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Turkish grammar
Turkish is a highly agglutinative language, i.e., Turkish words have many grammatical suffixes or endings that
determine meaning. Turkish vowels undergo vowel harmony. When a suffix is attached to a stem, the vowel in the
suffix agrees in frontness or backness and in roundedness with the last vowel in the stem. Turkish has no gender.
Introduction
Suffixes
A suffix (ek) is attached to a stem (gvde). A stem may be a root (kk) or further analyzable. The suffixes used in
Turkish fall roughly into two classes: constructive suffixes (yapm ekleri) and inflectional suffixes (ekim ekleri). A
constructive suffix makes a new word from an old one, that is, it is a derivational suffix. An inflectional suffix
indicates how a word is used in a sentence. The article on Turkish grammar pertains chiefly to inflectional suffixes.
The article on Turkish vocabulary treats the constructive suffixes.
A Turkish suffix can be called enclitic if its vowel undergoes vowel harmony, agreeing with the last vowel of the
stem the suffix is attached to.
Gender
Turkish is a gender-neutral language except for a few sex-specific compound words (mostly naming professions).
English third person singular pronouns "she", "he", and "it" all correspond to a single Turkish pronoun o. Since many
given names in Turkish are also gender-neutral, it is possible to describe someone without their sex being made
known.
Person
Turkish has a strong T-V distinction and usage of honorifics. Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish
varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural
second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a single person out of respect, as is done in French and
Russian.
T-V distinction
Family members and friends speak to one another using the second singular person "sen", and adults use "sen" to
address minors. In formal situations (meeting people for the first time, business, customer-clerk, colleagues) plural
second-person "siz" is used almost exclusively. In very formal situations, double plural second-person "sizler" may
be used to 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: "gel" (second
person singular, informal), "gelin" (second person plural, formal), "geliniz" (double second person plural, very
formal). The very formal forms are not frequently used.
Turkish grammar
Honorifics
Turkish honorifics generally follow the first name, especially if they refer to gender or particular social statuses (e.g.
Name Bey (Mr.), Name Hanm (Ms.), Name Hoca (teacher or cleric)). Such honorifics are used both in formal and
informal situations. A newer honorific is "Sayn," which precedes the surname or full name, and is not
gender-specific. (e.g. Sayn Name Surname, or Sayn Surname). They are generally used in very formal situations.
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"
ek- "pull, draw"
For the last two verbal roots, the constructive suffix -im can be added to form nouns for instances of the actions
denoted by the roots:
yapm "construction";
ekim "[a] pull or draw" (or a "take" in cinema).
Either of these nouns can be compounded with the noun ek, resulting in an indefinite compound (belirtisiz
tamlama), the sign of which is the inflectional suffix -i attached to ek:
yapm eki "structure-suffix";
ekim eki "inflection-suffix".
The inflectional suffix -ler comes before the -i to form the plural, so yapm ekleri, ekim ekleri.
Many words in Turkishparticularly many grammatical termsare neologisms invented to replace earlier words
borrowed from Arabic or Persian. (See the main article on Turkish language.) In some cases, the older term
continues to be in used alongside the neologism.
Parts of speech
There are nine parts of speech (sz trleri "word-kinds") in Turkish.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Postpositions are analogous to prepositions in English, only they follow their objects. Postpositions can be reckoned
as particles. However, 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 (sfat-fiil) or participle (orta);
verbal adverb (called a gerund by Lewis (1967)).
Turkish grammar
These have peculiarities not shared with other nouns, adjectives or adverbs. For example, some participles take a
person the way verbs do. Also, a verbal noun or adverb can take a direct object. Some verbal nouns are not inflected
forms in Turkish, but are borrowed from Arabic or other languages.
A noun or pronoun alone can make a complete sentence. For example,
kpek "dog"; Kpek. "It is a dog."
Most dictionaries list verbs in their infinitive form, which alone usually cannot form complete sentences. For
example,
komak "(to) run".
However, instead of the infinitive, the Redhouse TurkishEnglish Dictionary gives the stem of a verb as its
headword, and the present article follows this convention. The verb-stem is also the second-person singular
imperative:
ko- "run"; Ko! "Run!"
