sevmek: to love, to like, with -i on the object

The idea

The stem sev- is regular: seviyorum, sevdim, seveceğim. Its object is nearly always specific and takes the accusative -i/-ı/-u/-ü, with a y after a vowel: seni, kediyi, annemi. The pronouns ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar become beni, seni, onu, bizi, sizi, onları. The v is voiced, so the past is -di (sevdi); the k of -ecek turns into ğ before a vowel (seveceğim); the negative is sevmiyorum. A general taste such as kahve severim uses a later tense.

Examples

• Ben seni çok seviyorum.I love you very much.Seni is sen with the accusative -i. English leaves the object unmarked, Turkish does not. The pronoun ben may be dropped: Seni çok seviyorum.
• Kızım kediyi çok seviyor.My daughter loves the cat very much.After the final vowel of kedi the accusative takes a buffer y: kedi + y + i = kediyi.
• Dün akşam bu filmi çok sevdim.I really liked this film last night.The v of sev- is voiced, so the past ending is -di, not -ti: sevdim.
• Bu kahveyi sevmiyorum.I don't like this coffee.The negative -me- becomes -mi- before -yor: sevmiyorum. Kahveyi is one particular coffee; "I don't like coffee" in general uses a later tense.
• Bu şehri seveceksin.You will love this city.The ending -sin starts with a consonant, so the k of -ecek stays: seveceksin.
• Yeni öğretmeni sevdin mi?Did you like the new teacher?The question particle mi is written apart. Öğretmen ends in a consonant, so the accusative is just -i: öğretmeni.
• seveceğimI will lovesev·eceğ-ecek / -acak: will, going to·im-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we areThe k of -ecek becomes ğ before the vowel of -im: sevecek, but seveceğim.
• sevdilerthey likedsev·di-di, -dı, -du, -dü, -ti: the past (geldi, yaptı)·lerPast person endings: -m, -n, -k, -niz, -ler

Watch out

A specific person or thing needs the accusative: Kediyi seviyorum, not Kedi seviyorum. For a pronoun, onu is right and ona is wrong: Onu seviyorum; ona belongs to verbs like giving or going. A sentence with no object at all (Ben seviyorum) also sounds unfinished.

Try it yourself

1. Complete with sevmek in the future for ben: Tomorrow I will love you.

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   seveceğim

   seveceğim: the ending -im starts with a vowel, so the k of -ecek becomes ğ; the stem sev- does not change.

2. Complete with sevmek in the past for biz: Yesterday we liked this song.

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   sevdik

   sevdik: the v is voiced, so the past ending is -di and not -ti; for biz the person ending is -k.

3. Write the object form of o (he, she, it): I love him, I love her.

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   onu

   onu: o takes the accusative as its object; ona is the dative and does not go with sevmek.

4. Complete with sevmek in the negative present for ben: I don't like this coffee.

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   sevmiyorum

   sevmiyorum: before -yor the negative -me- becomes -mi-, and the object kahveyi keeps its accusative.

Use it today

Write four sentences about people and things you love or like: one in the present, one in the past, one in the future and one negative. Mark the -i on every object.