There are 5 fundamental tenses in Turkish. These are: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Present simple tense (Geni zaman) Present continuous tense (imdiki zaman) Future tense (Gelecek zaman) Past tense with -di (-di'li gemi zaman) --> Regular past tense

5. Past tense with -mi (-mi'li gemi zaman) --> Also called the story past tense In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense and the future tense. Rest will be covered in the intermediate level lessons. To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings: gelmek --> to come gitmek --> to go okumak --> to read kapatmak --> to close komak --> to run aramak --> to call konumak --> to talk vermek --> to give kaynamak --> to boil almak --> to work yemek --> to eat beklemek --> to wait The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense: The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense. Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense + present tense to be
o

This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.
o

1. Present continuous tense (imdiki zaman)

The suffix for present continuous tense is -iyor. Present continuous tense is used, very much like the one in English:

To tell what you are currently doing

o o

I am working now. --> imdi alyorum. I am eating ice cream. --> Dondurma yiyorum.

To tell something you will do in the close future Wait, I'm coming in 5 minutes. --> Bekle, 5 dakika iinde geliyorum.
o

Present continuous tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives. Present continuous tense of a verb is constructed this way: verb root + (negative) + iyor + present tense to be If the verb you want to add the suffix -iyor ends with a vowel, drop the last vowel and add -iyor. Otherwise, just simply add -iyor. Be careful about the vowel harmony rules for the 'i' of -iyor. Let's see how a verb is put into present continuous tense on the following examples: gel-iyor --> geliyor --> he is coming git-iyor-im --> gidiyorum --> i am going oku-iyor --> okuyor --> he is reading kapat-iyor-iz --> kapatyoruz --> we are closing ko-iyor --> kouyor --> he is running ara-iyor-sin --> aryorsun --> you are calling konu-iyor --> konuuyor --> he is talking ver-me-iyor --> vermiyor --> he is not giving ye-me-iyor --> yemiyor --> he is not eating gel-me-iyor-siniz --> gelmiyorsunuz --> you are not coming (plural you) And let's see how present continuous tense is used with different cases of person. English to come --> gelmek Turkish

i am coming you are coming he \ she | is coming it / we are coming you are coming they are coming

(ben) geliyor-im --> geliyorum (sen) geliyor-sin --> geliyorsun (o) geliyor

(biz) geliyor-iz --> geliyoruz (siz) geliyor-siniz --> geliyorsunuz (onlar) geliyor-ler --> geliyorlar

In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense and the future tense. Rest will be covered in the intermediate level lessons. To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings: gelmek --> to come gitmek --> to go okumak --> to read kapatmak --> to close komak --> to run aramak --> to call konumak --> to talk vermek --> to give kaynamak --> to boil almak --> to work yemek --> to eat beklemek --> to wait The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these suffixes denoting tense: The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the verb is negative.

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

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

This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.
o

2. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)

The suffix for future tense in Turkish is -ecek. There are not two different cases like in Englishwill and is going to. Future tense is always constructed using the suffix -ecek. The uses of the Turkish future tense is just like a union of the uses of will and going to in English.

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

Future tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives. Future tense of a verb is constructed this way: verb root + (negative) + ecek + present tense to be When you want to append the suffix -ecek to a verb that ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant 'y' between the verb and the suffix to separate the two vowels. Otherwise, just simply add the suffix -ecek. Be careful about the harmony rules though, as always. Let's see how future tense is obtained using some example verbs: gel-ecek --> gelecek --> he will come git-ecek-im --> gideceim --> I will go oku-ecek-sin --> okuyacaksn --> you will read kapat-ecek-iz --> kapatacaz --> we will close ko-ecek-siniz --> koacaksnz --> you will run (plural you) ara-ecek-ler --> arayacaklar --> they will call konu-me-ecek --> konumayacak --> he will not talk ver-me-ecek-sin --> vermeyeceksin --> you will not give To see the use of future tense with different cases of person, check the following table: English Turkish

to close --> kapatmak i will close (ben) kapatacak-im --> kapatacam

you will close he \ she | will close it / we will close you will close they will close

