Are you a foreign student who is planning to study in Turkey or are you a teacher who will be teaching in Turkey? In both cases, you will need to learn Turkish classroom words and phrases Turkish native speakers use.

If you are a student, you need to know school related vocabulary such as supplies, equipment, subjects etc. Furthermore, you should be able to understand the instructions given by your teacher. There are quite a number of Turkish classroom phrases for students in this article, which will make your life easier.

Dear teachers, I got you covered as well. I also included classroom phrases for teachers in Turkish so that you can communicate with your students smoothly.

Now, 1, 2, 3, eyes on me everybody; we are starting!

Table of Contents

1. School Related Vocabulary
2. Teacher’s Phrases
3. Student’s Phrases
4. Tests/Quizzes/Exams
5. Learn More with TurkishClass101!

 1.   School Related Vocabulary

Here is a huge list of school related vocabulary you can refer to.

 1.      General vocabulary

 Let’s follow the “general to specific” structure and start with general vocabulary.  

Turkish	English
Devlet okulu	“Public school”
Özel okul	“Private school”
İlkokul	“Elementary school”
Ortaokul	“Middle school”
Lise	“High school”
Üniversite	“University”
Dönem	“Semester”
Sömestr tatili	“Semester break”
Ödev	“Homework”
Not	“Grade”
Karne	“Report card”

2. School buildings and rooms

 There will be times when you need to find your way around in your school. The following vocabulary will be very helpful at those times: 

Turkish	English
Ana bina	“Main building”
Sınıf	“Classroom”
Kantin	“Canteen”
Kafeterya	“Cafeteria”
Kütüphane	“Library”;
Amfi	“Amphitheater”
Müzik odası	“Music room”
Öğretmenler odası	“Teachers’ room”
Sekreterlik	“Secretariat”

3.      Classroom equipment

Every classroom has some equipment used by students and teachers. Let’s see what they are called in Turkish.  

Turkish	English
Tahta	“Blackboard”
Akıllı tahta	“Smart board”
Tahta silgisi	“Blackboard eraser”
Tebeşir	“Chalk”
Tahta kalemi	“Board marker”
Bilgisayar	“Computer”
Projektör	“Projector”

4.      School supplies

Can you imagine that you forgot one of your school supplies at home and wanted to borrow it from a friend and you don’t know what it is called in Turkish? There is always a solution; maybe you can show it to your friend, so he/she would understand what you want. However, is this an efficient communication? Of course not. Why should you struggle? Just note the following list: 

Turkish	English
Okul çantası	“School bag”
Defter	“Notebook”
Kitap	“Book”
Kurşun kalem	“Pencil”
Tükenmez kalem	“Pen”
Silgi	“Eraser”
Kalemtıraş	“Pencil sharpener”
Kalem kutusu	“Pencil case”
Tablet	“Tablet”

 5.      List of school subjects

Here comes Turkish to English translations of some vocabulary related to school subjects, which is important for both students and teachers:  

Turkish	English
Türkçe	“Turkish”
Türk dili ve edebiyatı	“Turkish Language and Literature”
İngilizce	“English”
Matematik	“Math”
Geometri	“Geometry”
Coğrafya	“Geography”
Tarih	“History”
Biyoloji	“Biology”
Kimya	“Chemistry”
Fizik	“Physics”
Müzik	“Music”
Resim	“Art”
Beden Eğitimi	“Physical Education”
Ekonomi	“Economics”
Felsefe	“Philosophy”

2.   Teacher’s Phrases

Our beloved teachers here comes your part where I will cover some classroom phrases for teachers in Turkish. 

1.      Greetings

Let’s begin with basic Turkish classroom greetings . Turkish native speakers use

Turkish	English
Günaydın çocuklar/gençler	“Good morning children/youth”
Tünaydın	“Good afternoon”
İyi günler	“Good day”
Kendinize iyi bakın	“Take care of yourselves”
İyi dersler	“Enjoy your classes”

2.      Instructions

 If you are looking for the answer to the question “How should a teacher give instructions in Turkish?” go ahead and check the basic Turkish phrases below:   

Turkish	English
Dikkatli dinleyin.	“Listen carefully.”
Tahtaya bakın lütfen.	“Look at the board, please.”
Hep beraber tekrar edelim.	“Let’s repeat together.”
Sorunuz varsa elinizi kaldırın.	“Raise your hand if you have a question.”
Sayfa 5’i açın.	“Open page 5.”
3’lü gruplar oluşturun.	“Form groups of 3.”

3.      Questions

Teachers use questions as a teaching tool; sometimes they are used to find out what students have learnt or haven’t learnt and at times, they are used to make students participate. Let’s take a look at some questions teachers can use in a classroom where Turkish is spoken.  

Turkish	English
Bugün herkes burada mı?	“Is everybody here today?”
Herkes ödevini yaptı mı?	“Has everyone done their homework?”
Buraya kadar anladınız mı?	“Did you understand up to here?”
Kim cevap vermek ister?	“Who wants to answer?”
Bu konuyu kim anlatmak ister?	“Who wants to explain this topic?”
Kim okumak ister?	“Who wants to read?”
Herhangi bir sorunuz var mı?	“Do you have any questions?”
Sıra kimde?	“Who is next?”
Herkes bitirdi mi?	“Has everyone finished?”

4.      Discipline 

When you are dealing with kids, sometimes things may go out of control. At that point, teachers have to use certain phrases to maintain discipline in the classroom. Make sure to note the following basic Turkish phrases; one day you might need them.

Turkish	English
Oturun!	“Take a seat!”
Susun!	“Quit talking!”
Sessiz olun!	“Be quiet!”
Sorunuz varsa, elinizi kaldırın.	“Please raise your hand if you have a question.”
Cevabı biliyorsanız elinizi kaldırın.	“Raise your hand if you know the answer.”

5.      Praise and motivation 

I believe the power of praise and motivation is unquestionable in education. Therefore, the Turkish classroom phrases below, will be another strong tool for teachers.  

Turkish	English
Aferin!	“Good job!”
Tebrikler!	“Congratulations!”
Aferin, böyle devam et.	“Keep up the good work.”
Tam isabet!	“Right on!”
İngilizceniz çok gelişti.	“Your English has improved a lot.”

3.   Student’s Phrases

Dear students, here are some Turkish classroom phrases for students you can use in different cases. 

1.      Greetings  

Here are a few Turkish classroom greetings for students they can use to greet their teacher:  

Turkish	English
Günaydın hocam/öğretmenim	“Good morning teacher”
Tünaydın hocam	“Good afternoon teacher”
Hoşçakalın	“Good-bye”

2.      Concerns and questions

Are you wondering how you can address your concerns with your teacher in Turkish? Also, would you like to know how you can ask your questions in Turkish? Here comes a little help for you:  

Turkish	English
Anlamadım.	“I didn’t understand.”
Bunu tekrar edebilir misiniz lütfen?	“Can you repeat that please?”
Biraz daha yavaş anlatabilir misiniz?	Can you explain a little slower?”
Hangi sayfadayız?	“Which page are we on?”
Bir kere daha anlatabilir misiniz?	“Can you explain it one more time?”
Bana hiç anlamlı gelmiyor.	“It doesn’t make any sense to me?”
Bu doğru mu?	“Is this correct?”
Bana yardım edebilir misiniz?	“Can you help me?”;
Bir soru sorabilir miyim?	“May I ask a question?”
‘xxx’ ne demek?	“What does ‘xxx’ mean?”

 3.      Talking about problems

Problems are everywhere, even in classrooms. Following basic Turkish phrases will help you to talk about your problems:

Turkish	English
Kendimi iyi hissetmiyorum, dışarı çıkabilir miyim?	“I am not feeling well, may I go out?”
Kitabımı kaybettim.	“I lost my book.”
Kitabımı evde unuttum.	“I forgot my book at home.”
Ödevimi yapamadım.	“I couldn’t do my homework.”
Tuvalete gidebilir miyim?	“Can I go to the restroom?”
Geç kaldığım için özür dilerim.	“I apologize for being late.”
Daha fazla süreye ihtiyacım var.	“I need more time.”
Alıştırmaları bitiremedim.	“I couldn’t complete the exercises.”
Yarın okula gelemeyeceğim.	“I won’t be able to come to school tomorrow.”

4.      Talking about school subjects

If you are a student, talking about school subjects is inevitable. Here is how you can do it in Turkish: 

Turkish	English
En sevdiğim ders ‘xxxx’.	“My favorite subject is ‘xxxx.”
Matematikte hiç iyi değilim.	“I am not good at Math, at all.”
Tarih dersini hiç sevmiyorum.	“I don’t like history class, at all.”

4.   Tests/Quizzes/Exams

Exams are parts of the education system, but also, they are the nightmares of most students. Let’s take a look at some Turkish classroom phrases for students related to exams.

1.      Basic vocabulary

 Here is Turkish to English translations of some vocabulary related with tests and exams you can refer to: 

Turkish	English
Test	“Test”
Sınav	“Exam”
Quiz	“Quiz”
Sınava girmek	“To take an exam”
Sınavı geçmek	“To pass the exam”
Sınavdan kalmak	“To fail an exam”

2.      Instructions 

Reading the instructions in an exam can be as important as studying for the exam. You might know the answer, but if you don’t do exactly what the instructions tell you to do, you might fail your exam. Therefore, I strongly suggest that you pay attention to the following test instructions in Turkish.

Turkish	English
Metni okuyun.	“Read the text.”
Boşlukları doldurun.	“Fill in the blanks”
Bu cümleleri tamamlayın.	“Complete these sentences.”
Doğru seçeneği işaretleyin.	“Mark the correct option.”

5.   Learn More with TurkishClass101!

In this article, you learned quite a number of Turkish classroom phrases for students and classroom phrases for teachers in Turkish. However, there are a lot more useful classroom phrases in Turkish!

Therefore, visit TurkishClass101, which has numerous audio recordings, tons of vocabulary lists and free resources including the dictionary you can refer to, in order to learn Turkish language faster or to improve your Turkish language learning. 

Don’t forget that there is also MyTeacher, which is the premium service of TurkishClass101 that you can use to practice with a private teacher.

Do you know what is also good about it? You can download the app for free and use it wherever you are.

Last but not the least; please continue to provide us feedback about all the resources provided at TurkishClass101!

Are you an animal lover? 

If so, today is your lucky day! 

In this article, we’ll teach you the names of different animals in the Turkish language. We have divided the animals by category as follows: 

• Pets
• Farm animals
• Wild animals
• Sea animals
• Bugs and insects
• Birds
• Reptiles and amphibians

In addition, we’ll teach you what to call the body parts of animals, some relevant verbs, and even a few interesting idioms that mention animals. 

But first things first: The word for “animal” in Turkish is hayvan. 

The fact that the Turkish word is totally different from its English counterpart might have scared you, but don’t worry! Many animal names are written identically in Turkish as they are in English. For example: hamster, iguana, jaguar, koala, panda, tarantula, and zebra.  

There are also some animals whose Turkish spelling is very close to its English spelling. Are you ready for a test? Let’s see if you can guess which animals these are: leopar, panter, pelikan, penguen, pirana, and piton. 

I bet you passed the test. But just in case, here are the answers: leopard, panther, pelican, penguin, piranha, and python.

Now, it’s time to move ahead to our list of animal names in Turkish! 

Table of Contents

1. Pets (Evcil Hayvanlar)
2. Farm Animals (Çiftlik Hayvanları)
3. Wild Animals (Vahşi Hayvanlar)
4. Sea Animals (Deniz Hayvanları)
5. Bugs & Insects (Böcekler & Haşarat)
6. Birds
7. Reptiles & Amphibians
8. Body Parts of Animals
9. Animal-Related Idioms and Slang Expressions
10. Animal-Related Verbs
11. Learn More About the Turkish Language with TurkishClass101

1. Pets (Evcil Hayvanlar)

The most popular pet animals in Turkey are cats, dogs, birds, and fish. There are also some families that prefer to have hamsters, turtles, or rabbits at home.

Here are the names of some common pets in Turkish:

Turkish	English
Balık	“Fish”
Hamster	“Hamster”
Kaplumbağa	“Turtle”
Kedi	“Cat”
Köpek	“Dog”
Kuş	“Bird”
Tavşan	“Rabbit”

2. Farm Animals (Çiftlik Hayvanları)

Like other countries, Turkey is home to a range of farm animals. They are bred for their meat, milk, eggs, skin, and wool. Most of the livestock in Turkey can be found in the Aegean and Marmara regions, as well as in Central and Eastern Anatolia. 

Here are the names of common farm animals in Turkish:

Turkish	English
At	“Horse”
Domuz	“Pig”
Eşek	“Donkey”
Horoz	“Rooster”
İnek	“Cow”
Kaz	“Goose”
Keçi	“Goat”
Koyun	“Sheep”
Kuzu	“Lamb”
Ördek	“Duck”
Tavuk	“Chicken”

3. Wild Animals (Vahşi Hayvanlar)

Below are the names of wild animals that we most often find in zoos. However, I’m sure that some people get to see them in the highlands, woods, or rural areas. 

