Lesson 27: Simple Present Tense in Turkish - Part 1: affirmative and negative form- conversation

In this lesson, we will study the formation and the use on the Turkish Simple Present tense.


In the conversation, the Yenisu talk about their life. Familiarize with new words, expression and the use of Simple Present tense while talking about habits.


"  Bay ve Bayan Yenisu İstanbul'da otururlar. Bayan Yenisu bir laboratuvarda kimyager, Bay Yenisu bir reklam şirketinde reklamcı olarak çalışır.
Bay Yenisu sık sık iş seyahatine çıkar.Bayan yenisu yalnız kalır, fakat hiç sıkılmaz ve ilginç şeyler bulur.
Bayan Yenisu genellikle caz sever, klasik müsikten hoşlanır ve yabancı filmleri seyreder. Bazen Alman lokantasına gider ve Alman yemekleri yer.Haftada sonlarında tenıs oynar, çok yorulur ve duş alır.
Akşamları uyumadan önce kitap okur. O, genellikle macera kitaplarını sever.Eşi ona her hafta bir kitap satın alır.
Bay Yenisu sabahları erken kalkar,arabasıyla işe gider,çok çalışır ve akşam eve döner.
Akşam yemeğinden sonra, kısa bir süre televizyon seyreder ve sonra uyur.
Onlar Cumartesi akşamları birlikte yemeğe çıkarlar, dans ederler ve arkadaşlarını ziyaret ederler."

VOCABULARY/SÖZLÜK

Laboratuvar:    laboratory
Kimyager :       Chemist 
Reklam şirketi: Advertising agency
Sık sık:              Often 
ış seyahati :       Businnes trip
Yalnız kalmak: To stay alone
Caz:                   jazz
Macera:            Adventure
Yorulmak:        To get tired 


                                       ~~~~~~GRAMMAR  NOTES~~~~~~

The simple present tense, in Turkish " Geniş Zaman" is used to express indefinite but habitual actions and statements of general validity.

The simple present tense is generally introduced by tipical time expressions such as

• Daima         (always)
• Her zaman  (every time)
• Her gün       (every day)
• Her ay         (every month)
• Genellikle   (generally)
• Normal olarak  (normally)
• Asla              (never)

And other expressions rendering the meaning of habitual actions.

The formation of  the simple present tense in Turkish occurs according to the following scheme:

INFINITIVE STEM  +    PRESENT TENSE PARTICLE  +  PERSONAL SUFFIXES.

The infinitive stem consists of the infinitive without  -MAK  or  -MEK

The present tense particle to be placed between  the base and the personal suffixes  is one of the following:

-ir     -er      -ür    for  infinitives ending in   -MEK

-ar    -ır       -ur   for  infinitives ending in    -MAK


Once we have clear this important difference the conjugation of the AFFIRMATIVE FORM of the simple present is extremely easy.
A few examples will help better understand thi rule:

Gelmek (to come)   >>> Infinitive suffix:  -MEK 

Stem: Gel
Presente tense particle:   -ir
Simple Present tense base:    Gelir

Now we attach the personal suffixes and the conjugation is done:

I come:                        Gelirim
You come:                  Gelirsin
He, She, It comes :     Gelir
We come:                   Geliriz
You come:                  Gelirsiniz
They come:                 Gelirler

Now let's conjugate a verb whose infinitive ending is -MAK in simple present tense

Okumak (to read) >>>>>>>Infinitive suffix  -MAK
Stem:     Oku
Present tense particle:  -ur (in this case  "u" is redundant as the infinitive stem already ends in "u" so we only attach "r")

Simple present tense base:   Okur

Now we attach the personal suffixes and the conjugation is done:

I read:                            Okurum
You read:                      Okursun
He, She, It reads:          Okur
We read:                       Okuruz
You read:                      Okursunuz
They read:                     Okurlar    


Another example:   Çalışmak   ( To work, to study) >>>>>infinitive suffix  -MAK

Stem:  Çalış
Present tense particle:  -ır

Simple present tense base:  Çalışır

And again we attach the personal suffixes to get this verb conjugated:

I work:                    Çalışırım
You work:              Çalışırsın
He,She,İt works:     Çalışır
We work:               Çalışırız
You work:              Çalışırsınız
They work:             Çalışırlar

It is appropriate to remind you here that the choice of personal suffixes occurs in accordance with the vowel harmony rule as you may have noticed in the examples.

Let's now complete this lesson with a few practical examples.

I  read the newspaper every day:     Ben her gün gazete okurum

She goes to Turkey every year:       O her sene Turkiye're gider.

She works  in a big company :         O büyük bir şirkette çalışır

They wake up early every morning:   Onlar her sabah erken kalkarlar


The NEGATIVE FORM  of the simple present tense is obtained by appending to the infinitive stem the suffixes  -MEZ   or  -MAZ  as follows:

-MEZ    for infinitives ending in -MEK

-MAZ   for infinitives ending in -MAK


 These suffixes are placed between the infinitive stem and the personal suffixes.

Let's do a few example:

Gelmek (to come)

Stem:  Gel

Negative suffix:  -MEZ

Now we attach the personal suffixes and the conjugation is  piece of cake:

I don't come:                      Gelmem  (*)
You don't come                 Gelmezsin
He,She, It doesn't come:    Gelmez
We don't come:                  Gelmeyiz  (*)
You don't come:                Gelmezsiniz
They don't come:               Gelmezler


Now let's take a verb ending in -MAK

Almak (to take)
Stem: Al
Negative suffix:  -MAZ

Again the conjugation is quite simple:

I don't take:                       Almam (*)
You don't take:                  Almazsın
He, She, It doesn't take:    Almaz
We don't take:                   Almayız (*)
You don't take:                  Almazsınız
They don't take:                 Almazlar


 (*) In the 1st person singular and plural the "z" disappears due to an eufonic contraction