The easy way to learn Turkish
'To Be' - Positive Tense
| Useful Verbs |
| gelmek - to come |
| gitmek - to go |
| yemek - to eat |
| sevmek - to love |
| yapmak - to do |
| olmak - to be |
| kalmak - to stay |
| istemek - to want |
To say 'i am...', for example 'i am fine', a suffix is used.
Personal pronouns can be used before the adjective but are not necessarily needed as the suffix will make it clear who the subject is, eg 'I am fine = Ben iyiyim'. The personal pronouns are usually only used for emphasis.
(the 'y' in brackets is only used if the last letter in the adjective is a vowel, e.g iyiyim, kötüyüm)
Each of these suffixes change according to vowel harmony.
For example; 'I am....' = '-(y)im'. But, if the last vowel in the adjective is;
'e' or 'i' - stays as 'i' = -(y)im
'a' or 'ı' - changes to 'ı' = -(ı)m
'ü' or 'ö' - changes to 'ü' = -(y)üm
'u' or 'o' - changes to 'u' = -(y)um
examples
'I am fine' = 'iyiyim'
'I am happy' = 'mutluyum'
etc
This is the same with each personal ending, for example;
'i am....' would change to either '-(y)im/ım/üm/um'
'you are....' would change to either '-sin/sın/sün/sun'
'he/she/it is...' would change to either '-dir/dır/dür/dur' (the '-dir' may change to '-tir' according to consonant changes)
'you are...' would change to either '-siniz/sınız/sünüz/sunuz'
examples
iyi = fine
iyiyim = i am fine
bad = kötü
you are bad = kötüsün
hot = sıcak
he is hot = sıcak(tır)
English = Ingiliz
we are English = Ingiliziz
young = genç
you are young = gençsiniz
Turkish = Türk
They are Turkish = Türktürler
'To be' Past tense
To turn this tense into past tense, such as 'I was fine', or 'You were funny', we must add the past suffix to the adjective which is '-(y)di'.
Just like the other suffixes, this changes according to vowel harmony and becomes either '-(y)di/dı/dü/du'. The 'y' in brackets is only used if the last letter was a vowel. This suffix can also turn into '-ti/t/tü/tu' if the last letter in the word was either 'p/t/k/ç/s/ş/f/h'.
To turn a verb into the past tense, add -(y)di then add the personal suffixes which are;
(don't forget to change the vowels according to vowel harmony)
examples
'I am fine' = 'iyiyim'
'I was fine' = 'iyi-ydi-m' = 'iyiydim'
'You were happy' = 'mutlu-ydu-n' = 'mutluydun'
'It was nice' = 'Güzel-di' = 'güzeldi'
'We were sad' = 'üzgün-dü-k' = üzgündük'
'You were tired' = 'yorgun-du-nuz' = yorgundunuz'
'They were English' = 'Ingiliz-di-ler' = 'Ingilizdiler'
Asking Questions
To turn this tense into a question, such as 'Am I English?' or 'Are you alright?' we must add the question marker '-mi?' after the adverb, then add the personal suffix after that.
examples
'Am i happy? = 'mutlu muyum?'
'Are you tired?' = 'yorgun musun?'
'Is he alright?' = 'iyi mi?'
'Are we here?' = 'burada mıyız?'
'Are you happy?' = 'mutlu musunuz?'
'Are they Turkish?' = 'Türkler mi?'
('They' is the exception as the marker always comes last).
With questions in the past tense, simply add 'mi....' to the adverb, then add the personal suffix.
examples
'Were you tired?' = 'yorgun muydun?'
'Were they alright?' = 'iyi miydiler?'
etc
To test yourself on this section click here.
| I am... |
...(y)im |
| You are...(singular/familiar |
...sin |
| He/She/It is... |
...dir (but this is usually left out) |
| We are... |
...(y)iz |
| You are...(plural/polite) |
...siniz |
| They are... |
...dirler |
| I was... |
...m |
| You were...(singular/familia r |
...n |
| He/She/It was... |
(no personal ending) |
| We were... |
...k |
| You were...(plural/polite) |
...niz |
| They were... |
...ler |