There are two main auxiliary verbs in Turkish:
(1) etmek - to do, to make, to perform. This auxiliary is used to make Active Tenses.
Babamı mutlu ettim - I made my father happy.
(2) olmak - to be, to become, to happen, to occur. This auxiliary is used to make Passive Tenses.
Seni görünce mutlu oldum. - I became happy on seeing you.
Remind me about the ince/-ınca/-ünce/-unca time suffix.
etmek - is not usually used alone as a verb. Generally it is used an auxiliary verb used with
nouns. For example:
telefon etmek - to telephone
dans etmek - to dance
şikâyet etmek - to complain
tereddüt etmek - to hesitate
zannetmek - to suppose
sabretmek - to be patient
affetmek - to pardon
seyretmek - to watch
kaybetmek - to lose
hissetmek - to feel - etc.
Note that -etmek is directly joined to single syllable word stems otherwise etmek is written separately.
The verb dans etmek is an irregularity (being added to a foreign imported word), as is park etmek, these are written separately.
etmek is also used to make verbs from nouns of foreign import into Turkish:
izole etmek - to isolate, to insulate - fişi izole ettim - I isolated the plug.
etmek is also used with many Arabic and Persian words to form verbs where none exist in modern Turkish:
teşekkür (arabic) - a thanking
teşekkür etmek - to thank somebody - teşekkür ederim - (I) thank you
It should be noted that many Arabic words do not follow the rules of vowel harmony within themselves but any Turkish suffixes added will always be governed by the final vowel in the word, although there are a few exceptions to this. One we have already met saat hour saatler hours.
Sometimes in Turkish there are two words in general use for the same meaning, one Arabic using - etmek - to form its verb, whilst the Turkish rooted word will follow normal rules of conjugation.
tamir etmek - to repair [arab] or onarmak - to repair [turk]
The policy has been to attempt to gradually purify the language by replacing foreign words with a native Turkish vocabulary, but it should be realized that there are many words in daily
use where both Arabic or Turkish vocabulary may be used. e.g.
kara - black [turk] or siyah -black [arab]
yıl - year [turk] or sene - year [arab]
1. - to do, make - kâr etmek - to make a profit
2. - to do well or wrong - Ne iyi ettin. - How well you did! - iyi etmedin - you did not do well!
3. - reach (a time) - Ay sonunu etmek - To reach the end of the month
4. - to deprive (someone) of (something) - Bu iş beni sağlığımdan etti. (-den etmek) - This job wore me out.
5. - to equal, make - Dört üç daha yedi eder. - Four plus three makes seven
6. - to be worth - O kitap yüz elli lira eder. - That book is worth 150 lira.
7. - to amount to, make - Toplam sekiz dolar ediyor. - The total amounts to 8 dollars
8. - to wrong, treat (someone) unjustly - Bana neler etti. - What (bad things) he did to me.
9. - to soil or wet (one's underpants, bed etc.) - donuna etmek ; yatağına etmek
Single Syllable Verb Roots with etmek
If verbs are formed with a single syllable root then etmek is affixed directly to that root, which if it ends in a consonant will generally double that consonant.
af - pardon [Arabic]
affetmek - to beg pardon - affedersiniz! - Pardon!
ret - a refusal [Arabic]
This being an arabic root takes a doubled "-dd" when adding a verb form
reddetmek - to refuse - reddederim! - I refuse!
Etmek - is essentially an auxiliary verb in Turkish, which helps the completing of other verbs. The very basic meaning though, when it is used alone, is - to do - or - to commit - (like intihar etmek - to commit suicide). For this usage, here goes a example
Ben ettim, sen etme, ne olur! - I did, (but) please you, don't, whatever happens!
Here the meaning is quite negative, what has been "done" has a negative implication, so it actually bears a meaning of committing something bad or negative as it does with usages alone. The second main usage is to be an auxiliary word for the compound verb structures and used quite frequently like the following examples, in which it can mean anything complementary.
kastetmek - to intend,to mean
bahsetmek - to mention
terketmek - to leave, to quit
yardım etmek - to help, to aid
kabul etmek - to accept
farketmek - to notice, to realize - and very many others
The third usage is to utilize the foreign words. For better understanding, here are a few examples.
Bunu da download edelim. - Let's download this as well. - (download etmek - to download) Some words are very well settled in the language but the auxiliary hints the foreign origin.
Arkadaşlarımla saatlerce muhabbet ettim. - I conversed with my friends for hours.