Both a noun and a verb, without endings, can alone form a sentence.
Many verbs are formed from nouns by addition of -le. For example,
kpekle- "dog paddle" (in any of several ways).
The aorist tense of a verb is formed by adding -(i/e)r. The plural of a noun is formed by suffixing -ler. Hence:
Kpek + ler
Kpekle + r
Turkish grammar
Word-order
Turkish is generally SOV. A general rule of Turkish word-order is that the modifier precedes the modified:
adjective (used attributively) precedes noun;
adverb precedes verb;
object of postposition precedes postposition.
Also, in a sentence,
subject precedes predicate;
objects precede verb;
indirect object precedes direct object.
However, because the distinction between subject, indirect object, and direct object is also indicated with inflection,
Turkish word order can vary.
The order of morphemes in Turkish is often opposite to English:
Avrupa
Europe
Avrupal
European
Avrupalla
Avrupallatr
Europeanize (command)
Avrupallatrama
Avrupallatramadk
Avrupallatramadklar
Avrupallatramadklarmz
Avrupallatramadklarmzdan
Avrupallatramadklarmzdan m?
Avrupallatramadklarmzdan msn?
Avrupallatramadklarmzdan msnz?
Are you one of those whom we could not Europeanize? (second plural or formal)
Within
the
same
context,
the
longest
Turkish
word
consists
of
44
characters:
ekoslovakyallatramadklarmzdanmsnz = You are apparently one of those we weren't (or haven't been) able
to make a Czechoslovakian. (And equally: skandinavyallatramadklarmzdanmsnz = same for a
Scandinavian.)[longest
Turkish
word:
in
Turkish
"Mvaffakiyetsizletiriciletiriveremeyebileceklerimizdenmisinizcesine", which means something like (you are
talking) as if you are one of those that we can not easily convert into an unsuccessful-person-maker (someone who
un-educates people to make them unsuccessful)].
Inflectional suffixes
The plural suffix (oul eki) can be used with nouns and with third-person verbs:
Plural suffix
-ler
The case-endings (durum ekleri from dur- "stop, last", or hl ekleri from hl "state, condition") can be named (in
English) and used roughly as in Latin:
Turkish grammar
Case-endings
absolute (yaln "bare" durum)
-(y)e
-de
-den
-(n)in
If a case-ending is attached to a demonstrative pronoun (which ends in o or u), or to a noun that has already taken a
third-person ending of possession (given below), then the case-ending is preceded by n (and the parenthetical y is not
used).
Nouns derived from verbs in several ways. The number of ways of forming verbal nouns (fiil isimleri) from
verb-stems can be debated; here are three:
Verbal-noun suffixes
infinitive (mastar "template") -mek
gerund
-me
-i
Several series of endings show distinctions of person (kii); they are given here, along with the personal pronouns for
comparison:
Indicators of person
person
number
sing
personal pronouns
ben
predicative (I)
verbal (II)
optative (III)
imperative (IV)
2
pl
sing
3
pl
sing/pl
biz
sen
siz
-(i)m
-(i)miz
-(i)n
-(i)niz
-(s)i
-(y)im
-(y)iz
-sin
-siniz
-ler
-n
-niz
-ler
-(y)e
-(y)eler
-sin
-sinler
-m
-k
-(y)in(iz)
pl
onlar
-leri
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. It should also be noted
that Lewis (1967) refers to the suffixes of possession as "personal" endings. However, of the endings called personal
in Turkish and in this article:
those labelled "predicative" above can be used to turn nouns into verbs;
those labelled "verbal" attach only to verb-stems.
In the 3rd person, plural number is not always explicitly marked, and the same form is used for both singular and
plural. If the plural suffix -ler is used, it combines with the personal endings as indicated in the final column of the
table.
A suffix of possession gives the person of a possessor of the object named by the noun to which the suffix is
attached; it also indicates a subject for a participle.
