(soru eki) is not written as a suffix, but phonetically it is enclitic; in particular, it exhibits vowel harmony:

• mi(front-unrounded vowel harmony:i,aftereandi)
• mı(back-unrounded vowel harmony:ı,afteraandı)
• mu(back-rounded vowel harmony:u,afteroandu)
• mü(front-rounded vowel harmony:ü,afteröandü)

Nouns

See also:Turkish vocabulary § Nouns

Inflection

A Turkish noun has nogender. The dictionary-form of a noun can take up to four (kinds of)inflectional suffixes,generally in the following order:

1. plural suffix;
2. suffix ofpossession(iyelik ekifromiye"owner" );
3. case-ending;
4. personalsuffix(kişi ekifromkişi"person" ).

Through its presence or absence, the plural ending shows distinctions ofnumber.

Number

A noun is made plural by addition of-leror-lar(depending on the vowel harmony). When a numeral is used with a noun, however, the plural suffix is usuallynotused:

baş	"head"
başlar	"[some] heads"
beş baş	"five head(s)", but
Beşevler	"Five Houses" (district of Bursa)

The plural ending also allows a family (living in one house) to be designated by a single member:

Aliler	"Ali and his family"
teyze	"maternal aunt"
teyzem	"my maternal aunt"
teyzemler	"my maternal aunt and her family"

In the last example, the first-person singular suffix of possession comesbeforethe plural ending; this is an exception to the order of suffixes given above. In the usual order, we have:

teyzelerim"my maternal aunts"

Nouns are pluralized in standard temporal greetings.

gün( "day" ) –İyi günler!( "Good day!" )

yıl( "year" ) –Mutlu yıllar!( "Happy new year!" )

Possession

As noted earlier, the suffixes of possession give theperson(and number) of thepossessorof what is named by the noun:

Suffixes of Possession (iyelik ekleri)

	1st	2nd	3rd
singular	-(i)m	-(i)n	-(s)i
plural	-(i)miz	-(i)niz	-leri

When a word takes one of the endings of possession, the word becomes the name of somethingpossessed,not possessing. The word for the possessor, if present, takes the genitive case ending.

Examples withteyze( "maternal aunt" )

Example	Composition	Translation
teyzen	teyze"maternal aunt" +-n"belonging to you (singular)"	"your maternal aunt"
teyzeniz	teyze"maternal aunt" +-niz"belonging to you (plural)"	"your maternal aunt"
teyzelerin	teyze"maternal aunt" +-ler-(plural suffix) +-in"belonging to you (singular)"	"your maternal aunts"
teyzeleriniz	teyze"maternal aunt" +-ler-(plural suffix) +-iniz"belonging to you (plural)"	"your maternal aunts"

The plural ending will not be attached twice to the same word; therefore ambiguity is possible:

fikir	"idea"
fikirleri	"their idea" or "their ideas" or "his/her ideas"

Ambiguity can be resolved with#Pronouns.

Case

The Turkish language is normally described as having sixcases,whose names in English are borrowed fromLatin grammar.The case endings (durum ekleri'ending condition') are regular and subject to vowel harmony.

The postpositionileis often absorbed onto the noun as-(y)le,and some authors analyse this as aninstrumentalandcomitativecase.As it differs from the other case markers in several ways,it may be considered as an "inflectional marker" but not a case marker.In particular, unlike the other case endings,-(y)leis never accentuated.Also, when combined with the personal pronouns, the demonstratives, or the interrogativekim,they are traditionally used in the genitive,e.g.,kiminle'with whom', not*kimle.However, using-(y)ledirectly with personal as well as demonstrative pronouns as in the case with other case endings by bypassing the obligatory genitive case has become common usage. So words likebenle,senle,onla,bizle,sizle,onlarla,kimle,neyleare used very often. In fact, the expected genitive case before-(y)lein the case of the third person pluralonlarınlais perceived to be grammatically false by native speakers.

Cases and their endings

Case	Turkish Name	Ending	Example		Translation
Absolute	yalın( "bare" )durum	-∅-	ev( "house" )	adam( "man" )	"(the) house"	"(the) man"
Definiteaccusative	belirtme( "clarifying" )durumu	-(y)ı-,-(y)i-,-(y)u-,-(y)ü-	evi	adamı	"the house"	"the man"
Dative	yönelme( "facing-towards" )durumu	-(y)a-,-(y)e-	eve	adama	"to the house"	"to the man"
Locative	bulunma( "being-present" )durumu	-da-,-de-,-ta-,-te-	evde	adamda	"at home"	"in/on the man"
Ablative	çıkma( "going-out" )durumu	-dan-,-den-,-tan-,-ten-	evden	adamdan	"from the house"	"from the man"
Genitive	tamlayan( "compounding" )eki	-(n)ın-,-(n)in-,-(n)un-,-(n)ün-	evin	adamın	"the house's"	"the man's"
Instrumental	vasıta( "means" )eki	-(y)le-,-(y)la-	evle	adamla	"with the house"	"with the man"

If a case ending is attached to a demonstrative pronoun (which ends inooru), or to a noun that has already taken a third-person ending of possession, or to a compound noun where the second word is already suffixed, then the case ending is preceded byn(and the parentheticalyis not used). For instance: "Türk yemeklerini seviyorum.", "I love Turkish food."

Cases and their endings (nouns already suffixed with third-person ending)

Case	Turkish Name	Ending	Example		Translation
Absolute	yalın( "bare" )durum	-∅-	evi( "his/her house" )	adamı( "his/her man" )	"(his/her) house"	"(his/her) man"
Definiteaccusative	belirtme( "clarifying" )durumu	-nı-,-ni-,-nu-,-nü-	evini	adamını	"his/her house"	"his/her man"
Dative	yönelme( "going-towards" )durumu	-na-,-ne-	evine	adamına	"to his/her house"	"to his/her man"
Locative	bulunma( "being-present" )durumu	-nda-,-nde-	evinde	adamında	"at his/her home"	"in/on his/her man"
Ablative	çıkma( "going-out" )durumu	-ndan-,-nden-	evinden	adamından	"from his/her house"	"from his/her man"
Genitive	tamlayan( "compounding" )eki	-nın-,-nin-,-nun-,-nün-	evinin	adamının	"his/her house's"	"his/her man's"

Absolute case

The absolute case combines the uses of thenominative,vocative,and (in part)accusativecases. It is for subjects, and for names of people being addressed. It is also used forindefinitedirect objects.Definitedirect objects are in thedefinite-accusative case:

şiir	"poem"	(absolute case)
Şiir okur.	"S/he reads a poem/poetry."	(absolute case, indefinite direct object)
Şiiriokur.	"S/he reads the poem."	(accusative case, definite direct object)

Dative case

The dative case tells the placeto which. Thus it has roughly the meaning of the English prepositions "to" and "into", and also "in" when it can be replaced with "into":

Birayı

the-beer

buzdolabına

into-icebox

koy.

put

Birayı buzdolabınakoy.

the-beer into-icebox put

"Put the beer in(to) the fridge."