(Muhabbet is an Arabic word, meaning conversation)
Arabayı tam buraya park etmiştim. - I had just parked my car right here. (Park etmek - to park), Sometimes you can find park yapmak which means exactly the same thing, Turkish has not yet settled on which auxiliary verb should be in general use but park etmek seems to be winning.
Since - etmek - is an auxiliary, it is used like the auxiliary verbs in English. See the following example
English: Are you coming to the party tonight? - Yes I am.
Turkish: Bu aksamki partiye geliyor musun? - Evet geliyorum.
Here, the English short answer includes only - I am - without the verb - coming. Turkish, however, has to include the - geliyorum - part since it does not include an auxiliary like the - to be - verb form of English.
English: Did you accept this after all? - Yes I did.
Turkish: Herşeye rağmen kabul ettin mi onu? - Evet ettim.
The short answer in English is - I did - without the verb - accept - just like the short answer in Turkish is - ettim - without - kabul. So when - etmek - is used, it is used like an auxiliary.
About Vowel Harmony - Auxiliary verb is not affected
etmek being a verb in its own right does not change its own vowels when so affixed to a foreign root.
When it is used as an auxiliary to nouns of more than one syllable then it is written separately and conjugated in the normal manner:
Transitive verbs have an Object
In these examples onu can either mean it (object) - [from Personal pronoun, "he/she/it"] or that (object) - [from Demonstrative Pronoun - "that yonder"]
ayıp - a shaming
ayıp etmek - to cause/make a shame
Onun için Mehmet bana ayıp etti - Because of it/that Mehmet shamed me. ["ayıp etmek" takes a Motion Toward (Dative Object). In this case "bana - me"]
teslim - a delivering [Arabic]
teslim etmek - to deliver
Mektubu teslim ettim - I delivered the letter
Koliyi teslim ettirdiniz - you had the the parcel delivered (Causative Verb form)
tamir - a repairing [Arabic]
tamir etmek - to repair
Onu tamir etsek - If we repair it/that
Onu tamir edemem - I can't repair it/that
kontrol - a checking [Eng. Fr.]
kontrol etmek - to check
Onu kontrol ettiler - They checked it/that
Onu kontrol edebilir misiniz? - Would you check it/that?
ret - a refusing [Arabic]
reddetmek - to refuse
Onu reddedeceğiz - We shall refuse it/that
Onu reddedelim - Let's refuse it/that
takdir - an appreciation [Arabic]
takdir etmek - to appreciate
Ahmet, onu takdir etti - Ahmet appreciated it/that
Ali, onu takdir edememiş - Ali couldn't have appreciated it/that
Note: - that etmek - to do, to perform, to make - forms verbs which are transitive (ie verbs which have a direct object), whereas the use of olmak - to be, to become causes the same verb to be intransitive (ie. a verb which does not have an object).
The Passive can be formed with the Passive of etmek - edilmek but is often replaced by the The verb of olmak - to become - or its Passive Form - olunmak - to become - without any change in meaning.
This verb meaning to be or to become is also used as an auxiliary with foreign loan words. It is also attached directly to single syllable roots or written separately when used with roots of more that one syllable. It does not change its own vowels as it is a verb in its own right. One of its most important auxiliary functions is its use as the Future Tense and Potential Mood of the verb - to be
hazır - ready
hazırım - I am ready
hazır olacağım - I shall be ready [Future]
zengin - rich
zenginsiniz - you are rich
zengin olsaydınız - If you had been rich [Conditional]
yoksul - poor
O yoksul - he is poor
O yoksul olabilir - He may be poor [Potential]
If we now show the examples from etmek - the transitive auxiliary verb form above, but with the auxiliary verb as edilmek - the intransitive auxiliary verb - then we can see that the sense has become Passive as opposed the Active sense:
teslim - a delivering
teslim etmek - to delivered - [Transitive form takes an object]
Ali, mektubu teslim etti [Active Sense] - Ali delivered the letter. [Transitive with mektubu in the objective case.]
teslim edilmek - to be delivered - [Intransitive form - takes no object]
dün teslim edildi - It was delivered yesterday. [Intransitive - no object]
mektup teslim edildi - The letter has been delivered [Passive with edilmek and mektup as the subject]
These examples show that the main verb can also be made passive by the use of edilmek - to be performed - the passive form of etmek itself.
