How a whole sentence becomes an object: -mek, -me and -dık
English puts one thought inside another with that. Turkish sets no such word at all: it turns the inner verb into a name and hangs a tail on it. For example: “Sonradan yanlış anlaşıldığı ortaya çıktı” — It later came out that he had been misunderstood. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English puts one thought inside another with that. Turkish sets no such word at all: it turns the inner verb into a name and hangs a tail on it.
-mek is the action in general, with no person: okumak, to read.
-me is the action with a person and a tail: gelmeni bekliyorum, I am waiting for you to come. One word holds both your and whom.
-dık is what somebody did: anladığım, what I understood. A tail or a helper word clings to it, and out comes a ready phrase. anladığım kadarıyla is as far as I understood, duyduğuma göre is from what I heard. The trap is reaching for -mek: it knows neither who acts nor when.
Table
| the tail | what it names | example | translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| -mek | the action in general | okumak | to read, reading |
| -me + a case | the action with a person | gelmeni bekliyorum | I am waiting for you to come |
| -dık + person | what someone did | anladığım | what I understood |
| -dık + a word behind it | a ready phrase | anladığım kadarıyla | as far as I understood |
| -dık + a case | an object | duyduğuma göre | from what I heard |
| -ecek + person | what someone will do | geleceğini biliyorum | I know that he will come |
By example
- Sonradan yanlış anlaşıldığı ortaya çıktıIt later came out that he had been misunderstood
- Konuyu ancak şimdi kavradımI only grasped the topic just now
- Sonunda şu kanıya vardımIn the end I came to this conclusion
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
-dık vs -mek in Turkish?
English puts one thought inside another with that. Turkish sets no such word at all: it turns the inner verb into a name and hangs a tail on it.
How to say I know that he will come in Turkish?
-mek is the action in general, with no person: okumak, to read.
What anladığım kadarıyla means?
-me is the action with a person and a tail: gelmeni bekliyorum, I am waiting for you to come. One word holds both your and whom.
Why gelmeni bekliyorum and not gelmek?
-dık is what somebody did: anladığım, what I understood. A tail or a helper word clings to it, and out comes a ready phrase. anladığım kadarıyla is as far as I understood, duyduğuma göre is from what I heard. The trap is reaching for -mek: it knows neither who acts nor when.
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Sonradan yanlış anlaşıldığı ortaya çıktı” — It later came out that he had been misunderstood. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.