You will form the aorist to describe habits and general truths, and choose the right vowel before the person ending.
The idea
The aorist (geniş zaman) says what is true in general or happens regularly: Her sabah çay içerim., Su donar. It is built from the stem, the aorist vowel with r, and the person ending. After a vowel only -r is added (oku-r, ye-r). After a consonant a one-syllable stem usually takes -ar/-er (yapar, sever), a longer stem -ır/-ir/-ur/-ür (çalışır, oturur). The person endings, -im, -sin, none, -iz, -siniz, -ler/-lar, follow vowel harmony: okurum, okursun, okur, okuruz, okursunuz, okurlar.
| Verb | He/she/it form | Ending added to the stem |
|---|---|---|
| okumak | okur | -r |
| yemek | yer | -r |
| yapmak | yapar | -ar |
| sormak | sorar | -ar |
| sevmek | sever | -er |
| içmek | içer | -er |
| çalışmak | çalışır | -ır |
| oturmak | oturur | -ur |
| gelmek | gelir | -ir |
| almak | alır | -ır |
| görmek | görür | -ür |
| olmak | olur | -ur |
| gitmek | gider | -er |
Examples
- Ben her sabah çay içerim.I drink tea every morning.
- Ablam hafta sonları erken kalkar.My older sister gets up early at weekends.
- Su sıfır derecede donar.Water freezes at zero degrees.
- gelirimI (usually) comegelir-ir / -ar / -er: the aorist (gelir, yapar)imAorist person endings: -im, -sin, -iz, -siniz, -ler
- okurlarthey (usually) readokur-ir / -ar / -er: the aorist (gelir, yapar)larAorist person endings: -im, -sin, -iz, -siniz, -ler
- Babam her gün gazete alır.My father buys a newspaper every day.Almak is one of the one-syllable verbs that take -ır, so it is alır, not alar.
- Ali bana her zaman yardım eder.Ali always helps me.Etmek ends in t, which becomes d before a vowel: eder, not etir.
- Biz akşamları yürüyüşe çıkarız.In the evenings we go out for a walk.
- giderizwe (usually) gogider-ir / -ar / -er: the aorist (gelir, yapar)izAorist person endings: -im, -sin, -iz, -siniz, -lerGitmek changes its t to d before a vowel: gid-er-iz, not gitariz.
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Watch out
About a dozen one-syllable verbs take -ir anyway: almak – alır, gelmek – gelir, görmek – görür, olmak – olur, vermek – verir; gelar and alar are wrong. The final t of gitmek and etmek becomes d: gider, eder. And the aorist does not mean "right now": "I am drinking tea at this moment" is çay içiyorum.
Try it yourself
Give the aorist: I write (as a rule), from yazmak.
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yazarım
yazarım: the stem yaz has one syllable and the vowel a, so the aorist is -ar, and the person ben takes -ım.
Give the aorist: you come (as a rule), from gelmek.
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gelirsin
gelirsin: gelmek is an exception among one-syllable verbs and takes -ir; the person sen takes -sin.
Give the aorist: they read (as a rule), from okumak.
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okurlar
okurlar: oku ends in a vowel, so only -r is added, and onlar takes -lar.
Give the aorist: we go (as a rule), from gitmek.
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gideriz
gideriz: the t of gitmek becomes d before a vowel, and then come -er and -iz.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Give the aorist: I write (as a rule), from yazmak.
Give the aorist: you come (as a rule), from gelmek.
Give the aorist: they read (as a rule), from okumak.
Give the aorist: we go (as a rule), from gitmek.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: I (usually) come
Tap the parts in order to build this word: they (usually) read
Keep your progress
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Write three sentences about your habits in the morning and in the evening. Underline each verb and check its aorist vowel and its person ending.