The Passive Mood: signifies that the verb acts upon the subject of the sentence:
"The man (subj.) was bitten by the dog."
The Active Mood: signifies that the verb acts on the object of the sentence:
"The dog bit the man (obj.)."
The order that the suffixes are added to the verb as as follows:
1. Reflexive
2. Reciprocal
3. Causative
4. Passive
acımak - to feel pain (active)
acınmak - to feel pain in oneself, to grieve (reflexive)
acındırmak - to cause to grieve (causative)
acındırılmak - to be made to grieve (passive)
tanımak - to know (active)
tanışmak - to know one another (reciprocal)
tanıştırmak - to introduce (causative)
tanıştırılmak - to be introduced (passive)
Negation, -me-, plus ability, -ebil-, and inability, -eme- are added after these. After which the tense suffixes: -iyor-, -ir-, -ecek-, -di-, -miş- are further added to complete the verb.
yapmak - to do, yapıyorum - I am doing [Active Present Continuous]
yapılmak - to be done, yapılıyor - It is being done [Passive Present Continuous]
yapabilmek - to be able do, yapabilirim - I can do [Active Potential Simple Present]
yapılabilmek - to be able to be done, yapılabilir - it can be done [Passive Potential Simple Present]
yapmamak - to not do, yapmıyorum - I am not doing [Negative Active Present Continuous]
yapılmamak - to not be done, yapılmıyor - it is not being done [Negative Active Present Continuous]
yapılamamak - to not be able to be done, yapılamayacak - it will not be able to be done [Negative Passive Potential Future]
Onu yapabileceğiz - we will be able to do it [Active Future Potential]
Onu yaptırabileceğiz [yap-tır-abil-eceğ-iz] - we will be able to get it done [Causative Future Potential]
There are many other tenses and persons that can be built up using the causative and cooperative verbs in all tenses and persons. This is one of the difficulties for Turkish learners - using and recognizing the verb forms and their meanings easily, it takes practice for us, but of course it is second nature to a Turkish national.
The Passive Mood signifies that the verb acts upon the subject of the sentence whereas in the Active Mood the verb acts on the object of the sentence.
The Active Sentence
The Active Verb (in Past Tense) with the subject - Kemal - and the object - the street.
Kemal swept the street yesterday.
The Passive Sentence
The Passive Verb (in Present Continuous tense) here - The street - is the subject
and - Kemal - (the person doing the sweeping) is called the agent in grammar.
The street is being swept by Kemal
The Impersonal Passive
The Passive Verb (in Future Tense here) - the street - is the subject without any agent operating on it.
The street will be swept every day
Or in the Past Tense:
The street was swept yesterday
In Turkish the passive verb stem is formed by adding the passive suffix -il or -in to the basic verb stem. The verb stem of course can be an indicative, co-operative or a causative verb stem.
For verbs Stems ending in a consonant (Except -l) the suffix -il [subject to Vowel Harmony] is added to the verb stem. For those verb stems which themselves end on -l then the suffix -in [subject to vowel harmony] is added.
| Active Mood Positive | Passive Mood Positive | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| yapmak | to do | yapılmak | to be done |
| kesmek | to cut | kesilmek | to be cut |
| kırmak | to break | kırılmak | to be broken |
| Active Mood Negative | Passive Mood Negative | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| yapmamak | to not do | yapılmamak | to be not done |
| kesmemek | to not cut | kesilmemek | to be not cut |
| kırmamak | to not break | kırılmamak | to be not broken |
The Causative and Co-operative verbs form their Passive with -il in the usual way
| Active Verb | Passive Verb | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| yapmak - Active | to do | yapılmak - Passive | to be done |
| yaptırmak Active Causative | to get something done | yaptırılmak - Passive Causative | to be done |
| yapabilmek - Active Potential | to be able to do s.o. | yapılabilmek - Passive Potential | to be able get s.o. done |
| Active Verb | Passive Verb | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| yapmamak | not to do | yapılmamak | not to be done |
| yaptırmamak | not to get something done | yaptırılmamak | not to get s.o. done |
| yapamamak | not to be able to do s.o. | yapılamamak | not to be able get s.o. done |
anlamak - to understand - Active Verb
anlatmak - to explain - Active Mood Causative
anlatılmak - to be understood - Passive Verb Causative
kırmak - to break - Active Verb
kırdırmak - to break something - Active Mood Causative
kırılmak - to be broken (itself in a broken state) - Passive Verb
kırdırılmak - to be broken by somebody - Passive Mood Causative
bulmak - to find - Active Verb
buluşmak - to meet/to find each other - Co-operative Active
buluşulmak - to be met/to be found together - Co-operative Passive
anlamak - to understand - Active Verb
anlaşmak - to agree/to understand each other - Co-operative Active
anlaşılmak - to be agreed
çarpmak - to hit, collide - Active Verb
çarpışmak - to collide with something - Co-operative Active
çarpışılmak - to be in collision with something - Co-operative Passive
None of the Causative or Co-operative Verb in the table above have a stem which ends in -l, therefore the -il passive suffix is used. From the examples above it can be seen that by the use of short suffixes Turkish can say in one word which would take many more in English. The use of the differing verb forms is rather difficult at first, but by practice and reading the logic of them quickly becomes clear to the student.