(sen) kapatacak-sin --> kapatacaksn (o) kapatacak

(biz) kapatacak-iz --> kapatacaz (siz) kapatacak-siniz --> kapatacaksnz (onlar) kapatacak-ler --> kapatacaklar

Question Sentences
Question sentences in Turkish can be classified into two groups like in English: 1. 2. Yes-no questions Regular questions

There are also question tags, i.e. questions of the form "You are coming, aren't you?". In this lesson, we will see how these different types of questions can be asked in Turkish. Before looking at how questions are constructed, let's see the question words in Turkish.
English Turkish

what?

ne?

who?

kim?

which?

hangi?

where?

nere?

when?

ne zaman?

how?

nasl?

how many?

ka tane?

how much?

ne kadar?

how often?

ne sklkla

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

1. Yes-no questions
In Turkish, yes-no questions are constructed with the question suffix '-mi'. It is important to note, however, the question suffix -mi is written separate from the word it is appended to. You can ask at this point: "Why is it a suffix instead of a separate word if it is written separately?". The reason question suffix -mi is regarded as a suffix is that it has to satisfy the major and minor vowel harmony rules for the word it is appended to. Let's see some example sentences demonstrating the use of the question suffix -mi. A. This is a book. --> Bu bir kitap. B. Is this a book? --> Bu bir kitap m? (Note how the regular sentence is turned into a yes-no question sentence by the addition of the question suffix -mi) A1. Yes, this is a book. --> Evet, bu bir kitap. A2. No, this is not a book. This is a notebook. --> Hayr, bu bir kitap deil. Bu bir defter. A. His name is Ahmet. --> Onun ad Ahmet. B. Is his name Ahmet? --> Onun ad Ahmet mi? A1. Yes, his name is Ahmet. A2. No, his name is not Ahmet. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayr, onun ad Ahmet deil. Onun ad Mehmet. A3. No. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayr. Onun ad Mehmet. A. This is my house. --> bu benim evim B. Is this your house? --> Bu senin evin mi? A1. Yes, this is my house. --> Evet, bu benim evim. A2. No, this is not my house. This is my mother's house. --> Hayr, bu benim evim deil. Bu annemin evi.

2. Regular questions
Regular questions are the ones constructed using the question words listed above and the answers to these questions are not simply yes or no. In English, there is a certain word order for regular question sentences. The question word comes first, and the rest of the sentence elements follow it. In Turkish, however, questions are constructed in a quite different way. To learn how to construct a question, a simple way is to follow the following steps. This will work in most cases:
1. Construct the answer sentence. 2. Locate the word or phrase that is the actual answer to the question. 3. Just replace that word or phrase with the appropriate question word.

Let's apply this on an example. The question we want to ask is, "Who is this?".
1. The answer sentence will be something like "This is my brother. --> Bu benim kardeim." 2. The answer to the question is the phrase "my brother --> benim kardeim". 3. Replace this phrase with the question word "who --> kim" and the question sentence becomes "Bu kim?".

To summarize, a question sentence has the same word order as a regular sentence. The difference is that the part of the sentence that is asked is replaced by the appropriate question word. The question word takes all the suffixes of the word it is replaced for. Consider the sentence "Ahmet eve gidiyor. --> Ahmet is going home." Who is going home? --> Kim eve gidiyor? (Ahmet in the regular sentence is replaced by who. The rest of the sentence is the same.) Where did Ahmet go? --> Ahmet nereye gitti? (ev in the regular sentence is replaced by nere. Note that the question word nere also takes the suffix -e of the word ev and becomes nereye, meaning 'to where') What is Ahmet doing? --? Ahmet ne yapyor? (The phrase 'eve gidiyor' in the original sentence is replaced by "ne yapyor --> what's he doing") Note that to make a question sentence asking a verb, we use : "What + to be (in the appropriate tense) + object + to do (in the appropriate tense)" Ex1: What are you doing? Ex2: What did Ahmet do? In Turkish, this structure becomes:

"Object + ne + yapmak (in the appropriate tense and person)" Ex1: (Sen) ne yapyorsun? Ex2: Ahmet ne yapt? This is simply the regular sentence where the action is replaced by "ne + yapmak", which is consistent with our rule for constructing question sentences.

