Turkish Grammar
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Chapter 3: Verbs
Verbs in Turkish are arguably the most modifiable part of speech. Verbs change based on tense, command, mood, conjugation, as well as case, to some extent. Each modification is another agglutination to the ending. This leads to verbs being some of the longest words in the language.
The Infinitive Form
The infinitive form of verbs is the version that is used without context. In English, the infinitive form of verbs is usually in the form "to _____", for example, "to be" or "to have". In Turkish, this is marked by the ending -mak/-mek
| Turkish | English |
|---|---|
| gelmek | to come |
| gitmek | to go |
| sorumak | to question |
| yürümek | to walk |
| almak | to take, to get |
This will be the base form of most verbs that will be talked about in this chapter.
Present Tense
There are three forms of the present tense in Turkish. There is present, as well as present continuous and command. Continuous describes an action that is currently happening, and that will continue to happen. Command has no conjugation and is used to ask an action of someone.
Past Tense
There are two forms of the present tense in Turkish. Past continuous tense describes an action which had occured in the past, and took a certain amount of time.
Verb Moods
Verb moods vary greatly in Turkish, just like in English. Modal verbs also come in past tense, and have near exact English analogs in Turkish. For example, "may have", "would have" , "could have".
These verb rules work for all dialects of Turkish, and are similar to ones of other Turkic Languages.
Anıtkabir, Ankara