Verbs in Turkish
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In Turkish there are two kinds of verbs:
1. Transitive verbs: take an object (anla -understand, sev -love, bul -find, yap -make...)
- Ben seni anlıyorum. -> I understand you. (Seni:you is an object)
- Anahtarı buldular. -> They found the key. (Anahtarı:the key is an object)
2. Intransitive verbs: take no object (gül -laugh, uyu -sleep, öl -die...)
- Onlar gülmedi. -> They didn't laugh.
- Kedi uyuyor. ->The cat is sleeping.
Lesson outline
HideInfinitive in Turkish
The infinitive is the mood of the verb without any conjugation. In order to make a the Turkish infinitive, the suffix -mak or -mek is added to the verb root according to the last vowel of the verb root.
- ağlamak (to cry), gülmek (to laugh), okumak (to read), görmek (to see)...
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Turkish verb conjugation and tenses
There are 4 main tenses in the Turkish language:
- The present continuous tense (şimdiki zaman)
- The present simple tense (geniş zaman )
- The past tense (geçmiş zaman)
- The future tense (gelecek zaman)
Verb's suffixes
Verbs are conjugated according to suffixes. This makes the conjugation different than English or other Roman and Latin languages.
The different suffixes are:
- Personal suffixes (indicate the personal pronoun like "me, you, he,...")
- Tense suffixes: present, past or future tense
- Voice suffixes: causative, passive, reflexive, reciprocal
Causative verbs in Turkish
Causative verbs are verbs that explain how a person or a thing makes something happen (verbs with an obligated indirect object like to make something, to get something,...). In Turkish, a causative verb is formed by adding a specific suffix to the verb.
Examples
- pişirmek (to cook something)
- güldürmek (to make someone laugh)
- anlatmak (to make someone understand)
Passive verbs in Turkish
The passive voice is used to emphasize the action and the object of a sentence. The passive voice is formed by adding specific suffixes. The passive suffixes are: ''-n, -in, -il''
Examples
- hazırlanmak (to be prepared)
- okunmak (to be read)
- gezilmek (to be visited)
Reflexive verbs in Turkish
In English, the words myself, oneself,... are used in combination with reflexive verbs. In Turkish, the suffix -(i)n shows that the subject and the object are the same in a sentence. The reflexive mood is only used with certain verbs.
Examples
- giyinmek (to dress oneself)
- kurulanmak (to dry oneself)
- gezinmek (to stroll oneself)
Reciprocal verbs in Turkish
The reciprocal verb gives a meaning of an action that is done together with another person. In English one would say `one another`. In Turkish, the suffix -(i)ş is used to provide this meaning. The reciprocal mood can only be used with certain verbs.
Examples
- öpüşmek (to kiss each other)
- araşmak (to call each other)
- buluşmak (to meet up with someone)
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Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
All in all, as a teacher we have lots of things to do. One of our most important responsibilities’ is to help students to understand that they have enough power and capacity to learn a language if they are determined enough....
F. B.
As a complete beginner, I am very lucky to have Aysegül as my Turkish tutor. Learning from her is like being in Turkey with a polite, patient and knowledgeable guide. Aysegül is tremendously understanding and always encouraging. Oftentimes, she will ask me a question in Turkish, and due to my baby-level skills in the language, I'll often give her a blank, clueless stare. This does not bother her. She never judges or becomes annoyed at my lack of skills. She just smiles and asks me again or gives hints in English to get me to understand what is being said. Then I don't feel bad or foolish. The thing I like about her immersive approach is this is what foreigners will encounter when in Turkey. If you are serious about learning Turkish, you must speak Turkish most of the time. In order to learn the language, you must listen - and respond - in the language you want to learn. This is her approach and I love it, even if I look like a clueless potato when she asks me questions. Most of the lessons with Aysegül are structured in an immersive way and it is ideal. Since I am not in Turkey, talking with her regularly is the next best thing. Plus, she will kindly correct me when I make a mistake (unlike many of the tremendously polite Turkish population). Her lesson plans are highly structured, logical and abundant. She will go through the materials slowly with you until you understand it. She is always willing to answer questions without annoyance or judgment. After my first lesson, she sent me a ton of materials at no extra charge and without me asking for it. One was a really cool program which helps you learn vocabulary. 100% generous! Aysegül is one of the hardest working and helpful people I have encountered. She is generous to a fault, and despite me trying to compensate her for the extra free hour of time she spent on tutoring me, she refuses any additional payment. (I'll find a way to compensate her, though, just wait!) I am positive your experience will also delight you, so give her a try. You will learn great amounts of Turkish in no time at all. I look forward to many more lessons with her as long as she will allow me to be her eager student.