3. Question tags
Question tags are the questions of the form: You are home, aren't you? He did his homework, didn't he? Mehmet will come today, won't he? Constructing question phrases in Turkish is very simple and straightforward. You just add "deil mi" at the end regardless of the sentence. The translations for the question tags above are then: Evdesin, deil mi? devini yapt, deil mi? Mehmet bugn gelecek, deil mi?

Imperatives - Let
Making a verb imperative for the second singular person (sen), is the same as it is done in English. Just use the plain verb without any suffix or change. When you want to order something to a single person listening to you, you just say the plain verb. Examples: Come! --> Gel! Go! --> Git! Read! --> Oku! Sit down! --> Otur! Stand up! --> Kalk! However, different from English, there is an imperative form for different cases of person. Lets see now how these are constructed:

Personal Pronoun

Suffix

Ben Sen O Biz Siz Onlar

No first person singular form - (no suffix) -sin No first person plural form -in -sinler

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

Case (sen) git (o) git-sin --> gitsin

Meaning go! (singular, to a single person) let him go (not like "allow him to go", this has the meaning that you want him to go in an imperative way)

(siz) git-in --> gidin (onlar) git-sinler --> gitsinler

go! (plural, to multiple people) let them go (again, the meaning is not like "allow them to go", gitsinler means that you want them to go and you are expressing this in an imperative way)

As you can see, a commonly used clause, "lets", is included in the imperative definition. If you want to say "Lets go to the movie", it becomes "Sinemaya gidelim" in Turkish. Now, lets see how the example verbs we used above are made imperative with respect to different cases of person.

Personal Pronoun

gelmek - to come

gitmek - to go

okumak - to read

oturmak - to sit down

kalkmak - to stand up

sen o siz onlar

gel gelsin gelin gelsiler

git gitsin gidin gitsinler

oku okusun okuyun okusunlar

otur otursun oturun otursunlar

kalk kalksn kalkn kalksnlar

There is no first person singular or first person plural form of the imperatives, but there is another form called wish clause that gives a similar meaning for the first person singular and plural. Note that only the first person singular and first person plural forms of the wish clause are used in practice. Here is how the wish clause is constructed:

Personal Pronoun Ben Biz -eyim -elim

Suffix

Case (ben) git-eyim --> gideyim (biz) git-elim --> gidelim let me go lets go

Meaning

Personal Pronoun Ben Biz

gelmek - to come Geleyim Gelelim

gitmek - to go gideyim gidelim

okumak - to read okuyaym okuyalm

oturmak - to sit down oturaym oturalm

kalkmak - to stand up kalkaym kalkalm

Degrees of Adjectives
Comparatives and superlatives are constructed in a very straightforward way in Turkish. Besides these, there is a special way of making adjectives stronger in Turkish and this is not very trivial. I this lesson, we will cover all these topics.

1. Comparatives
1.1. More, Less
Comparative of an adjective is obtained by adding the word "daha" before the adjective. We can say that daha is the word for more and all adjective comparatives are constructed like 'more clever' (not like faster). faster --> daha hzl slower --> daha yava more intelligent --> daha zeki more hardworking --> daha alkan more beautiful --> daha gzel If you want to say less beautiful or less hardworking, then replace the word 'daha' with 'daha az'. less fast --> daha az hzl less intelligent --> daha az zeki less hardworking --> daha az alkan less beautiful --> daha az gzel Now, let's see how the comparative form of an adjective is used in sentences. I am beautiful. --> (Ben) gzelim. I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha gzelim. You are more beautiful. --> (Sen) daha gzelsin. She is more beautiful. --> (O) daha gzel. This is a fast car. --> Bu hzl bir araba. This is a faster car. --> Bu daha hzl bir araba. This car is faster. --> Bu araba daha hzl.

