The language of the recipe: the imperative, -ip and -ince
A recipe, a device manual and an explanation of the way are written in Turkish alike — short imperatives and a chain of two or three actions in a row. Take this assembly apart; it will serve far beyond the kitchen. For example: “Sebzeleri soyup küçük küçük doğrayın” — Peel the vegetables and chop them small. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
A recipe, a device manual and an explanation of the way are written in Turkish alike — short imperatives and a chain of two or three actions in a row. Take this assembly apart; it will serve far beyond the kitchen.
The imperative has four steps of politeness, and recipes use the two middle ones. The bare stem — kes, karıştır, ekle — is the 'you' form: blogs write it and homes say it. The polite -in/-ın — kesin, karıştırın, ekleyin — is the standard of printed recipes and manuals. There is also the bookish -iniz (kesiniz) for signs, and the rarer third-person -sın: gelsin — 'let it come'.
Two actions of one subject in a row are joined by the suffix -ip/-ıp: tense and person go only on the LAST verb, and the first one stays bare. Soğanı doğrayıp tavaya atın — 'chop the onion and toss it into the pan'. English repeats the imperative twice; Turkish hangs the second action off the first, the way 'chop it up and toss it' leans on one main verb. The same assembly builds yanıp sönmek (to blink) and kapatıp açmak (to restart).
The moment in time is set by three turns. -ince/-ınca — 'as soon as': su kaynayınca makarnayı at. -meden önce — 'before': pişirmeden önce tuzlayın. -dikten sonra — 'after': kaynattıktan sonra soğutun. All three are built from the verb stem and do not change for person — the person, if needed, goes into a tail: ben gelince, sen gelince.
Table
| the form | what it means | example |
|---|---|---|
| the bare stem | the informal imperative | karıştır — stir (informal) |
| -in / -ın / -un / -ün | the polite imperative | karıştırın — stir, please |
| -iniz | bookish, for signs | kullanmayınız — do not use |
| -ip / -ıp | and then (one subject) | soyup doğrayın — peel and chop |
| -ince / -ınca | as soon as | kaynayınca — once it boils |
| -meden önce | before | pişirmeden önce — before cooking |
| -dikten sonra | after | ekledikten sonra — after you add |
By example
- Sebzeleri soyup küçük küçük doğrayınPeel the vegetables and chop them small
- Su kaynayınca makarnayı atınOnce the water boils, add the pasta
- Fırından çıkardıktan sonra soğutunAfter you take it out of the oven, let it cool
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
Kes or kesin: the imperative in a Turkish recipe?
A recipe, a device manual and an explanation of the way are written in Turkish alike — short imperatives and a chain of two or three actions in a row. Take this assembly apart; it will serve far beyond the kitchen.
-ince vs -dikten sonra?
The imperative has four steps of politeness, and recipes use the two middle ones. The bare stem — kes, karıştır, ekle — is the 'you' form: blogs write it and homes say it. The polite -in/-ın — kesin, karıştırın, ekleyin — is the standard of printed recipes and manuals. There is also the bookish…
How to join two verbs with ip in Turkish?
Two actions of one subject in a row are joined by the suffix -ip/-ıp: tense and person go only on the LAST verb, and the first one stays bare. Soğanı doğrayıp tavaya atın — 'chop the onion and toss it into the pan'. English repeats the imperative twice; Turkish hangs the second action off the…
How to say before and after in a Turkish recipe?
The moment in time is set by three turns. -ince/-ınca — 'as soon as': su kaynayınca makarnayı at. -meden önce — 'before': pişirmeden önce tuzlayın. -dikten sonra — 'after': kaynattıktan sonra soğutun. All three are built from the verb stem and do not change for person — the person, if needed, goes…
Why recipes write karıştırın and not karıştır?
The moment in time is set by three turns. -ince/-ınca — 'as soon as': su kaynayınca makarnayı at. -meden önce — 'before': pişirmeden önce tuzlayın. -dikten sonra — 'after': kaynattıktan sonra soğutun. All three are built from the verb stem and do not change for person — the person, if needed, goes…
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Sebzeleri soyup küçük küçük doğrayın” — Peel the vegetables and chop them small. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.