Related Pages: Conjugating Turkish Verbs Essential 700 Club pages Pages with sound files 'Tips' for learning/using Turkish Turkish Doubles Troubles 8 Difficulties of Turkish About Translation Software This n' that about the Turkish Verbs and verb-related grammar points... Turkish Language Verbs in general There are only two kinds of verbs in Turkish -- one kind ends with "mek" and the other with "mak". These two types are extremely regular. So if you learn the conjugation of one verb of each kind, it will serve well as the example for all other verbs of that kind. Aorist Wide-Tense Verbs The Turkish Aorist wide-tense doesn't have an exact English language equivalent, but it's very close to our Simple Present Tense. It is a separate tense to express habitual action, or to express an idea that is generally accepted as true. And it can cover action in the past, the present, and the future. For example, the sentence, 'Sleepy' Ripurtus always goes to bed at 9 PM, would be translated using the Aorist Wide-tense verb form, 'Uykulu' Ripurtus her zaman saat dokuzda yatar. In Turkish, He comes will most likely be translated in the Turkish Aorist Wide-tense as, Gelir. In Turkish, He is coming will most likely be translated in the Turkish Present Continuous Simple Tense (The English Present Progressive Tense) as Geliyor. Click here to see the (Aorist) Wide-tense conjugation of 'Gelmek' -- to come. Participles and 'faux-participles' Real Turkish Language participles, by English-language definition, have an adjective role-playing function. In Turkish Language, real participles always appear in close proximity to the left of the noun (or noun phrase) they modify. Examples: Her tuttuğu işi, kolayca basardı; He succeeded rather easily at every job that he took up. Kacırdığım önemli bir şey var mı? Is there any important thing that I missed? (Did I miss anything important?) Learn more about Real Turkish Language Participles at: How to translate Turkish Language participle phrases Turkish Participles -- The Full and the True Gen A Turkish Language 'faux-participle' ('false-participle') looks almost exactly like a 'Past Personal' or 'Future Personal' Turkish Language Participle, but doesn't have the adjective role-playing characteristic of a 'real' participle. We prefer to think of the 'faux-participle' as having a purely verbal function (because we think we get a smoother translation that way), and we can spot them rather easily -- since they usually sit immediately to the left of another verbal construction. Example: Yakında Hilmi'nin varacağını biliyorum; I know that Hilmi will arrive soon. But, a 'faux-participle' may also sit 'on its own' (without a verbal construction to its right), Example: Bildiğim kadar, Hilmi yarın varacak; As far as I know, Hilmi will arrive tomorrow. In neither example does the 'participle-look-a-like' word act as an adjective. So, the 'look-a-like' words are 'faux-participles'. Click the next hyper-link to see another example of a 'faux-participle'. And another... And, to see yet another, click here. Compound verbs formed with durmak (to stop) and kalmak (to remain)... A 'verb stem' plus an -a/-e suffix plus durmak, is suitable for denoting *continuous* action like (with 'yaz+a'): yazadurmak -- to keep on writing. A 'verb stem' plus an -a/-e suffix plus kalmak, is suitable for denoting *passive* action, and, for example, it doesn't work as well with 'yaz+a': yazakalmak -- to be left writing, to remain writing. It's a little difficult to imagine wanting to express an idea like yazakaldım, I remained (or was left) writing... But yazadurdum, I kept on writing...seems quite 'natural'. Compare the two forms: with durmak -- to keep on ...ing with kalmak -- to be left ...ing against a list of verbs that you might want to compound them with, such as: bakmak (to look at) yüzmek (to swim) zıplamak (to bounce up and down) gitmek (to go) koşmak (to run) beklemek (to wait) etc... It'll give you a feel for which one to use (durmak or kalmak), in which circumstance. Most times, it'll be fairly clear which one is 'better'. Sometimes it'll be a toss up, like with: beklemek... That is, bekleyedurdum (I kept on waiting) and bekleyekaldım (I remained, or, was left waiting) both seem 'natural'... Verbal commands formed by verbal conditionals A G.L. Lewis Gem, from his Turkish Grammar In reference to the verbal suffixes -sene, -senize (-sana, -sanıza): "The interjection e/a is suffixed to the second persons of the conditional base to make an imperative: desene! do say! otursanıza! do sit down! This may be followed by ya for greater emphasis. 'Oh if you say/sit' is a literal translation but has a petulant tone not found in Turkish, which can be courteous or impatient according to the tone of voice in which it is said." Chapter XX, para 11126 Language Related Pages: Essential 700 Club pages Pages with sound files 'Tips' for learning/using Turkish Turkish Doubles Troubles 8 Difficulties of Turkish About Translation Software More Language Related Pages: Translating Turkish, the basics Conjunction Celebration Turkish Verbs Essential Idioms, Index Essential Suffixes, Index Sentence Structure, Standard Turkish Pronunciation Turkish Accenting Numbers in Turkish NewsReaders' Dictionary, Index Unrelated fun: Turkish Tongue Twisters Turkish for Kids Pop Quiz Politically Incorrect Turkish Humor Internet and Computer Terms Gossipy Turkish Who's Who Turkish Conventional and 'Erotik' Movies, Index The World's Worst Sport Personal Turkish Experiences