Turkish	English
Aslan	“Lion”
Ayı	“Bear”
Fil	“Elephant”
Geyik	“Deer”
Kaplan	“Tiger”
Kurt	“Wolf”
Leopar	“Leopard”
Maymun	“Monkey”
Tilki	“Fox”
Zebra	“Zebra”
Zürafa	“Giraffe”

4. Sea Animals (Deniz Hayvanları)

Turkey is surrounded by seawater on its three sides and has around 8333 kilometers (5178 miles) of shoreline. Due to the country’s geographic location, we have a booming fishing industry! 200 fish species live in the Sea of Marmara, 247 in the Black Sea, 300 in the Aegean Sea, and 500 in the Mediterranean. Of these, about 100 fish species are of particular economic value for Turkey. 

Let’s see some of the sea animal names in Turkish:

Turkish	English
Ahtapot	“Octopus”
Balina	“Whale”
Deniz atı	“Seahorse”
Istakoz	“Lobster”
Karides	“Shrimp”
Köpek balığı	“Shark”
Yengeç	“Crab”
Yunus	“Dolphin”

5. Bugs & Insects (Böcekler & Haşarat)

While insects are not within the scope of my expertise, I did a little research on the topic before writing this article. I learned that there’s a bug museum in Istanbul where a range of different bugs have been preserved and kept on display since 1937. If you’re interested in bugs, you might want to check out the museum if you ever get the chance to visit Turkey!

Now, let’s learn the Turkish words for the most common bugs and insects:

Turkish	English
Arı	“Bee”
Ateş böceği	“Firefly”
Çekirge	“Grasshopper”
İpek böceği	“Silk worm”
Karınca	“Ant”
Kelebek	“Butterfly”
Sinek	“Fly”
Sivrisinek	“Mosquito”
Örümcek	“Spider”
Uğur böceği	“Ladybug”

6. Birds

Turkey’s different climate zones are suitable for the survival of many different species of birds. There are about 515 bird species in Turkey, and about a quarter of them are migratory birds that arrive in Turkey during the winter months.

Here are the Turkish names for the most popular birds:

Turkish	English
Ağaç kakan	“Woodpecker”
Baykuş	“Owl”
Güvercin	“Dove”
Karga	“Crow”
Kartal	“Eagle”
Kumru	“Pigeon”
Martı	“Seagull”
Papağan	“Parrot”

7. Reptiles & Amphibians

I’m learning more and more as I go! Did you know there are 120 reptile species in Turkey? 

One popular example is the Caretta Carettas sea turtles, which make their home in Iztuzu Beach in Dalyan. Because they’re in danger of extinction, the beach is under protection. It’s closed at certain hours, May through August, during which period the sea turtles lay their eggs. You can visit the Caretta Carettas without approaching their conservation areas. It’s a unique experience!

Below are the names of some reptiles in Turkish:

Turkish	English
Bukalemun	“Chameleon”
Kertenkele	“Lizard”
Kurbağa	“Frog”
Timsah	“Crocodile”
Yılan	“Snake”

8. Body Parts of Animals

Now that you know several Turkish animal names, you should learn what to call their unique body parts. This will be especially helpful if you have a pet of your own or if you’d like to describe a recent animal encounter!

Turkish	English
Boynuz	“Horn”
Filin hortumu	“Trunk”
Gaga	“Beak”
Kanat	“Wing”
Kuş tüyü	“Feather”
Kuyruk	“Tail”
Kürk	“Fur”
Pati	“Paw”
Pençe	“Claw”

9. Animal-Related Idioms and Slang Expressions

This is the part I love. I enjoy learning the idioms and slang expressions of foreign languages, and I always find it interesting how different languages come up with their own unique idioms.

I’m curious if you’ll also find the following Turkish idioms and slang terms interesting, creative, and fun. Make sure to let us know your favorite one(s) in the comments! 

Turkish	Literally	English Equivalent
İnek	İnek means “cow.” However, Turkish people also call asocial, hardworking students inek.	Nerd
Kuş beyinli	It’s translated as “bird-brained,” and it’s used in reference to stupid people.	Bird-brain
Devede kulak	This one is translated as “ear on the camel.” It refers to a very small part/amount of something.	A drop in the bucket
Keçi gibi inatçı	It’s translated as “stubborn as a goat.” As it implies, it’s used in reference to people who are very persistent.	Stubborn as a mule
Tilki gibi kurnaz	It’s translated as “cunning as a fox.” It refers to shrewd people.	Cunning as a fox
Besle kargayı oysun gözünü	It’s translated as “Feed the crow, and he will carve your eyes.” It refers to a situation where someone helps you, and then you hurt them in return. In other words, a situation where you are ungrateful for the help you’ve received.	Bite the hand that feeds you
Dut yemiş bülbüle dönmek	It’s translated as “to become a nightingale who has eaten a mulberry.” It means to be silent or speechless.	To be tongue-tied
Keçileri kaçırmak	It’s translated as “slipping the goats.” It refers to losing one’s mind.	Lose one’s mind
Kedi köpek gibi kavga etmek	This one means “to fight like a cat and a dog.” You get the idea.	Go at each other tooth and nail
Kurt gibi acıkmak	It’s translated as “to be hungry as a wolf.”	To be as hungry as a horse
Tavşana kaç, tazıya tut demek	This one means “to say ‘run away’ to the rabbit and to catch the greyhound.” It refers to acting hypocritically. In other words, to speak or act differently depending on who you’re around.	Run with the hares and hunt with the hounds
Sudan çıkmış balık gibi olmak	It’s translated as “to be like a fish out of water.” It means that you’re uncomfortable or nervous in a new environment.	To be like a fish out of water

10. Animal-Related Verbs

Finally, let’s look at some useful verbs that are related to animals: 

Turkish	English
Aşılamak	“To vaccinate”
Beslemek	“To feed”
Dörtnala koşmak	“To gallop”
Eğitmek	“To train”
Evcilleştirmek	“To tame”
Havlamak	“To bark”
Isırmak	“To bite”
Kişnemek	“To neigh”
Kükremek	“To roar”
Miyavlamak	“To meow”
Sevmek/okşamak	“To pet”
Tırmalamak	“To claw”
Vızıldamak	“To buzz”
Yalamak	“To lick”

You can also visit our website to learn the sounds that animals make in Turkish! 

11. Learn More About the Turkish Language with TurkishClass101

You now have a sizable Turkish animal vocabulary list you can refer back to anytime. Did we forget to include the name of your favorite animal? Please let us know in the comments, and we’ll get back to you! 

To continue learning Turkish and improving your skills, create your free lifetime account today on TurkishClass101.com. Start benefiting from our numerous video and audio lessons, vocabulary lists, blog posts, and other free resources, and never look back! Our Premium PLUS students also have access to our MyTeacher service, which allows you to study and practice 1-on-1 with your own private teacher. What’s more, you can download the app for free and start studying wherever you are.

Last but not least, please continue to provide us with feedback about all the resources provided at TurkishClass101.com!

Questions are everywhere! We ask questions when shopping, when having a conversation with a friend, when we interview someone, and when we’re at school, work, or a restaurant.

Questions become even more critical when you’re in a foreign country. While in Turkey, you might need to ask for the time, or where a certain place is, like a hospital or restroom. You might also find yourself in a position where you need to ask permission to do something.

Knowing how to ask basic questions in the Turkish language, and understanding the Turkish question patterns, is essential if you want your needs fulfilled faster. You should also be able to answer simple questions easily and express yourself in a clear manner.

In this article, you’ll learn the Turkish question words and how to make questions in Turkish. You’ll see that forming questions in Turkish is easier than you thought!

Let’s start with how to say “question” in Turkish:

• Soru (“Question”)
• Cevap / Yanıt (“Answer”)

Keep in mind that there are both “regular” questions that use Turkish question words and yes-no questions in Turkish, like in English. Now, let’s see how these two types of questions in Turkish are used.

Table of Contents

1. Regular Questions in Turkish
2. Yes-No Questions in Turkish
3. What Can You Ask?
4. Practice Turkish Questions and Answers with TurkishClass101!

1. Regular Questions in Turkish

Regular questions are those we ask using “what,” “when,” “where,” “how,” “why,” and other types of question words.

Below is a table of the Turkish question words that are commonly used:

#	Turkish	English
1	Ne?	“What?”
2	Kim?	“Who?”
3	Kimi?	“Whom?”
4	Kime?	“To whom?”
5	Kimin?	“Whose?”
6	Hangi?	“Which?”
7	Hangisi?	“Which one?”
8	Ne zaman?	“When?”
9	Nerede?	“Where?”
10	Nereden?	“From where?”
11	Nereye?	“To where?”
12	Ne kadar?	“How much?” / How long?”
13	Kaç tane?	“How many?”
14	Nasıl?	“How?”
15	Niçin? / Neden?	“Why?”

2. Yes-No Questions in Turkish

Yes-no questions are formed by using interrogative particles (-mı,-mi, -mu, -mü, and their conjugated forms). They’re placed at the end of a sentence right after the verb. Although they don’t mean anything on their own, they’re still used as separate words. Here are a few examples of yes-no Turkish questions:

• Bugün üzgün müsün? (“Are you sad today?”)
• Yarın hastaneye gidecek misin? (“Will you go to the hospital tomorrow?”)
• Okul bugün başladı mı? (“Did school start today?”)

3. What Can You Ask?

Life is full of questions, as we mentioned earlier. Who knows how many questions we ask in a day? Of course, it’s not possible to cover all of the questions in the Turkish language, or any language for that matter.

Below, we’ve categorized the most common Turkish questions and answers, based on the types of situations they’re used in.

Please note that all of the questions and answers covered here use the second singular person (informal “you”).

1. General Information

The chart below will outline what you should know for asking questions in Turkish about more general information.

#	Question in Turkish	Answer in Turkish	Question in English	Answer in English
1	Bu ne? / Ne bu? / Bu nedir? / Nedir bu?	Bu bir kamera.	“What is this?”	“This is a camera.”
2	Bu kim? / Kim bu?	Bu benim kuzenim.	“Who is this?”	“This is my cousin.”
3	Postane nerede?	Caddenin sonunda.	“Where is the post office?”	“At the end of the street.”
4	Saat kaç? / Saatin kaç?	Saat beşi on geçiyor.	“What time is it?”	“It’s ten past five.”
5	Yarın hava nasıl?	Yağmurlu olacak.	“How is the weather tomorrow?”	“It will be rainy.”
6	Bu havlu kaç para? / Bu havlu ne kadar?	On beş Lira	“How much is this towel?”	“Fifteen Liras.”
7	İzmir Ankara’dan ne kadar uzakta?	Yaklaşık 600 km.	“How far is İzmir from Ankara?”	“Approximately 600 km.”
8	Sana yardım edebilir miyim? / Sana yardımcı olabilir miyim?	Evet, lütfen. Hayır, teşekkürler.	“Can I help you?”	“Yes, please.” “No, thanks.”
9	Bana yardım edebilir misin? / Bana yardımcı olabilir misin?	Tabi. Yok, kusura bakma; gitmem lazım.	“Can you help me?”	“Sure.” “No offense; I have to go.”

2. Personal Information

The following Turkish questions and answers will help you exchange personal information in Turkey:

#	Question in Turkish	Answer in Turkish	Question in English	Answer in English
1	Adın ne? / İsmin ne?	Adım Mary. İsmim Mary.	“What is your name?”	“My name is Mary.”
2	Kaç yaşındasın?	Otuz yaşındayım.	“How old are you?”	“I’m thirty years old.”
3	Nerelisin? / Neredensin?	Amerikalıyım.	“Where are you from?”	“I’m from the USA.”
4	Nerede yaşıyorsun? / Nerede oturuyorsun?	San Diego’da yaşıyorum. San Diego’da oturuyorum.	“Where do you live?”	“I live in San Diego.”
5	Hobilerin neler?	Seyahat etmek ve yüzmek. Seyahat etmeyi ve yüzmeyi severim.	“What are your hobbies?”	“To travel and to swim.” “I like traveling and swimming.”
6	Evli misin?	Evet, evliyim. Hayır, değilim.	“Are you married?”	“Yes, I’m married.” “No, I’m not.”
7	Çocuğun var mı?	Evet, 1 tane var. Hayır, yok.	“Do you have a kid?”	“Yes, I have one.” “No, I don’t.”
8	Kardeşlerin var mı?	Evet, 3 kardeşim var. Hayır, yok.	“Do you have siblings?”	“Yes, I have three siblings.” “No, I don’t.”
9	İngilizce biliyor musun? / İngilizce konuşuyor musun?	Evet, biraz. Maalesef hayır.	“Do you speak English?”	“Yes, a little bit.” “Unfortunately, no.”

3. School-Related Questions

The examples below will guide you in how to ask questions in Turkish about topics related to school.

