gitmek or gelmek: go or come?

The idea

Gitmek moves away from the speaker's point of view; gelmek moves toward it. That point is usually where the speaker is, but it can be the listener's place or the group's: Size geleceğim (I will come to you), Okula gidiyorum. With both verbs the destination takes -e/-a, and the starting point or origin takes -den/-dan: Ankara'dan geliyorum says where I am from. The stem git- becomes gid- before a vowel (gidiyorum, gideceğim) but keeps its t in gittim.

Examples

• Yarın size geleceğim.I will come to you tomorrow.The listener's place counts as the point of view, so the movement toward you is gelmek, even where your language may say go.
• Biz yarın Bursa'ya gidiyoruz.We are going to Bursa tomorrow.
• Geliyorum, beni bekle!I'm coming, wait for me!Moving toward the person you are talking to is gelmek: geliyorum means I am on my way to you.
• Elif Antalya'dan geliyor.Elif comes from Antalya.With -dan, gelmek gives where someone comes from; Antalya'dan gidiyor would say she is leaving Antalya.
• Babam bize gelmiyor, ben ona gidiyorum.My father isn't coming to our place; I'm going to him.The speaker's group is the centre: bize (to us) takes gelmek, ona (to him) takes gitmek.
• Bu otobüs Kadıköy'e gitmiyor.This bus doesn't go to Kadıköy.
• Dün okula gittim.I went to school yesterday.The stem git- keeps its t in the past: gittim. It becomes gid- only before a vowel, as in gidiyorum.
• Misafirler saat sekizde geldi.The guests arrived at eight o'clock.

Watch out

Do not say Ankara'dan gidiyorum for 'I am from Ankara': it means you are leaving Ankara. Origin is Ankara'dan geliyorum. And when you head toward the person you are talking to, Turkish says geliyorum (I'm coming), even where your language says 'I'm going'.

Try it yourself

1. Fill in gitmek or gelmek in the right form: I come from Germany.

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   geliyorum / gelirim

   geliyorum: Almanya'dan names where I come from, and origin with -dan belongs to gelmek, not to gitmek.

2. Fill in gitmek or gelmek in the right form: I am going to the shop now.

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   gidiyorum

   gidiyorum: I move away from where I am toward the shop (markete), so gitmek; git- becomes gid- before -iyor.

3. Fill in gitmek or gelmek in the right form: My friend will come to our place tomorrow.

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   gelecek

   gelecek: bize (to us) points to the speaker's own place, so the friend moves toward us: gelmek.

4. Fill in gitmek or gelmek in the right form: Yesterday I went to the cinema.

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   gittim

   gittim: moving away to the cinema is gitmek, and in the past the t stays: git-ti-m, not gid-di-m.

Use it today

Write four sentences about where you go every week and who comes to you. Underline each verb and check the case of the place word.