A predicative ending can assign a person to a noun, thus creating a complete sentence:
Turkish grammar
progressive
-mekte
necessitative
-meli
aorist
[1]
(habitual)
positive
-(i/e)r
negative
-mez
impotential -(y)emez
future
-(y)ecek
inferential perfective
imperfective
[2]
[3]
perfective
conditional
-mi
-iyor
-di
-se
The present characteristic is not fully enclitic: the first syllable shows vowel harmony, but the second is invariable.
The aorist negative and impotential characteristics are given here because they are anomalous. Note, that the "-z" of
the aorist negative (-mez) and impotential (-(y)emez) is dropped in the 1st person singular and plural, in order to be
able to suffix it. (Aorist negative 1st person singular: -mem; BUT: Aorist impotential 3rd person plural: -(y)emezler)
The non-aorist characteristics can be suffixed to the following endings:
negative
-me
impotential -(y)eme
positive
-(i/e)r
negative
-mez
impotential -(y)emez
imperfective
-(y)en
future
perfective
-(y)ecek
-mi
-dik
The interrogative particle (soru eki) is not written as a suffix, but it is enclitic:
Interrogative particle
Turkish grammar
7
mi
Nouns
Inflection
A Turkish noun has no gender. The dictionary-form of a noun can take up to four (kinds of) #Inflectional suffixes,
generally in the following order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
plural suffix;
suffix of possession (iyelik eki from iye "owner");
case-ending;
personal suffix (kii eki from kii "person").
Through its presence or absence, the plural ending shows distinctions of number.
Number
A noun is made into an indefinite plural by addition of -ler. If a numeral is used with a noun, then the plural suffix is
usually not used:
ba
"head",
balar "[some] heads",
be ba "five head(s)", but
Beevler "Five Houses" (district of Ankara).
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 comes before the 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.
gn "day",
yi gnler! "Good day!";
yl "year"; Mutlu yllar! "Happy new year!"
Possession
As noted earlier, the suffixes of possession give the person (and number) of the possessor of what is named by the
noun:
teyzen
teyzeniz
teyzeniz
teyzelerin
teyzeleriniz
teyzeleriniz
"your
"your(singular, formal)
"your(plural)
"your(singular)
"your(singular, formal)
"your(plural)
maternal
maternal
maternal
maternal
maternal
maternal
aunt",
aunt"
aunt"
aunts"
aunts"
aunts"
Turkish grammar
Note well that, when a word takes one of the endings of possession, the word becomes the name of something
possessed, not possessing: the word for the possessor, if present, takes the genitive case-ending, as discussed below.
The plural ending will not be attached twice to the same word; therefore ambiguity is possible:
fikir
fikirleri
"idea",
"their idea" or "their ideas" or "her [or his] ideas".
Turkish grammar
anne "mother",
annesi "her mother",
Aye'nin annesi "Aye's mother".
(The apostrophe in Turkish is used before suffixes attached to proper nouns.)
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 an indefinite compound (belirtisiz tamlama):
Trkiye'nin Cumhurbakan "The President of Turkey" (definite);
Trkiye
Cumhuriyeti "The Republic of Turkey" (indefinite).
If one noun names a material, the other noun need not take an ending:
nikh yz "wedding ring";
altn yzk
"gold
ring".
Predication
If a noun is to be in the first or second person, one of the predicative suffixes (or type-I personal suffixes) will show
this:
Dnyayz "We are the world" (dnya "world").
ocuklarsnz "You are the children" (ocuk "child").
In the third person, no ending is required. However, the ending -dir can be used; it is said (Lewis, 1967: VIII,3) to be
the remnant of a verb turur "S/he stands". Again in the third person, the plural suffix may be used:
Trk
or Trktr
"S/he is
Turkish";
Trkler or Trktrler "They are
Turkish";
Trklerdir
"They are the Turks" (Lewis, 1967: VIII,5).
Several suffixes can be combined:
Evinizdeyim "I am at your house."
Ya benimsin, ya topran "Thou art either mine, or the earth's (that is, dead)."
Verbal nouns
The infinitive, formed with -mek as 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:
Konumaktayz "We are in (the act of) speaking."
Savamaktayz "We are in warmaking", that is, "We are at war."
