Lingoflyoturmak
- to sit down
“oturmak” — to sit down in Turkish. Verb, level A1, topic — everyday life and routine. To sit down, to sit, and to live somewhere: İstanbul'da oturuyorum is "I live in Istanbul". In a live sentence: “Buraya oturun, lütfen” — Sit here, please. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 12 words in the set “everyday life and routine” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | oturmak |
| Translation | to sit down |
| Part of speech | verb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
To sit down, to sit, and to live somewhere: İstanbul'da oturuyorum is "I live in Istanbul".
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.
Nearby words: everyday life and routine
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
- işworkBoth work as occupation and business as a task: işim var is "I have things to do". The workplace is iş yeri.
- çalışmakto workAlso "to study, to prepare": sınava çalışıyorum is "I am preparing for the exam". Said of machines too — çalışmıyor, "it is not working".
- uyanmakto wake upThe partner of uyumak, 'to sleep'. To wake someone else is uyandırmak, with the tail that shifts the doing.
- kalkmakto get upAlso "to depart" about transport: tren kalkıyor is "the train is leaving".
- yüz yıkamakto wash one's faceLiterally 'to wash the face' — Turkish names what gets washed. yıkanmak with no second word means washing the whole self.
- taranmakto comb one's hairThe reflexive of taramak, "to comb". The tail -n is what turns the action back on oneself.
- tıraş olmakto shavetıraş olmak is to shave oneself, tıraş etmek is to shave someone. olmak and etmek split the roles.
- giyinmekto get dressedThe reflexive of giymek, "to put on". giymek demands a thing; giyinmek does not.
- soyunmakto undressThe partner of giyinmek, built with the same tail -n. soyunma odası is "the changing room".
- yatmakto lie downBoth "to lie down" and "to lie". yatak, "the bed", is from the same root.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “everyday life and routine”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “to sit down” in Turkish?
To sit down, to sit, and to live somewhere: İstanbul'da oturuyorum is "I live in Istanbul".
- How do you say “to shave” in Turkish?
tıraş olmak is to shave oneself, tıraş etmek is to shave someone. olmak and etmek split the roles.
- How do you say “to wake up” in Turkish?
The partner of uyumak, 'to sleep'. To wake someone else is uyandırmak, with the tail that shifts the doing.
- How do you say “to lie down” in Turkish?
Both "to lie down" and "to lie". yatak, "the bed", is from the same root.
- How do you say “to comb one's hair” in Turkish?
The reflexive of taramak, "to comb". The tail -n is what turns the action back on oneself.
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 “to sit down” in Turkish?
«oturmak». In a live sentence: “Buraya oturun, lütfen” — Sit here, please. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Verb, level A1, from the set “everyday life and routine”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
To sit down, to sit, and to live somewhere: İstanbul'da oturuyorum is "I live in Istanbul". 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 this 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.