You will add -meli or -malı to a verb stem, then a person ending, to say what you must do.
The idea
Add -meli or -malı to the verb stem (not to the infinitive) to say what must or should happen: gelmeli, almalı. The vowel follows the last vowel of the stem: -meli after e i ö ü, -malı after a ı o u. The person endings come next: gitmeliyim, gitmelisin, gitmeli, gitmeliyiz, gitmelisiniz, gitmeliler.
| Person | Front stem (-meli) | Back stem (-malı) |
|---|---|---|
| ben | gelmeliyim | almalıyım |
| sen | gelmelisin | almalısın |
| o | gelmeli | almalı |
| biz | gelmeliyiz | almalıyız |
| siz | gelmelisiniz | almalısınız |
| onlar | gelmeliler | almalılar |
Examples
- Yarın erken kalkmalıyım.Tomorrow I must get up early.The stem kalk- has the vowel a, so the ending is -malı; -yım is the ben ending after a vowel. The pronoun ben is dropped.
- Bu akşam anneni aramalısın.You should call your mother this evening.
- Çocuklar saat dokuzda uyumalı.The children should go to sleep at nine.With the plural subject çocuklar, both uyumalı and uyumalılar are possible. This example omits the plural ending.
- Doktora gitmeli misin?Do you have to go to the doctor?The question word mi is written apart and follows -meli; it takes the person ending: gitmeli misin, not gitmelimisin.
- Sınavdan önce çok çalışmalısınız.You must study a lot before the exam.
- gitmeliyimI must gogitmeli-meli / -malı: must, have to, shouldyim-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
- okumalısınızyou (plural) must readokumalı-meli / -malı: must, have to, shouldsınız-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
- çalışmalıyızwe must workçalışmalı-meli / -malı: must, have to, shouldyız-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
- beklemelilerthey must waitbeklemeli-meli / -malı: must, have to, shouldler-ler / -lar: the plural suffix
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Watch out
Drop -mek before you add the ending: gitmeli, not gitmekmeli. A stem that ends in a vowel takes no buffer letter: beklemeli, okumalı. And -memeli means must not, not do not have to: gitmemeliyim is 'I should not go'. For 'no need', Turkish uses a different construction.
Try it yourself
Add the endings: you must study today.
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çalışmalısın
çalışmalısın: the last vowel of çalış is ı, a back vowel, so -malı; -sın is the ending for sen.
Add the endings: we must wait for the bus.
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beklemeliyiz
beklemeliyiz: bekle ends in the front vowel e, so -meli; no buffer is needed, and -yiz is the biz ending after a vowel.
Add the endings: you (plural) must buy this book.
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almalısınız
almalısınız: al has a, so -malı, followed by -sınız for siz.
Add the ending: the children should go to bed early.
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yatmalı / yatmalılar
yatmalı / yatmalılar: yat has a, so -malı; with the subject çocuklar the verb may stay without an ending or take -lar.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Add the endings: you must study today.
Add the endings: we must wait for the bus.
Add the endings: you (plural) must buy this book.
Add the ending: the children should go to bed early.
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 must go
Tap the parts in order to build this word: you (plural) must read
Keep your progress
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Write four sentences about what you must do this week, each with a different person. Check the last vowel of each stem and choose -meli or -malı.