#	Question in Turkish	Answer in Turkish	Question in English	Answer in English
1	Öğrenci misin?	Evet, öğrenciyim. Hayır, değilim.	“Are you a student?”	“Yes, I’m a student.” “No, I’m not.”
2	Kaçıncı sınıftasın? / Kaçıncı sınıfa gidiyorsun?	7. sınıftayım. 7. sınıfa gidiyorum.	“What grade are you in?”	“I’m in seventh grade.”
3	Hangi üniversitede okuyorsun?	San Diego Üniversitesi’nde okuyorum.	“In which university are you studying?”	“I’m studying at the University of San Diego.”
4	Okulun nerede?	San Diego’da.	“Where is your school?”	“In San Diego.”
5	En sevdiğin ders ne?	Tarih.	“What is your favorite class?”	“History.”
6	Ne zaman mezun olacaksın?	2 yıl sonra. 2 yıl var daha.	“When will you graduate?”	“In two years.” “In more than two years.”
7	Mezun olunca ne olacaksın?	Arkeolog.	“What will you be when you graduate?”	“An archaeologist.”
8	Matematiği seviyor musun?	Evet, seviyorum. Hayır, hiç sevmem.	“Do you like math?”	“Yes, I like it.” “No, I don’t like it at all.”
9	Ödevini yaptın mı? / Ev ödevini yaptın mı?	Evet, yaptım. Hayır, henüz yapmadım.	“Did you do your homework?”	“Yes, I did.” “No, not yet.”

4. Business-Related Questions

Here are some Turkish questions and answers you can use when carrying out conversations relevant to business: 

#	Question in Turkish	Answer in Turkish	Question in English	Answer in English
1	Mesleğin ne?	Endüstri mühendisiyim.	“What is your profession?”	“I’m an industrial engineer.”
2	Ne okudun?	Mühendislik okudum.	“What did you study?”	“I studied engineering.”
3	Hangi dilleri biliyorsun? / Hangi dilleri konuşuyorsun?	Sadece İngilizce biliyorum.	“Which languages do you speak?”	“I only speak English.”
4	Hangi üniversitede okudun?	Stanford’da.	“Which university did you graduate from?”	“Stanford.”
5	Daha önce nerede çalıştın?	Dole’da çalıştım.	“Where did you work before?”	“I worked at Dole.”
6	___ olarak ne kadar çalıştın?	___ olarak 5 yıl çalıştım.	“How long have you worked as a ___?”	“I have worked as a ___ for five years.”
7	3 yıl içinde kendini nerede görüyorsun?	3 yıl içinde kendimi Üretim Departmanının yöneticisi olarak görüyorum.	“Where do you see yourself in three years?”	“I see myself as the manager of the Production Department in three years.”
8	Özgeçmişin var mı? / CV’in var mı?	Evet, var. Hayır, yok.	“Do you have a CV?”	“Yes, I do.” “No, I don’t.”
9	___ konusunda tecrübeli misin? / ___ konusunda deneyimli misin?	Evet, tecrübeliyim. Hayır deneyimli değilim.	“Are you experienced in ___?”	“Yes, I’m experienced.” “No, I’m not experienced.”

5. What if You Need Clarification or More Explanation?

The following questions in Turkish and their answers can help you get clarity if you didn’t quite understand something you’ve just heard.

#	Question in Turkish	Answer in Turkish	Question in English	Answer in English
1	Tekrarlayabilir misin lütfen?	Tabi. Elbette.	“Can you repeat please?”	“Sure.” “Of course.”
2	Yavaş konuşabilir misin lütfen?	Tabi. Elbette.	“Can you speak slowly please?”	“Sure.” “Of course.”
3	Tekrar anlatabilir misin lütfen?	Olur. Hayır, anlatamam.	“Can you explain it again please?”	“Alright.” “No, I can’t.”
4	Benim için yazabilir misin lütfen?	Tabi. Elbette.	“Can you write it down for me please?”	“Sure.” “Of course.”
5	Pardon?	You can repeat what you said as an answer to this question.	“Excuse me?”	You can repeat what you said as an answer to this question.
6	Bu gerçek mi? / Gerçek mi bu?	Evet, gerçek. Yok, hayır, şaka.	“Is that true?”	“Yes, it’s true.” “No, it’s not; it’s a joke.”
7	Bu doğru mu? / Doğru mu bu?	Evet, doğru. Hayır, yanlış.	“Is that correct?”	“Yes, it’s correct.” “No, it’s wrong.”
8	Bu yanlış mı? / Yanlış mı bu?	Evet, yanlış. Hayır, doğru.	“Is that wrong?”	“Yes, it’s wrong.” “No, it’s correct.”
9	Türkçe de “___” nasıl dersin?	“Türkçe’de “___” denir.	“How do you say ‘___’ in Turkish?”	“It’s said ‘___’ in Turkish.”

4. Practice Turkish Questions and Answers with TurkishClass101!

Wow, you’ve really gone over a lot of info today!

We started with how to say “question” in Turkish and then went on to learn the Turkish question words and the most common Turkish questions and answers. But there’s still so much more to learn. To practice, you can visit TurkishClass101.com and take advantage of our numerous audio recordings, vocabulary lists, dictionary entries, and other free resources.

Don’t forget that you can also use MyTeacher, a Premium service of TurkishClass101 that allows you to practice with a private teacher.

What’s more? You can download the app for free and use it wherever you are.

As usual, we’d be happy to hear your feedback about your experience with the services offered at TurkishClass101! And don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments section with any questions you have about today’s lesson. 

Happy learning! 

Are you a non-native Turkish speaker? And are you planning to study or work in Turkey? Do you need to have a competitive advantage when applying for a job or university?

If you answered “Yes” to some or all of these questions, then you’re reading the right article!

We’ll clue you in on the best Turkish language proficiency test to help you achieve your goals as a language-learner and test your Turkish language proficiency.

Table of Contents

1. General Information About the Turkish Proficiency Exam
2. Listening Test
3. Reading Test
4. Writing Test
5. Speaking Test
6. How to Pass the Turkish Proficiency Exam
7. FAQs
8. TurkishClass101 is the Road to TYS

1. General Information About the Turkish Proficiency Exam

The Turkish proficiency exam we’re going to talk about today is the TYS, Türkçe Yeterlik Sınavı (“TPE, Turkish Proficiency Exam”).

It’s an internationally recognized exam, developed by the Yunus Emre Institute Exam Center. It’s designed according to the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to measure people’s proficiency in Turkish as a foreign or native language. In this article, we’ll concentrate on Turkish as a foreign language.

At the end of this exam, based on the number of points a test-taker gets, he or she will get the appropriate certificate for their Turkish proficiency level. These certificates help foreign students when enrolling in schools or universities. This is especially true for foreign students who get the chance to attend a Turkish university, as passing the TYS Turkish exam gives them an automatic pass for the preparation class.

In addition, taking this test helps those who want to work in a Turkish firm (either in Turkey or abroad).

Now, let’s see the content of this exam.

A- What’s inside the TYS exam?

First of all, the exam complies with the requirements of the European Language Portfolio (ELP).

It consists of four sections:

1. Reading
2. Writing
3. Listening
4. Speaking

These tests are given in three sessions:

• Reading / Listening
• Writing
• Speaking

In the exam, you have to achieve at least fifty percent success in each section, and a total between:

• 55-70 to get a B2 certificate
• 71-88 to get a C1 certificate
• 89-100 to get a C2 certificate

Results are evaluated by the experts at the Yunus Emre Institute Exam Center.

Please note that this exam is neither an A1 Turkish exam nor an A2 Turkish exam. It’s more advanced and the certification starts at the B2 level. You can take the Turkish language A1 test or the A2 Turkish exam at TOMER, Istanbul University or Anadolu University.

B- Where and when can you take the exam?

It’s given three times a year; you can check the calendar for TYS on the official website. You can take the exam not only in Turkey, but also abroad; there are 43 countries and 48 centers. Click here to see those countries and important details about the centers such as the address, phone number, and email address.

You can register online by clicking here.

2. Listening Test

The listening test contains six texts. There are thirty questions, which include fill-in-the-blanks, true/false, multiple-choice, and matching questions. The texts used in the listening test are usually dialogues, introductions, interviews, advertisements, opinion columns, academic and literary texts, reports, and analyses.

You can get up to 25 points in the listening test, and the test takes 45 minutes.

Here are some audio files and questions you can use to test yourself.

3. Reading Test

The reading test also contains six texts. The question types and the types of texts used in this section are the same as those in the listening test. However, there are forty questions in the reading section.

You can get up to 25 points in this section, and the duration is 60 minutes.

To get some practice, check out the sample questions at the official site.

4. Writing Test

The writing test has two parts. The first one measures the test-taker’s guided writing skills. For this part, you may be asked:

• To complete a text
• To complete a form
• To write a summary of a text
• To interpret a table, an image, or a graph
•  To write a petition

You can get up to 10 points in this section, and the time given is 20 minutes.

In the second part, attendees are asked to write an original essay on a given subject. This one is worth 15 points and lasts for 40 minutes.

The writing test is usually evaluated by at least two experts.

Visit the official website to see some sample questions.

5. Speaking Test

This test also consists of two parts. In the independent speaking section, the candidate is given a subject and one to three minutes to get prepared. After he or she completes his/her preparation, they can begin speaking. The candidates are given approximately 5 minutes to talk.

This part is worth 10 points. This link will give you an idea about the subjects you can expect during the speaking test.

The second part is in the form of a conversation. The candidate is given a subject, about which an interviewer will ask various questions for the candidate to answer. The expected time is 10 minutes.

This part is worth 15 points.

The speaking test is usually evaluated by at least two experts.

Here, you can review a sample topic that can be asked about in the exam.

6. How to Pass the Turkish Proficiency Exam

In order to pass the Turkish test, there are things you need to do before and during the test.

You need to study Turkish grammar and try to expand your vocabulary by reading Turkish blogs, articles, and newspapers. This will not only help you with your vocabulary, but it will also help you understand Turkish better.

You can also practice writing about different subjects and have a native speaker correct the text for you. In addition, talking to native speakers is a great way to improve your speaking skills.

In order to improve your listening and comprehension skills, you can listen to Turkish radio channels or watch TV, videos, and movies in Turkish.

Of course, it’s also a good idea to practice the sample questions provided on the official website of the TYS exam, some of which we’ve referred to in this article.

Now, here are some tips you can apply during the Turkish test to help you succeed:

• Use the time effectively during the test.
• Read the instructions very carefully.
• Read the provided texts and the questions carefully.
• Be alert.
  • There may be tricky questions where you need to understand the language’s nuances.
  • Some idioms might be used, and they may confuse you.
  • There might be multi-part-questions, so be careful not to accidentally skip them.
• In the writing and speaking tests, you can create quick outlines, bullet points, and make notes of some examples you can think of.
• Make sure to review what you wrote as the time allows you to. If you can use your time effectively, this shouldn’t be a problem.

7. FAQs

There are some FAQs on the official website of this Turkish language proficiency test. We’ll outline a few of them here:

1. How much do I have to pay for the Turkish language test?

You can find information about the fees on their website.

2. Are there any discounts? If yes, under which circumstances, and how much can I get?

Below are the circumstances under which you can get a discount:

• Those who are registered for the Turkish language courses at Yunus Emre Institute get a 50% discount.
• The staff of Yunus Emre Institute gets a 50% discount.
• Students who are registered for the Turcology departments of foreign universities with whom Yunus Emre Institute has a cooperation protocol get a 50% discount. Students who are registered at other departments in these universities get a 25% discount.
• Students who are abroad but enrolled in the Turkish system of education foundation get a 50% discount.
•  Local staff of the representation offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, TIKA, Anadolu Agency, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Turkish Red Crescent, Turkish Airlines, and the Ministry of Education Foundation of Turkey abroad get a 50% discount.

 3. When are the results announced?

The results are announced fifteen days after the date of the exam.

4.  For how long is the certificate valid?

It’s valid for two years.

5.  I lost my certificate. What should I do?

Candidates who lose their certificate can request a new one only once by writing a letter to the center where they took the exam. However, they have to pay the printing fee, which is 20% of the exam fee.

6. When should I be at the center on the day of the exam?

You have to be at the exam center at least half an hour before the exam.

7. Do I need to bring anything with me on the day of the exam?

You have to have your ID or passport and the exam entry document. You can have water only if it’s in a transparent plastic bottle. Watches, mobile phones, pagers, calculators, purses, etc., are strictly prohibited. Every classroom has a clock so that the candidates can check the time during the Turkish language test.

8. I missed the exam. What will happen to my registration?

The registration of a candidate who didn’t or couldn’t attend the Turkish test, will be canceled and the fee will not be refunded.

8. TurkishClass101 is the Road to TYS

Now you know all about the Turkish language proficiency test and what to expect.

Make sure to start with the A1 Turkish exam and the A2 Turkish exam. Then, once you’re comfortable at those levels, you can aim for the TYS.

Practicing the sample questions will definitely help. However, before doing that, you need to build a strong grammar infrastructure, improve your vocabulary, and practice outside of the test’s bounds.

Don’t lose any time; visit TurkishClass101.com now. To help you get ready for the exam, see our variety of vocabulary lists with audio recordings, and utilize our free resources, including our dictionary.

Don’t forget that there’s also our MyTeacher program, a premium service of TurkishClass101 that you can use to practice with a private teacher (who’s also a native speaker).

As usual, we’ll be looking forward to your feedback about your experience with us so far. Was this article helpful for you? Is there anything you still want to know about the TYS exam? Let us know in the comments. 

Good luck on the exam!

Grammar is definitely a must when you want to learn a language properly. However, it takes some time to have good command of this crucial factor. Unfortunately, life doesn’t wait for anyone. You might be in a foreign country now, and need to ask for directions or the time—you might even need to know where the closest hospital is. 

Theory doesn’t help much when you need to communicate effectively. This is where practicality kicks in. And by “practicality,” I mean certain patterns you can use in daily conversations.

