If you have heard the phrases mak lazım mak gerek in Turkish before and you don’t know the meaning yet, you will learn all aspects of it in this lesson. At the end of this course you will learn how to say something “should” be done in Turkish. You should have learned the -meli / -malı structure before. If you missed this lesson, you can click here to study. In this lesson, we will provide this meaning with different suffixes and words.
mAk Lazım mAk Gerek in Turkish
At the end of the verb that should be, we use -mak lazım -mak gerek structures. For example, these structures is used when stating necessity and need, giving advice, or talking about something that is expected to happen. These two structures have the same meaning. You can use both in the same sense.
There Is Only One Difference!
“Lazım” is used as a noun, while “gerek” is used both as a noun and a verb.
Important Rules!
Since “lazım” is a noun, it doesn’t take tense suffixes. You can use -Dİ for past tense (Dİ’li geçmiş zaman), which we use with nouns.
Since “gerek” is both a noun and a verb, you can use it with the whole tenses.
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak lazım. (noun)
(Need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak lazımdı. (noun)
(Needed to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak gerek. (noun)
(Need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak gerekiyordu. (verb)
(Needed to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak gerekiyor. (verb)
(Need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak gerekecek. (verb)
(Will need to study a lot for this exam.)
You can also use possessive suffixes at the end of the “-mAk” suffix. If the required verb is about someone specifically (i.e. the person is clear: ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar), we also use possessive suffixes. That is, if there is a subject, the possessive suffix is used.
If you are talking about a general necessity, you don’t use the subject, so don’t use the possessive suffix too at the end of the “mak” suffix. So what is required is not about someone in particular, we are talking about something general.
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmak gerek. (speaking for general)
(Need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmam gerek. (speaking for myself)
(I need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışman gerek. (speaking for you)
(You need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışması gerek. (speaking for him/her)
(S/he need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmamız gerek. (speaking for us)
(We need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmanız gerek. (speaking for plural you)
(You need to study a lot for this exam.)
⇒Bu sınav için çok ders çalışmaları gerek. (speaking for them)
(They need to study a lot for this exam.)
The verb “gerek” is usually preferred in questions sentences.
⇒Bunu yapman gerekiyor mu?
(Do you need to do this?)
⇒Onunla gitmen gerekiyor muydu?
(Did you have to go with him/her?)
If you have any question about necessity in Turkish (mak lazım mak gerek in Turkish) or any subject about Turkish language just let me know in the comment below. Btw we also share all Turkish grammar lessons, some daily usefull tips, Turkish idioms and more about Turkish language and Turkish culture on YouTube channel! You can watch all lessons for free now! Just click here and subscribe to don’t lose our videos. See you in another lesson!