To set about, to stop, to drag on: the second verb holds the phase
English marks the phase in the second verb's form: 'started working', 'stopped smoking', 'kept him waiting'. In Turkish it is almost always two verbs, and the card here teaches a construction, not a separate word — that is more honest than passing the pair off as a word. For example: “Sabah erkenden işe giriştik” — We set about work early in the morning. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not…
How it works
English marks the phase in the second verb's form: 'started working', 'stopped smoking', 'kept him waiting'. In Turkish it is almost always two verbs, and the card here teaches a construction, not a separate word — that is more honest than passing the pair off as a word.
The beginning. -e başlamak — to start (the to-case on the action noun): çalışmaya başladı. -e girişmek — to set about, decisively: işe girişti. -e koyulmak — to get down to, calmer: işe koyuldu. All three demand the to-case, and that is the only thing to memorize.
The end. -mayı bırakmak — to stop doing (the accusative on the action noun): sigarayı bıraktı — he quit smoking, konuşmayı bıraktı — he stopped talking. bitirmek and tamamlamak — to finish and to complete; they take a plain object: işi bitirdim. yarıda kesmek — to cut short, without finishing.
Resuming and dragging on. There is no separate verb: yeniden başlatmak (to resume) is assembled from an adverb and a causative, uzamak (to drag on) is a plain verb 'to grow longer' to which only the context gives the phase.
Why the action-noun form differs. With başlamak it is the to-case (-maya), with bırakmak the accusative (-mayı), with devam etmek the to-case again (-maya devam etti — he went on doing). The case belongs to the verb, not to the meaning: it is learned as a pair, the way English learns 'stop doing' against 'decide to do'.
A side benefit. The same trick explains half of wave 5: rapor vermek, mola vermek, iflas etmek — and a good part of this one: riske girmek, pes etmek. A noun plus a light verb is the commonest way Turkish mints a new verb without inventing a root.
Table
| the phase | the construction | the case of the action noun | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| to start | -maya başlamak | the to-case | çalışmaya başladı |
| to set about | -e girişmek | the to-case | işe girişti |
| to get down to | -e koyulmak | the to-case | işe koyuldu |
| to stop | -mayı bırakmak | the accusative | sigarayı bıraktı |
| to continue | -maya devam etmek | the to-case | okumaya devam etti |
| to complete | tamamlamak | the accusative | projeyi tamamladı |
| to cut short | yarıda kesmek | the accusative | toplantıyı yarıda kesti |
By example
- Sabah erkenden işe giriştikWe set about work early in the morning
- Gürültü yapmayı bıraktılarThey stopped making noise
- Toplantı iki saat uzadıThe meeting dragged on for two hours
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
To set about, to stop, to drag on: how does it work in Turkish?
English marks the phase in the second verb's form: 'started working', 'stopped smoking', 'kept him waiting'. In Turkish it is almost always two verbs, and the card here teaches a construction, not a separate word — that is more honest than passing the pair off as a word.
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Sabah erkenden işe giriştik” — We set about work early in the morning. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.