In this article, we’ll show you ten different Turkish sentence patterns. We’ll start with an easy Turkish sentence pattern and move on to more complex ones. Most of the sentences that you’ll hear, write, or speak will follow these basic sentence patterns. Until you have a good grasp of grammar, the examples provided here will help you understand the basic Turkish sentence structure and sentence patterns.

They’ll not only help you express yourself better and fulfill your needs more quickly in daily life, but they’ll also enable you to speak Turkish sooner and serve as a foundation on which you can build your grammar knowledge.

Let’s get started with some Turkish sentence examples.

Table of Contents

1. Sentences Linking Two Nouns
2. Describing Things
3. Possession and Ownership
4. Expressing “Want”
5. Expressing Needs
6. Expressing Obligations
7. Likes and Dislikes
8. How to Request Something
9. Asking for Permission
10. Question Patterns
11. More Practice with TurkishClass101.com

1. Sentences Linking Two Nouns

This is an easy Turkish sentence pattern, where two nouns are linked to each other.

	Turkish	English
1	Dan benim erkek arkadaşım(dır).	“Dan is my boyfriend.”
2	Mary İngilizce öğretmeni(dir).	“Mary is an English teacher.”
3	Şu büyük ev arkadaşımın eviydi.	“That big house was my friend’s house.”
4	Bu kitap babamın doğum günü hediyesiydi.	“This book was my father’s birthday gift.”
5	Ablamın en sevdiği oyuncağı bu bebek(tir).	“My elder sister’s favorite toy is this doll.”

Please note that the third person singular pronoun doesn’t have to take the “to be” suffix; you can leave it blank. That’s why I’ve put the suffix in parentheses. You’ll encounter some more of these throughout the article.

Let’s see how you can make variations of this Turkish sentence pattern:

In all of the sentences, you can replace the subject with anything you want. For example: annem (“my mother”); bu araba (“this car”); şu kısa boylu çocuk (“that short child”).

1. In this example, erkek arkadaşım (“my boyfriend”) can be replaced with: öğretmenim (“my teacher”); babam (“my father”); ev arkadaşım (“my roommate”).

2. In the second example, İngilizce öğretmeni(dir) can be replaced with any other occupation: mühendistir (“is an engineer”); teknisyendir (“is a technician”); öğrencidir (“is a student”).

2. Describing Things

Describing people, places, things, and so on, is something we do a lot in our daily lives. There’s also an easy Turkish sentence pattern you can use to do this. Here are some examples of how to form Turkish sentences using adjectives.

1- People

Would you like to tell others what you think about the people in your life? Here you are: below are some Turkish sentence patterns you can use:

	Turkish	English
1	Kızım çok güzel(dir).	“My daughter is very pretty.”
2	Mark çok akıllı(dır).	“Mark is very smart.”
3	Rock Hudson çok yakışıklıydı.	“Rock Hudson was very handsome.”
4	Sinemada gördüğümüz çift gerçekten çok mutlu(dur).	“The couple we saw at the cinema is really very happy.”
5	Bana aldığın hediye benim için çok değerli.	“The present you bought me is very precious to me.”

You can replace the subject with any name or noun, and then you can replace the adjective accordingly.

2- Places

How about describing places in Turkish? You can use the following Turkish sentence patterns when you need to talk to someone about a certain place:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu ev çok büyük(tür).	“This house is very big.”
2	Benim odam çok karanlık(tır).	“My room is very dark.”
3	Bu cadde çok kalabalık(tır).	“This street is very crowded.”
4	Bahçemiz muhteşemdi.	“Our garden was gorgeous.”
5	Sana gösterdiğim bina çok eski(dir).	“The building I showed you is old.”

3- Things

We use so many different adjectives when talking about objects, food, feelings, etc. These are some examples of the Turkish sentence construction you can use to describe things:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu kolye çok uzun.	“This necklace is very long.”
2	Bu koltuk hiç rahat değil(dir).	“This armchair is not comfortable at all.”
3	Sınav gerçekten zordu.	“The exam was really hard.”
4	Tatlı çok lezzetliydi.	“The dessert was delicious.”
5	Dün aldığın gömlek çok şık.	“The shirt you bought yesterday is very trendy.”

3. Possession and Ownership

We frequently talk about what we have or what we own. Here are some examples of the Turkish language sentence structures for talking about possession and ownership:

	Turkish	English
1	Büyük bir ailem var.	“I have a big family.”
2	Bir evim ve iki arabam vardı.	“I had a house and two cars.” (“I owned a house and two cars.”)
3	Hiç vaktim yok.	“I don’t have any time.”
4	Senin beğendiğin o kitap bende yok.	“I don’t have that book you liked.”
5	Alışveriş merkezine yürüme mesafesinde bir ofisim var.	“I have an office within walking distance of the shopping center.”

4. Expressing “Want”

In our daily lives, we often talk about the things we want or the activities we want to do. Following are some Turkish sentence patterns that will help you express what you want (and what you don’t want):

	Turkish	English
1	Bir fincan kahve istiyorum.	“I want a cup of coffee.”
2	Bir soru sormak istiyorum.	“I want to ask a question.”
3	Şu adrese gitmek istiyorum.	“I want to go to this address.”
4	Seninle konuşmak istemiyorum.	“I don’t want to talk to you.”
5	Deniz kenarında bir ev istiyorum.	“I want to have a house by the seaside.”
6	En yakın hastanenin nerede olduğunu öğrenmek istiyorum.	“I want to know where the closest hospital is.”

Let’s see how you can make variations of this Turkish sentence pattern:

1. In this example, bir fincan kahve (“a cup of coffee”) can be replaced with: bir dilim ekmek (“a slice of bread”); bir şişe şarap (“a bottle of wine”); bir bardak süt (“a glass of milk”).

2. – 5. The object is placed at the beginning, followed by the infinitive form of the verb that describes the action you want to do, and then the conjugated form of the verb istemek (“to want”).

5. Expressing Needs

Knowing how to express your needs in a foreign language is very important, especially in emergencies.

Here are five Turkish sentence patterns about needs that will be useful in your daily conversations:

	Turkish	English
1	Bir kaleme ihtiyacım var.	“I need a pen.”
2	Bir eczane bulmam lazım.	“I need to find a pharmacy.”
3	Pratik yapmam gerek.	“I need to practice.”
4	Burada olmana gerek yok.	“You don’t need to be here.”
5	Ayılmak için bir fincan kahveye ihtiyacım var.	“I need a cup of coffee to get sober.”

6. Expressing Obligations

There are many times when we need to tell people what we have to do. Here are some useful Turkish sentences for beginners:

	Turkish	English
1	İşe gitmeliyim.	“I must go to work.”
2	Tuvaleti kullanmak zorundayım.	“I have to use the restroom.”
3	Hemen bir doktor bulmalıyım.	“I must find a doctor immediately.”
4	Sigara içmemelisin.	“You mustn’t smoke.”
5	Toplantının sonuna dek kalmak zorunda değilsin.	“You don’t have to stay until the end of the meeting.”

7. Likes and Dislikes

There are so many things (or people) that we like or dislike in life. One way or the other, we frequently talk about these likes and dislikes. Now, let’s see which Turkish sentence patterns can help us express these two feelings.

	Turkish	English
1	Köpekleri çok severim.	“I like dogs a lot.”
2	Seni beğeniyorum.	“I like you.”
3	Türkçe öğrenmeyi seviyorum.	“I like learning Turkish.”
4	Futbol oynamayı sevmiyorum.	“I don’t like playing soccer.”
5	Annemin aldığı elbiseyi beğenmedim.	“I didn’t like the dress my mother bought.”

8. How to Request Something

Another set of Turkish phrases you need to know are those for making requests. These can take the form of sentences or questions.

1- In sentence form

The following example sentences will show you how to word your requests:

	Turkish	English
1	Lütfen otur.	“Please sit down.”
2	Lütfen beni dinle.	“Please listen to me.”
3	Soruma cevap ver lütfen.	“Answer my question, please.”
4	Lütfen toplantıya geç kalma.	“Please don’t be late to the meeting.”
5	Senden sessiz olmanı rica ediyorum.	“I’m requesting you to be quiet.”

2- As a question

I’m sure these example sentences will give you an idea of how to ask people what you want them to do (or not do).

	Turkish	English
1	Ayağa kalkabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you stand up, please?”
2	Işıkları söndürebilir misin lütfen?	“Can you turn off the lights, please?”
3	Ödevini yapabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you please do your homework?”
4	Pencereyi kapatabilir misin lütfen?	“Can you close the window please?”
5	Rica etsem kapıyı açabilir misin lütfen?	“May I request you to open the door, please?”

9. Asking for Permission

Here’s how to make Turkish sentences for asking permission:

	Turkish	English
1	İçeri girebilir miyim?	“May I come in?”
2	Bir bardak su alabilir miyim lütfen?	“May I get a glass of water, please?”
3	Telefon numaranı alabilir miyim?	“May I get your phone number?”
4	Toplantıya katılabilir miyim?	“May I join the meeting?”
5	Bir soru sorabilir miyim?	“May I ask a question?”

10. Question Patterns

Have you ever thought about how many questions you ask a day? I’m pretty sure you haven’t. I haven’t either, but I’m just guessing and the answer is probably “many.” There are “what,” “when,” “where,” “how,” “why,” and other types of questions. In this section, we’ll show you examples of how to form the most commonly used questions.

1- What?

Below are some example questions:

	Turkish	English
1	Bu nedir?	“What is this?”
2	Adın ne?	“What is your name?”
3	Ne oldu?	“What happened?”
4	Ne dedin?	“What did you say?”
5	Dün Türk restoranında sipariş ettiğin içecek neydi?	“What was the drink you ordered at the Turkish restaurant yesterday?”

2- What Time? / When?

Here are some patterns you can use: 

	Turkish	English
1	Saat kaç?	“What time is it?”
2	Saat kaçta geleceksin?	“At what time will you come?”
3	Toplantı ne zaman?	“When is the meeting?”
4	Uçak ne zaman kalkacak?	“When will the plane take off?”
5	Ne zaman gideceksin?	“When will you go?”

3- Where?

Below are some examples:

	Turkish	English
1	Nerelisin?	“Where are you from?”
2	Tuvalet nerede?	“Where is the restroom?”
3	Postane nerede?	“Where is the post office?”
4	Dün işten sonra nereye gittin?	“Where did you go after work yesterday?”
5	Nerede yemek yemek istersin?	“Where would you like to eat?”

4- Other Questions

Here are some more examples for other types of questions: 

	Turkish	English
1	Havaalanına nasıl gidebilirim?	“How can I go to the airport?”
2	Bu halı kaç para?	“How much is this carpet?”
3	Neden sordunuz?	“Why did you ask?”
4	Kaç tane bilet alacaksın?	“How many tickets will you buy?”
5	Otobüsten hangi durakta inmeliyim?	“At which stop should I get off of the bus?”

11. More Practice with TurkishClass101.com

How does it feel to know at least ten Turkish sentence patterns? Do you think you’ll be able to express your needs, likes, and dislikes better? Will you be able to ask the most pressing questions? I’m sure you’ll do better than you’ve done in the past!

How about doing even better than today? All you need to do is visit TurkishClass101.com and utilize all of our free resources, including our dictionary!

You can also download the app for free and use it wherever you are.

Don’t forget that there’s also MyTeacher, the premium TurkishClass101 service that you can use to practice the Turkish sentence structure and sentence patterns with a private teacher.

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Happy learning!

You asked, so we provided—easy-to-follow instructions on how to set up your electronic devices to write in Turkish! We’ll also give you a few excellent tips on how to use this keyboard, as well as some online and app alternatives if you prefer not to set up a Turkish keyboard.

Table of Contents

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Turkish
2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Turkish
3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer
4. How to Change the Language Settings to Turkish on Your Computer
5. Activating the Turkish Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet
6. Turkish Keyboard Typing Tips
7. How to Practice Typing Turkish

1. Why it’s Important to Learn to Type in Turkish

Learning a new language is made so much easier when you’re able to read and write/type it. This way, you will:

• Get the most out of any dictionary and Turkish language apps on your devices
• Expand your ability to find Turkish websites and use the various search engines
• Be able to communicate much better online with your Turkish teachers and friends, and look super cool in the process! 

2. Setting up Your Computer and Mobile Devices for Turkish

It takes only a few steps to set up any of your devices to read and type in Turkish. It’s super-easy on your mobile phone and tablet, and a simple process on your computer.

On your computer, you’ll first activate the onscreen keyboard to work with. You’ll only be using your mouse or touchpad/pointer for this keyboard. Then, you’ll need to change the language setting to Turkish, so all text will appear in Turkish. You could also opt to use online keyboards instead. Read on for the links!

On your mobile devices, it’s even easier—you only have to change the keyboard. We also provide a few alternatives in the form of online keyboards and downloadable apps.

3. How to Activate an Onscreen Keyboard on Your Computer

1- Mac

1. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard.