1.2. More than

If you want to compare two nouns with respect to an adjective, the structure used in English is as follows:

noun1 is more adjective than noun2 Ex1: Ahmet is more hardworking than Mehmet. Ex2: I am more intelligent than you. The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows: noun1 noun2-den daha adjective Ex1: Ahmet Mehmet'ten daha alkan. (Note that the ' sign is used to separate private names from their suffixes) Ex2: Ben senden daha zekiyim. Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression. - Beril is beautiful. --> Beril gzel. - Gke is more beautiful. --> Gke daha gzel. - Gke is more beautiful than Beril. --> Gke Beril'den daha gzel. - He is more hardworking than me. --> O benden daha alkan. - My car is faster than your car. --> Benim arabam senin arabandan daha hzl. - US is larger than Turkey. --> Amerika Trkiye'den daha byk.

1.3. As ... as
If you want to say that two nouns are equal with respect to an adjective, the strctre used in English is: noun1 is as adjective as noun2 Ex1: Beril is as beautiful as Gke. Ex2: I am as beautiful as you. The structure to express the same meaning in Turkish is as follows:

evitaejda radak onuon onuon.

no

ejdaevita radak onuon dd onuon

Both of these expressions have the same meaning, you will understand the very slight difference as you see them used. One point to note here is that if noun2 is a simple pronoun (like ben, sen, bu, u) then it is used in possessive form (like benim, senin, bunun, unun). Ex1: Beril de Gke kadar gzel. Ex2: Ben de senin kadar gzelim. Now, let's see a few example sentences with this expression. - Beril is beautiful. --> Beril gzel. - Gke is also beautiful. --> Gke de gzel. (de means 'also', 'as well')

- Gke is as beautifl as Beril. --> Gke de Beril kadar gzel. - He is as hardworking as me. --> O da benim kadar alkan. - My car is as fast as your car. --> Benim arabam da senin araban kadar hzl. - US is almost as large as China. --> Amerika neredeyse in kadar byk. (neredeyse means almost)

2. Superlatives
Superlatives are also straightforward in Turkish, like it is in English. Instead of 'the most', you use 'en', and all superlatives are constructed using this word. the fastest --> en hzl slower --> en yava the most intelligent --> en zeki the most hardworking --> en alkan the most beautiful --> en gzel Now, let's see how the superlative form of an adjective is used in sentences. I am beautiful. --> (Ben) gzelim. I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha gzelim. When you want to use the superlative form in a sentence, there are two different cases: I am the most beautiful. --> (Ben) en gzelim. (This has the meaning of describing yourself, like an answer to the question "What are your traits?") I am the most beautiful. --> En gzel benim. (This has the meaning of the answer to the question "Who is the most beautiful?") I am the most beautiful girl. --> En gzel kz benim. I am the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu snftaki en gzel kz benim. You are the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu snftaki en gzel kz sensin. She is the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu snftaki en gzel kz o.

3. Making an adjective stronger

3.1. Very
In English, when you want to make an adjective stronger, you use the word 'very'. Saying very fast is a stronger statement than just saying fast. The same method is

applied also in Turkish, and the word for very is 'ok'. Hence: very fast --> ok hzl very slow --> ok yava very intelligent --> ok zeki very hardworking --> ok alkan very beautiful --> ok gzel You are very beautiful. --> (Sen) ok gzelsin. She is a very beautiful girl. --> (O) ok gzel bir kz. This girl is very beautiful. --> Bu kz ok gzel.

3.2. Too
Another way of making an adjective stronger, but this time giving the meaning extreme, is to use the word too. Saying something is too fast gives the meaning that it is extremely fast and should be slower. The word for too in Turkish is 'fazla'. too fast --> fazla hzl too slow --> fazla yava too intelligent --> fazla zeki too hardworking --> fazla alkan too beautiful --> fazla gzel We are too fast. --> (Biz) fazla hzlyz. This car is too fast. --> Bu araba fazla hzl.

