değil and yok: two ways to say no

The idea

Değil denies what something is or how it is: Bu bir kitap değil, Hava soğuk değil. It stands after the word it denies and takes the person endings: değilim, değilsin, değil, değiliz. Yok denies that something exists or is owned: Evde süt yok, Param yok. It is the opposite of var.

Examples

• Bu bir kitap değil.This is not a book.
• Evde süt yok.There is no milk at home.
• Bugün hava soğuk değil.It is not cold today.
• Benim param yok.I have no money.The pronoun benim may be dropped: param already says whose money it is.
• Biz turist değiliz.We are not tourists.The person ending goes on değil: değilim, değilsin, değil, değiliz, değilsiniz, değiller.
• Çay var, kahve yok.There is tea, there is no coffee.
• Bu çanta benim değil.This bag is not mine.
• Bugün zamanım yok.I have no time today.
• Annem evde değil.My mother is not at home.Annem evde yok is also said for someone who is away. For things and amounts only yok works: Evde süt yok.

Watch out

Do not use değil for having or existing: Param değil does not mean "I have no money", it means "it is not my money". Say Param yok. The reverse fails too: Bu bir kitap yok is wrong, and "This is not a book" is Bu bir kitap değil.

Try it yourself

1. Fill the gap: This bag is not mine.

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   değil

   değil: the sentence says whose bag it is (benim), so it describes what the bag is rather than whether it exists, and değil follows.

2. Fill the gap: There is no bread at home.

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   yok

   yok: the question is whether there is bread in the house, the opposite of var, so the word is yok.

3. Fill the gap: We are not teachers.

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   değiliz

   değiliz: the subject is biz, so the ending -iz joins değil; the vowel i asks for -iz.

4. Fill the gap: I have no time today.

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   yok

   yok: time is something you have (zamanım, my time), and not having it is yok, the opposite of var.

Use it today

Look around your room. Write two sentences with yok about things that are missing and two with değil about what an object is not.