With azalmak, a quantity, number or intensity becomes smaller. You will describe changes in supplies and workload, and make clear whether a number tells the size of a decrease or the value left afterwards.
The idea
The thing that decreases is the subject: Su tüketimi azaldı. The verb takes no direct object; azaltmak means to reduce something. Keep the stem azal- in azalıyor, azaldı and azalacak; the aorist is azalır. The table uses third person singular, common with quantities. In otuzdan yirmiye azaldı, otuzdan is the starting value and yirmiye the final value.
| Use (third person singular) | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing change | azalıyor | azalmıyor |
| General tendency | azalır | azalmaz |
| Completed past change | azaldı | azalmadı |
| Future change | azalacak | azalmayacak |
| Reported or inferred change | azalmış | azalmamış |
| Condition | azalırsa | azalmazsa |
Examples
- Akşamları sokaktaki gürültü azalıyor.The noise in the street decreases in the evenings.
- Bu ay su tüketimi azaldı.Water consumption decreased this month.
- Depodaki un giderek azalıyor.The flour in storage is gradually running low.
- Yağmur azalınca dışarı çıktık.We went outside when the rain eased.
- Katılımcı sayısı otuzdan yirmiye azaldı.The number of participants decreased from thirty to twenty.
- Bu hafta hata sayısı yüzde yirmi azaldı.The number of errors decreased by twenty percent this week.
- İlgi azalırsa programı değiştireceğiz.If interest decreases, we will change the programme.
- İş yükümüz henüz azalmadı.Our workload has not decreased yet.
- Gelecek hafta sipariş sayısı azalacak.The number of orders will decrease next week.
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Watch out
Yüzde yirmi azaldı means “decreased by twenty percent”, not “fell to twenty”. The percentage measures the change relative to the starting amount. Also, azalmak does not mean that the decrease has no cause: it simply leaves the cause outside the verb’s subject.
Try it yourself
Complete with the present continuous of azalmak. Gürültü şu anda ___.
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azalıyor
azalıyor: the noise is decreasing right now, as şu anda specifies. The last stem vowel gives the dotless ı before yor.
Use the negative definite past of azalmak: the stock did not decrease yesterday. Dün stok miktarı ___.
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azalmadı
azalmadı: yesterday’s stock did not decrease. The negative -ma comes before past -dı; the stock quantity is a singular subject.
The number fell from forty to thirty. Write the final value in words with its suffix. Katılımcı sayısı kırktan ___ azaldı.
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otuza
otuza: thirty is the final number of participants. The dative marks that endpoint; otuzdan would instead mean “from thirty”.
Errors fell from 50 to 40. Fill in the percentage decrease, in words or digits. Bu hafta hata sayısı 50’den 40’a indi: Hata sayısı yüzde ___ azaldı.
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yirmi / 20
yirmi or 20: ten fewer errors out of the original fifty is 10 ÷ 50 × 100 = 20 percent. Forty is the remaining count, not the percentage decrease.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete with the present continuous of azalmak. Gürültü şu anda ___.
Use the negative definite past of azalmak: the stock did not decrease yesterday. Dün stok miktarı ___.
The number fell from forty to thirty. Write the final value in words with its suffix. Katılımcı sayısı kırktan ___ azaldı.
Errors fell from 50 to 40. Fill in the percentage decrease, in words or digits. Bu hafta hata sayısı 50’den 40’a indi: Hata sayısı yüzde ___ azaldı.
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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Invent a stock count before and after a decrease. Describe the change with azalmak, then write a sentence with azaltmak naming who reduced the stock. Check which noun is the subject in each sentence.