You will conjugate yıkamak in the present, past, future and negative, put what you wash into the accusative, and tell it apart from yıkmak.
The idea
Yıkamak means to wash something: hands, dishes, laundry, a car. A particular thing that is washed takes the accusative: ellerimi yıkıyorum, arabayı yıkadım; a general object stays bare: çamaşır yıkıyorum. The stem yıka- ends in a vowel. Before -yor its final a drops: yıkıyorum, yıkamıyorum. Before -acak a buffer y appears and the k becomes ğ before a vowel: yıkayacağım. The past attaches directly: yıkadım, yıkamadım.
| Person | Present | Past | Future | Negative present |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | yıkıyorum | yıkadım | yıkayacağım | yıkamıyorum |
| sen | yıkıyorsun | yıkadın | yıkayacaksın | yıkamıyorsun |
| o | yıkıyor | yıkadı | yıkayacak | yıkamıyor |
| biz | yıkıyoruz | yıkadık | yıkayacağız | yıkamıyoruz |
| siz | yıkıyorsunuz | yıkadınız | yıkayacaksınız | yıkamıyorsunuz |
| onlar | yıkıyorlar | yıkadılar | yıkayacaklar | yıkamıyorlar |
Examples
- Ben ellerimi yıkıyorum.I am washing my hands.ellerimi: el + ler + im + i. The hands are particular, so they take the accusative after the possessive. The pronoun ben may be dropped: Ellerimi yıkıyorum.
- Dün akşam bulaşıkları yıkadım.I washed the dishes yesterday evening.
- Yarın arabayı yıkayacağız.We will wash the car tomorrow.The stem yıka- ends in a vowel, so a buffer y joins -acak, and its k becomes ğ before -ız: yıkayacağız.
- Çocuklar ellerini yıkamadı.The children did not wash their hands.
- Annem şimdi çamaşır yıkıyor.My mother is washing the laundry now.çamaşır is a general object, not a particular one, so it takes no accusative: çamaşır yıkıyor, not çamaşırı yıkıyor.
- Sebzeleri yıkadın mı?Did you wash the vegetables?The question word mı is written apart and follows the verb: yıkadın mı. Its vowel follows the last vowel of yıkadın.
- Eski duvarı yıkıyorlar.They are tearing down the old wall.This is yıkmak (to demolish), not yıkamak. The present yıkıyorlar is the same for both; the object duvarı and the situation show the meaning.
- yıkadımI washedyıkadı-di, -dı, -du, -dü, -ti: the past (geldi, yaptı)mPast person endings: -m, -n, -k, -niz, -ler
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Watch out
The present yıkıyorum is also the present of yıkmak, to demolish: duvarı yıkıyorlar means that they are tearing the wall down. The object and the past form tell the two apart: yıkadım is washed, yıktım is demolished. Washing yourself is another verb, yıkanmak (yıkandım), not yıkamak.
Try it yourself
Make the past tense of yıka- for ben: I washed.
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yıkadım
yıkadım: the stem ends in the vowel a, so the past ending attaches directly; the back vowel gives -dı, and -m marks ben.
Make the future tense of yıka- for ben: I will wash.
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yıkayacağım
yıkayacağım: after the vowel a a buffer y joins -acak, and its k softens to ğ because the vowel of -ım follows.
Fill the gap with the accusative: I am washing my hands (plural, my own).
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ellerimi
ellerimi: el + ler + im + i; a particular plural object takes the accusative, which comes last, after the possessive.
Make the negative past of yıka- for sen: you did not wash.
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yıkamadın
yıkamadın: -ma- sits between the stem and the past -dı, no buffer is needed before d, and -n marks sen.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Make the past tense of yıka- for ben: I washed.
Make the future tense of yıka- for ben: I will wash.
Fill the gap with the accusative: I am washing my hands (plural, my own).
Make the negative past of yıka- for sen: you did not wash.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: I washed
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Write three sentences about what you wash today, such as hands, dishes or a car. Put each particular object in the accusative and check the tense ending.