When the verb stem ends in -L then the passive mood is formed by the addition -in (subject to vowel harmony)
| Active Mood | Passive Mood | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| delmek | to pierce | delinmek | to be pierced |
| bilmek | to know | bilinmek | to be known |
| almak | to take | alınmak | to be taken |
| bulmak | to find | bulunmak | to be found |
When the verb stem ends in a vowel then the passive sign is simply -n
| Active Mood | Passive Mood | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| beklemek | to wait/to expect | beklenmek | to be waited for/to be expected |
| kapamak | to close | kapanmak | to be closed |
| yemek | to eat | yenmek | to be eaten |
Active Verb - Ali, pencereyi kapadı - Ali closed the window.
Impersonal Passive Verb - Pencere kapandı - The window was closed - (ie. not open)
Passive Verb - Ali tarafından pencere kapandı - The window was closed by Ali.
In the last example above we can see that it was Ali who closed that window: ...by Ali.. Ali is the agent by which the window was closed. Turkish has a particular construction in the Passive to denote the agent acting on the subject. For pronouns such as - my, your, his, our their - the agent (the pronoun itself) is placed in the Genitive Case and followed by tarafından - by... But nouns - in this case - Ali tarafindan - by Ali. are NOT suffixed by the genitive -in..
An Example in the Causative Active
Pencereyi kapattı - He closed the window
Here (above) the object is "window" and the verb is Causative Active
An Example in the Causative Passive
Pencere onun tarafından kapatıldı - The window was closed by him.
Pencere Mehmet tarafından kapatıldı - The window was closed by Mehmet.
Here the subject is "window" and the verb is Causative Passive. The Proper Noun - Mehemet - is not suffixed with the genitive -in as he is just the agent who is "closing the window".
In the last two examples the agent "who closes" the window is mentioned.
Turkish has a particular construction in the Passive to denote the agent acting on the subject. For pronouns such as - my, your, his, our their - the agent (the pronoun itself) is placed in the Genitive Case and followed by tarafından - by. However nouns are NOT suffixed with the genitive -in
Pronouns - Examples including the agent in the Genitive.
Hesap, benim tarafımdan ödenecek - The bill will be paid by me.
Kitap, onların tarafından yazılacak - The book will be written by them.
Proper Nouns - Examples including the agent in the Nominative.
Top, Mustafa tarafından bulundu - (NOT - Mustafa 'nın) - The ball was found by Mustapha.
Araba, Ali tarafından temizleniyor - The car is being cleaned by Ali.
If the agent is a Proper Noun then it is just in the Nominative (subject) Case - the Genitive is not used.
Note that the subject is followed by a comma, this is a good policy to follow when writing Turkish. There is also the possibility of these being understood a "nicknames" if a break is not put after the subject. For instance: Araba Ali - Auto Ali - may be a name so used and as far a Top Musafa - Ball Mustafa - this is the sort of nickname used in the "Gay Community!". The agent is placed in the Genitive Case and followed by - tarafından - by but the Genitive Case is used only for Pronouns. For Nouns the Nominative Case is used, just like the preposition - ile - with, also, and - so it becomes - benimle - with me - but - with Ahmet - Ahmet'le -(not Ahmet'inle)
The reflexive form of the verb is used when the action of the verb refers back to the subject as opposed to the object. In English this is usually shown by the use of the reflexive pronouns - myself, yourself, ourselves etc. However in Turkish the feeling of "self" is understood by using the reflexive form of the verb. - Mehmet yıkandı - Mehmet washed himself.
Other Examples of Reflexive Forms in English
I shaved myself
He washed himself
You have cut yourself
We helped ouselves
This reflexive form of the verb stem is used to convey the reflexive meaning and takes the form of the suffix -in (subject to vowel harmony) or -n after verb stems ending in a vowel. As can be seen the reflexive sign -n is the same as the passive form for those verbs whose stems end in a vowel but the context of the sentence is usually enough to make the meaning passive or reflexive quite evident.
Rarely, the -il suffix is used for the reflexive meaning. The verb üzmek is to make someone sad and its reflexive/passive üzülmek is to get sad (oneself). Katmak is to add/join and its reflexive/passive katılmak is to get added, hence to join, to attend. This is really a "grey area" between passive and/or reflexive.
Examples of Use for the Reflexive Verb
If we take the verb yıkamak - to wash - we would say:
çamaşırı yıkadım - I washed the shirt
However - if we say - I washed myself, I had a wash - then the reflexive form must be used:
yıkandım - I had a wash, I washed myself
Similarly the verb soymak - to undress
soymak - to undress somebody - [Active]
soyunmak - to undress oneself - [Reflexive]