With boyamak, you can describe painting furniture, colouring a drawing or dyeing fabric and hair. Practise naming the object, the resulting colour and when the work happens.
The idea
A specific object takes the accusative, while the resulting colour can take the dative: rafı maviye boyamak. The main forms are boyuyorum, boyadım, boyayacağım and boyarım. The final a of boya- becomes u before -yor; the future keeps a and adds a linking y. In boyayacağım and boyayacağız, the future ending’s k becomes ğ.
| Person | Present continuous | Past | Future | Aorist |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | boyuyorum | boyadım | boyayacağım | boyarım |
| sen | boyuyorsun | boyadın | boyayacaksın | boyarsın |
| o | boyuyor | boyadı | boyayacak | boyar |
| biz | boyuyoruz | boyadık | boyayacağız | boyarız |
| siz | boyuyorsunuz | boyadınız | boyayacaksınız | boyarsınız |
| onlar | boyuyorlar | boyadılar | boyayacaklar | boyarlar |
Examples
- Ben bugün rafı boyuyorum.I am painting the shelf today.
- Annem dün saçını boyadı.My mother dyed her hair yesterday.
- Yarın bu sandalyeyi boyayacağız.Tomorrow we will paint this chair.
- Çocuklar resimdeki yıldızları sarıya boyuyor.The children are colouring the stars in the picture yellow.
- Bu kumaşı siyaha boyamak istiyorum.I want to dye this fabric black.
- Kapıyı boyamıyoruz, sadece temizliyoruz.We are not painting the door; we are just cleaning it.
- Bahçe kapısını her yaz boyarız.We paint the garden gate every summer.
- Saçını kendin mi boyuyorsun?Do you dye your hair yourself?
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Watch out
Boyamak means applying colour; it does not by itself mean creating a picture. Resim yapmak means making a picture, while resmi boyamak means colouring the picture. Also compare boyuyorum with the negative boyamıyorum: negation keeps the stem’s a.
Try it yourself
Complete in the present continuous: I am painting the shelf now.
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boyuyorum
boyuyorum: ben requires the first-person form, and şimdi places the work in progress. The rounded u belongs in this positive form.
Complete in the future: We will paint this chair tomorrow.
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boyayacağız
boyayacağız: biz calls for the plural first person. The future has a linking y, and k softens before -ız, giving -acağız.
Add the ending to the colour: We painted the wall white.
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beyaza
beyaza: white is the resulting colour, not the object being painted. The wall is already marked by duvarı, so the colour takes -a.
Complete in the negative present continuous: I am not painting the door right now.
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boyamıyorum
boyamıyorum: the prompt asks for a negative action in progress. Keep boya- and add -mıyor plus the first-person ending; boyuyorum would say that you are painting.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete in the present continuous: I am painting the shelf now.
Complete in the future: We will paint this chair tomorrow.
Add the ending to the colour: We painted the wall white.
Complete in the negative present continuous: I am not painting the door right now.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
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Choose an object and a colour. Write what you are painting now, what you painted yesterday and what you will paint tomorrow. Then write one negative sentence.