The dative also is for objects, usually indirect objects, but sometimes objects that in English would be considered direct:

Güneşin

sun's

batışına

at-its-sinking

bak.

look

Güneşin batışınabak.

sun's at-its-sinking look

"Look at the sunset."

Hükümete

to-government

güven.

trust

Hükümetegüven.

to-government trust

"Trust the government."

Locative case

The locative case tellswhere,hence corresponds to the English prepositions "at", "on", and "in" (when it does not mean "into" ).

ev"house" →evde"at home"

Buzdolabında	dört	bira	var
in-icebox	four	beer	exist
"There are four beers in the fridge."

Ablative case

The ablative case tellswhence,that is, the placefrom which(or through which), hence:

• materialout of whichsomething is made;

kumdan

of-sand

yapılmış

made

kale

castle

kumdanyapılmış kale

of-sand made castle

"castle made of sand"

• a causeby whichsomething is effected;

açlıktan

of-hunger

öl

die

açlıktanöl

of-hunger die

"die of hunger"

• thatto whichother things are beingcompared(see#Adjectivesbelow).

Genitive case

The genitive case indicates a "compounding" (tamlayan) word. The corresponding "compounded" (tamlanan) word will take the appropriate suffix of possession. The pair of these words is then adefinite compound(belirtili tamlama):

anne	"mother"
annesi	"her mother"
Ayşe'ninannesi	"Ayşe's mother"

(The apostrophe in Turkish is used before suffixes attached topropernouns.)

However, if two nouns are connected, but not by ownership, then the second noun generally takes an ending of possession, while the first takes no ending. The result is anindefinite compound(belirtisiz tamlama):

Türkiye'ninCumhurbaşkanı	"The President of Turkey" (definite)
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti	"The Republic of Turkey" (indefinite)

If one noun names a material, the other noun need not take an ending:

nikâh yüzüğü	"wedding ring"
altın yüzük	"gold ring"

The genitive case can also be used for the subject of somecomplementoradjunctclauses:

• Annemizin uzak bir semtte oturmasına rağmen, her gün ona uğruyoruz. // Although our mother lives in a remote neighborhood, we visit her every day. "
• Başkanın vermesi gerekiyor. // The president needs to give it.
• Tuğçe bizim Ankara'ya gitmemizi istedi. // Tuğçe wanted us to go to Ankara.
• Ben Ali'nin camı kırdığı zamanı biliyordum. // I knew when Ali broke the glass.

Instrumental case

The instrumental case functions as both an instrumental and acomitative.

Deniz'lekonuştuk	"Deniz and we spoke."
çekiçlevur	"hit with a hammer"
Onunlakonuştuk	"He and we spoke."

Predication

If a noun is to be in the first or second person, one of thepredicative suffixes(or type-I personal suffixes) will show this.

	1st	2nd	3rd
singular	-(y)im	-sin	—
plural	-(y)iz	-siniz	-ler

Examples

dünya"world" →Dünyayız."We are the world."

çocuk"child" →Çocuklarsınız."You are the children"

In the third person, no ending is required. However, the ending-dircan be used; it is saidto be the remnant of a verbturur"S/he stands". Again in the third person, the plural suffix may be used:

TürkorTürktür	"S/he is Turkish"
TürklerorTürktürler	"They are Turkish"
Türklerdir	"They aretheTurks "

Several suffixes can be combined:

Evinizdeyim.

ev-

house

-iniz

your

PL

-de-

at

LOC

-yim

I am

1SG.PRED

ev- -iniz -de- -yim

house your at {I am}

{} PL LOC 1SG.PRED

"I am at your house."

Verbal nouns

Theinfinitive,formed with-mekas noted earlier, does not take a suffix of possession, or the genitive case-ending. It does take all other case-endings. In particular, the progressive characteristic given earlier is the infinitive ending with the locative ending:

Konuşmaktayız– "We are in (the act of) speaking."

Savaşmaktayız– "We are in warmaking", that is, "We are at war."

Theverbal nounin-meis called agerundabove, since it corresponds roughly to theEnglish gerund.

bekle"wait" →bekleme"waiting":bekleme odası"waiting room"

The verbal noun can take a suffix of possession and any case-ending:

Beklemeniz

your-waiting

lâzım.

necessary

Beklemeniz lâzım.

your-waiting necessary

"You have to wait."

Sesini

your-voice-ACC

duymayı

hearing-ACC

seviyorum.

I-love

Sesini duymayı seviyorum.

your-voice-ACC hearing-ACC I-love

"I like to hear your voice."

The dative form of a Turkish gerund can correspond precisely to an English infinitive withto:

Ülkemizde

In-our-country

nano

nano

teknolojik

technological

ürünler

products

üretilmeye

to-be-produced

başlandı.

began

Ülkemizde nano teknolojik ürünler üretilmeye başlandı.

In-our-country nano technological products to-be-produced began

"Nano-technological products began to be produced in our country."

The suffix-işcan also be used to create verbal nouns:

Verb	Noun
yürü-"walk"	yürüyüş"walk, walking"
yağ-"rain"	yağış"rain"
al-"take" +ver-"give/spend"	alışveriş"shopping"
yara-"be of use",yaratıl-"be created"	yaratılış"creation"

The verbet-"make, do" can be considered as anauxiliary verb,since for example it is often used with verbal nouns borrowed from other languages, such as Arabic:

kabul et-"accept" (kabul"[an] accepting" );
reddet-"reject" (ret"[a] rejecting" );
ziyaret et-"visit" (ziyaret"[a] visiting" ).

Considered as units, these are transitive verbs; but the nouns in them can also, by themselves, take direct objects:

Antalya'yı ziyaret"visit to Antalya".

What looks like an ablative gerund is usually an adverb; the ending-medenusually has the sense of "without". See#Adverbsbelow.

An infinitive in the absolute case can be the object of a verb such asiste-"want":

Kimi

some-of-them

eğitime

towards-education

devam

continuation

etmek,

make

kimi

some-of-them

de

also

çalışmak

work

istiyor.

want

Kimi eğitime devam etmek, kimi de çalışmak istiyor.

some-of-them towards-education continuation make some-of-them also work want

Some want to continue their education, and some want to work " (source:Cumhuriyet Pazar Dergi,14 August 2005, p. 1.)