3.3. Other ways

A third way commonly used in Turkish (which is not seen in English) to make an adjective stronger is adding a modified form of the first syllable before the adjective. Important points to note here are: There is not a rule for how this first syllable should be modified, which makes this rule hard to learn.

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

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

a rule to understand for which adjectives this method can be used. A group of adjectives you can always use this method is colors, to express that the color is strong. However, there is no rule to exactly say which adjectives can be made stronger like this. Because there is not a well-defined rule, it will be very difficult to go over adjectives and see what the stronger form of each adjective is. I think you

should not try to learn this for each adjective at this step. The best strategy here would be to note that there is a rule like this and when you see it used, you will understand what it means. In your sentences, you simply can use 'ok + adjective' instead and you will be clearly understood. Let's see some examples to this rule: hzl --> fast hphzl --> very fast sar --> yellow sapsar --> very yellow, strong yellow mavi --> blue masmavi --> very blue, strong blue beyaz --> white bembeyaz --> very white, strong white abuk --> quick arabuk --> very quick kaln --> thick kapkaln --> very thick Another way to make an adjective stressed and stronger is to repeat it twice. Again, this is not done with all adjectives and the best way to learn for which adjectives this rule is applicable is to note when you hear an adjective used like this. Don't be afraid by these rules, you will learn how to use them if you start reading Turkish texts or if you speak to native speakers. You can still express yourself without using these methods for making adjectives stronger. Simply use the word 'ok' before the adjective. I am giving these rules now so that you know the meaning when you see such a usage somewhere. byk byk evler --> big houses, the property big is stressed sar sar elmalar --> yellow apples, the property yellow is stressed There is also another way to stress an adjective and make it stronger. That is, adding a modified form of the adjective after the original form. This is again an irregular rule and you don't need to know this completely, just understand it when you see this usage. Sometimes, an adjective followed by the modified form of that adjective may have a slightly different meaning. yal --> old (for people) yal bal --> old, mature

eski --> old (for objects) eski psk --> very old and useless Present simple tense (Geni zaman) The present simple tense is used, very much ike the one in English:

To make general statements

o

Water boils at 100 degrees. --> Su 100 derecede kaynar. I run every morning. --> Her sabah koarm.

To mention things you do regularly

o

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

Present simple tense of a verb is constructed this way: verb root + ir or er + present tense to be

The suffix for constructing the present simple tense of a verb is not always the same. The suffix is sometimes -ir, sometimes -er. This is the only tense with this irregularity, but there are certain rules that will tell you which one to choose most of the time. The rules that will help you choose which one of -ir or -er to use as suffix are as follows: 1. If the verb ends with a vowel, the vowel of the suffix falls and you add only -r.
o o

ara-r --> arar --> he calls oku-r --> okur --> he reads kapat-ir --> kapatr --> he closes konu-ir --> konuur --> he talks

2.

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

o o

3.

If the verb has only one syllable: 1. If the vowel of this syllable is 'a' or 'e' and if the verb ends with 'l', 'n' or 'r' then use -ir

gel-ir --> gelir --> he comes ver-ir --> verir --> he gives

2.

Use -er for the other single syllable cases

git-er --> gider --> he goes ko-ar --> koar --> he runs

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

English Example 1 to come --> gelmek i come you come he \ she | comes it / we come you come they come Example 2

Turkish

(ben) gelir-im --> gelirim (sen) gelir-sin --> gelirsin (o) gelir

(biz) gelir-iz --> geliriz (siz) gelir-siniz --> gelirsiniz (onlar) gelir-ler --> gelirler

to talk --> konumak i talk you talk he \ she | talks it / we talk (biz) konuur-iz --> konuuruz (ben) konuur-im --> konuurum (sen) konuur-sin --> konuursun (o) konuur

you talk they talk

(siz) konuur-siniz --> konuursunuz (onlar) konuur-ler --> konuurlar

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

English Example 1 to come --> gelmek i don't come you don't come he \ she | doesn't come it / we don't come you don't come they don't come