2. Check the option “Show Keyboard & Character Viewers in Menu Bar.”

3. You’ll see a new icon on the right side of the main bar; click on it and select “Show Keyboard Viewer.”

2- Windows

1. Go to Start > Settings > Easy Access > Keyboard.

2. Turn on the option for “Onscreen Keyboard.”

3- Online Keyboards

If you don’t want to activate your computer’s onscreen keyboard, you also have the option to use online keyboards. Here are some good options:

• Typeit
• LEXILOGOS
• Branah

4- Add-ons of Extensions for Browsers

Instead of an online keyboard, you could also choose to download a Google extension to your browser for a language input tool. The Google Input Tools extension allows users to use input tools in Chrome web pages, for example.

4. How to Change the Language Settings to Turkish on Your Computer

Now that you’re all set to work with an onscreen keyboard on your computer, it’s time to download the Turkish language pack for your operating system of choice:

• Windows 8 (and higher)
• Windows 7
• Mac (OS X and higher)

1- Windows 8 (and higher)

1. Go to “Settings” > “Change PC Settings” > “Time & Language” > “Region & Language.”
2. Click on “Add a Language” and select “Turkish.” This will add it to your list of languages. It will appear as Turkish with the note “language pack available.”
3. Click on “Turkish” > “Options” > “Download.” It’ll take a few minutes to download and install the language pack.
4. As a keyboard layout, you’ll only need the one marked as “Turkish Q Keyboard.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts.

2- Windows 7

1. Go to “Start” > “Control Panel” > “Clock, Language, and Region.”
2. On the “Region and Language” option, click on “Change Keyboards or Other Input Methods.”
3. On the “Keyboards and Languages” tab, click on “Change Keyboards” > “Add” > “Turkish”.
4. Expand the option of “Turkish” and then expand the option “Keyboard.” Select the keyboard layout marked as “Turkish Q Keyboard.” You can ignore other keyboard layouts. Click “OK” and then “Apply.”

3- Mac (OS X and higher)

If you can’t see the language listed, please make sure to select the right option from System Preferences > Language and Region

1. From the Apple Menu (top left corner of the screen) go to System Preferences > Keyboard.

2. Click the Input Sources tab and a list of available keyboards and input methods will appear.

3. Click on the plus button, select “Turkish,” and add the “Turkish – QWERTY PC” keyboard.

5. Activating the Turkish Keyboard on Your Mobile Phone and Tablet

Texting and searching in Turkish will greatly help you master the language! Adding a Turkish keyboard on your mobile phone and/or tablet is super-easy.

You could also opt to download an app instead of adding a keyboard. Read on for our suggestions.

Below are the instructions for both iOS and Android mobile phones and tablets.

1- iOS

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard.

2. Tap “Keyboards” and then “Add New Keyboard.”

3. Select “Turkish” from the list.

4. When typing, you can switch between languages by tapping and holding on the icon to reveal the keyboard language menu.

2- Android

1. Go to Settings > General Management > Language and Input > On-screen Keyboard (or “Virtual Keyboard” on some devices) > Samsung Keyboard.

2. Tap “Language and Types” or “ + Select Input Languages” depending on the device and then “MANAGE INPUT LANGUAGES” if available.

3. Select “Turkish” from the list.

4. When typing, you can switch between languages by swiping the space bar.

3- Applications for Mobile Phones

If you don’t want to add a keyboard on your mobile phone or tablet, this is a good app to consider:

• Turkish for GO Keyboard

6. Turkish Keyboard Typing Tips

Typing in Turkish can be very challenging at first! Therefore, we added here a few useful tips to make it easier to use your Turkish keyboard.

1- Computer

• Remember that the capital form of the letter “i” is “İ” and the lower case form of “I” is “ı.”
• The letters with dots and lines over them aren’t accentised letters, but different letters entirely. They all have seperate keys on the keyboard.
• There are two widely used Turkish keyboard layouts that are identified by the letter on the upper left corner, which are Q and F keyboards. F keyboards are mosty in decline but they are still listed in settings.
• “@” can be typed by pressing “AltGR” and “Q” together.

2- Mobile Phones

• Most of the letters that have dots or lines on them can be typed by pressing the letter that resembles them until the other options appear, and then choosing from the alternatives. (E.g. Keeping your finger on “g” to type “ğ” or “s” to type “ş.”)
• Some native speakers ignore the Turkish letters while typing from their phones. This can lead to misunderstandings.

7. How to Practice Typing Turkish

As you probably know by now, learning Turkish is all about practice, practice, and more practice! Strengthen your Turkish typing skills by writing comments on any of our lesson pages, and our teacher will answer. If you’re a TurkishClass101 Premium PLUS member, you can directly text our teacher via the My Teacher app—use your Turkish keyboard to do this!

Before we begin, why should you learn Turkish conjugation? 

Well, conjugation is what allows you to effectively convey thoughts and ideas in a way that makes sense to others. By learning the proper conjugation of Turkish verbs early on in your studies, you’re giving yourself a head start to reaching fluency.

In this article, we’ll cover the basics of conjugation in Turkish, starting with how conjugation works in general. Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

1. General Info on Conjugation
2. Conjugation in Turkish
3. Verb Modification
4. Ready for a Challenge?
5. Conclusion

1. General Info on Conjugation

Conjugation is how you change or modify a verb’s basic form to convey a different meaning, or to express the following:

• Person / Subject
• Gender (male or female)
• Tense
• Mood
• Aspect
• Voice
• Number (singular or plural)
• Politeness level (formal or informal)

Every language is different, and of course, these are general parameters, all of which may not apply to all languages.

Now that you know the very basics, we’ll talk about Turkish verb conjugation and provide you with some Turkish verb conjugation charts along the way.

2. Conjugation in Turkish

Verbs are the main building blocks of a sentence. Therefore, when learning Turkish, knowing how to conjugate them is critical. It takes quite a bit of time, and it’s not very simple. 

Did I intimidate you? No, no, that’s not what I wanted to do. 

I just want to advise you that you should pay close attention to the Turkish conjugation rules. You may also want to make a Turkish verb conjugation chart for yourself, or create a Turkish verbs conjugation PDF file for future reference.

Now, let’s see which of the factors I mentioned above are involved in Turkish verb conjugation.

I. Person / Subject

In Turkish, different suffixes are added to a verb based on the person/subject it alludes to. Since the verb of the sentence already contains a personal pronoun through the suffix it takes, personal pronouns aren’t usually used in sentences. Vowels in the suffixes change based on the vowel harmony.

I’ll provide rules and examples for this below when talking about the tenses.

II. Number of Subjects

Whether the subject is singular or plural impacts the suffix the verb will get. I’ll provide examples for this later on in this article.

III. Politeness Level

In Turkish, we use the plural “you” both as it’s used in English, and also as a polite, formal way of naming or referring to someone. The Turkish verb conjugation rules for the plural “you” also apply to the polite “you.” 

IV. Tense

Tenses are the most confusing of all. I’ll make a Turkish verb conjugation chart for each tense, including the person/subject suffixes. I highly recommend that you prepare your own reference file using those charts, so that you can find all of the Turkish verb conjugation information in one place.

A. The Verb “To Be”

The thing about the verb “to be” in Turkish is that there isn’t a word for it like there is in English (“am,” “is,” “are”). Instead, the suffixes imply the meaning.

Word ending with a consonant
Person + “to be”	Last syllable of the word has “a” or “ı”	Last syllable of the word has “e” or “i”	Last syllable of the word has “o” or “u”	Last syllable of the word has “ö” or “ü”	Word ending with a vowel
“I am” (Ben)	-ım	-ım	-um	-um	Buffer y + (rules for the word ending with a consonant)
“You are”  (Sen)	-sın	-sın	-sun	-sun	Same rules in this line
“He / she / it is” (O)	-dır / tır	-dır / tır	-dur / tur	-dur / tur	Same rules in this line
“We are” (Biz)	-ız	-ız	-uz	-uz	Buffer y + (rules for the word ending with a consonant)
“You are” (Siz)	-sınız	-sınız	-sunuz	-sunuz	Same rules in this line
“They are” (Onlar)	-dırlar / tırlar or  -lar	-dirler / tirler or  -ler	-durlar /  turlar or  -lar	-dürler / türler or  -ler	Same rules in this line

Please note that the third person singular pronoun doesn’t have to take the suffix; you can leave it blank. The third person plural pronoun doesn’t have to take the whole suffix, either; it can take only the plural suffixes -ler and -lar.

Here are some examples:

Person + “to be”	Kızgın – “Angry”	Öğretmen – “Teacher”	Tok – “Full”	Üzgün – “Sad”	Zeki – “Smart”
“I am” (Ben)	Kızgınım	Öğretmenim	Tokum	Üzgünüm	Zekiyim
“You are” (Sen)	Kızgınsın	Öğretmensin	Toksun	Üzgünsün	Zekisin
“He / she / it is” (O)	Kızgın(dır)	Öğretmen(dir)	Tok(tur)	Üzgün(dür)	Zeki(dir)
“We are” (Biz)	Kızgınız	Öğretmeniz	Tokuz	Üzgünüz	Zekiyiz
“You are” (Siz)	Kızgınsınız	Öğretmensiniz	Toksunuz	Üzgünsünüz	Zekisiniz
“They are” (Onlar)	Kızgın(dır)lar	Öğretmen(dir)ler	Tok(tur)lar	Üzgün(dür)ler	Zeki(dir)ler

B. Modal Verbs

In Turkish, there aren’t separate words for the modal verbs. To form modal verbs, certain suffixes are added to the verbs. For example:

• Can

In Turkish, we express “can” using the suffix -abil or -ebil. We add the appropriate one to the verb root based on its last vowel. -abil and -ebil can be used with any tense, but are usually used with the present simple tense. If the verb ends with a vowel, then the buffer y is added before the -abil or -ebil suffix.

	Verb ending with a consonant Last vowel of the verb root		Verb ending with a vowel      Last vowel of the verb root
Person	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü
“” (Ben)	-abilirim	-ebilirim	-yabilirim	-yebilirim
“You” (Sen)	-abilirsin	-ebilirsin	-yabilirsin	-yebilirsin
“He / she / it” (O)	-abilir	-ebilir	-yabilir	-yebilir
“We” (Biz)	-abiliriz	-ebiliriz	-yabiliriz	-yebiliriz
“You” (Siz)	-abilirsiniz	-ebilirsiniz	-yabilirsiniz	-yebilirsiniz
“They” (Onlar)	-abilirler	-ebilirler	-yabilirler	-yebilirler

Examples:

Ben atabilirim. (“I can throw.”)	Ben çekebilirim. (“I can pull.”)	Ben arayabilirim. (“I can call.”)	Ben söyleyebilirim. (“I can tell.”)
Sen atabilirsin. (“You can throw.”)	Sen çekebilirsin. (“You can pull.”)	Sen arayabilirsin. (“You can call.”)	Sen söyleyebilirsin. (“You can tell.”)
O atabilir. (“He / she / it can throw.”)	O çekebilir. (“He / she / it can pull.”)	O arayabilir. (“He / she / it can call.”)	O söyleyebilir. (“He / she / it can tell.”)
Biz atabiliriz. (“We can throw.”)	Biz çekebiliriz. (“We can pull.”)	Biz arayabiliriz. (“We can call.”)	Biz söyleyebiliriz. (“We can tell.”)
Siz atabilirsiniz. (“You can throw.”)	Siz çekebilirsiniz. (“You can pull.”)	Siz arayabilirsiniz. (“You can call.”)	Siz söyleyebilirsiniz. (“You can tell.”)
Onlar atabilirler. (“They can throw.”)	Onlar çekebilirler. (“They can pull.”)	Onlar arayabilirler. (“They can call.”)	Onlar söyleyebilirler. (“They can tell.”)

• Must

In Turkish, we express “must” using the suffixes -malı or -meli, which are added to the verb root.

	Last vowel of the verb root
Person	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-malıyım	-meliyim
“You” (Sen)	-malısın	-melisin
“He / she / it” (O)	-malı	-meli
“We” (Biz)	-malıyız	-meliyiz
“You” (Siz)	-malısınız	-melisiniz
“They” (Onlar)	-malılar	-meliler

Here are some examples:

Ben yapmalıyım. (“I must do.”)	Ben gelmeliyim. (“I must come.”)
Sen yapmalısın. (“You must do.”)	Sen gelmelisin. (“You must come.”)
O yapmalı. (“He / she / it must do.”)	O gelmeli. (“He / she / it must come.”)
Biz yapmalıyız. (“We must do.”)	Biz gelmeliyiz. (“We must come.”)
Siz yapmalısınız. (“You must do.”)	Siz gelmelisiniz. (“You must come.”)
Onlar yapmalılar. (“They must do.”)	Onlar gelmeliler. (“They must come.”)