Note here that the compound verbdevam et-"continue, last" does not take a direct object, but is complemented by a dative noun.

Another way to express obligation (besides withlâzımas in theearlier example) is by means ofzor"trouble, compulsion" and an infinitive:

Gitmek zoru"Go compulsion",
Gitmek zorundayız"We must go".

(Source:same as the last example.)

Both an infinitive and a gerund are objects of the postpositioniçin"for" in the third sentence of the quotation within the following quotation:

Tesis yetkilileri,
"Bölge insanları genelde tutucu.
Sahil kesimleri
yola yakın olduğu için
rahat bir şekilde göle giremiyorlar.
Biz de
hem yoldan geçenlerin görüş açısınıkapatmak
hem de erkeklerin rahatsızetmemesiiçin
paravan kullanıyoruz "
dedi.
Ancak paravanın aralarından
çocukların karşı tarafı gözetlemeleri
engellenemedi.

Facility its-authorities
"District its-people in-general conservative.
Shore its-sections
to-road near their-being for
comfortable a in-form to-lake they-cannot-enter.
We also
both from-road of-passers sight their-angleto-close
and men's uncomfortabletheir-not-makingfor
screen we-are-using "
they-said.
But curtain's from-its-gaps
children's other side their-spying
cannot-be-hindered.

—Cumhuriyet,9 August 2005, p. 1.

A free translation is:

The facility authorities said: "The people of this district [namelyEdremit, Van] are generally conservative. They cannot enterthe lakecomfortably, because the shore areas are near the road. So we are using a screen, bothto close offthe view of passersby on the road, and sothatmenwill not cause discomfort."However, children cannot be prevented from spying on the other side through gaps in the screen.

Auxiliary verbs

Certain verbs in Turkish are used to enhance the meaning of other verbs, or toagglutinateverbs from nouns. These verbs are calledauxiliary verbs.A concise list follows:

Verbs that are used with nouns to agglutinate new verbs

• etmek(to do)
• olmak(to be)
• kılmak(to make)
• eylemek(to make)

Examples

• farz(assumption) →farz etmek(to assume)
• hak(right) →hak etmek(to deserve)
• af(amnesty) →affetmek(to excuse)
• kayıp(loss) →kaybetmek(to lose)
• terk(leaving) →terk etmek(to leave)
• arz(submission, supply) →arz etmek(to submit, to supply)

If there is a change in the noun root through the process of agglutination, it is written adjacently. These are mostly Arabic loan-words, which switch to their more original form.

In Turkish words, two consonants of a syllable need a vowel to be pronounced. There are exceptions in loan words only, but those that lost their original form are more common. This occurs in two ways:

If a word ends in two identical consonants, one is dropped, e.g.hall( "state, status" ) becomeshal;aff( "amnesty, forgiving" ) becomesaf.

If a syllable ends in two different consonants, a vowel is added between them; e.g.,hükm( "judgement" ) becomeshüküm.

Exceptions: Words which end innk,rt,rk,such astaht( "throne" ),renk( "colour" ),kart( "card" ), do not add a vowel. Most of these are loan-words from Persian or Western languages (butzevk"pleasure" from Arabic ذَوْق).

Examples

Noun & Auxiliary Verb	Verb	Notes
kayıp+etmek	kaybetmek( "to lose" )	kayıp( "lost" ) was originallykayb,an Arabic loanword
haciz+etmek	haczetmek( "to sequester" )	haciz( "sequestration" ) was originallyhacz,an Arabic loanword
haz+etmek	hazzetmek( "to relish, enjoy" )	haz( "delight" ) was originallyhazz,an Arabic loanword

Verbs that are used with other verbs to enhance the meaning:

• -(i)vermek(implies urgency)
• -(e)bilmek(implies ability)
• -(e)durmak(implies continuity)
• -(e)gelmek(implies repetition)
• -(a)kalmak(implies continuity)
• -(e)yazmak(implies a close escape)
• -(e)görmek(implies a warning)

Examples

• düş-(fall) →düşeyazdım(I almost fell)
• git-(go) →gidiverdim(I just went)
• yavaşla-(slow down) →yavaşlayabilirim(I can slow down)
• yaz-(write) →yazaduruyorlar(they keep on writing)
• söylen-(be told) →söylenegelir(keeps being told)

Adjectives

Adjectives usedattributivelyprecede the noun; usedpredicatively,they follow, unless something other than word order shows that they are being used predicatively:

Attributive	yeşil çim	"[the] green grass"
Predicative	Çim yeşil(dir).	"Grass is green."
	Yeşildir çim.

Descriptive adjectives

Most adjectives in the dictionary are descriptive. The two most fundamental descriptive adjectives are:

• var( "existing" )
• yok( "not existing" )

These are used only predicatively:

• with the sense of the English "There is" and "There is not":

Gökte

in-the-sky

bir

a

bulut

cloud

yok.

not-existing

Gökte bir bulut yok.

in-the-sky a cloud not-existing

"There is not a cloud in the sky."

• in the construction that supplies the lack of a verb "have":

Balcının

honey-seller's

var

exists

bal

honey

tası,

his-pot

Oduncunun

wood-cutter's

var

exists

baltası.

his-axe

Balcının var bal tası, Oduncunun var baltası.

honey-seller's exists honey his-pot wood-cutter's exists his-axe

"The honey-seller has a honey-pot; the wood-cutter has an axe."

(This is a proverbial expression; the more usual order would make the saying,Balcının bal tası var, oduncunun baltası var).

Indefinite adjectives

The cardinal numberbir( "one" ) can be used as anindefinitearticle.Word order can make a difference:

güzel bir gün– "a nice day"

bir güzel gün– "one fine day"

Unless it is being used by itself, elliptically, the adjectivehiç( "no" ) requires an additional word with negative force:

Hiç

no

param

my-money

yok.

there-is-not

Hiç param yok.

no my-money there-is-not

"I have no money."

Hiçbir

no-one

adam

man

ada

island

değildir.

is-not

Hiçbir adam ada değildir.

no-one man island is-not

"No man is an island."

Compare:

• Bir şey görüyorum.– "I see something."
• Hiçbir şey görmüyorum.– "I don't see anything."

