kalkmak: to get up, to leave

The idea

Kalkmak means to rise from where you lie or sit: get out of bed (yataktan kalkmak), stand up (ayağa kalkmak) or, for a train, bus or plane, to leave or take off (tren kalkıyor). The stem kalk- has a back vowel and ends in the voiceless k, so it takes -ıyor, -tı and -acak: kalkıyorum, kalktım, kalkacağım. The k of the stem never softens; only the k of -acak becomes ğ before a vowel, as in kalkacağız. What you get up from takes -dan/-tan: yataktan, sandalyeden.

Examples

• Ben sabah yedide kalkıyorum.I get up at seven in the morning.
• Tren yarın sekizde kalkacak.The train leaves at eight tomorrow.Kalkmak also says that a train, bus or plane leaves. The k of -acak stays in kalkacak and only softens to ğ when a vowel follows, as in kalkacağız.
• Biz dün erken kalktık.We got up early yesterday.
• Çocuk yataktan kalktı.The child got out of bed.What you leave takes the ablative: yataktan. The k of yatak is voiceless, so the suffix is -tan, and the past of kalk- is kalktı, with -tı, for the same reason.
• Hepimiz ayağa kalktık.All of us stood up.Ayak (foot) softens its k to ğ before the dative -a: ayağa. The verb stem kalk- never softens, so the k stays in kalktık. Ayağa kalkmak means to stand up.
• Sen kalkıyorsun, ben kalıyorum.You are getting up; I am staying.One letter separates the verbs: kalkıyorsun is you get up, kalıyorum is I stay (kalmak). Check for the k before the vowel.
• Otobüs ne zaman kalkıyor?When does the bus leave?
• kalkıyorumI am getting upkalk·ıyor-iyor / -ıyor / -uyor / -üyor: happening now·um-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
• kalkacağızwe will get upkalk·acağ-ecek / -acak: will, going to·ız-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
• yataktanfrom the bedyatak·tan-den / -dan / -ten / -tan: from, out of

Watch out

Kalkmak and kalmak differ by one letter and mean opposite things: kalkıyorum is “I get up”, kalıyorum is “I stay”. Do not write kalkdım either: after the voiceless k the past ending is -tı, so kalktım.

Try it yourself

1. I get up at six every morning. Add the present continuous ending for ben to the stem kalk-.

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   kalkıyorum

   kalkıyorum: the stem ends in a consonant and its last vowel is a, so -ıyor joins directly, and -um marks “I”.

2. At what time did you get up yesterday? Add the past ending for sen to the stem kalk-.

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   kalktın

   kalktın: the stem ends in the voiceless k, so the past ending starts with t (-tı), and -n marks “you”.

3. I will get up early tomorrow. Add the future ending for ben to the stem kalk-.

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   kalkacağım

   kalkacağım: the person ending -ım starts with a vowel, so the k of -acak softens to ğ; the stem's own k stays.

4. Add the ablative to yatak (bed): get up from the bed.

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   yataktan

   yataktan: yatak ends in the voiceless k, so the ablative is -tan, and its back vowel a rules out -ten.

Use it today

Write three sentences about your morning: when you get up, who gets up before you, and what time you will get up tomorrow.