C. Simple Present Tense

The simple present tense is used for the actions that we do all the time. Here are the rules for Turkish present tense conjugations:

1. The following suffixes are added to the verb root for verbs ending with a vowel:

	Last vowel of the verb root
	a/ı	e/i	o/u	ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-rım	-rım	-rum	-rum
“You” (Sen)	-rsın	-rsın	-rsun	-rsun
“He / she / it” (O)	-r	-r	-r	-r
“We” (Biz)	-rız	-rız	-ruz	-ruz
“You” (Siz)	-rsınız	-rsınız	-rsunuz	-rsunuz
“They” (Onlar)	-rlar	-rler	-rlar	-rler

Here are some examples:

Ben boyarım. (“I paint.”)	Ben söylerim. (“I tell.”)	Ben okurum. (“I read.”)	Ben yürürüm. (“I walk.”)
Sen boyarsın. (“You paint.”)	Sen söylersin. (“You tell.”)	Sen okursun. (“You read.”)	Sen yürürsün. (“You walk.”)
O boyar. (“He / she / it paints.”)	O söyler. (“He / she / it tells.”)	O okur. (“He / she / it reads.”)	O yürür. (“He / she / it walks.”)
Biz boyarız. (“We paint.”)	Biz söyleriz. (“We tell.”)	Biz okuruz. (“We read.”)	Biz yürürüz. (“We walk.”)
Siz boyarsınız. (“You paint.”)	Siz söylersiniz. (“You tell.”)	Siz okursunuz. (“You read.”)	Siz yürürsünüz. (“You walk.”)
Onlar boyarlar. (“They paint.”)	Onlar söylerler. (“They tell.”)	Onlar okurlar. (“They read.”)	Onlar yürürler. (“They walk.”)

2. The following suffixes are added to the verb root for verbs that have one syllable and end with a consonant:

	Last vowel of the verb root
Person	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-arım	-erim
“You” (Sen)	-arsın	-ersin
“He / she / it” (O)	-ar	-er
“We” (Biz)	-arız	-eriz
“You” (Siz)	-arsınız	-ersiniz
“They” (Onlar)	-arlar	-erler

Please note that there are some exceptions to this rule: 

• Almak – “To take”
• Bilmek – “To know”
• Bulmak – “To find”
• Durmak – “To stop”
• Gelmek – “To come”
• Görmek – “To see”
• Kalmak – “To stay”
• Olmak (helping verb) – “To be”
• Ölmek – “To die”
• Sanmak – “To suppose”
• Vermek – “To give”
• Varmak – “To arrive”

Here are some examples for this rule:

Ben açarım. (“I open.”)	Ben severim. (“I love.”)
Sen açarsın. (“You open.”)	Sen seversin. (“You love.”)
O açar. (“He / she / it opens.”)	O sever. (“He / she / it loves.”)
Biz açarız. (“We open.”)	Biz severiz. (“We love.”)
Siz açarsınız. (“You open.”)	Siz seversiniz. (“You love.”)
Onlar açarlar. (“They open.”)	Onlar severler. (“They love.”)

3. The following suffixes are added to the verb root for verbs that have more than one syllable and end with a consonant:

	Last vowel of the verb root
Person	a/ı	e/i	o/u	ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-ırım	-ırım	-urum	-urum
“You” (Sen)	-ırsın	-ırsın	-ursun	-ursun
“He / she / it” (O)	-ır	-ır	-ur	-ur
“We” (Biz)	-ırız	-ırız	-uruz	-uruz
“You” (Siz)	-ırsınız	-ırsınız	-ursunuz	-ursunuz
“They” (Onlar)	-ırlar	-irler	-urlar	-ürler

Below are some examples for this rule:

Ben çalışırım. (“I work.”)	Ben öğretirim. (“I teach.”)	Ben unuturum. (“I forget.”)	Ben götürürüm. (“I take.”)
Sen çalışırsın. (“You work.”)	Sen öğretirsin. (“You teach.”)	Sen unutursun. (“You forget.”)	Sen götürürsün. (“You take.”)
O çalışır. (“He / she / it works.”)	O öğretir. (“He / she / it teaches.”)	O unutur. (“He / she / it forgets.”)	O götürür. (“He / she / it takes.”)
Biz çalışırız. (“We work.”)	Biz öğretiriz. (“We teach.”)	Biz unuturuz. (“We forget.”)	Biz götürürüz. (“We take.”)
Siz çalışırsınız. (“You work.”)	Siz öğretirsiniz. (“You teach.”)	Siz öğretirsiniz. (“You teach.”)	Siz götürürsünüz. (“You take.”)
Onlar çalışırlar. (“They work.”)	Onlar öğretirler. (“They teach.”)	Onlar unuturlar. (“They forget.”)	Onlar götürürler. (“They take.”)

Please also note that sometimes helping words such as etmek and olmak are combined together with other words like kaybolmak and seyretmek. These verbs don’t follow this rule; instead, the rule that applies to the helping verbs etmek and olmak is used.

D. Present Continuous Tense

If the verb root ends in a vowel, the vowel at the end is dropped and the following suffixes are added. The suffixes shown below also are used for verbs ending with a consonant:

Person	a/ı	e/i	o/u	ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-ıyorum	-ıyorum	-uyorum	-uyorum
“You” (Sen)	-ıyorsun	-ıyorsun	-uyorsun	-uyorsun
“He / she / it” (O)	-ıyor	-ıyor	-uyor	-uyor
“We” (Biz)	-ıyoruz	-ıyoruz	-uyoruz	-uyoruz
“You” (Siz)	-ıyorsunuz	-ıyorsunuz	-uyorsunuz	-uyorsunuz
“They” (Onlar)	-ıyorlar	-ıyorlar	-uyorlar	-uyorlar

Please take a look at the examples below:

Ben arıyorum. (“I am looking for.”)	Ben geliyorum. (“I am coming.”)	Ben soruyorum. (“I am asking.”)	Ben bölüyorum. (“I’m dividing.”)
Sen arıyorsun. (“You are looking for.”)	Sen geliyorsun. (“You are coming.”)	Sen soruyorsun. (“You are asking.”)	Sen bölüyorsun. (“You are dividing.”)
O arıyor. (“He / she / it is looking for.”)	O geliyor. (“He / she / it is coming.”)	O soruyor. (“He / she / it is asking.”)	O bölüyor. (“He / she / it is dividing.”)
Biz arıyoruz. (“We are looking for.”)	Biz geliyoruz. (“We are coming.”)	Biz soruyoruz. (“We are asking.”)	Biz bölüyoruz. (“We are dividing.”)
Siz arıyorsunuz. (“You are looking for.”)	Siz geliyorsunuz. (“You are coming.”)	Siz soruyorsunuz. (“You are asking.”)	Siz bölüyorsunuz. (“You are dividing.”)
Onlar arıyorlar. (“They are looking for.”)	Onlar geliyorlar. (“They are coming.”)	Onlar soruyorlar.  (“They are asking.”)	Onlar bölüyorlar. (“They are dividing.”)

E. Past Tense

To use the correct rule for past tense conjugations, you need to check the last vowel and the last letter of the verb. Study this Turkish conjugation table to see what we mean:

	Last vowel of the verb root
	a/ı		e/i		o/u		ö/ü
Person	If the very last letter of the verb root is one of these letters: ç/f/h/k/s/ş/t/p.	If the very last letter of the verb root contains the rest of the consonants.	If the very last letter of the verb root is one of these letters: ç/f/h/k/s/ş/t/p.	If the very last letter of the verb root contains the rest of the consonants.	If the very last letter of the verb root is one of these letters: ç/f/h/k/s/ş/t/p.	If the very last letter of the verb root contains the rest of the consonants.	If the very last letter of the verb root is one of these letters: ç/f/h/k/s/ş/t/p.	If the very last letter of the verb root contains the rest of the consonants.
“I” (Ben)	-tım	-dım	-tım	-dım	-tum	-dum	-tum	-dum
“You” (Sen)	-tın	-dın	-tın	-dın	-tun	-dun	-tun	-dun
“He / she / it” (O)	-tı	-dı	-tı	-dı	-tu	-du	-tu	-du
“We” (Biz)	-tık	-dık	-tık	-dık	-tuk	-duk	-tuk	-duk
“You” (Siz)	-tınız	-dınız	-tınız	-dınız	-tunuz	-dunuz	-tunuz	-dunuz
“They” (Onlar)	-tılar	-dılar	-tiler	-diler	-tular	-dular	-tüler	-düler

Below are some examples that will help you understand the Turkish conjugation for the past tense better:

Ben sattım. (“I sold.”)	Ben temizledim. (“I cleaned.”)	Ben oturdum. (“I sat down.”)	Ben öptüm. (“I kissed.”)
Sen sattın. (“You sold.”)	Sen temizledin. (“You cleaned.”)	Sen oturdun. (“You sat down.”)	Sen öptün. (“You kissed.”)
O sattı. (“He / she / it sold.”)	O temizledi. (“He / she / it cleaned.”)	O oturdu. (“He / she / it sat down.”)	O öptü. (“He / she / it kissed.”)
Biz sattık. (“We sold.”)	Biz temizledik. (“We cleaned.”)	Biz oturduk. (“We sat down.”)	Biz öptük. (“We kissed.”)
Siz sattınız. (“You sold.”)	Siz temizlediniz. (“You cleaned.”)	Siz oturdunuz. (“You sat down.”)	Siz öptünüz. (“You kissed.”)
Onlar sattılar. (“They sold.”)	Onlar temizlediler. (“They cleaned.”)	Onlar oturdular. (“They sat down.”)	Onlar öptüler. (“They kissed.”)

F. Future Tense

	Verbs ending with a consonant		Verbs ending with a vowel
Person	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü	a/ı/o/u	e/i/ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	-acağım	-eceğim	-[y]acağım	-[y]eceğim
“You” (Sen)	-acaksın	-eceksin	-[y]acaksın	-[y]eceksin
“He / she / it” (O)	-acak	-ecek	-[y]acak	-[y]ecek
“We” (Biz)	-acağız	-eceğiz	-[y]acağız	-[y]eceğiz
“You” (Siz)	-acaksınız	-eceksiniz	-[y]acaksınız	-[y]eceksiniz
“They” (Onlar)	-acaklar	-ecekler	-[y]acaklar	-[y]ecekler

There are two words that have an exception: demek (“to say,” “to tell”) and yemek (“to eat”). The letter e changes to i, and then the above-mentioned suffixes are added. For example:

• Ben yiyeceğim. (“I will eat.”)
• Sen diyeceksin. (“You will tell.”) 

Here are some examples:

Ben yazacağım. (“I will write.”)	Ben seçeceğim. (“I will choose.”)	Ben uyuyacağım. (“I will sleep.”)	Ben deneyeceğim. (“I will try.”)
Sen yazacaksın. (“You will write.”)	Sen seçeceksin. (“You will choose.”)	Sen uyuyacaksın. (“You will sleep.”)	Sen deneyeceksin. (“You will try.”)
O yazacak. (“He / she / it will write.”)	O seçecek. (“He / she / it will choose.”)	O uyuyacak. (“He / she / it will sleep.”)	O deneyecek. (“He / she / it will try.”)
Biz yazacağız. (“We will write.”)	Biz seçeceğiz. (“We will choose.”)	Biz uyuyacağız. (“We will sleep.”)	Biz deneyeceğiz. (“We will try.”)
Siz yazacaksınız. (“You will write.”)	Siz seçeceksiniz. (“You will choose.”)	Siz uyuyacaksınız. (“You will sleep.”)	Siz deneyeceksiniz. (“You will try.”)
Onlar yazacaklar. (“They will write.”)	Onlar seçecekler. (“They will choose.”)	Onlar uyuyacaklar. (“They will sleep.”)	Onlar deneyecekler. (“They will try.”)

G. Negativity

Creating the negative form of “to be” is simple. The word değil means “not,” and it takes the personal suffix. Let me explain it with examples:

Ben şişman değilim. “I am not fat.”

Sen şişman değilsin. “You are not fat.”

O şişman değil. “He / she / it is not fat.”

Biz şişman değiliz. “We are not fat.”

Siz şişman değilsiniz. “You are not fat.”

Onlar şişman değiller. “They are not fat.”

H. Interrogation

Let’s look at the present form of “yes or no” questions. Here are the words that turn a sentence into a closed question. I said “words” because they’re not suffixes, but separate words, which don’t mean anything when used alone.

	Last vowel of the last syllable
Person	a/ı	e/i	o/u	ö/ü
“I” (Ben)	mıyım?	mıyım?	müyüm?	müyüm?
“You” (Sen)	mısın?	mısın?	müsün?	müsün?
“He / she / it” (O)	mi?	mi?	mü?	mü?
“We” (Biz)	mıyız?	mıyız?	muyuz?	muyuz?
“You” (Siz)	mısınız?	mısınız?	musunuz?	musunuz?
“They” (Onlar)	mı?	mı?	mü?	mü?

Examples:

• Sen aşçı mısın?
  (“Are you a cook?”)
  Singular “you”

• Siz deli misiniz?
  (“Are you crazy?”)
  Plural “you”

• O tok mu?
  (“Is he / she / it full?”)

• Biz kötü müyüz?
  (“Are we bad?”)

3. Verb Modification

Now let’s look at a few different ways to modify verbs.

I. Passive

Verbs can be made passive by adding n if the verb ends with a vowel:

• Aramak – “To look for,” “To call”

The verb root is ara; it takes n and becomes:

• Aranmak – “To be looked for,” “To be called”

You can also add ıl, il, ul, or ül depending on the vowel harmony if the verb ends with a consonant other than l:

• Açmak – “To open”
• Açılmak – “To be opened”
• Yermek – “To criticize”
• Yerilmek – “To be criticized”
• Sunmak – “To offer”
• Sunulmak – “To be offered”
• Çözmek – “To resolve”
• Çözülmek – “To be resolved”

Finally, you can add ın, in, un, or ün depending on the vowel harmony if the verb ends with l: 

• Çalmak – “To steal”
• Çalınmak – “To be stolen”
• Silmek – “To delete”
• Silinmek – “To be deleted”
• Bulmak – “To find”
• Bulunmak – “To be found”
• Bölmek – “To divide”
• Bölünmek – “To be divided”

II. Causative

The causative verbs are formed by adding the causative suffix after the verb root according to the vowel harmony rules.