The verbal noun in -me is called a gerund above, since it corresponds roughly to the English gerund. It can take a
suffix of possession and any case-ending:
bekleme
odas
Beklemeniz lzm
Turkish grammar
10
The dative form of a Turkish gerund can correspond precisely to an English infinitive with to:
lkemizde
nano teknolojik
rnler retilmeye
baland
"In-our-country nano technological products to-be-produced began"
that is, "Nano-technological products began to be produced in our country" (source: Cumhuriyet Bilim-Teknik 13
August 2005, p.1).
Yet another verbal noun is from -i:
yry "walk, walking" (yr- "walk");
ya "rain" (ya- "rain");
alveri "getting [and] spending", that is, "shopping"
(al- "take" or "buy"; ver- "give" or "spend");
yaratl "creation" (yara"be of use",
yarat"create",
yaratl- "be created").
The verb et- "make, do" can be considered as an auxiliary 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, by themselves, take direct objects:
Antalya'y ziyaret "visit to Antalya".
What looks like an ablative gerund is usually an adverb; the ending -meden usually has the sense of "without". See
#Adverbs below.
An infinitive in the absolute case can be the object of a verb such as iste- "want":
Kimi eitime devam etmek,
kimi de
almak istiyor.
that is, "Some want to continue their educations, and some want to work" (source: Cumhuriyet Pazar Dergi, 14
August 2005, p.1.) Note here that the compound verb devam et- "continue, last" does not take a direct object, but is
complemented by a dative noun.
Another way to express obligation (besides with lzm as in the earlier example) is by means of zor "trouble,
compulsion" and an infinitive:
Gitmek zoru "Go compulsion",
Gitmek zorundayz "We must go".
(Source: same as the last example.)
Both an infinitive and a gerund are objects of the postposition iin "for" in the third sentence of the quotation within
the following quotation:
Tesis yetkilileri,
Facility its-authorities
Sahil kesimleri
Shore its-sections
Turkish grammar
11
Biz de
We and
paravan kullanyoruz"
screen we-are-using"
dedi.
they-said.
engellenemedi.
cannot-be-hindered.
Auxiliary verbs
Certain verbs in Turkish are used to enhance the meaning of other verbs, or to agglutinate verbs from nouns. These
verbs are called auxiliary verbs. A concise list follows:
Verbs that are used with nouns to agglutinate new verbs
etmek
olmak
klmak
eylemek
Examples
*
*
*
*
*
*
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.
Remember that in Turkish words, two consonants of a syllable need a vowel to be pronunciated. There are
exceptions on loan words only, but those that lost their original form are more common. This occurs in two ways: If
two identical consonants exist in the end of the word, one is dropped such as hall "state,status" to hal, aff
"amnesty,forgiving" to af. If any two consonants exist in one syllable, a vowel appears such as hkm "judgement" to
hkm. Exceptions: taht "throne", renk "colour", kart "card" frequent for the ones with nk, rt, rk. Note that most of
these are loan-words from Persian or western languages.
Examples
* kayp + et-
-> kaybetmek (to lose; "kayp" lost is originally "kayb", an Arabic loan-word)
* haciz + et-
-> haczetmek (to sequestrate; "haciz" sequestration is originally "hacz", an Arabic loan-word)
* haz
-> hazzetmek (to relish or to enjoy; "haz" delight is originally "hazz", an Arabic loan-word)
+ et-
Verbs that are used with other verbs to enhance the meaning
Turkish grammar
12
Examples
*
*
*
*
*
Adjectives
Use
Adjectives used attributively precede the noun; used predicatively, they follow, unless something other than
word-order shows that they are being used predicatively:
yeil im "[the] green grass"
im yeil(dir) or Yeildir im "Grass is green."
In a positive comparison, the object takes the ablative case; the adverb daha "more" is optional, unless the object is
left out.
tyden (daha) hafif "lighter than a feather".
In a negative comparison, the adverb az "less" is needed; the object still takes the ablative; daha can still be used as
well.
kurundan (daha) az ar "less heavy than lead"
The superlative degree is expressed by the adverb en "most".
en byk yalanc "the biggest liar" (byk "big", yalan "lie");
en az gvenilir "least trustworthy" (gven- "trust").
