Turkish Vocabulary - Verbs

Verbs

The verb-stem temizle- "make clean" is the adjective temiz "clean" with the suffix -le-. Many verbs are formed from nouns or adjectives with -le:

  • başla- "make a head", that is, "begin" (intransitive; baş "head");
  • kilitle- "make locked", that is, "lock" (kilit "lock");
  • kirle- "make dirty" (kir "dirt")
  • köpekle- (from köpek "dog", discussed at Turkish grammar#Parts of speech).

The suffix -iş- indicates reciprocal action, which is expressed in English by "each other" or "one another".

  • görüşmek "to see one another" (from görmek "to see", for example Görüşürüz, "Goodbye"

(literally "We see one another"))

(But there are exceptions: sevişmek does not mean "to love one another" (from sevmek "to love") but rather "to make love with each other."

Many causative verbs are formed with -dir-.

  • öldürmek "to kill" (from ölmek "to die")
  • yaptırmak "to have something done" (from yapmak "to do")

Read more about this topic:  Turkish Vocabulary

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