bulmak: to find, to consider

The idea

Bulmak means to find: to come across something, to find what you were looking for, or to judge something (filmi güzel buldum, "I found the film good"). The stem bul- has the rounded back vowel u. The endings -ıyor and -dı have four shapes chosen by the last vowel, so here they become -uyor and -du: buluyorum, buldum. The future ending has only two shapes, so it is -acak: bulacağım, and its k turns into ğ before a vowel. A specific thing that you found takes the accusative: anahtarımı buldum.

Examples

• Anahtarımı sonunda buldum.I finally found my key.A specific thing you found takes the accusative: anahtarım + ı gives anahtarımı. The pronoun ben is dropped.
• Çocuklar bahçede bir kedi buldu.The children found a cat in the garden.Bir kedi is just "a cat", so there is usually no accusative: bir kedi buldu. Bir kediyi would point to one particular cat.
• Yarın yeni bir ev bulacağız.We will find a new home tomorrow.The k of -acak becomes ğ before the vowel of -ız: bulacağız, but bulacaksınız keeps the k.
• Bu filmi çok güzel buldum.I found this film very good.With an adjective, bulmak means to consider: çok güzel buldum is a judgement, not a discovery. The film takes the accusative because it is a specific film.
• Çantamı her yerde aradım ama bulamadım.I looked for my bag everywhere but could not find it.Aradım is the search and bulamadım the failed result: bul + ama ("cannot") + dı + m. The -ama "cannot" form is beyond this level; here it only shows the contrast.
• buluyorlarthey are findingbul·uyor-iyor / -ıyor / -uyor / -üyor: happening now·lar-ler / -lar: the plural suffix
• bulmadımI did not find itbul·madı-medi / -madı: the negative past·mPast person endings: -m, -n, -k, -niz, -ler

Watch out

Bulmak is the result, not the search. To say that you are looking for something, use aramak: anahtarımı arıyorum. Anahtarımı buluyorum means that you are finding the key right now, not that you are looking for it.

Try it yourself

1. Write bulmak in the future for ben: Tomorrow I will find my key.

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   bulacağım

   bulacağım: the stem bul- has a back vowel, so the future ending is -acak, and its k becomes ğ before -ım, which starts with a vowel.

2. Write bulmak in the past for biz: Yesterday we found the wallet.

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   bulduk

   bulduk: the stem ends in the voiced l, so the past ending starts with d; the vowel u is rounded, so it is -du, and -k means "we".

3. Write bulmak in the present continuous for sen: You are finding your phone now.

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   buluyorsun

   buluyorsun: the stem ends in a consonant, so -uyor joins directly, with u because the vowel of the stem is u; -sun means "you".

4. Write bulmak in the negative past for o: My mother did not find the book.

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   bulmadı

   bulmadı: the negative -ma comes before the past -dı, and he or she needs no person ending.

Use it today

Write three sentences about something you lost: what you are looking for (aramak), what you found (bulmak) and what you will find tomorrow.