Use saymak to find a total, include someone in a group, or express a judgment. The table gives six persons; the examples show which meaning the surrounding words create.
The idea
The stem is say-; its y stays in sayıyorum, saydım and sayacağım. A specific counted object takes the accusative: parayı saymak. To count up to a number, use the dative with kadar: yirmiye kadar saymak. With an object and an adjective, the verb can mean “consider”: Bu hatayı önemli saymıyorum expresses a judgment, not a total. Beni de sayın asks to be included; de is written separately.
| Person | Present continuous | Past | Future | Aorist (habit) | Negative present |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | sayıyorum | saydım | sayacağım | sayarım | saymıyorum |
| sen | sayıyorsun | saydın | sayacaksın | sayarsın | saymıyorsun |
| o | sayıyor | saydı | sayacak | sayar | saymıyor |
| biz | sayıyoruz | saydık | sayacağız | sayarız | saymıyoruz |
| siz | sayıyorsunuz | saydınız | sayacaksınız | sayarsınız | saymıyorsunuz |
| onlar | sayıyorlar | saydılar | sayacaklar | sayarlar | saymıyorlar |
Examples
- Ben düğmeleri sayıyorum.I am counting the buttons.
- Çocuklar bahçede adımlarını sayıyor.The children are counting their steps in the garden.
- Akşam kutuları yeniden sayacağız.We will count the boxes again this evening.
- Kasadaki parayı iki kez saydım.I counted the money in the till twice.
- Saklambaçta yirmiye kadar sayarız.We count to twenty when playing hide-and-seek.
- Bu hatayı önemli saymıyorum.I do not consider this mistake important.
- Lütfen beni de sayın.Please count me in too.
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Watch out
Do not carry the vowel of sayıyorum into the aorist: a habit takes sayarım, not sayırım. Also keep the stem’s y in sayacağım; the ğ belongs to the future ending, not to the stem.
Try it yourself
Complete the gap with “I am counting”: the action is happening now.
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sayıyorum
sayıyorum: the cue şu anda places the action in progress. The stem say- takes -ıyor and the first-person ending -um; the first vowel of the ending is dotless ı.
Use the first-person singular aorist for a daily habit.
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sayarım
sayarım: her akşam describes a recurring routine, and the prompt requests the aorist. Use sayar- with the first-person ending -ım to make the speaker the person counting.
Write “I will count” in the future tense.
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sayacağım
sayacağım: yarın and the requested future point to a planned count. Before the vowel of -ım, the final k of -acak becomes ğ; say- itself stays intact.
Complete “up to twenty”: add the needed ending to yirmi.
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yirmiye
yirmiye: twenty is the endpoint of the count, not the object being counted. Before kadar, yirmi takes dative -ye, with a linking y after its final vowel.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete the gap with “I am counting”: the action is happening now.
Use the first-person singular aorist for a daily habit.
Write “I will count” in the future tense.
Complete “up to twenty”: add the needed ending to yirmi.
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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Write one sentence about what you count every day and one about what you will count tomorrow. Then ask to be included in a group, and use önemli saymıyorum to judge a small mistake.