Comparison

In a positive comparison, the object takes the ablative case; the adverbdaha( "more" ) is optional, unless the object is left out.

tüyden

feather-ABL

(daha)

(more)

hafif

light

tüyden (daha) hafif

feather-ABL (more) light

"lighter than a feather"

In a negative comparison, the adverbaz( "less" ) is needed; the object still takes the ablative;dahacan still be used as well.

kurşundan

lead-ABL

(daha)

(more)

az

less

ağır

heavy

kurşundan (daha) az ağır

lead-ABL (more) less heavy

"less heavy than lead"

The superlative degree is expressed by the adverben( "most" ).

en

most

büyük

big

yalancı

liar

en büyük yalancı

most big liar

"the biggest liar"

en

most

az

less

güvenilir

trust-

en az güvenilir

most less trust-

"the least trustworthy"

Participles

It is noted under#Parts of speechthat Turkishparticiples(sıfat-fiiller) can be classified as

• personal,if they take a suffix of possession;
• impersonal,if they do not.

In a personal participle, the suffix of possession signifies thesubjectof the underlying verb; if this possessor is third person, then the possessor may be further specified with a noun in the genitive case.

The noun modified by a personal participle as an adjective may be the direct object of the underlying verb; the connection may also be more vague.

The noun modified by an impersonal participle is generally the subject of the underlying verb (but see Lewis (1967: IX,2)).

The aorist tense (geniş zaman"broad time" ) is for habitual actions; the present tense (şimdiki zaman"time that is now" ) is for actions ongoing or contemplated.

Aorist

– akarsu
– çıkmaz
– inilir
– sürdürülebilir turizm

"flowing water", fromak-(to flow)
"cul-de-sac", fromçık-(to exit)
"got down from" (sign at rear door of bus), fromin-(to go down)
"tourism that can be continued", i.e. "sustainable tourism",fromsür-(to go on)

Present

Silahlarıçekip
havaya ateşaçan
AKP'liler hakkında
yasal işlem başlatılmadı.

Gunspulling-out-and
to-air fireopening
AKP-members about-them
legal process was-not-begun.

—Birgün Halkın Gazetesi,25 July 2005

that is, "No legal process has begun concerning theAKPmembers who pulled out guns and fired them in the air "; for-ipsee#Adverbsbelow.

Geçen hafta

Passing week

that is, "last week";

Future

– gelecek hafta
– okuyacağım bir kitap
– okunacak bir kitap

"the week that will come", that is, "next week"
"a book that I shall read", fromoku-(to read)
"a book that will be read", fromokun-(to be read)

Past/present

– okunmuş bir kitap
– okuduğum bir kitap
– Yaşamın bittiği yer'de hayat

"a book that was read"
"a book that I read/am reading"
"Life in 'the place where life ends'", frombit-(to end)

A personal participle can be construed as a noun and used in parallel with verbal nouns:

Çocukların
yüzde 68'i evinin ihtiyaçlarına katkıdabulunmak,
yüzde 21'i ailesiistediğiiçin,
yüzde altısı iş öğrenmek ve meslekedinmekiçin,
yüzde 4'ü ihtiyaçlarınıkarşılamakiçin
çalışıyor.

Children's
in-100 their-68 house's for-its-needs in-aidbe-found,
in-100 their-21 their-familythat-they-wantedfor,
in-100 their-six work learn and professionbe-madefor,
in-100 their-4 their-needsmeetfor
are-working.

—Birgün Halkın Gazetesi,13 August 2005, p. 1.

that is, "Children are working, 68% to provide for their family's needs, 21% because their family wants it, 6% to learn a job or profession, 4% to meet their [own] needs."

The following sentence from a newspaper headline contains twenty-two words, nine derived from verbs, four of these as participles, three as gerunds. Note also the use ofkontrolfrom French as a verbal noun withet-:

Türkiye'nin AB'yegirmemesive
İslam dünyasınayaklaşmasıhalinde
şeriatçılığın kucağınaitilmiş olacağını
söyleyenFransız senatör Duireux,
İslamiakımların
kontroledilmesi
gerektiğini
belirtti.

Turkey's to-the-EUits-not-enteringand
Islam to-its-worldits-drawing-nearin-its-state
sharia-favorer-ness's to-its-embracepushed that-it-will-be
sayingFrench senator Duireux,
Islamiccurrent's
controlits-being-made
that-it-is-necessary
he-made-clear.

—Cumhuriyet,17 July 2005.

In other words:

Sayingthat, bynot joiningthe EU and bydrawing closeto the Islamic world, Turkeywould be pushedinto the lap of those who favor sharia, French senator Duireuxmade clearthat itwas necessary to controlthe Islamictide.

Intensification

Turkish adjectives can be intensified withintensifying(pekiştirme) prefixes.

If the adjective begins with a consonant the prefix is the consonant + the following vowel +m,p,r,ors.poperates as the default, and is the most common form. Forms in r and m are rare. There is no single rule that governs the choice of the final consonant. This choice tends to minimize featural similarity with consonants in the base adjective, in particular, the first and second consonants:

• siyah ( "black" ) → simsiyah ( "pitch black" )
• güzel ( "pretty" ) → güpgüzel ( "very pretty" )
• temiz ( "clean" ) → tertemiz ( "clean as a pin" )
• katı ( "hard" ) → kaskatı ( "hard as a rock" )

If the adjective begins with a vowel, the prefix consists of this vowel +p:

• uzun ( "long" ) → upuzun ( "very long" )

The vowel is sometimes also added after the consonant:

• sağlam ( "healthy" ) → sapasağlam ( "very healthy" ) (sapsağlam also exists)
• yalnız ( "alone" ) → yapayalnız ( "all alone" ) (yapyalnız also exists)
• gündüz ( "daytime" ) → güpegündüz ( "" ) (güpgündüz also exists)
• çevre ( "" ) → çepeçevre ( "" ) (çepçevre also exists)
• tıp ( "medical" ) → tıpatıp ( "exactly" )

There are also some irregular suffixes:

• çıplak ( "naked" ) → çırılçıplak ( "stark naked" ) (çırçıplak and çırçıplak also exist)
• sıklam ( "" ) → sırılsıklam ( "" ) (sırsıklam also exists)
• karışık ( "complex" ) → karmakarışık ( "totally complex" )
• dağınık ( "untidy" ) → darmadağınık ( "very untidy" ) (dapdağınık and dasdağınık also exist)
• renk ( "colored" ) → rengârenk ( "multicolored" )
• deli ( "mad" ) →zırdeli ( "raving mad" )
• parça ( "piece" ) → paramparça ( "in pieces" )

Some adjectives have more than one intensified form:

• düz ( "flat" ): düpdüz (24.1%), dümdüz (78.1%) ( "very flat", 2 forms) (the irregular düpedüz also exists)
• yaş ( "fresh" ): yapyaş (44.8%), yamyaş (58.6%) ( "very fresh", 2 forms)
• sefil ( "miserable" ): sepsefil (24.1%), semsefil (6.8%), sersefil (66.6%) ( "very miserable", 3 forms)
• geniş ( "large" ): gepgeniş (77%), gemgeniş (9.15%), gesgeniş (6.8%), gergeniş (5.7%) ( "very large", 4 forms)
• topaç ( "" ): toptopaç (47.15%), tomtopaç (5.75%), tostopaç (33.3%), tortopaç (3.4%) ( "very", 4 forms)

This process is also called emphatic reduplication. It is only applied to particular common adjectives (between 100and 215 depending on sources), and not to new adjectives which enter Turkish. However, native speakers are able to produce novel forms when asked to do so.

