istiyorum
“istiyorum” — I want in Turkish. Verb, level A0, topic — verbs. The verb goes last: bir kahve istiyorum is literally "one coffee [I] want". In a live sentence: “Bir kahve istiyorum” — I want coffee. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 23 words in the set “verbs” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | istiyorum |
| Translation | I want |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A0 |
- istiyorumI want
Why it looks that way
The verb goes last: bir kahve istiyorum is literally "one coffee [I] want".
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Bir kahve istiyorumI want coffee
Nearby words: verbs
I want, I can, I am going, I know. Twenty verbs cover more everyday sentences than two hundred nouns.
- seviyorumI loveCovers both food and people — one word for "like" and "love". Seni seviyorum is "I love you".
- gitmekto goThe infinitive always ends in -mek or -mak, by vowel harmony.
- yemekto eatThe same word, unchanged, works as the noun "food, dish": yemek yemek is "to eat food", and that is not a typo.
- içmekto drinkTurkish "drinks" a cigarette too: sigara içmek is to smoke. Soup is drunk as well — çorba içmek, not eaten.
- okumakto readThe same word means "to study somewhere": üniversitede okuyorum is "I study at university", literally "I read".
- konuşmakto speakThe mutual tail -ş lives inside it: konuşmak is to talk with each other, to converse. To say something is söylemek; to speak a language is Türkçe konuşmak.
- çalışmakto workAlso "to study, to prepare": sınava çalışıyorum is "I am preparing for the exam". Said of machines too — çalışmıyor, "it is not working".
- yaşamakto liveTo live in the sense of exist, and to live somewhere. But "to reside at an address" a Turk says with oturmak, literally "to sit": burada oturuyorum.
- varthere isA whole verb "to be present" in three letters. It goes at the end: su var mı? is "is there water?". Never confused with eating: "to eat" is yemek.
- yokthere is notThe partner of var: "not present". No separate negation needed — it is a word of its own, and it doubles as the short "no" in a reply.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “verbs”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “I want” in Turkish?
The verb goes last: bir kahve istiyorum is literally "one coffee [I] want".
- How do you say “to work” in Turkish?
Also "to study, to prepare": sınava çalışıyorum is "I am preparing for the exam". Said of machines too — çalışmıyor, "it is not working".
- How do you say “to eat” in Turkish?
The same word, unchanged, works as the noun "food, dish": yemek yemek is "to eat food", and that is not a typo.
- How do you say “there is not” in Turkish?
The partner of var: "not present". No separate negation needed — it is a word of its own, and it doubles as the short "no" in a reply.
- How do you say “to speak” in Turkish?
The mutual tail -ş lives inside it: konuşmak is to talk with each other, to converse. To say something is söylemek; to speak a language is Türkçe konuşmak.
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “I want” in Turkish?
«istiyorum». In a live sentence: “Bir kahve istiyorum” — I want coffee. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A0, from the set “verbs”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The verb goes last: bir kahve istiyorum is literally "one coffee [I] want". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.