Add t if the verb ends with a vowel, or  r:

• Aramak – “To look for”
• Aratmak – “To have somebody look for”
• Oturmak – “To sit down”
• Oturtmak – “To seat somebody”

Add ır, ir, ur, or ür based on the vowel harmony if the verb stem ends with ş or ç:

• Düşmek – “To fall”
• Düşürmek – “To make somebody fall”
• İçmek – “To drink”
• İçirmek – “To have somebody drink”

Most verbs get the following suffixes based on the vowel harmony:

 dir, dır, dür, dur, tir, tır, tür, tur

• Gülmek – “To laugh”
• Güldürmek – “To make somebody laugh”

A few mono-syllable verbs ending in k take -it, -ıt, -üt, or -ut suffixes:

• Korkmak – “To be scared”
• Korkutmak – “To scare someone”
• Akmak – “To flow”
• Akıtmak – “To let something flow”

There are also some verbs  that take the -er and -ar suffixes:

• Kopmak – “To break off”
• Koparmak – “To make something break off”

There is one verb that’s irregular:

• Görmek – “To see”
• Göstermek – “To show”

Double causative verbs also exist: 

• Pişmek – “To cook” (ex: the meat cooks) 
• Pişirmek – “To cook” (ex: my wife cooks the meat) 
• Pişirtmek – “To have something cooked” 
• Ölmek – “To die” 
• Öldürmek – “To kill” 
• Öldürtmek – “To have someone killed” 

III. Reflexive

You can create a reflexive verb by adding the suffix -in. For example:

• Giymek – “To wear clothes“
• Giyinmek – “To dress oneself”

IV. Verbs of Mutual Action

Here are some examples:

• Görmek – “To see”
• Görüşmek – “To see one another” or “To converse”
• Görüşülmek – “To be conversed about”
• Görüştürmek – “To make conversation with one another”
• Görüştürülmek – “To be made to converse with one another”

4. Ready for a Challenge?

After all this information, are you ready for some Turkish verb conjugation practice? How about taking a short quiz to see how much information you’ve absorbed about Turkish conjugation?

1. How is the verb atlamak (“to jump”) conjugated in the first person plural as future tense?

a. Atladım

b. Atlayacağım

c.  Atlıyorsunuz

d. Atlayacağız

2. Complete the sentence with the correct present “to be” suffix.

Biz güzel….. (“We are beautiful.”)

a. dik

b. iz

c.  eceğiz

d. ıyoruz

3. Complete the sentence with the correct past tense suffix.

Ben gör…. (“I saw”)

a. düm

b. dük

c.   üm

d. eceğim

4. Complete the sentence with the correct present continuous tense suffix.

Sen iç…….. (“You are drinking”)

a. tim

b. sın

c.  eceğim

d. iyorsun

5. Complete the sentence with the correct modal verb suffix.

Siz koş………. (“You must run”)

a. abilirsiniz

b. acaksınız

c.  malısınız

d. uyorsunuz

Are you looking for the answer key? If so, you need to read the rest to get to it!

5. Conclusion

How does it feel to learn about those Turkish conjugation rules? Seems like too much info, huh? If you have combined all the Turkish verb conjugation charts and created a Turkish verbs conjugation PDF file for yourself, then you can refresh your memory whenever you need to. Furthermore, make sure to visit our website, TurkishClass101.com, to reinforce what you’ve learned.

Please keep in touch with us to share your learning experience.

Last but not least, here are the answers to the quiz:

1.d; 2.b; 3.a; 4.d; 5.c

Action, occurrence, process, condition, and state of being—don’t these words remind us of flow or the dynamism of life? Of course they do, but beyond that, when one of these concepts is conveyed in a word or a group of words, they’re known as verbs. Verbs are an important aspect in the structure of a sentence.

In our previous articles, we talked about “100 Nouns” and “Pronouns” in Turkish. Now, it’s time to learn about the missing part, Turkish verbs, to be able to make full sentences.

A verb’s placement in a sentence may vary depending on the language.

All Turkish verbs are placed at the end of the sentence. The object follows the subject in a sentence, and then comes the verb.

Good news! There’s no grammatical gender in Turkish, so the verbs don’t change according to gender. However, depending on the tense, the Turkish verb cases are created by adding personal suffixes based on the personal pronouns used.

Let’s see how to say “verb” in Turkish:

· Fiil – “Verb”

Now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s take a look at our common Turkish verbs list and broaden your vocabulary!

Table of Contents

1. Turkish Infinitive Verbs
2. Types of Turkish Language Verbs
3. Other Common Turkish Verbs and Their Usage in Sentences
4. Learn About Advanced Turkish Verbs with TurkishClass101

1. Turkish Infinitive Verbs

The infinitive form of a verb is the uninflected form of that verb.

Positive

The positive infinitive forms of all Turkish verbs take the -mak or -mek suffix at the end based on vowel harmony. If the last vowel of the verb is “a, ı, o, u,” the suffix -mak is used. If the last vowel of the verb is “e, i, ö, ü,” then the suffix -mek is used.

You can start creating your own personal list of important Turkish verbs for your studies with the most common Turkish verbs below:

Düşmek – “To fall”

Gelmek – “To come”

Gitmek – “To go”

Giyinmek – “To get dressed”

Göstermek – “To show”

İçmek – “To drink”

Öğrenmek – “To learn”

Söylemek – “To say,” “To tell”

Temizlemek – “To clean”

Yemek – “To eat”

Açmak – “To open”

Aramak – “To look for”

Bakmak – “To look”

Bulmak – “To find”

Buluşmak – “To meet”

Dokunmak – “To touch”

Konuşmak – “To talk”

Kullanmak – “To use”

Okumak – “To read”

Tutmak – “To hold”

Yazmak – “To write”

Negative

There are also negative verb infinitives in Turkish (ex: “not to make,” “not to teach,” etc.). In this case, the verb is followed by the negative suffix -ma or -me based on the vowel harmony mentioned above. Then comes -mak after -ma and -mek after -me negative suffixes. Here are some negative Turkish verbs with English translations:

Yapmamak (Yap-ma-mak) – “Not to do,” “Not to make”

Almamak (Al-ma-mak) – “Not to take”

Boyamamak (Boya-ma-mak) – “Not to color,” “Not to paint”

Kırmamak (Kır-ma-mak) – “Not to break”

Kaçmamak (Kaç-ma-mak) – “Not to escape”

Gitmemek (Git-me-mek) – “Not to go”

Öğrenmemek (Öğren-me-mek) – “Not to learn”

Öğretmemek (Öğret-me-mek) – “Not to teach”

Çizmemek (Çiz-me-mek) – “Not to draw”

Silmemek (Sil-me-mek) – “Not to erase,” “Not to delete”

2. Types of Turkish Language Verbs

Action verbs

Action verbs are verbs that indicate an action, as the name suggests. They describe what someone or something does.

Below are some action verbs in Turkish:

Koşmak – “To run”

Oynamak – “To play”

Gülmek – “To laugh”

Yürümek – “To walk”

There are two types of action verbs: Transitive and Intransitive.

Turkish Transitive Verbs 

A transitive verb is followed by a noun or noun phrase that receives the action of the verb, which is called the “direct object.”

Transitive verbs sometimes have indirect objects, which name the object to whom or for whom the action was done.

For example:

Mike annesini arıyor. – “Mike is calling his mother.”

Verb in Turkish	Verb in English	Direct Object in Turkish	Direct Object in English	Indirect Object in Turkish	Indirect Object in English
Aramak	To call	Annesi	His mother	N/A	N/A

Mary kitabı Jane’e verdi. – “Mary gave Jane the book.”

Verb in Turkish	Verb in English	Direct Object in Turkish	Direct Object in English	Indirect Object in Turkish	Indirect Object in English
Vermek	To give	Kitabı	The book	Jane	Jane

A small clue for you: If you can make the sentence passive, then it means it uses a transitive verb.

Turkish Intransitive Verbs

An intransitive verb doesn’t have a direct or indirect object. It may be followed by an adverb or adverbial phrase, but there’s no object to receive its action. Let’s see how intransitive Turkish verbs fit into sentences:

Çocuk ağladı. – “The boy cried.”

Verb in Turkish	Verb in English	Direct Object	Indirect Object
Ağlamak	To cry	N/A	N/A

State Verbs

A state verb describes a state of being, not an action.

State verbs generally fall into four groups. Let’s discover some of these useful Turkish verbs:

Emotion: 

Sevmek – “To love”

Nefret etmek – “To hate”

İstemek – “To want”

Possession: 

Sahip olmak – “To have,” “To own”

Ait olmak – “To belong”

Sense: 

Görmek – “To see”

Duymak – “To hear”

Koklamak – “To smell”

Thought: 

Bilmek – “To know”

İnanmak – “To believe”

Hatırlamak – “To remember”

Düşünmek – “To think”

Verbs that Describe Occurrences

These are verbs that describe a sudden change that’s not necessarily intentional. The event that occurs on or to the object is involuntary, and there’s usually a time factor involved here. These verbs don’t take any objects and are therefore intransitive verbs.

For example:

Bugün hastalandım. – “I got sick today.”

Here are some Turkish verbs that describe occurrences:

Acıkmak – “To get hungry”

Soğumak – “To get cold,” “To cool”

Uzamak – “To get taller”

Bayatlamak – “To get stale”  

Körelmek – “To become blunt” 

Turkish Auxiliary Verbs

An auxiliary verb is also called a helping verb. The main auxiliary verbs in Turkish are etmek, olmak, yapmak, kılmak, and eylemek.

These essential Turkish verbs are explained in detail below:

Etmek  – “To do,” “To make,” “To perform”

This word isn’t usually used as a verb by itself. It’s used with other words, some of which are Arabic and Persian. However, although many Arabic words don’t follow the rules of vowel harmony, any Turkish suffixes added will always be based on the final vowel in the word.

For example:

Teşekkür etmek – “Thank you”

Takdir etmek – “To appreciate”

If the verb is formed with a single-syllable word, then the word etmek gets combined with the root word. If the word ends in a consonant, that letter will generally double.  

Af – “Pardon”

Affetmek – “To forgive”

Ret – “Refusal” 

Reddetmek – “To refuse”

Other usages of this helping word are:

Mutlu etmek – “To make happy”

Kabul etmek – “To accept”

Teslim etmek – “To deliver”

Kontrol etmek – “To check,” “To control”

Olmak – “To be”

This is the verb “to be” in Turkish. It also means “to become,” “to happen,” or “to occur.”

Although the verb’s meaning is stated above, it has a different meaning when used as a helping verb, as shown below:

Sahip olmak – “To have”

Pişman olmak – “To regret”

Mutlu olmak – “To be happy”  

Yapmak  – “To do,” “To make”

 Here are some verbs that can be formed when yapmak is used as an auxiliary verb:

Bakım yapmak – “To maintain”

Katkı yapmak – “To contribute”

Prova yapmak – “To rehearse”

Eylemek – “To carry out “

Eylemek can substitute etmek and serves the same purpose. It’s usually used in writing and is very seldomly used in conversations.

Sabreylemek – “To be patient”

Reddeylemek – “To refuse”

Niyaz eylemek – “To supplicate”

Arz eylemek – “To present,” “To offer”

Seyreylemek – “To watch”

Kılmak – “To make,” “To do”

When used as a helping verb, the meaning of this verb changes. Here are some examples for you:

Namaz kılmak – “To perform prayer”

Mecbur kılmak – “To oblige someone to do (something)”

Zorunlu kılmak – “To oblige”

3. Other Common Turkish Verbs and Their Usage in Sentences

Now we’ll introduce you to other useful and common Turkish verbs, as well as their usage in simple sentences. Keep in mind while reading the examples that we’ll be going over how to conjugate Turkish verbs in a future article.

By the time you get to the end of this article, you’ll know around 100 Turkish verbs. It might be a good idea to add the following words to your own Turkish verbs list for easy reference as you study. Are you ready to expand your Turkish verb vocabulary? Let’s go.

Satmak – “To sell”

Evimi satıyorum. – “I’m selling my house.”

Oturmak – “To sit”

Ben şimdi oturuyorum. – “I’m sitting now.”

Kalkmak – “To get up”

Her sabah 6’da kalkarım. – “I get up at six every morning.”

Kapatmak – “To close”

Linda kapıyı kapatıyor. – “Linda is closing the door.”

Uyumak – “To sleep”

Annem uyuyor. – “My mother is sleeping.”

Fırçalamak – “To brush”

Kızım saçlarını fırçalıyor. – “My daughter is brushing her hair.”

Yüzmek – “To swim”

Eşim her gün yüzer. – “My husband swims every day.”

Unutmak – “To forget”

Kitabımı evde unuttum. – “I forgot my book at home.”

Çalışmak – “To study,” “To work”

Türkçe çalışıyorum. – “I’m studying Turkish.”

Kaçırmak – “To miss”

Otobüsü kaçırdım. – “I missed the bus.”

Yaşamak – “To live”

Türkiye’de yaşıyorum. – “I live in Turkey.”