tamir - a repairing
tamir edilmek - to repair [passive]
O tamir edilecek - It (as subject.) will be repaired
O tamir edilemedi - (ed-il-e-me-di) - It (as subject) could not have been repaired
kontrol - a checking
kontrol edilmek - to be checked
O kontrol edildi - It has been checked
Onu kontrol edilebilcek mi? - (ed-il-ebil-ecek mi?) - Can it be repaired?
ret - a refusing
reddedilmek - to be refused
Ben, reddedildim - I was refused
O, reddedilince - On it being refused
takdir - an appreciation
takdir edilmek - to be appreciated
Ahmet, takdir edildi - Ahmet was appreciated
Ali, takdir edilecek - Ali will be appreciated
When used with loan word to form verbs it gives the sense of being in a state of..
pişman - a regretting - pişman oldum - I regret/I was sorry - [Lit: I was sorry]
fena - bad/ill - fena oluyorum - I feel ill
memnun - pleased - memnun oldum - I'm pleased - [Lit: I was pleased]
These include:
yapmak - to do as an action
gelmek - to come
kalmak - to remain/stay
bulunmak - to be found/to be - [Passive of bulmak]
eylemek - to carry out - [equates with etmek but not common.] eylemek can be used as a substitute for etmek and serves the same purpose. It is usually restricted to the written word and is seldom used in conversation
demek - to say
dilemek - to wish
söylemek - to speak
durmak - to stop
vermek - to give - [used as an Accelerative Auxiliary thus speeding the action of the verb]
yazmak - to write - [but means - "almost to.." - when used as an auxiliary verb] - düşeyazdım - I almost fell. The usage of the main verbs as auxiliaries is discussed below:
- -akalmak - "continue, keep on doing"
- -adurmak - "continue, keep on doing:
- -ayazmak - "almost to"
- -ivermek - "to act hurriedly, urgently"
Only the first vowel follows the vowel harmony rules. Hence "-ekalmak, -edurmak, -eyazmak, -ıvermek, -uvermek, -üvermek etc". As these are verbs in their own right they retain their spelling. This is similar to the Potential Verb Suffix "-abilmek/-ebilmek". .
kalmak and durmak are used to form a continuing action of the main verb giving the sense - to keep on doing.. or to remain in a condition of. To form the Continuative Verb the Infinitive of kalmak or durmak is added directly to the Subjunctive Root of the main verb. The Subjunctive Root is formed by suffixing -e or -a to the basic Verb Stem yüzmek to swim yüze- Subjunctive stem.
Then with the direct addition of kalmak - to remain:
yüzekalmak - to keep on swimming - yüzekaldı - He kept on swimming
alakalmak - to keep on taking - alakalacağım - I will keep on taking
durakalmak - to keep on stopping - durakalıyorsun - You keep on stopping
bekleyedurmak - to keep on waiting - bekleyedurabilecek misiniz? - Will you be able to keep on waiting?
uyuyakalmak - to oversleep - uyuyakalmak - I overlept
kalakalmak - to stand aghast, to be astounded - kalakaldım - I was astounded
donakalmak - to petrify - donakaldım - I was petrified, I was scared stiff
Formation of the Subjunctive Mood
The Subjunctive Mood Sign is -a or -e which is added to the basic verb stem - according to Vowel Harmony Rules: If the bare verb stem ends in a vowel then the Subjunctive Mood Sign becomes -ya or -ye (Uses buffer letter -y-). However when adding the auxiliary vermek the the -a/-e subjunctive ending often abrades according to vowel harmony rules. This can be seen in the examples below - for instance - koşa - [the subjunctive root of koşmak - to run] follows vowel harmony and abrades to koşuvermek
See full discussion on Subjunctive Mood
The verb - vermek - to give - can also be added to the subjunctive verb stem and in this case it gives a sense of urgency and speed of action to the main verb. In this case - vermek - loses its meaning - to give. Then with the direct addition of vermek - to "get a move on.." - [lit: to give]:
koşmak - to run - koşuvermek - to hurry up and run
yazmak - to write - yazıvermek - to scribble/scrawl
koşuverin! - Hurry up and run! - Imperative
içkisini içiverdi - He gulped his drink down
gelivereceğim - I'll dash along and come
When adding the Accelerative - vermek to a verb then the vowel of the subjunctive ending -e narrows to -i or -ü thus: (güle becomes gülüverin and kese becomes kesiverin), while that of the subjunctive ending -a narrows to -ı or -u thus: (baka becomes bakıverin and tuta becomes tutuverin)