Adverbs

The adverb ofnegationisdeğil.It is used to negate sentences that are without verb orvar;then it takes the appropriate personal ending:

Evde değilim"I am not at home."

A number of adverbs are derived from verbs:

The ending-eis seen in:

Güle güle"[Go] smilingly" (said to somebody departing);
Güle güle kullanın"Use [it] smilingly" (said to somebody with a new acquisition);
Beşe çeyrek kala kalktım"To-five a-quarter remaining I-got-up", that is,
"I got up at a quarter to five";
Onu yirmi geçe uyudun"You slept at twenty past ten"
(uyu-"sleep", althoughuy-"heed" ).

The ending-erekdenotes action at the same time as, or preceding, that of another verb:

Geceyi

the-night

konuşarak

talking

geçirdik

we-caused-to-pass

Geceyi konuşarak geçirdik

the-night talking we-caused-to-pass

"We spent the night talking."

Akıl

yürüterek

bu

sonuca

ulaşıyorum

Akıl yürüterek bu sonuca ulaşıyorum

"By using reason, I arrived at this conclusion" [the latter isBülent Ecevitas quoted inCumhuriyet,20 July 2005].

Doğaya

en

az

zarar

vererek

yaşamak

Doğaya en az zarar vererek yaşamak

"To live while giving the least harm to nature" [Buğdaymagazine, 7–8/2005, no 32].

Fromol-"be, become",olarakforms adverbial phrases corresponding to those in English with "as":

Size

To-you

bir

a

dost

friend

olarak

as

söylüyorum

I'm-telling

Size bir dost olarak söylüyorum

To-you a friend as I'm-telling

"I'm telling you this as a friend"

ciddi olarak"seriously" (ciddi"serious" ).

The ending-medenon a verb-stem looks like the ablative gerund, but it is not (Lewis [XI,12]). It indicates an action not occurring at all, or following that of the main verb:

Bakmadan atlama"Don't leap without looking";
Bakmadan önce atlama"Don't leap before looking."

Bir

A

soruyu

particular-question

cevaplamadan

without-answering

tartışmak,

to-debate

tartışmadan

without-debating

cevaplamaktan

from-to-answer

iyidir

is-good,

Bir soruyu cevaplamadan tartışmak, tartışmadan cevaplamaktan iyidir

A particular-question without-answering to-debate without-debating from-to-answer is-good,

"It is better to debate without answering than to answer without debating." (Source of the last sentence:Joseph Joubertas quoted on p. 20 ofGündelik Bilmecelerby Partha Ghose and Dipankar Home, translated by Özlem Özbal, Tübitak Popüler Bilim Kitapları 25, Ankara, 1996.)

Complementingönce"before" issonra"after", which can follow a verb-stem given the ending-dikten:

Baktıktan sonra atla"After looking, leap";
Ayşe baktıktan sonra Neşe atladı"After Ayşe looked, Neşe leapt."

Simultaneity is expressed byikenor its (not enclitic) suffixed form-(y)ken;but if it follows a verb, then the verb appears, not as a stem, but as abase;see#Bases of verbs:

Eve girmekteyken, bir şey hatırladım"As I was entering the house, I remembered something";
Ben eve girmekteyken, telefon çaldı"As I was entering the house, the telephone rang."

If two verbs of the same grammatical form have the same subject, the endings on the first verb can be replaced by-ip;see theexampleunder#Participles.

Pronouns

The third-personpersonal pronouno"she/he/it" is declined as if it were the nounon. The other persons,ben"I",sen"you (singular/informal)",biz"we",siz"you (plural/formal)", are declined like nouns, except for a vowel change in the dative and an anomalous genitive. All personal pronouns aside fromonlarform their instrumental with the genitive form.

	singular			plural
	1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
absolute	ben	sen	o	biz	siz	onlar
accusative	beni	seni	onu	bizi	sizi	onları
dative	bana	sana	ona	bize	size	onlara
locative	bende	sende	onda	bizde	sizde	onlarda
ablative	benden	senden	ondan	bizden	sizden	onlardan
genitive	benim	senin	onun	bizim	sizin	onların
instrumental	benimle	seninle	onunla	bizimle	sizinle	onlarla

The absolute case is generally needed only for emphasis:

—Nasılsınız?"How are you?"

—İyiyim;siznasılsınız?"I am fine; how areyou?"

—Bende iyiyim."I too am fine."

The third-person pronoun can clear up an ambiguity mentioned above:

onların fikri	"their idea"
onların fikirleri	"their ideas"
onun fikirleri	"her [or his] ideas"

The pronounois also one of thedemonstrative pronouns:

• o"that";
• bu"this";
• şu"this or that" (thing pointed to).

The latter two are declined likeo(that is, treated as if they werebunandşun,and formed to the instrumental with the genitive).

Theinterrogative pronouns(and adjectives) are:

• kim"who";
• ne"what";
• hangi"which";
• kaç"how many" or "how much".

These appear in embedded questions but do not serve as true relative pronouns:

Buzdolabındakaçtane var, o bilir.– "S/he knows how many are in the refrigerator."

There is a suffix-kithat acts as a relative pronoun in that it creates what, in English, would be called relative clauses. It does not display vowel harmony, except in a few common formations:

benimki– "mine (that which is mine)"

buzdolabındaki bira– "beer that is in the refrigerator" (no vowel harmony)

bugünkü– "today's (which is today)" (with vowel harmony)

dünkü– "yesterday's (which was yesterday)" (with vowel harmony)

Thereflexive pronoun(dönüşlü zamirfromdön-"turn" ) iskendi"own, self":

Kendi kendinden korkma– "Do not be afraid of thyself."

Many of the indefinite adjectives can function as pronouns, taking case-endings.