Aysegül Ö.
Hello all! I am Yunus and i am here to teach you my native language. My education system is on a systematical way and easy to understand. I use course books, workbooks and audio files too. I won't just give grammatical lessons, but also speaking and writing practices too.
I use many technological tools for my class.
Just drop me a message and i can give you more details about my lessons. I guarantee you 100% percent satisfaction with my lessons.
I give lessons not just to adults but also children too.
If you are in a very different time zone (like USA, Japan, Korea, Australia etc.) just send me a message to coordinate the lesson time.
I am looking forward to see you in my class. Teşekkürler!
E. .
I can recommend Yunus for all who likes innovative and tailored way to learn language. I struggled with my Turkish since few years already. I tried different methods, schools, and private tutors. Finally, with Yunus we managed to break the spell and I’m able now to engage real life conversations. Yunus takes his time to understand and identify students struggle and he adapts lessons to orient them accordingly. It’s always engaging fun to discuss with him various topics that he finds may be interesting for the student. Well organized, intelligent, and very practical in his approach to the language as a skill and art, he is a great teacher and very interesting person. I’m glad I started to work with him.
Yunus E.
Hi!
My name is Ibrahim and I am here to teach you the essentials of Turkish Language. I got my university degree on law at Ankara University and subsequently finished my degree on MBA at Loyola University Quinlan school of Business in Chicago, USA. After professional life, I started teaching my language turkish to foreginers who want to speak turkish fluently. I have been teaching Turkish for over 5 years in a customized way with tailor-made course design. I use course materials produced mainly by myself as well as other grammer books and visuals. I use interactive teaching methods and encourage my students to speak confidently as well as to ask anything they have in mind. I also follow my students progress through home-works and reviews of the last lesson. After all, I give importance for my lessons to be a fun environment facilitating learning.
And now, it is your turn to take your part in my class at your earliest convenience to see how it works.
I am looking forward to seeing you in my class.
You can also check my youtube channel "Learn Turkish" at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDZZw9jEPdWImMAwfGkqpGA
Thank you.
Ibrahim
S. B.
I am using my vacations to do a session of Turkish with the help of Ibrahim (5 hours over the course of one week). Ibrahim is quite professional and provides a quality textbook in addition to his own teaching materials designed to facilitate teaching Turkish to English-speakers. He also responded positively to more specific demands. I am happy and fully satisfied by my work with Ibrahim.
Ibrahim C.
Thank you Sebastien it was also a great pleasure for me to meet such a diligent and kind student like you. Thank you for everything. See you again..
-Publisher
-Editor-in-chief
-Writer
Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2) and French (B1) it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
For reading practice: news and articles about Turkey (for advance students), stories, picture books (for intermediate students), texts from language books (for beginner and intermediate students.)
If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
I hope to see you in my class :)
B. .
Esra is an excellent teacher. She is very enthusiastic, patient, works very creatively and responds very well to individual learning needs. Her communication skills are excellent and she has a wide range of interests and knowledge as well as excellent creative skills which she uses to make the classes interesting and stimulating. I am enjoying learning about Turkish culture, food, and many aspects of life which brings the lessons to life. Esra's English is excellent which is very beneficial for an almost beginner in Turkish. I would highly recommend Esra as a Turkish teacher, especially if you want to develop everyday conversational skills and engage with books, films, ideas etc. I am really enjoying my Turkish classes with Esra as they are both relaxed and inspiring
Esra O.
Thank you Bernie...
Hi, I was born in Turkey and I live in Turkey.
I am an experienced teacher in teaching Turkish as a foreign language.
I graduated from the Turkish Language and Literature Teaching Department. I have master's and doctorate degree on teaching Turkish.
I taught Turkish to Lithuanian, Slovakian, Iraqi, Iranian, Russian, Greek, Arab, Qatari, Nepali and Syrian students face to face or online.
• I am using English and Arabic as tool languages in my lessons.
• I can teach Turkish at beginner, intermediate, advanced or academic level.
• It is important for me to have a live communication with students in my course.
• I create the content of my course according to the expectations of the student.
• In my lessons, I use original teaching materials, short videos, quizzes, short and long texts arranged according to the level of the student.
If you want to learn Turkish in a professional and fun way with me, we can start right away.
M. A.
I am lucky choosing Mr.Eyyup as my teacher.he is willing to teach me and to give his maximum.Very co operative,helpful ,patient,and has broad experience in teaching Turkish language for the foreigners.
