Three negations: -me- in the verb, değil and yok
Turkish denies in three ways, and they do not stand in for one another. A verb takes -ma- / -me- right after the stem, before tense and person: git-me-di-m, go-not-past-I. The vowel follows the word, as always. For example: “Bugün çay içmiyorum” — I am not drinking tea today. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Turkish denies in three ways, and they do not stand in for one another. A verb takes -ma- / -me- right after the stem, before tense and person: git-me-di-m, go-not-past-I. The vowel follows the word, as always.
Before -yor that vowel narrows, and you get -mıyor / -miyor / -muyor / -müyor: not gelmeyorum but gelmiyorum. The softening of the stem goes too: gidiyorum becomes gitmiyorum.
A name or a quality is denied by a separate word, değil. There is no verb to hide -me- inside, so the person ending moves onto it: öğrenciyim → öğrenci değilim.
The third one is yok, the partner of var: param var → param yok. So look at the last word first. A verb takes -me-, a name takes değil, var turns into yok.
Table
| what you deny | how | example |
|---|---|---|
| a verb | -ma- / -me- after the stem | gitmedim — I did not go |
| a verb on -yor | the vowel narrows | gelmiyorum — I am not coming |
| a name or a quality | the separate word değil | iyi değilim — I am not well |
| var | it becomes yok | param yok — I have no money |
By example
- Bugün çay içmiyorumI am not drinking tea today
- Ben iyi değilimI am not well
- Bende para yokI have no money
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Değil vs yok?
Turkish denies in three ways, and they do not stand in for one another. A verb takes -ma- / -me- right after the stem, before tense and person: git-me-di-m, go-not-past-I. The vowel follows the word, as always.
Why gelmiyorum and not gelmeyorum?
Before -yor that vowel narrows, and you get -mıyor / -miyor / -muyor / -müyor: not gelmeyorum but gelmiyorum. The softening of the stem goes too: gidiyorum becomes gitmiyorum.
Where -me goes inside the Turkish verb?
A name or a quality is denied by a separate word, değil. There is no verb to hide -me- inside, so the person ending moves onto it: öğrenciyim → öğrenci değilim.
How to say I have no money in Turkish?
The third one is yok, the partner of var: param var → param yok. So look at the last word first. A verb takes -me-, a name takes değil, var turns into yok.
Değil or yok at the end of a Turkish sentence?
The third one is yok, the partner of var: param var → param yok. So look at the last word first. A verb takes -me-, a name takes değil, var turns into yok.
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Bugün çay içmiyorum” — I am not drinking tea today. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.