Descriptive adjectives
Most adjectives in the dictionary are descriptive. The most fundamental descriptive adjectives are two:
var "existing"
yok "not existing"
Turkish grammar
13
(This is a proverbial expression: "The honey-seller has a honey-pot; the wood-cutter has an axe"; bal "honey", odun
"(fire) wood", tas "bowl", balta "axe"; the more usual order would make the saying Balcnn bal tas var, oduncunun
baltas var).
Indefinite adjectives
The cardinal bir "one" can be used as an indefinite article. Word-order can make the difference:
gzel bir gn
"a nice day";
bir gzel gn "one fine day".
Unless it is being used by itself, elliptically, the adjective hi "no" requires an additional word with negative force:
Hi param yok
Hibir adam ada deildir' ' "No man is an island" (adam "man", ada "island", deil "not").
Bir ey gryorum
Hibir ey gremiyorum
Participles
It is noted under #Parts of speech that Turkish participles (sfat-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 the subject of 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
connexion 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 (geni zaman "broad time") is for habitual actions; the present tense (imdiki zaman "time that is
now") is for actions ongoing or contemplated.
Aorist:
akarsu "water that flows", hence "stream" (ak- "flow", su "water");
akaryakt "fuel oil" (yakt "heating fuel");
kmaz "not going out, cul-de-sac";
inilir "got down from" (sign at rear door of bus; in- "go down")
srdrlebilir turizm "tourism that can be continued", that is, "sustainable tourism"
(sr "drive"; srdr "continue")
Present:
geen hafta "passing week", that is, "last week";
Silahlar ekip
"Guns pulling-out-and
havaya ate aan
to-air fire opening
AKP'liler hakknda
AKP-members about-them
yasal ilem balatlmad legal process was-not-begun"
Turkish grammar
14
that is, "No legal process has begun concerning the AKP members who pulled out guns and fired them in the air"
[Birgn Halkn Gazetesi, 25 July 2005]; for -ip see #Adverbs below.
Future:
gelecek hafta "week that will come", that is, "next week";
okunacak
bir kitap "a book that will be read" (okun- "be read");
okuyacam bir kitap "a book that I shall read" (oku- "read").
Past/present:
okunmu
bir kitap "a book that was read";
okuduum bir kitap "a book that I read/am reading";
'Yaamn bittii yer'de hayat "Life in the place where life ends."
(The last example is a newspaper headline [Birgn, 20 July 2005] about cemetery workers; bit- "end"; yer "place";
hayat [Arabic] and yaam [neologism from yaa-] "life".)
A personal participle can be construed as a noun and used in parallel with verbal nouns:
ocuklarn
yzde 68'i evinin ihtiyalarna katkda bulunmak,
yzde 21'i ailesi istedii iin,
yzde alts i renmek ve meslek edinmek iin,
yzde 4' ihtiyalarn karlamak iin
alyor
"Children's
in-100 their-68 house's for-its-needs in-aid be-found,
in-100 their-21 their-family that-they-wanted for,
in-100 their-six work learn and profession be-made for,
in-100 their-4 their-needs meet for
are-working."
(Source: Birgn Halkn Gazetesi 13 August 2005, Saturday, 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 of kontrol from French as a verbal noun with et-:
Trkiye'nin AB'ye girmemesi ve
olacan
that-it-will-be
slami akmlarn
Islamic current's
kontrol edilmesi
control its-being-made
gerektiini
that-it-is-necessary
belirtti.
he-made-clear."
Turkish grammar
15
Saying that, by not joining the EU and by drawing close to the Islamic world, Turkey would be
pushed into the lap of those who favor sharia, French senator Duireux made clear that it was necessary
to control the Islamic tide.
Adverbs
The adverb of negation is deil. It is used to negate sentences that are without verb or var; then it takes the
appropriate personal ending:
Evde deilim "I am not at home."
