Asking permission and politely: -ebilir miyim
May I sit here? Build Oturabilir miyim? and Verir misiniz? to ask permission, offer help and make a polite request, with the person ending on mi.
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Past continuous: what was happening
Rain was falling and the phone rang: use -yordu for the scene and -dı for the event that cuts in, as in Yağmur yağıyordu, telefon çaldı.
Read and practiseVar and yok in the past and future
Vardı, yoktu, olacak: say that something existed, was missing or will happen, and see why the future of var is olmak and not a new ending on var.
Read and practiseWhich verbs take which case
Müziği dinliyorum, not müziğe: which case does each Turkish verb ask for? A short map of dinlemek, beklemek, bakmak, korkmak, konuşmak and kalmak.
Read and practisebiri, bir şey, herkes: someone, something, everyone
Biri geldi, herkes geldi, her şey hazır: the Turkish words for someone, something, everyone and everything, and why her şey is written as two words.
Read and practisePutting events in order: önce, sonra, sonunda
First wash, then eat, finally leave: use önce, sonra and sonunda in the right place, and see why sonunda means at last and not simply then.
Read and practisehiç, hiçbir, kimse: nobody, nothing, never
Say nobody, nothing, no one and never in Turkish: how kimse, hiçbir şey, hiçbir and hiç work with a negative verb, and why Kimse geldi is wrong.
Read and practiseReported past: hearing, inferring and discovering
A snowy street or a message from a friend: choose the Turkish reported past to show how you learned what happened, including discoveries about yourself.
Read and practisePast before past: what had already happened
The film was already running when we arrived: use Turkish past-perfect sentences to separate an earlier event from a later past moment.
Read and practiseFuture in the past: earlier plans and their outcomes
An evening meeting, a changed plan: use the Turkish future in the past to separate what was intended from what actually happened.
Read and practiseUsed to: recalling past routines in Turkish
Morning watering, early closing, evening stories: describe former routines in Turkish and distinguish a past habit from a single completed event.
Read and practiseReal conditions: linking a possible event to its result
A rainy day can change your plans: connect a possible condition to a result in Turkish, including negative conditions and instructions.
Read and practiseUnreal conditions: imagining a different outcome
A missed train, an unmade call: imagine a different outcome in Turkish, link an unreal condition to its result, and distinguish yesterday from now.
Read and practiseWishes and regrets with keşke
A missed call or a wish for tomorrow: express both with keşke, choose the intended time, and see why olsaydı does not always point to the past.
Read and practiseLet someone else do it: the third-person imperative
Elif can wait here, the children can play outside: use the Turkish third-person imperative to give instructions about others or express a wish.
Read and practiseThe passive voice: make the object the subject
A parcel sent, a wall painted: use the Turkish passive to report what happens to something, remove its object ending and name the doer only when useful.
Read and practiseThe causative: who makes the action happen?
A shelf made by a craftsperson, a joke that makes everyone laugh: use the Turkish causative and choose the case of the person carrying out the action.
Read and practiseReflexive and reciprocal verbs: who acts on whom?
Washing yourself, meeting someone, laughing together: distinguish reflexive and reciprocal actions in Turkish without guessing from the verb ending alone.
Read and practiseUsing the Turkish infinitive in sentences
An activity can be the subject of a Turkish sentence. Use infinitive phrases for actions and wishes, and distinguish okumak from okumayı.
Read and practisePurpose clauses: saying what an action is for
A pause, a meeting, a note: connect an action to its goal in Turkish, express a negative purpose, and distinguish a formal intention from being about to act.
Read and practiseThe verbal noun: an action with its own subject
A whole action can be a subject or object in Turkish. Use -me/-ma with a possessive ending, choose its case, and distinguish coming from not coming.
Read and practiseStatements inside sentences: -dik and -ecek
A statement can become the object of “know” or “think” in Turkish. Connect its subject, possessive ending and case, and distinguish present facts from future events.
Read and practiseRelative clauses: identifying the subject with -en
A waiting passenger, a fallen glass: build Turkish relative clauses that identify the subject, keep the description before the noun and distinguish its two sentence roles.
Read and practiseRelative clauses: the thing I did or will do
A notebook you bought, a hotel you will stay in: identify Turkish nouns with relative clauses, mark who acts and distinguish present or past from future.
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