You will put one action inside another sentence: someone’s coming can please us, be wanted or be allowed. The ending on the action identifies its doer, even when someone else controls the main verb.
The idea
-me/-ma turns a verb into an action noun. In the pattern taught here, an explicit doer takes the genitive and the action takes a matching possessive ending: senin gelmen, your coming. The whole phrase can be a subject: Senin gelmen bizi sevindiriyor. As a complement, it takes the case required by the main verb: gelmeni istiyorum uses the accusative, while gelmene izin veriyorum uses the dative. The genitive pronoun can be omitted when its referent is clear. Compare kalmak istiyorum (I want to stay) with kalmanı istiyorum (I want you to stay).
| Action phrase | In a sentence |
|---|---|
| senin gelmen | Senin gelmen önemli. |
| senin gelmeni | Senin gelmeni istiyorum. |
| senin gelmene | Senin gelmene izin veriyorum. |
Examples
- Senin gelmen bizi sevindiriyor.Your coming makes us happy.
- Ben senin gelmeni istiyorum.I want you to come.
- Annem burada çalışmama izin veriyor.My mother lets me work here.
- Çocukların bahçede oynaması güzel.It is nice that the children play in the garden.
- Bu akşam evde kalmak istiyorum.I want to stay at home this evening.
- Bu akşam evde kalmanı istiyorum.I want you to stay at home this evening.
- Onun gelmesini istiyorum.I want him or her to come.
- Onun gelmemesini istiyorum.I want him or her not to come.
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Watch out
Do not read every -me as “not”. In gelmesini, it names the action; Onun gelmesini istiyorum is positive. Negating that action needs a separate negative suffix before the noun suffix: gel-me-me-si-n-i → gelmemesini. The first -me negates, the second nominalizes.
Try it yourself
Complete with a form of gelmek: it is important that you come early.
Show answer or example answer
gelmen
gelmen: the person coming is “you”, so gelme takes possessive -n. The entire phrase is the subject of önemli; no accusative ending is needed.
Complete with a form of okumak: I want you to read this book.
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okumanı
okumanı: the speaker wants, but you read. Okuma takes -n for that reader and -ı because the whole action is the object of istiyorum. The accusative in kitabı belongs to the book, not to the action.
Complete with a form of çalışmak: my mother lets me work here.
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çalışmama
çalışmama: permission is for my working, so çalışma takes possessive -m and dative -a. This is çalış-ma-m-a, not a negative form; the mother is the person allowing, not the person working.
Complete with a negative noun form of gelmek: I want him or her not to come today.
Show answer or example answer
gelmemesini
gelmemesini: the desired event is non-arrival. Start with negative gelme-, then add nominal -me, possessive -si for the third person, linking -n- and accusative -i. A single -me would instead ask for the person to come.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete with a form of gelmek: it is important that you come early.
Complete with a form of okumak: I want you to read this book.
Complete with a form of çalışmak: my mother lets me work here.
Complete with a negative noun form of gelmek: I want him or her not to come today.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Write one sentence about your coming as a subject, one asking for a friend to do something, and one granting permission. Identify each doer and explain why the action has no case ending, the accusative or the dative.