A number of adverbs are derived from verbs:
The ending -e is seen in:
Gle gle "[Go] smilingly" (said to somebody departing);
Gle gle kullann "Use [it] smilingly" (said to somebody with a new acquisition);
Bee eyrek kala kalktm "To-five a-quarter remaining I-got-up", that is,
"I got up at a quarter to five";
Onu yirmi gee uyudun "You slept at twenty past ten"
(uyu- "sleep", although uy- "heed").
The ending -erek denotes action at the same time as, or preceding, that of another verb:
Geceyi konuarak geirdik "The-night talking we-caused-to-pass", that is,
"We spent the night talking."
Akl yrterek bu sonuca ulayorum "By using reason, I arrived at this conclusion"
Turkish grammar
16
If two verbs of the same grammatical form have the same subject, the endings on the first verb can be replaced by
-ip; see the example under #Participles.
Pronouns
The third-person personal pronoun o "she/he/it" is declined as if it were the noun on. 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; also the plural forms do not involve -ler:
singular
1
absolute
plural
ben
sen
biz
siz
onlar
accusative beni
seni
onu
bizi
sizi
onlar
dative
bana
sana
ona
bize
size
onlara
locative
bende
sende
onda
bizde
sizde
onlarda
ablative
genitive
benim
senin
onun
bizim
sizin
onlarn
kim "who";
ne "what";
hangi "which";
ka "how many" or "how much".
Turkish grammar
17
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-stem temizle- "make clean" is the adjective temiz "clean" with the suffix -le; this suffix was mentioned
earlier under #Parts of speech in connexion with the verb kpekle-. Many verbs are formed from nouns or adjectives
with -le:
bala- "make a head", that is, "begin" (intransitive; ba "head");
kilitle- "make locked", that is, "lock" (kilit "lock");
kirle- "make dirty" (kir "dirt").
Voice
A verbal root, or a verb-stem in -le, can be lengthened with certain extensions. If present, they appear in the
following order; they indicate distinctions of voice:
Extensions for voice
reflexive
-(i)n
reciprocal -(i)
causative -t
-dir
-il
after stems ending in a consonant other than -l; otherwise, same as reflexive.
These endings might seem to be inflectional in the sense of the #Introduction above, but their meanings are not
always clear from their particular names, and dictionaries do generally give the resulting forms, so in this sense they
are constructive endings.
Turkish grammar
18
The causative extension makes an intransitive verb transitive, and a transitive verb factitive. Together, the reciprocal
and causative extension make the repetitive extension -itir.
bul- "find",
bulu- "meet",
bulun- "be present";
yka- "wash [something else]",
ykan- "wash oneself",
ykanl- "be washed";
kayna- "(come to a) boil",
kaynat- "(bring to a) boil";
l- "die",
ldr- "kill",
ldrt- "have [someone] killed";
ara- "look for",
aratr- "investigate".
Negation and potential in verb-stems
A dictionary-stem is positive; it can be made:
negative, by addition of -me;
impotential, by addition of -e and then -me.
Any of these three (kinds of) stems can be made potential by addition of -e and then -bil. The -bil is not enclitic, but
represents the verb bil- "know, be able"; the first syllable of the impotential ending represents an obsolete verb u- "be
powerful, able" #Lewis [VIII,55]. So far then, there are six kinds of stems:
Paradigm for stems negative, impotential and potential
English infinitive
gel-
"come"
"come"
gelme-
"not come"
geleme-
"cannot come"
gelebil-
"can come"
gelmeyebil-
Such stems are not used for aorist forms, which have their own peculiar means of forming negatives and
impotentials.
Turkish grammar
19
Bases of verbs
The characteristics with which verb-bases are formed from stems are given under #Inflectional suffixes. Note again
that aorist verbs have their own peculiar negative and impotential forms.
The progressive base in -mekte is discussed under #Verbal nouns. Another base, namely the necessitative
(gereklilik), is formed from a verbal noun. The characteristic is -meli, where -li forms adjectives from nouns, and -me
forms gerunds from verb-stems. A native speaker may perceive the ending -meli as indivisible; the analysis here is
from #Lewis [VIII,30]).
