Çalmak can describe making music, taking something without permission, or a phone ringing. You will use the subject and object to choose the meaning, then select a form from the table.
The idea
The stem is çal-: çalıyorum, çaldım, çalacağım, çalarım. Its vowel stays unchanged; in çalacağım the future ending’s k becomes ğ. An instrument as a general activity has no object ending: keman çalmak. A specific instrument can take one: bu piyanoyu çalmak. With telefonum as the subject, çalmak means “ring”. The table shows plural endings with onlar; a singular verb is also possible here.
| Person | Present continuous | Past | Future | Aorist (habit) | Negative present |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | çalıyorum | çaldım | çalacağım | çalarım | çalmıyorum |
| sen | çalıyorsun | çaldın | çalacaksın | çalarsın | çalmıyorsun |
| o | çalıyor | çaldı | çalacak | çalar | çalmıyor |
| biz | çalıyoruz | çaldık | çalacağız | çalarız | çalmıyoruz |
| siz | çalıyorsunuz | çaldınız | çalacaksınız | çalarsınız | çalmıyorsunuz |
| onlar | çalıyorlar | çaldılar | çalacaklar | çalarlar | çalmıyorlar |
Examples
- Ablam akşamları keman çalar.My older sister plays the violin in the evenings.
- Dün biri bisikletimi çaldı.Someone stole my bicycle yesterday.
- Telefonum toplantıda iki kez çaldı.My phone rang twice during the meeting.
- Yarın konserde piyano çalacağım.I will play the piano at the concert tomorrow.
- Sen de keman çalıyor musun?Do you play the violin too?
- Ablam bu şarkıyı gitarda çalıyor.My older sister is playing this song on the guitar.
- Ben gitar çalmıyorum; abim çalıyor.I don’t play the guitar; my older brother does.
- Bu piyanoyu konserde çalacağız.We will play this piano at the concert.
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Watch out
Do not translate every “play” as oynamak: use gitar çalmak for music, but satranç oynamak for chess. Nor does an accusative ending mean “steal”: bu piyanoyu çalmak can mean playing this piano. The context decides.
Try it yourself
Complete with the habitual form of çalmak: I play the violin every week.
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çalarım
çalarım: her hafta presents a repeated habit. The aorist of this verb is çalar, and ben needs -ım; çalırım is not its aorist.
Complete in the past: someone stole my bag yesterday. Use çalmak.
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çaldı
çaldı: dün places the event in the past, and biri takes the third-person singular. The bag is what someone took; there is no musical context.
Complete in the future: I will play the piano at the concert tomorrow. Use çalmak.
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çalacağım
çalacağım: the planned concert is tomorrow, and the speaker is ben. The future ending softens before the vowel of the person ending, so write ğ, not k.
Answer “Do you play the guitar?” negatively in the present continuous. You may repeat the instrument.
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çalmıyorum / gitar çalmıyorum
çalmıyorum / gitar çalmıyorum: the reply changes “you” in the question to “I”. Negation gives çalmıyor- and the speaker adds -um. Repeating the instrument is optional.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete with the habitual form of çalmak: I play the violin every week.
Complete in the past: someone stole my bag yesterday. Use çalmak.
Complete in the future: I will play the piano at the concert tomorrow. Use çalmak.
Answer “Do you play the guitar?” negatively in the present continuous. You may repeat the instrument.
çalmıyorum / gitar çalmıyorum
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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Write a sentence about a musical habit, one about a stolen object, and one about a phone ringing. Name the clue to each meaning. Next, compare games in the lesson on oynamak.