Turkish

(ben) gel-me-im --> gelmem (sen) gel-mez-sin --> gelmezsin (o) gel-mez --> gelmez

(biz) gel-me-iz --> gelmeyiz (siz) gel-mez-siniz --> gelmezsiniz (onlar) gel-mez-ler --> gelmezler

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

Past tense with -di (-di'li gemi zaman) --> Regular past tense
There is no suffix for the regular past tense. The only point is that you must use the past tense form of to be. Be careful about the harmony rules though, as always. The use of the past tense with -di is almost the same as the English past tense.

To tell an action that took place in the past.

o

He came. --> Geldi. She was beautiful. --> Gzeldi.

To make a statement that was true in the past.

o

The same way regular past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives using the past tense form of to be. The meaning in this case is the same as the meaning of 'was' in English. He was good. --> yiydi. I was successful. --> Baarlydm. Regular past tense of a word is constructed this way: word root + (negative) + past tense to be Let's see how a verb is used in regular past tense on the following examples: gel-di --> geldi --> he came git-me-di --> gitmedi --> he did not go oku-di --> okudu --> he read kapat-dik --> kapattk --> we closed ko-din --> kotun --> you ran ara-diniz --> aradnz --> you called (plural you) konu-me-di --> konumad --> he did not talk ver-me-dim --> vermedim --> I did not give al-ma-dik --> almadk --> we did not work ye-diler --> yediler --> they ate bekle-me-diler --> beklemediler --> they did not wait Note that making the past tense of a verb and making the past tense of a noun or adjective is the same, but only as long as they are positive. The negative suffix for verbs is -me, but negatives of nouns and adjectives are constructed using deil. Deil is not a suffix, it is used as a seperate word. Let's see a few examples to how nouns and adjectives are expressed in past tense. She was beautiful. --> Gzeldi. She was not beautiful. --> Gzel deildi. (Note what we did is just to replace the suffix -me for verbs with the word deil in the case of nouns and adjectives. The ordering is

still the same. Past tense of to be, which followed -me for verbs, is now put after deil) You were not kids. --> ocuk deildiniz. Let's see how these personal suffixes are used on some example verbs: English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek i waited you waited he \ she | waited it / we waited you waited they waited (biz) bekle-dik --> bekledik (siz) bekledi-niz --> beklediniz (onlar) bekle-diler --> beklediler (ben) bekle-dim --> bekledim (sen) bekle-din --> bekledin (o) bekle-di --> bekledi

to work --> almak i worked you worked he \ she | worked it / we worked you worked (biz) al-dik --> altk (siz) al-diniz --> altnz (ben) al-dim --> altm (sen) al-din --> altn (o) al-di --> alt

they worked

(onlar) al-diler --> altlar

Past tense with -mi (-mi'li gemi zaman) ==> Also called the story past tense
To obtain the story past tense of a verb, we append the suffix -mi to the verb. Be careful about the harmony rules. Past tense with -mi is used: To talk about something you learned from somebody else or some other resource, there is some uncertainty in the statement. If you use the story past tense when talking about something, it implies that you are not the source of the information and you shouldn't be responsible for the mistakes.

I talked to his mother. He went to school. --> Annesiyle konutum. Okula gitmi. (The part about talking to the mother is your direct experience, so you tell it using regular past tense. However, the part about he going to school is information you got from the mother, so you tell it using story past tense.)
o

To talk about something you just learned or understood Is this your daughter? She is very beautiful. --> Bu senin kzn m? ok gzelmi. (You just noticed that she is beautiful, and you express this using story past tense)
o

Simple stories are written and told in using this tense.