The present base is derived from the ancient verb yor- "go, walk" #Lewis [VIII,16]; this can be used for ongoing
actions, or for contemplated future actions.
The meaning of the aorist base 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 particle mi:
Gelmem "I do not come" (cf. Gelmez miyim "Do I not come?");
Gelmeyiz "We do not come" (cf. Gelmez miyiz "Do we not come?")
The definite past or di-past is used to assert that something did happen in the past. The inferential past or mi-past
can be understood as asserting that a past participle is applicable now; 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 the di-past, because it is authoritative. The need to indicate uncertainly and inference
by means of the mi-past may help to explain the extensive use of ki in the newspaper excerpt at Turkish
vocabulary#The conjunction ki.
The conditional (art) 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
gelmekteyim "I am in the process of coming"
gelmeliyim
gelirim
"I come"
gelmem
gelemem
geleceim
gelmiim
geliyorum
"I am coming"
geldim
"I came"
gelsem
Turkish grammar
20
Questions
The interrogative particle mi precedes 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 m? "Are they coming?")
Geldiniz mi? "Did you come?"
"Let me come"
Gelelim
"Let us come"
Gel
"Come (thou)"
Gelin
"Come (you)"
Gelsin
The defective verb iThe ancient verb er- #Lewis [VIII,2] exists in Turkish in three bases:
imi,
idi,
ise.
The form iken given under #Adverbs from verbs is also descended from er-. Since no more bases are founded on the
stem i-, this verb can be called defective. In particular, i- forms no negative or impotential stems; negation is
achieved with the #Adverb of negation, deil, given earlier.
Verbs i- are often made into suffixes; the corresponding bases then are
-(y)mi,
-(y)di,
-(y)se,
where the y is used only after vowels.
The verb i- serves as a copula. When a copula is needed, but the appropriate base in i- does not exist, then the
corresponding base in ol- is used; this stem otherwise means "become".
The verb i- is irregular in the way it is used in questions: the particle mi always precedes it:
Ku idi or Kutu "It was a bird";
Ku muydu? "Was it a bird?"
Turkish grammar
Compound bases
The bases so far considered can be called "simple". A base in i- can be attached to another base, forming a
compound base. One can then interpret the result 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: Gelmitim "I had come";
necessitative past: Gelmeliydim "I had to come";
conditional past: Gelseydim "If only I had come."
Inferential tenses:
By means of ise or -(y)se, a verb can be made conditional in the sense of being the hypothesis or protasis of a
complex statement:
nemli bir ey yapyorsunuz "You are doing something important";
nemli bir ey yapyorsanz, rahatsz etmeyelim "If you are doing something important, let us not cause
disturbance."
The simple conditional can be used for remote conditions:
Bakmakla renilse, kpekler kasap olurdu "If learning by looking were possible, dogs would be butchers."
Notes
[1] The term "aorist" is often used in Turkish grammars for the habitual aspect. This is quite different from its use in Greek grammars, where it
means perfective aspect: what is called "definite past" in Turkish.
[2] The imperfective aspect is often called "present", though it is not actually present tense
[3] The perfective aspect is often called "definite past", though it is not actually past tense
References
Grammars
Robert Underhill (1976). Turkish Grammar. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. "A classic, still used to teach Turkish
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Kaya Can (1991). Yabanclar in Trke-ngilizce Aklama Trke Dersleri. Ankara: Orta Dou Teknik
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Ekrem auevi (1996). Gramatika suvremenoga turskog jezika. Zagreb, CRO: Sveuilina naklada. "A classic,
still used to teach Turkish grammar in many universities."
Asl Gksel & Celia Kerslake (2005). Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge. "The most
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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
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XI,16 "-diinde", and XII,25 "t" are new, while XV,1 "Nominal sentences and verbal sentences" in the first
21
Turkish grammar
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H.-J. Kornrumpf (1989). Langenscheidt's Universal Dictionary: English-Turkish, Turkish-English. Istanbul. New
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1968 (12th ed., 1991).
