Sports and hobbies: oynamak or yapmak?

The idea

Games with a ball, a board or rules take oynamak (to play): futbol oynamak, basketbol oynamak, tenis oynamak, satranç oynamak. Exercise and crafts take yapmak (to do, to make): spor yapmak, yoga yapmak, resim yapmak. Some activities are verbs themselves: yüzmek (to swim), koşmak (to run). Riding takes the dative: bisiklete binmek. To ask about hobbies say Hobin ne?; one answer is Hobim resim yapmak.

Examples

• Hafta sonu basketbol oynuyoruz.We play basketball at the weekend.
• Annem sabahları yoga yapıyor.My mother does yoga in the mornings.Yoga is something you do: yoga yapmak, like spor yapmak. Use oynamak only for games.
• Kardeşim çok iyi satranç oynar.My brother (or sister) plays chess very well.
• Her sabah parkta koşuyorum.I run in the park every morning.Koşmak (to run) and yüzmek (to swim) are verbs on their own, so they need neither oynamak nor yapmak.
• Yazın denizde yüzüyoruz.In summer we swim in the sea.
• Hobim resim yapmak.My hobby is drawing.
• Akşamları bisiklete biniyorum.In the evenings I ride my bike.Binmek takes the dative: bisiklete biniyorum. The final t of bisiklet stays t before the vowel.
• Cumartesi günü maça gidiyoruz.On Saturday we are going to a match.Maça gitmek means to go to a match: the dative -a goes on maç, and the ç does not soften in this one-syllable word.

Watch out

Do not carry the English verb over. Futbol yapmak and satranç yapmak sound wrong, and so does yoga oynamak: the verb belongs to the activity, so learn it together with the noun. Also bisiklet binmek is incomplete, because binmek needs the dative: bisiklete binmek.

Try it yourself

1. I play chess. Fill in oynamak in the present continuous, I-form.

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   oynuyorum

   oynuyorum: satranç is a game with rules, so it takes oynamak; the final a of oyna drops before -yor and the vowel of the ending becomes u, then -um for I.

2. My mother does yoga. Fill in yapmak in the present continuous, third person.

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   yapıyor

   yapıyor: yoga is an exercise, so it takes yapmak; the stem yap has a back vowel, so the ending is -ıyor, and the third person adds nothing.

3. We swim in the sea. Fill in yüzmek in the present continuous, we-form.

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   yüzüyoruz

   yüzüyoruz: yüzmek is a verb in its own right; its front rounded vowel gives -üyor, then -uz for we.

4. In the evenings I ride my bike. Add the dative suffix to bisiklet.

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   bisiklete

   bisiklete: binmek takes the dative, and -e is chosen because the last vowel of bisiklet is front; the final t stays.

Use it today

Write four sentences about what you and people you know do in their free time, each with the right verb.