Story past tense of a word is constructed this way: word root + (negative) + mi + present tense to be The same way story past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives. I talked to Kemal about her. She is sick. --> Kemal'le onun hakknda konutum.Hastaym. (You learned that she is sick from Kemal) Prime minister was in France yesterday. --> Babakan dn Fransadaym. (You use story past tense because you learned this from somebody else or from the news) Prime minister was not in France yesterday. --> Babakan dn Fransada deilmi. (Remember that negatives of non-verbs are made with deil) Let's see the use of story past tense on some example verbs. gel-mi --> gelmi --> he came git-mi-siniz--> gitmisiniz --> you went (plural you)

oku-mi-sin--> okumusun --> you read kapat-mi-ler--> kapatmlar --> they closed ko-me-mi--> komam --> he did not run ara-me-mi-sin--> aramamsn --> you did not call konu-me-mi-ler--> konumamlar --> they did not talk ver-mi-iz--> vermiiz --> we gave Finally, let's see how a verb is used in the story past tense with different personal pronouns. English Turkish

to wait --> beklemek i waited you waited he \ she | waited it / we waited you waited they waited (biz) beklemi-iz --> beklemiiz (siz) beklemi-siniz --> beklemisiniz (onlar) beklemi-ler --> beklemiler (ben) beklemi-im --> beklemiim (sen) beklemi-sin --> beklemisin (o) beklemi

1. Must
The best counterpart in Turkish for the meaning of necessity that is given with 'must' in English is the suffix '-meli'. The skeleton for using a verb with this suffix is as follows: verb-meli-to be I must go --> git-meli-im --> gitmeliyim (note the use of the fusion consonant y) We must study --> almalyz (note that the suffix -meli becomes -mal due to the major vowel harmony) You must sit down (plural) --> oturmalsnz

You must go home now. --> imdi eve gitmelisin. We can show how to express the necessity of a verb the for different cases of person: Personal Pronoun Ben Sen O Biz Siz Onlar Suffix -meliyim -melisin -meli -meliyiz -melisiniz -meliler

2. Have to
The meaning of formal obligation that 'have to' gives in English is best given by the word'lazm' in Turkish. The structure for using this construct is as follows: verb-me-possession (blank space) lazm This might seem confusing, let us explain how this structure works. The suffix me allows a verb to be used like a noun, it is similar to a gerund. You might ask at this point, wasn't the suffix -me used for negating verbs? That is right, but the suffix for negating verbs and the suffix for using a verb like a noun are the same. So, okuma can mean either don't read orreading according to the context in which it is used. In this case, we are concerned about the second meaning. So, in the phrase okumam lazm, the part okumam means my reading and the part lazm means required. When we put these together, it becomes my reading is required and this is what we use for I have to read in Turkish. Let's look at a few examples to clarify this further: I have to go to school tomorrow. --> Yarn okula gitmem lazm. I have to work now. --> imdi almam lazm. We have to get ready. --> Hazrlanmamz lazm. You have to go. --> Gitmen lazm.

3. Need to
This is very similar to the use of have to, both in meaning and structure. The word we use to give the meaning of need to is 'gerekiyor'. It is similar to 'have to' in meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably with have to (lazm). It is similar in structure, which can be seen in the structural skeleton: verb-me-posession (blank space) gerekiyor The following examples will clarify this further: I need to go home. --> Eve gitmem gerekiyor. You need to be here at 2. --> Saat ikide burada olman gerekiyor. You need to sleep early. --> Erken uyuman gerekiyor. She needs to see a doctor. --> Doktora gitmesi gerekiyor.

4. Want to
The use of want to is logically almost identical to the English counterpart. One important difference is that you use the verb 'to want' in present continuous tense instead of present simple. The turkish verb for to want is istemek. The structure goes as follows: verb(infinitive) (blank space) istiyor-to be I want to go. --> Gitmek istiyorum. I want to sleep. --> Uyumak istiyorum. I want to take a rest. --> Dinlenmek istiyorum. I want to go home. --> Eve gitmek istiyorum. What do you want? --> Ne istiyorsun? Konumak istiyor musun? --> Do you want to talk?