Verbs

Stems of verbs

Many stems in the dictionary are indivisible; others consist of endings attached to a root.

Verb-stems from nouns

The verb-stemtemizle-"make clean" is the adjectivetemiz"clean" with the suffix-le;this suffix was mentioned earlier under#Parts of speechin connection with the verbköpekle-.Many verbs are formed from nouns or adjectives with-le:

Noun	Verb
baş"head"	başla-"make a head", that is, "begin"
kilit"lock"	kilitle-"make locked", that is, "lock"
kir"dirt"	kirle-"make dirty"

Voice

A verbal root, or a verb-stem in-le,can be lengthened with certainextensions.If present, they appear in the following order, and they indicate distinctions ofvoice:

Extensions for voice

Voice	Ending	Notes
Reflexive	-(i)n
Reciprocal	-(i)ş
Causative	-t	after polysyllabic stems in-l,-r,or a vowel; and
	-dir	in other cases; except:
	-ir, -er, -it	after some monosyllabic stems; and
		there are some other exceptional forms as well.
Passive	-il	after stems ending in a consonant other than-l;otherwise, same as reflexive.

These endings might seem to beinflectionalin the sense of the§ Introductionabove, but their meanings are not always clear from their particular names, and dictionaries do generally give the resulting forms, so in this sense they areconstructiveendings.

The causative extension makes an intransitive verb transitive, and a transitive verbfactitive.Together, the reciprocal and causative extension make therepetitiveextension-(i)ştir.

Verb Root/Stem	New Verb	Voice
bul"find"	buluş"meet"	-uş(reciprocal)
	bulun"be found/present"	-un(reflexive)
yıka"wash (something)"	yıkan"wash oneself"	-n(reflexive)
	yıkanıl"be washed"	-n(reflexive) +-ıl(passive)
kayna"(come to a) boil"	kaynat"(bring to a) boil"	-t(causitive)
öl"die"	öldür"kill"	-dür(causitive)
öldür"kill"	öldürt"have (someone) killed"	-t(causitive, factitive)
ara"look for"	araştır"investigate"	-ş(reciprocal) +-tır(causitive) = (repetitive)

Negation and potential in verb-stems

A dictionary-stem ispositive;it can be made:

• negative,by addition of-me;
• impotential,by addition of-eand then-me.

Any of these three (kinds of) stems can be madepotentialby addition of-eand then-bil.The-bilis not enclitic, but represents the verbbil-"know, be able"; the first syllable of the impotential ending represents an obsolete verbu-"be powerful, able"Lewis[VIII,55]. So far then, there are six kinds of stems:

Paradigm for stems negative, impotential and potential

	English infinitive	English finite form
gel-	"come"	"come"
gelme-	"not come"	"do not come"
geleme-	"be unable to come"	"cannot come"
gelebil-	"be able to come"	"can come"
gelmeyebil-	"be able to not come"	"may not come"
gelemeyebil-	"able to be unable to come"	"may be unable to come"

Such stems are not used for aorist forms, which have their own peculiar means of forming negatives and impotentials.

Note that-ebilis one of several verbs that can be compounded to enhance meaning. SeeAuxiliary verbs.

Bases of verbs

Thecharacteristicswith which verb-basesare formed fromstemsare given under§ Inflectional suffixes.Note again that aorist verbs have their own peculiar negative and impotential forms.

Theprogressivebase in-mekteis discussed under§ Verbal nouns. Another base, namely thenecessitative(gereklilik), is formed from a verbal noun. The characteristic is-meli,where-liforms adjectives from nouns, and-meforms gerunds from verb-stems. A native speaker may perceive the ending-melias indivisible; the analysis here is from#Lewis[VIII,30]).

Thepresentbase is derived from the ancient verbyorı-"go, walk"#Lewis[VIII,16]; this can be used for ongoing actions, or for contemplated future actions.

The meaning of theaoristbase is described under#Adjectives from verbs: participles.

There is some irregularity in first-person negative and impotential aorists. The full form of the base-mez(or(y)emez) reappears before the interrogative particlemi:

Gelmem"I do not come" (cf.Gelmez miyim"Do I not come?" );

Gelmeyiz"We do not come" (cf.Gelmez miyiz"Do we not come?" )

Thedefinite pastordi-past is used to assert that something did happen in the past. Theinferential pastormiş-past can be understood as asserting that a past participle is applicablenow;hence it is used when the fact of a past event, as such, is not important; in particular, the inferential past is used when one did not actually witness the past event.

A newspaper will generally use thedi-past, because it is authoritative. The need to indicate uncertainty and inference by means of themiş-past may help to explain the extensive use ofkiin the newspaper excerpt atTurkish vocabulary#The conjunction ki.

Theconditional(şart) verb could also be called "hypothetical"; it is used for remote possibilities, or things one might wish for. (See also#Compound bases.)

The various bases thus give distinctions of tense, aspect and mood. These can be briefly tabulated:

First-person singular verbs

Form	Suffix	Verb	English Translation
Progressive	-mekte	gelmekteyim	"I am in the process of coming"
Necessitative	-meli	gelmeliyim	"I must come"
Positive	-(i/e)r	gelirim	"I come"
Negative	-me(z)	gelmem	"I do not come"
Impotential	-(y)eme(z)	gelemem	"I cannot come"
Future	-(y)ecek	geleceğim	"I will come"
Inferential Past	-miş	gelmişim	"It seems that I came"
Present/Imperfective	-iyor	geliyorum	"I am coming"
Perfective/Definite Past	-di	geldim	"I came"
Conditional	-se	gelsem	"if only I came"

Questions

The interrogativeparticlemiprecedes predicative (type-I) endings (except for the 3rd person plural-ler), but follows the complete verb formed from a verbal, type-II ending:

Geliyor musunuz?"Are you coming?" (but:Geliyorlar mı?"Are they coming?" )

Geldiniz mi?"Did you come?"

Optative and imperative moods

Usually, in theoptative(istek), only the first-person forms are used, and these supply the lack of a first-personimperative(emir). In common practice then, there is one series of endings to express something wished for:

Merged Optative & Imperative Moods

Number	Person	Ending	Example	English Translation
Singular	1st	-(y)eyim	Geleyim	"Let me come"
	2nd	—	Gel	"Come (you, singular)"
	3rd	-sin	Gelsin	"Let [her/him/it] come"
Plural	1st	-(y)elim	Gelelim	"Let us come"
	2nd	-(y)in(iz)	Gelin	"Come (you, plural)"
	3rd	-sinler	Gelsinler	"Let them come"

Copula

Main article:Turkish copula

The copula in Turkish appears in only two variants―*imek,a defective verb often attached to the noun, andolmek,which is a detached regular auxiliary verb.

