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Selling olives (zeytin) at Kemeraltı Market in İzmir c.1989

 The Olive Seller 13kb
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Turkish Verbs can have Co-operative (sometimes called Reciprocal) Form ie. "to fight each other" So we see that verbs in Turkish have a co-operative form when things are performed in concert with others. An example is the verb "to kiss" which must be used in its co-operative form when kissing another person is being described..

 
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Other Verb Forms

The Co-operative Verb Form

The Co-operative form of the verb is where the sense given is that the action is performed with another person or persons.

The co-operation may be contrary in meaning. - ie. They fought EACH OTHER .

In this case Turkish will use its co-operative form of the verb vuruşmak - meaning - to fight EACH OTHER - as opposed to the basic verb - vurmak - to hit

Bullet Pencil 1kbMany commonly daily used words are of the Co-operative form, and as we learn them we may not realize this.

Formation of the Co-operative Verb

The Co-operative verb sign is -iş which is added to the verb stem and it is subject to Vowel harmony so the suffix can take the following forms:

-ış or -iş or -uş or -üş and -ş is added to verb stems which end in a vowel.

Some Examples

Active VerbCo-operative Verb
  1. vurmak - to hit
  2. onu vurdum - I hit him
  3.  
  1. vuruşmak - to hit
  2. Birbirleriyle vuruştular - They fought each other.
  3. Lit: hit each other
  1. görmek - to see
  2. Memet'i gördüm - I saw Mehemet
  3.  
  1. görüşmek - to see each other/to meet
  2. Mehmet ile görüşeceğim - I'm going to meet Mehmet
  3. Lit: I will meet (see each other) with Mehmet.
  1. anlamak - to understand
  2. Ali'yi anlıyoruz - we understand Ali
  3.  
  4.  
  1. anlaşmak - to understand each other/to agree
  2. Anlaşıyoruz, değil mi? - We agree, don't we?
  3. Ali ile anlaşıyoruz. - We agree with Ali.
  4. Lit: understand each other

Bullet Pencil 1kbBİrbİrlerİyle - with each other - We should use always - İle - with - with co-operative verbs, since they are done by at least two persons.

The Difference of the Standard Verb to The Co-operative Form

In English it is not always apparent when a verb is co-operative, for instance the verb to collide. You can collide with a wall - (a single occurrence) or with another car - (co-operative occurrence). Turkish does make this distinction:

  1. In the first case: - çarpmak - to bump, collide
  2. bir duvara çarptım - I bumped a wall
  1. In the second case: - çarpışmak - to bump, collide with..
  2. bir arabayla çarpıştım. - I collided with a car

More about Co-operative Forms

As we mentioned in the heading of this section many Co-operative forms are in regular use and one should begin to get the feeling in Turkish that the -iş suffix concerns something that is done in concert (either with or against.) - and can be used with certain nouns to show "a doing together".

This "in concert" suffix also shows up in some nouns - for instance - giriş - means entrance but can be construed to mean - (Lit: - an entering in concert).

Similarly - çıkış - exit - (Lit: - a leaving in concert)

Some Co-operative verbs in daily use

Also as previously mentioned many verbs with regular use are in the Co-operative form:

  1. konuşmak - to speak - (with each other)
  2. anlaşmak - to agree - (to understand together)
  3. sevişmek - to make love - (with each other)
  4. öpüşmek - to kiss - (with each other)
  5. çalışmak - to work - (with or at something or other)