Eyyup C.
Experience Interactive Turkish Lessons from a Native Speaker
Greetings!
➳ I'm a passionate, native Turkish speaker with a love for exploring different languages, cultures, and cuisines. I have a background in copywriting, web design, and working as a cabin crew member for Turkish Airlines. My travels have taken me to over 30 countries and I have lived in Antalya, Istanbul, Stockholm, and Ghent.
➳ As a certified teacher, I aim to teach Turkish in a practical and engaging manner, avoiding an over-reliance on grammar. I believe that a genuine interest in the subject leads to faster and more effective learning.
➳ Remember, the key to success is practice and hands-on learning.
L. .
Ezgi is a really kind and professionnal teacher. She has teaching skills that made me understand better the language. The method she uses is actually very understandable and useful. I really recommend choosing her to improve your Turkish !
Ezgi H.
Hello Everybody,
This is Sumru. I am a native Turkish speaker from Istanbul. I graduated from Translation Studies in 2014 and speak English and Spanish. I lived in Madrid for half a year and in different parts of Australia for a year.
Also the reason I chose Translation Studies is that I have a great interest in languages, including etymology, linguistics, phonetics and cultural aspects of them and I love not only learning about them, but also teaching them.
Becoming a professional translator requires a better command of your native language than your second language, so the Turkish I will be teaching will be more comprehensive than that of a native who hasn't studied languages.
I have been teaching Turkish online in another platform, and now I am on colanguage. I offer individual lessons for students, based on their goals, needs, language levels, and some other factors.
My availability varies every week, so please feel free to contact me to determine the best time for you.
Please introduce your history with Turkish, what kind of classes you are looking for, and any preferences (subject etc.) for the first lesson before or after booking a trial.
I hope to meet you very soon and share this journey with you. Cheers!
S. R.
My lesson with Sumru has been great. Her language background makes her a great tutor. She can explain everything very properly and logically and that works wonders for me to understand Turkish. I love practicing with her. Also, I had problems with my schedule but she was really understanding about it and helpful. She answered all my questions patiently, cleared my mind about my confusions and worries, paid a great attention to my needs and goals and tailored the lessons according to what I need. Already planning to get regular lessons. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Sumru Dilan Ü.
Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
All in all, as a teacher we have lots of things to do. One of our most important responsibilities’ is to help students to understand that they have enough power and capacity to learn a language if they are determined enough....
J. V.
Until now I followed 3 classes with Aysegül. I can defenitely recommend taking language classes with her! Aysegül is friendly and patient. She is also strict and provides me homework which helps me to motivate myself better. Thanks for helping me improving my Turkish Aysegül!! :)
Aysegül Ö.
Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
All in all, as a teacher we have lots of things to do. One of our most important responsibilities’ is to help students to understand that they have enough power and capacity to learn a language if they are determined enough....
G. D.
Before deciding to take private lessons, I had been learning turkish by myself seriously for about two years but I definitively do not regret starting the private lessons which are way more efficient and pleasant. I have now been studying turkish with Aysegül for more than 4 months. I would greatly recommend choosing Aysegül as a turkish tutor. She is both serious and well organized (the lessons are well prepared, she also provides the students with useful summary's of the lessons as well as some additional cultural or educative content, she give the students some homework that she always correct before the next lesson) as well as a kind, patient and didactic teacher.
Aysegül Ö.
Hi Guys! I'm Barış . I'm 25 years old and a native speaker of Turkish language.I live in Istanbul. I m passionate at sport and spiritual subjects. I would like to help you improve your Turkish skills ! I will try my best to take your Turkish level forward whatever your level is . ım looking forward to helping you.. best regards!!
M. A.
Baris is very intelligent teacher I think he can understood my needs in term of lacking points in the language then he starts developing my Turkish language Very quick.
Baris K.
Learning another language is not easy, but it is possible.
Through my own experience and research, I would like to show you how pleasant learning a language can be.
Being a multilingual couple ourselves and with my professional experience in managing Thomas Cook's online reputation, I learned to fluently speak several languages.
Furthermore, through our experiences, I have learned and developed the art of teaching.
I guarantee rapid and effective progress.
If you want to learn a new language, in a pleasant way, please sign up!