*Imek,derived from the ancient verber-#Lewis[VIII,2], survives in Turkish only in the inferential past, perfective, and conditional:

• imiş,
• idi,
• ise.

The formikengiven under#Adverbs from verbsis also descended fromer-. Since no more bases are founded on the stemi-,this verb can be called defective. In particular,i-forms no negative or impotential stems; negation is achieved with the#Adverb of negation,değil,given earlier.

Thei-bases are often turned into base-forming suffixes without change in meaning; the corresponding suffixes are

• -(y)miş,
• -(y)di,
• -(y)se,

where theyis used only after vowels. For example,Hasta imişandHastaymışboth mean, "Apparently/Reportedly, he/she/it is ill".

The verbi-serves as acopula.When a copula is needed, but the appropriate base ini-does not exist, then the corresponding base inol-is used; when used otherwise this stem means "become".Idir,a variant ofimek,is used for emphasis.

The verbi-is irregular in the way it is used in questions: the particlemialways precedes it:

Kuş idiorKuştu"It was a bird";

Kuş muydu?"Was it a bird?"

Compound bases

The bases so far considered can be called "simple". A base ini-can be attached to another base, forming a compound base. One can then interpret the result in terms of English verb forms by reading backwards. The following list is representative, not exhaustive:

• Past tenses:
  • continuous past:Geliyordum"I was coming";
  • aorist past:Gelirdim"I used to come";
  • future past:Gelecektim"I was going to come";
  • pluperfect:Gelmiştim"I had come";
  • necessitative past:Gelmeliydim"I had to come";
  • conditional past:Gelseydim"If only I had come."
• Inferential tenses:
  • continuous inferential:Geliyormuşum"It seems (they say) I am coming";
  • future inferential:Gelecekmişim"It seems I shall come";
  • aorist inferential:Gelirmişim"It seems I come";
  • necessitative inferential:Gelmeliymişim"They say I must come."

By means ofiseor-(y)se,a verb can be madeconditionalin the sense of being the hypothesis or protasis of a complex statement:

önemli bir şey yapıyorsunuz"You are doing something important";

Önemli bir şey yapıyorsanız, rahatsız etmeyelim"If you are doing something important, let us not cause disturbance."

The simple conditional can be used for remote conditions:

Bakmakla öğrenilse, köpekler kasap olurdu"If learning by looking were possible, dogs would be butchers."

References

Grammars

• Robert Underhill (1976).Turkish Grammar.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press."A classic, still used to teach Turkish grammar in many universities."
• Kaya Can (1991).Yabancılar İçin Türkçe-İngilizce Açıklama Türkçe Dersleri.Ankara: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen ve Edebiyat Fakültesi."Turkish lessons with Turkish-English explanation[s] for foreigners."
• Ekrem Čaušević (1996).Gramatika suvremenoga turskog jezika.Zagreb, CRO: Sveučilišna naklada."A classic, still used to teach Turkish grammar in many universities."
• Aslı Göksel & Celia Kerslake (2005).Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar.London: Routledge."The most recent comprehensive grammar in English."
• G. L. Lewis (1967).Turkish Grammar.Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-815838-6.
• G. L. Lewis (2000).Turkish Grammar.Oxford University Press.Second edition. Structural differences between the two editions are not named in the second, but appear to be as follows: IV,4 "-çe",VI,7" Arithmetical terms ", XI,16"-diğinde",and XII,25"tâ"are new, while XV,1" Nominal sentences and verbal sentences "in the first edition was dropped.
• Eran Oyal (1986).Sözcüklerin Anlamsal ve Yapısal Özellikleri: Konular, Örnekler, Sorular, Açıklama Yanıtlar (ÖSS ve ÖYS için Dil Yeteneği Dizisi 2).Ankara."Semantic and syntactic properties of words: subjects, examples, questions, answers with explanation (language ability for the university entrance examinations, 2)."
• Atilla Özkırımlı (2001).Türk Dili, Dil ve Anlatım.İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları."The Turkish language, language, and expression."
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Dictionaries

• İsmet Zeki Eyuboğlu (1991).Türk Dilinin Etimoloji Sözlüğü."Etymological Dictionary of the Turkish Language." Expanded and revised second edition.
• H.-J. Kornrumpf (1989).Langenscheidt's Universal Dictionary: English-Turkish, Turkish-English.Istanbul.New edition revised and updated by Resuhi Akdikmen.
• Redhouse Yeni Türkçe-İngilizce Sözlük. New Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary.Redhouse Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1968 (12th ed., 1991).
• Redhouse Büyük Elsözlüğü İngilizce-Türkçe, Türkçe-İngilizce. The Larger Redhouse Portable Dictionary English-Turkish, Turkish-English.Redhouse Yayınevi, İstanbul 1997 (9th printing, 1998).
• Türk Dil Kurumu [Turkish Language Foundation],Türkçe Sözlük,expanded 7th edition, 1983.