Redhouse Byk Elszl ngilizce-Trke, Trke-ngilizce. The Larger Redhouse Portable Dictionary
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Banguolu, Tahsin (1986), Trkenin Grameri, TDK, Ankara, 2. Bask, 628 s.
Bilgegil, Kaya (1984), Trke Dilbilgisi, Dergh Yaynlar, stanbul
Bozkurt, Fuat (1995), Trkiye Trkesi, Cem Yaynevi, stanbul, 552 s.
Burdurlu, brahim Zeki (1982), Uygulamal Cmle zmlemeleri, stanbul.
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Turkish grammar
Eckmann, Jnos, aatayca El Kitab, (eviren: Gnay Karaaa), stanbul niversitesi Edebiyat Fakltesi Yay.,
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G, Beir (1969), Faydal Dilbilgisi, I-II-II, stanbul
Gknel, Yksel (1974), Modern Trke Dilbilgisi, zmir
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ivelerine Kadar), Kltr Bak., Ankara, 279 s.
Hatibolu, Vecihe (1981), Trk Dilinde kileme, TDK, Ankara, 2. Bask, 120 s.
Hatibolu, Vecihe (1981), Trkenin Ekleri, TDK, Ankara
Hatipolu, Vecihe (1972), Trkenin Szdizimi, Ankara
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Karaaa, Gnay (2003), aatayca El Kitab, Aka Yaynlar.
Ko, Nurettin (1996), Yeni Dilbilgisi, stanbul.
Kononov, A. N (1956)., Grammatika Sovremennogo Turetskogo Literaturnogo Yazka, Akademiya Nauk SSSR
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Korkmaz, Zeynep (1994), Trkede Eklerin Kullanl ekilleri ve Ek Kalplamas Olaylar, TDK, Ankara,
nc bask, X+92 s.
Kornfilt, J. (1997), Turkish, London:Routledge.
Kutluk, brahim (1976), Szck Trleri I, (D. Aksan-N.Atabay-S.zel ile), Ankara
Kkey, Mazhar (1975), Trkenin Szdizimi, Ankara
Lees, Robert B. (1961), The Phonology of Modern Standard Turkish, Indiana University, Bloomington, Mouton
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Selen, Nevin (1979), Syleyi Sesbilimi, Akustik Sesbilimi ve Trkiye Trkesi, Trk Dil Kurumu Yaynlar,
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Turkish grammar
Tekin, Talat (1988), Orhun Yaztlar, TDK, Ankara, XIV+200+23+4 s.(Yaztlarn Kopyas)
Tekin, Talat (1994), Trkoloji Eletirileri, Doruk Yaynlar, Ankara.
Tekin, Talat (1995), Trk Dillerinde Birincil Uzun nller, Kltr Bak. Simurg, Ankara, 192 s.
Timurta, Faruk K. (1987), Osmanl Trkesi Giri I (Eski YazGramerAruzMetinler), Umur Reklamclk
ve Matbaaclk, stanbul, 9. Bask, XVI+232+176 s.
Timurta, Faruk K., Osmanl Trkesi Grameri III (Eski Yaz ve mlArapaFarsaEski Anadolu
Trkesi), Umur Reklamclk ve Matbaaclk, stanbul, 3. Bask, XV+469 s.
Timurta, Faruk K. (1983), Osmanl Trkesi Grameri III, (5. Bask), Umur Reklmclk, stanbul
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stanbul.
ahin, Hatice (2003), Eski Anadolu Trkesi, Aka Yaynlar.
Underhill, R. (1976), Turkish Grammar, Mass: The MIT Press.
External links
Turkish dictionaries (http://www.dmoz.org/Reference/Dictionaries/World_Languages/T/Turkish/) at the
Open Directory Project
Turkish language (http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Linguistics/Languages/Natural/Altaic/
Turkic/Turkish/) at the Open Directory Project
Turkish tools (non-commercial) (http://turkishtools.tourkika.com/)
LT: LearningTurkish (non-commercial) (http://sites.google.com/site/learningturkishsite/)
LT: Automatic Turkish Verb Declinations (non-commercial) (http://sites.google.com/site/learningturkishsite/
automaticverbdeclinations)
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License
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