T. M.
Loris is a great teacher! He is patient, knowledgeable and has a great structure to teach the Turkish language. He has a plan from lesson one, he detailed the process to me before we began and gave me a background explanation of the origins of Turkish and where it can be found. I was very nervous and apprehensive about learning a new language, especially Turkish. Loris put me at ease from the very beginning and made learning easier than I expected! It wasn't overwhelming and the practice homework was not excessive but enjoyable. I was able to learn new words and put them into practice from the first lesson. I look forward to our meetings and I don't feel exhausted after the lessons. This is very important to me when learning not just a language but really learning anything! I have been living in Turkey for almost 2 years and I thought I could "get by" without learning Turkish, ever since I started my lessons with Loris, it has opened up a whole new world here in Turkey! Now I only regret that I didn't start learning earlier. Had I known how enjoyable it would be I would have started earlier! If you are thinking about learning Turkish I highly recommend Loris as your teacher. Thank you Loris!
Loris D.
-Publisher
-Editor-in-chief
-Writer
Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2) and French (B1) it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
For reading practice: news and articles about Turkey (for advance students), stories, picture books (for intermediate students), texts from language books (for beginner and intermediate students.)
If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
I hope to see you in my class :)
D. D.
I have been following lessons with Esra on and off for six months now and sometimes we have communication problems because we have to speak in English and that isn't the native language for the both of us. Having said this. She is a fun teacher and we laugh a lot but I also must admit that she is strict with the time table, starting at 8 o'clock means starting at 8, ending at 9 means.... Other than that, when I have questions I can ask anytime and she will reply and if the question isn't to complicated I get an fairly quick answer, if it gets more complicated than the answer will be treated in the next lesson. Would I recommend Esra hanim. Yes! And I would like to add, she is a good teacher and she has a lot of patience and repeats the things I should know because it was in a previous lesson and I stupidtly enough forgot about it (Turkish isn't an easy language...)
Teşekkür ederim Denise:) and it is not stupidity, very normal when we learn a new language we just need many repetition... and every language has different structure so it takes a bit time to learn it but this makes knowing a different language so valuable. ;)
Hello Turkish Learners!
I am a professional Turkish Teacher and a translator with a master degree.I have visited so many countries to research cultures and Turkish Dialects.
Since I was a child, my dream was to travel to Asia and learn all the other Turkish Languages such as Kyrgyz Turkish, Kazak Turkish, Tatar Turkish, Tuva Turkish) as well as to research the similarities and differences between Modern Turkish and other Turkish languages.
In the past, I worked as a lecturer in the School of Foreign Languages of Turkish Education at Kyrgyzstan Turkey Manas University for 3 years. During my appointment, I have taught all levels of Modern Turkish to the students who are from different nationalities such as Americans, Russians, English, German, Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tatars, Mongol, Tuvas, Uighur Turk. I am also very fluent in Kyrgyz Turkish and Kazak Turkish.
Currently, I am living in Turkey.I believe that with my experiences and love for languages, I can surely help you to speak up. As a patient and concise teacher, I: - develop and implement individual lesson plans for structured and conversational sessions. - use a variety of written and audio materials, primarily Elementary Turkish in 2 Volumes by Kurtuluş Öztopçu.- assign homework and provide regular feedback to students. - clarify complex grammar questions through examples from everyday conversations-make the language learning process less theoretical and more practical. Let me know your motivations and needs, and I will prepare an individual lesson plan for you.Just dream,you can learn language easily!Aysegul
K. L.
Although it hasn’t long time since I started with her actually, but it was really helpful to me. It was simple but compact. She handles both of grammar and build-up with examples and exercise.
AYSEGUL Y.
Hello Everybody,
This is Sumru. I am a native Turkish speaker from Istanbul. I graduated from Translation Studies in 2014 and speak English and Spanish. I lived in Madrid for half a year and in different parts of Australia for a year.
Also the reason I chose Translation Studies is that I have a great interest in languages, including etymology, linguistics, phonetics and cultural aspects of them and I love not only learning about them, but also teaching them.
Becoming a professional translator requires a better command of your native language than your second language, so the Turkish I will be teaching will be more comprehensive than that of a native who hasn't studied languages.
I have been teaching Turkish online in another platform, and now I am on colanguage. I offer individual lessons for students, based on their goals, needs, language levels, and some other factors.
My availability varies every week, so please feel free to contact me to determine the best time for you.
Please introduce your history with Turkish, what kind of classes you are looking for, and any preferences (subject etc.) for the first lesson before or after booking a trial.
I hope to meet you very soon and share this journey with you. Cheers!
E. B.
I am having a great learning experience with Sumru. She tailors her teaching method to the needs and wishes of the students and is very flexible. I particularly like how her classes are a mix between conversation, grammar, reading and listening. I am also learning a lot about the Turkish culture. I definitely recommend her for all levels and whatever your objectives are!
Sumru Dilan Ü.