Other Grammars

• Aksan, Doğan (Hazırlayan) (1983), Sözcük Türleri, TDK, Ankara, 2. Baskı, 288 s.
• Aksan, Doğan (1978), Türkiye Türkçesinde Gelişmeli Sesbilim, (Hazırlayanlar: Atabay, N-Özel, S., Çam, A.-Pirali, N.), TDK, Ankara.
• Atabay, Neşe-Özel, Sevgi-Çam, Ayfer (1981), Türkiye Türkçesinin Sözdizimi, TDK, Ankara, 131 s. (2003), Papatya Yayınları.
• Atalay, Besim (Haz.), (Bergamalı Kadri) (1946), Müyessiretü’l-Ulûm, İbrahim Horoz Basımevi, İstanbul.
• Banguoğlu, Tahsin (1940), Ana Hatları ile Türk Grameri, İstanbul.
• Banguoğlu, Tahsin (1959), Türk Grameri I: Sesbilgisi, TDK, Ankara, 306 s.
• Banguoğlu, Tahsin (1986), Türkçenin Grameri, TDK, Ankara, 2. Baskı, 628 s.
• Bilgegil, Kaya (1984), Türkçe Dilbilgisi, Dergâh Yayınları, İstanbul
• Bozkurt, Fuat (1995), Türkiye Türkçesi, Cem Yayınevi, İstanbul, 552 s.
• Burdurlu, İbrahim Zeki (1982), Uygulamalı Cümle Çözümlemeleri, İstanbul.
• Delice, H. İbrahim, (2003), Türçe Sözdizimi, Kitabevi, İstanbul, 248s.
• Demiray, Kemal (1964), Türkçe Dilbilgisi, Ankara.
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• Demircan, Ömer (1979), Türkiye Türkçesinin Ses Düzeni Türkiye Türkçesinde Sesler, Ankara
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• Deny, Jean (1992), Grammaire de la Langue Turque, Dialecte Osmanli, Paris, 1920, 1216 s.
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• Deny, Jean (1995), Türk Dili Gramerinin Temel Kuralları, (Çeviren: Oytun ŞAHiN), TDK, Ankara, XII+164 s.
• Dilmen, İbrahim Necmi (1930), Türkçe Gramer, İstanbul, 2 cilt.
• Dizdaroglu, Hikmet (1976), Tümcebilgisi, TDK, Ankara, 522+2 s.(doğru-yanlış cetveli).
• Dizdaroglu, Hikmet (1988), Türkçede Sözcük Yapma Yolları, Ankara, 1962.
• Eckmann, János, Çağatayca El Kitabı, (Çeviren: Günay Karaağaç), İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Yay., İstanbul, XVI+288 s.
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• Elöve, Ali Ulvi (Çeviren), (Jean Deny) (1941), Türk Dili Grameri (Osmanlı Lehçesi), TDK, İstanbul, XXII+1142+İlâve Doğru-Yanlış Cetveli)+XLI+A-G (İçindekiler).
• Emecan, Neşe (1998), 1960'tan Günümüze Türkçe, İstanbul.
• Emre, Ahmed Cevat (1945), Türk Dilbilgisi, TDK, İstanbul, XIX+613 s.
• Ergin, Muharrem (1987), Osmanlıca Dersleri, Boğaziçi Yayınları, İstanbul, 9. Baskı, VIII+124+236+16 s.
• Ergin, Muharrem (1985), Türk Dil Bilgisi, Boğaziçi Yayınları, İstanbul, 5. Baskı, XXVIII+407 s.
• Gabain, Annamarie (1988), Eski Türkçenin Grameri, (Çeviren: Mehmet Akalın), TDK, Ankara, XXIII+313 s.
• Gencan, Tahir Nejat (1966), Dilbilgisi, TDK, İstanbul, XV+412 s, (2001), Ayraç Yayınları.
• Göğüş, Beşir (1969), Faydalı Dilbilgisi, I-II-II, İstanbul
• Göknel, Yüksel (1974), Modern Türkçe Dilbilgisi, İzmir
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• Hatiboğlu, Vecihe (1981), Türkçenin Ekleri, TDK, Ankara
• Hatipoğlu, Vecihe (1972), Türkçenin Sözdizimi, Ankara
• Karahan, Leyla (1991), Türkçede Söz Dizimi, Akçağ Yayınları, Ankara.
• Karaağaç, Günay (2003), Çağatayca El Kitabı, Akçağ Yayınları.
• Koç, Nurettin (1996), Yeni Dilbilgisi, İstanbul.
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• Korkmaz, Zeynep (1994), Türkçede Eklerin Kullanılış Şekilleri ve Ek Kalıplaşması Olayları, TDK, Ankara, Üçüncü baskı, X+92 s.
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• Kutluk, İbrahim (1976), Sözcük Türleri I, (D. Aksan-N.Atabay-S.Özel ile), Ankara
• Kükey, Mazhar (1975), Türkçenin Sözdizimi, Ankara
• Lees, Robert B. (1961), The Phonology of Modern Standard Turkish, Indiana University, Bloomington, Mouton and Co. The Hague, Netherlands, VII+76 s.
• Lewis, G.L. (1967), Turkish Language, Oxford University Press.
• Mungan, Güler (2002), Türkçede Fiillerden Türetilmiş İsimlerin Morfolojik ve Semantik Yönden İncelenmesi, Simurg Yayınları.
• Nash, Rose (1973), Turkish Intonation, Mouton.
• Özden, Ragıp Hulusi (1938), Tarihsel Bakımdan Öztürkçe ve Yabancı Sözcüklerin Fonetik Ayraçlaır I, İstanbul, 21 s.
• Özel, Sevgi (1976), Sözcük Türleri II, (D. Aksan-N.Atabay ile), Ankara.
• Özel, Sevgi (1977), Türkiye Türkçesinde Sözcük Türetme ve Birleştirme, Ankara.
• Selen, Nevin (1979), Söyleyiş Sesbilimi, Akustik Sesbilimi ve Türkiye Türkçesi, Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları, Ankara.
• Swift, Llyod B. (1963), A Reference Grammar of Modern Turkish, Indiana University, Bloomington, Mouton and Co. The Hague, Netherlands, 267 s.+4 Analyses (Tables).
• Şimşek, Rasim (1987), Örneklerle Türkçe Sözdizimi, Trabzon.
• Tansu, Muzaffer (1941), Türk Dilinin Entonasyonu: Tecrübi Etüd, Ankara.
• Tansu, Muzaffer (1963), Durgun Genel Sesbilgisi ve Türkçe, Ankara.
• Tekin, Talat (1988), Orhun Yazıtları, TDK, Ankara, XIV+200+23+4 s.(Yazıtların Kopyası)
• Tekin, Talat (1994), Türkoloji Eleştirileri, Doruk Yayınları, Ankara.
• Tekin, Talat (1995), Türk Dillerinde Birincil Uzun Ünlüler, Kültür Bak. Simurg, Ankara, 192 s.
• Timurtaş, Faruk K. (1987), Osmanlı Türkçesi Giriş I (Eski Yazı—Gramer—Aruz—Metinler), Umur Reklamcılık ve Matbaacılık, İstanbul, 9. Baskı, XVI+232+176 s.
• Timurtaş, Faruk K., Osmanlı Türkçesi Grameri III (Eski Yazı ve İmlâ—Arapça—Farsça—Eski Anadolu Türkçesi), Umur Reklamcılık ve Matbaacılık, İstanbul, 3. Baskı, XV+469 s.
• Timurtaş, Faruk K. (1983), Osmanlı Türkçesi Grameri III, (5. Baskı), Umur Reklâmcılık, İstanbul
• Timurtaş, Faruk Kadri (1994), Eski Türkiye Türkçesi XV. Yüzyıl (Gramer-Metin-Sözlük), Enderun Kitabevi, İstanbul.
• Şahin, Hatice (2003), Eski Anadolu Türkçesi, Akçağ Yayınları.
• Underhill, R. (1976), Turkish Grammar, Mass: The MIT Press.

External links

• Turkish dictionariesatCurlie
• Turkish languageatCurlie