Uyanmak – “To wake up”

Her sabah 6’da uyanıyorum. – “I wake up at six every morning.”

Atmak – “To throw”

Lütfen bana topu at. – “Please throw the ball to me.”

Hatırlamak – “To remember”

Seni hatırlıyorum. – “I remember you.”

Last, but not least, we would like to talk about the verb yapmak, which means both “to do” and “to make.” We do want to emphasize that this word has a wide range of uses.

Ödev yapmak – “To do homework”

İş yapmak – “To do work,” “To do business”

Saçını yapmak – “To do hair”

Alışveriş yapmak – “To do shopping”

Hata yapmak – “To make a mistake”

Kahve yapmak – “To make coffee”

Kek yapmak – “To make a cake”

Şaka yapmak – “To make a joke”

Gözlem yapmak – “To make an observation”

Liste yapmak – “To make a list”

4. Learn About Advanced Turkish Verbs with TurkishClass101

Wasn’t it easy to learn the 100 most common Turkish verbs via one article? Why not shoot for 500 Turkish verbs? Do you want to know how to learn Turkish verbs quickly and easily?

First of all, don’t lose any time and visit our website. Then, make sure to include all of the Turkish verbs we went over to a personal Turkish verbs list. As you proceed to Turkish verb conjugation, you can create a study guide or PDF file for this as well. Further, be sure to take full advantage of the dictionary on our website—it will make your life so much easier!

Please let us know in the comments section if this Turkish verbs guide was helpful to you! Is there anything you’re not quite sure about after reading it? Note that every detail you learn will contribute to your success in speaking Turkish fluently!

Happy learning! 

Pronouns, in general, help to prevent repeating nouns, which can be annoying. During conversations

or while writing, one should avoid doing this for the sake of clarity. Redundancy only causes confusion.

Pronouns in Turkish language-learning are essential, because having a good command of Turkish pronouns will help you be a better, more efficient speaker and writer of the language. Pronunciation is also key; check out this Turkish pronouns list to hear the correct pronunciation of each word and expand upon your pronouns in Turkish vocabulary. 

Make sure you’re pronouncing the whole word, because every letter counts. Turkish is a very efficient language and relies heavily on short suffixes (sometimes made up of just one letter) to get the message across. Unlike in English, Turkish words may take on different suffixes, some of which express grammatical tenses. There’s an order to how the different types of suffixes are added; according to this order, the personal pronoun suffixes are added at the end of the word, as the last suffix.

Take a look at this example:

• Ben gelmiştim.
  “I had come.”

In the English sentence, grammatical tense is expressed through the word “had.” In the Turkish sentence, instead of using a separate word, we add the suffix -miş (for past tense), then we add the pronoun ending -m to state that the subject is the first person singular.

But not all pronouns are formed this way. There are two types of Turkish pronouns:

1. Stand-alone pronouns 
2. Pronouns that are added as suffixes

It’s important to know both kinds, because failing to use them correctly could lead to misunderstandings. We’ll cover each kind below as we look into different forms of pronouns and learn through Turkish pronouns examples. Make sure to find the most efficient and unique way you’re able to learn this important grammar topic. When studying pronouns in Turkish, lessons like this are helpful, but can only go so far.

Table of Contents

1. Turkish Personal Pronouns
2. Turkish Possessive Pronouns
3. Demonstrative Pronouns in Turkish
4. Turkish Interrogative Pronouns
5. Turkish Indefinite Pronouns
6. Turkish Relative Pronouns
7. The Turkish Reflexive Pronoun
8. Suffixed Pronouns in Turkish
9. Things to Remember about the Use of Turkish Pronouns
10. Conclusion

1. Turkish Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are the most common type of pronoun. Here, we’ll go over personal pronouns in Turkish, phrases to help you understand how they work, and more information. 

1- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person Singular Pronouns

• Ben (I): Ben çok yoruldum. “I am very tired.”

• Sen (you) Sen çok yoruldun. “You are very tired.”

• O (he/she) O çok yoruldu. “He/she/it is very tired.”

• Please note that the third singular person o is a Turkish gender-neutral pronoun.

• Unlike in English, in Turkish we add a suffix to the verb to emphasize the person. In daily life or conversational writing, Ben çok yoruldum could be replaced by a mere Çok yoruldum. Omitting the stand-alone pronoun doesn’t change the meaning. But stating it helps to emphasize that the subject is the first person.

• Even when using stand-alone pronouns, we must take care to add the appropriate endings to the verb. As you can see in the examples above, we add  -m, -n, and no endings to the verb for the first, second, and third person respectively.

2- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Person Plural Pronouns

• Biz (we):       Biz çok yorulduk. “We are very tired.”

• Siz (you):     Siz çok yoruldunuz. “You are very tired.”

• Onlar (they): Onlar çok yoruldular. “They are very tired.”

• The first, second, and third persons require adding a -k, -nuz, and -lar, respectively, to emphasize the subject.

A. Object Forms: 

• Ben (Me)
  Beni seviyorlar.
  “They love me.”

Add suffix: i, ı, o, ö, u, or ü according to the vowel pattern.

B. Formal / Honorific or Informal / Casual Forms: 

Biz; Siz (We; You) are used like the royal “we.” The plural meaning doubles as an honorific.

Example: 
Biz size emrettik.
“We ordered you.”

Here, both “we” and “you” are used formally and have plural meanings.

C. Direct Forms:

 Add -i: 
Ali ipi aldı.
“Ali took the string.”

Explanation:
ip + i

2. Turkish Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are what allow you to identify the owner of something without using the same noun over and over. Learn about Turkish possessive pronouns in this section to increase your Turkish skills and knowledge. 

Add -m to ben; add -n to sen; add nothing to o. 

Example: Benim kalemim. “My pencil.”

     Senin kalemin. “Your pencil.”

     Onun kalemi. “His/Her pencil.”

3. Demonstrative Pronouns in Turkish

Here are some demonstrative pronouns with examples of them in sentences. Notice the suffix that emphasizes the person respectively. 

Bu (This):
Bu kalem benim.
“This pencil is mine.”

Bunlar (These):
Bu kalemler benim.
“These pencils are mine.”

Plural (add -ler to the noun) 

O (That):
O kalem benim.
“That pencil is mine.”

Onlar (Those):
O kalemler benim.
“Those pencils are mine.”

Plural (add -ler to the noun)

1- Add a suffix (-ler/lar) to Make Plural: 

Bu beyaz.            “This is white.”
Bunlar beyaz. “These are white.”

2- Demonstrating Place: Burada; Orada: 

Burada (Here):
Ev burada.
“The house is here.”

Orada (There):         
Ev orada.
“The house is there.”

4. Turkish Interrogative Pronouns

• Ne (What):
  Sen ne hazırladın?
  “What did you prepare?”

• Hangisi (Which):
  Hangisi senin?
  “Which (one) is yours?”

• Kim/Kimin (Who/Whom/Whose):
  O elbise kimin?
  O elbise kimin?

• Nerede (Where):
  Senin evin nerede?
  “Where is your house?”

• Ne zaman (When):
  Ne zaman eve geldin?
  “When did you come home?”

• Neden (Why):
  Neden ekmek aldın?
  “Why did you get bread?”

5. Turkish Indefinite Pronouns

• Herkes (everyone/everybody):
  Herkes sevilmek ister.
  “Everyone wants to be loved.”

• Her yer (everywhere):
  Her yer karanlık.
  “Everywhere is dark.”

• Her şey (everything):
  Her şey hazır.
  “Everything is ready.”

• Birisi (Someone/somebody):
  Birisi benim çantamı getirmiş.
  “Somebody brought my bag.”

• Bir yer/bir yerler (somewhere):
  Ekmek satan bir yer biliyor musun?
  “Do you know somewhere we can get bread?”

• Bir şey (something):
  Sen bir şey saklıyorsun!
  “You are hiding something!”

• Hiç kimse (no one/nobody):
  Hiç kimse onu sevmiyor.
  “No one likes him/her.”

• Hiçbir yer (nowhere):
  Hiçbir yer İstanbul’a benzemez.
  “There’s nowhere like Istanbul.”

• Hiçbir şey (nothing):
  Bana hiçbir şey almadı.
  “He bought me nothing.”

• Kimse/Herhangi biri (anyone/anybody):
  Kimse var mı?
  “Is anybody there?”

• Herhangi bir yer (anywhere):
  Ben istediğim herhangi bir yere gidebilirim.
  “I can go anywhere I want.”

• Herhangi bir şey (anything):
  Herhangi bir şey istiyor musun?
  “Do you want anything?”

6. Turkish Relative Pronouns

Turkish relative pronouns are as follows:

• Which (hangi)
• That (o)
• Who (kim)
• Whom (kim)
• Whose (kimin)

In Turkish, you usually add a suffix to the noun even though you’ve used a relative pronoun:

relative pronoun + noun + relative suffix

Example 1:
Hangi ev senin? O ev benim.
“Which house is yours? That is mine.”

Example 2:
Kim ödevini yaptı?
“Who did their homework?”
Explanation: ödevini (ödev + ini)

Example 3:
Kimin kedisi miyavladı?
“Whose cat meowed?”
Explanation: kedisi (kedi + si)

7. The Turkish Reflexive Pronoun

The pronoun kendi (or “myself” in English) is used to emphasize the subject. You may see a personal pronoun plus the reflexive pronoun in the same sentence. Take a look at this example:

• Ben keki kendim yedim.
  “I ate the cake by myself.”

The meaning is the same when we omit the word kendim, but adding it emphasizes the fact that “I” was the one who ate.

According to the person, the reflexive or intensive pronoun kendi takes on different pronoun suffixes.

Singular

• Kendim
  Myself

• Kendin
  Yourself

• Kendi
  Himself/Herself

Plural

• Kendimiz
  Ourselves

• Kendileri
  Yourselves

• Kendileri
  Theirselves/Themselves

8. Suffixed Pronouns in Turkish

1. Motion Toward Suffixes

Add -e/-a to imply moving toward an object/person:

Bana (to me)

Sana (to you)

Ona (to him/her)

Bize (to us)

Size (to you)

Onlara (to them)

Examples:

Bana gidelim. Sana gidelim. Ona gidelim. (Singular: Let’s go to my / your / his place.)

Bize gidelim. Size gidelim. Onlara gidelim. (Plural: Let’s go to our / your / their place.)

2. Static Condition Suffixes

Add -de-da to a pronoun to imply a condition:

Bende (with* me)

Sende (with you)

Onda (with him/her)

Bizde (with us)

Sizde (with you – plural)

Onlarda (with them)

*note: depending on the context -de can be also translated as “in, on, at”

Examples:

Çanta bende. Çanta sende. Çanta onda. (Singular: The bag is with me / you / him.)

Çanta bizde. Çanta sizde. Çanta onlarda. (Plural: The bag is with us / you / them.)

3. Motion Away Suffixes

Add -den/-dan to imply moving away from something:

Benden (from me)

Senden (from you)

Ondan (from him/her)

Bizden (from us)

Sizden (from you – plural)

Onlardan (from them)

Examples:

Kedi benden kaçtı. Kedi senden kaçtı. Kedi ondan kaçtı. (Singular: The cat ran from me / you / him.)

Kedi bizden kaçtı. Kedi sizden kaçtı. Kedi onlardan kaçtı. (Plural: The cat ran from us / you / them.)

9. Things to Remember about the Use of Turkish Pronouns

Turkish pronouns and suffixes are short, but they add loads of meaning to a word or a whole sentence. Turkish differs from English in the way it relies heavily on suffixes to convey meaning quickly and easily. 

Here are a few points to take care of when using pronouns:

• The nasal -m and -n endings: The first and second person suffixes are both nasal sounds and may be easily confused. Take care not to. You could add a pronoun to emphasize which person you’re referring to, if this is helpful to you.

• Turkish is a genderless language. When it comes to Turkish pronouns, gender doesn’t matter; there’s no gender-specific pronouns for the third person. This is something that may take getting used to for English-speakers. You may need to add a noun after the pronoun, such as kadın meaning “woman,”  kız meaning “girl,” adam meaning “man,” or oğlan meaning “boy” to specify who you’re referring to.

Examples:

• Onu gördün mü? 
  “Did you see him/her?”

• Kimi gördüm mü?
  “Who are you talking about?”

• O kızı gördün mü?
  “Did you see her?”

• Because pronouns are used to replace nouns, it’ll be useful to strengthen your vocabulary with more nouns and adjectives. Having an expansive vocabulary will enable you to express yourself better. You can practice from noun lists and lists of adjectives to support your language-learning.

Once you get the hang of it, pronouns aren’t that hard to master. Make sure to practice reading and listening to Turkish so you’re immersed in the language for long periods and are exposed to all the sentence and word patterns.

Next, how about exploring further with adverbs and phrases for connecting thoughts? 

10. Conclusion

Before you go, let us know in the comments how you feel about Turkish pronouns so far. Do you find them difficult still, or are you getting the hang of it? We look forward to hearing from you!

Learn Turkish pronouns at TurkishClass101! You’ll find a wealth of resources and fun ways to engage in learning Turkish, including more insightful blog posts like this one and free Turkish vocabulary lists to help you broaden your word knowledge! Learning a new language can seem like an impossible task at times, but know that with enough determination and hard work, you’ll be speaking, reading, and writing Turkish like a native!

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