In this course; “How is the present continious tense sentence in Turkish? What is the Turkish present continuos tense suffix? What does -yor mean in Turkish? What are the rules of present tense sentences in Turkish?” You will learn the answers to your questions.
In Turkish, the present tense is used when describing the events that are happening now. There is only one suffix indicate the present tense: -yor. You can think of it as the equivalent of the “-ing” suffix in English.
1. RULE ABOUT -yor SUFFIX
The good news is that this suffix is in a single form, but at this point you should know the rule. You have to “add” a vowel between the suffix and root word, if the last vowel of the root word end with any consonant. These vowels can be used between them: ı, i, u, ü. The vowel harmony we talk about in each lesson decides which of these to use in which verb. If we tabulate it according to the vowel harmony rule:
EXAMPLE WORDS
Pay attention the words down all ends with a consonant. Let’s complete them according to vowel harmony and present continuous tense. koş (run) / yaz (write) / otur (sit down) / gel (come) / bak (look) / ver (give)
- koş +u + yor > koşuyor (It/he/she is running)
- yaz +ı + yor > yazıyor (It/he/she is writing)
- otur + u + yor > oturuyor (It/he/she is sitting)
- gel + i + yor > geliyor (It/he/she is coming)
- bak + ı + yor > bakıyor (It/he/she is looking)
- ver +i + yor > veriyor (It/he/she is giving)
2. RULE
What if a verb ends with a vowel as opposed to above? There is no problem if the last letter of the verb root is one of the vowels: ı, i, u, ü. All you have to do is combine the verb stem with the suffix -yor as it is.
- tanı + yor > tanıyor (It/he/she know)
- taşı + yor > taşıyor (It/he/she is carrying)
- koru + yor > koruyor (It/he/she is protecting)
- oku + yor > okuyor (It/he/she is reading)
- uyu + yor > uyuyor (It/he/she is sleeping)
- büyü + yor > büyüyor (It/he/she is growing up)
- yürü + yor > yürüyor (It/he/she is walking)
But if the verb root ends with one of the vowels “a or e“, the suffix -yor at the end of the verb creates a change in the root of the verb. These vowels (a and e) turn into one of the vowels ı, i, u, ü. Vowel harmony will come into play at this point, so how? Only words with the last letter a and e change. Looking at the vowel before the vowels a and e, the last vowel suitable for vowel harmony changes. To clear your confusion, we’ve examined a verb. Then we’ll help you consolidate with lots of verb examples for all possibilities.
Now let’s see how last vowel changes according to vowel harmony.
The last vowel becomes “ı” if second to last of root is “a or ı”
- atla + yor > atlıyor (It/he/she is jumping)
- kapla + yor > kaplıyor (It/he/she is covering)
- anla + yor > anlıyor (It/he/she understand)
- ağla + yor > ağlıyor (It/he/she is crying)
- başla + yor > başlıyor (It/he/she is staring)
- sakla + yor > saklıyor (It/he/she is hiding)
- yaşa + yor > yaşıyor (It/he/she is living)
- hatırla + yor > hatırlıyor (It/he/she remember)
The last vowel becomes “i” if second to last of root is “e or i”
- ilerle + yor > ilerliyor (It/he/she is going forward)
- izle + yor > izliyor (It/he/she is watcing)
- incele + yor > inceliyor (It/he/she is
- iste + yor > istiyor (It/he/she want)
- titre + yor > titriyor (It/he/she is trembling)
- gizle + yor > gizliyor (It/he/she is hiding)
- dile + yor > diliyor (It/he/she wish)
- dinle + yor > dinliyor (It/he/she is listening)
The last vowel becomes “u” if second to last of root is “o or u”
- tuzla + yor > tuzluyor (It/he/she is salting)
- horla + yor > horluyor (It/he/she is snoring)
- oyna + yor > oynuyor (It/he/she is playing)
- boya + yor > boyuyor (It/he/she is painting)
- kutla + yor > kutluyor (It/he/she is celebrating)
The last vowel becomes “ü” if second to last of root is “ö or ü”
- gözle + yor > gözlüyor (It/he/she is watching)
- söyle + yor > söylüyor (It/he/she is saying)
- özle + yor > özlüyor (It/he/she is missing)
- közle + yor > közlüyor (It/he/she is cooking on the embers)
3. RULE
There is last thing you should keep in your mind! Although the Turkish people have a different structure related to the simple present tense and future tense, they sometimes use the present continuous tense. This is a very common situation. In such a case, you can look at the context of the entire sentence to avoid confusion. Let’s take a look some sample sentences!
- Her akşam kitap okuyor. (It/he/she reads a book every evening.)> simple present tense
- Her gün okula yürüyerek gidiyor. (It/he/she walks to school every day.) > simple present tense
- Her zaman böyle şakalar yapıyor. (It/he/she always makes jokes like this.) > simple present tense
- Pazar günleri evde kalmayı tercih ediyor. (It/he/she prefers to stay at home on sundays.) > simple present tense
- Gelecek ay Paris’e gidiyor. (It/he/she will go to Paris next month.) > simple future tense
- Birazdan yola çıkıyor. (It/he/she will depart soon.) > simple future tense
- Akşam yanına geliyor. (It/he/she will come to you in the evening.) > simple future tense
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