Order of Vebal Mood Suffixes
1. Reflexive
2. Reciprocal
3. Causative
4. Passive
For example:
acımak = to feel pain (simple)
acınmak = to feel pain in oneself, to grieve (reflexive)
acındırmak = to cause to grieve (causative)
acındırılmak = to be made to grieve (passive)
tanımak = to know (simple)
tanişmak = to know one another (reciprocal)
taniştırmak = to introduce (causative)
taniştırılmak = to be introduced (passive)
Negation, -me-, plus ability, -ebil-, and inability, -eme- are added after these. After which the tense suffixes: -iyor-, -ir-, -ecek-, -di-, -miş- are further added to complete the verb.
The Passive Mood
Verb Forms of the Passive Mood
The Passive Mood signifies that the verb acts upon the subject of the sentence whereas in the Active Mood the verb acts on the object of the sentence.
The Active Sentence
The Active Verb (in Past Tense) with the subject - Kemal - and the object - the street.
Kemal swept the street yesterday.
The Passive Sentence
The Passive Verb (in Present Continuous tense) here - The street - is the subject and - Kemal - (the person doing the sweeping) is called the agent in grammar.
The street is being swept by Kemal
The Impersonal Passive
The Passive Verb (in Future Tense here) - the street - is the subject without any agent operating on it.
The street will be swept every day
Or in the Past Tense:
The street was swept yesterday
Formation of the Passive
In Turkish the passive verb stem is formed by adding the passive suffix to the basic verb stem.
The verb stem of course can be an indicative, co-operative or a causative verb stem.
There are two passive suffixes -il and -in which are used as follows:
Verbs Stems ending in a Consonant (Except -l)
The suffix -il - subject to Vowel Harmony - is added to the verb stem.
| Active Mood Positive |
Passive Mood Positive |
| yapmak |
to do |
yapılmak |
to be done |
| kesmek |
to cut |
kesilmek |
to be cut |
| kırmak |
to break |
kırılmak |
to be broken |
| Active Mood Negative |
Passive Mood Negative |
| yapmamak |
not to do |
yapılmamak |
not to be done |
| kesmemek |
not to cut |
kesilmemek |
not to be cut |
| kırmamak |
not to break |
kırılmamak |
not to be broken |
Note that the Causative and Co-operative verbs form their Passive with -il in the usual way
Some Examples of Causative and Potential Passive Verbs
| Examples of Positive Verb Formation - Yapmak - to do/to make |
| Active Verb |
Passive Verb |
| yapmak |
to do |
yapılmak |
to be done |
| yapmamak |
not to do |
yapılmamak |
not to be done |
| yapılmak |
to be done |
Passive Verb |
| yaptırmak |
to get something done |
Active Mood Causative |
| yaptırılmak |
to be done |
Passive Mood Causative |
| yapabilmek |
to be able to do s.o. |
Active Mood Potential |
| yapılabilmek |
to be able get s.o. done |
Passive Mood Potential |
| Examples of Negative Verb Formation - Yapmamak - not to do/not to make |
| yapmamak |
not to do |
Active Verb |
| yaptırılmamak |
not to get something done |
Active Mood Causative |
| yapamamak |
not to be able to do s.o. |
Active Mood Potential |
| yapılmamak |
not to be done |
Passive Verb |
| yaptırılmamak |
not to get s.o. done |
Passive Mood Causative |
| yapılamamak |
not to be able get s.o. done |
Passive Mood Potential |
- anlamak - to understand - Active Verb
- anlatmak - to explain - Active Mood Causative
- anlaşılmak - to be understood - Passive Verb
-
This verb above, we can say does not follow the rules exactly, as it forms its Passive from the Co-operative - anlaşmak - to agree together - to understand each other
- anlatılmak - to be explained - Passive Mood Causative
- kırmak - to break - Active Verb
- kırdırmak - to break something - Active Mood Causative
- kırılmak - to be broken (itself ia broken state) - Passive Verb
- kırdırılmak - to be broken by somebody - Passive Mood Causative
Some Co-operative Passive Verbs
- bulmak - to find - Active Verb
- buluşmak - to meet/to find each other - Co-operative Active
- buluşulmak - to be met/to be found together - Co-operative Passive
- anlamak - to understand - Active Verb
- anlaşmak - to agree/to understand each other - Co-operative Active
- anlaşılmak - to be agreed
- çarpmak - to hit,collide - Active Verb
- çarpışmak - to collide with something - Co-operative Active
- çarpışılmak - to be in collision with something - Co-operative Passive
None of the Causative or Co-operative Verb in the table above have a stem which ends in -l, therefore the -il passive suffix is used.
From the examples above it can be seen that by the use of short suffixes Turkish can say in one word which would take many more in English.
The use of the differing verb forms is rather difficult at first, but by practice and reading the logic of them quickly becomes clear to the student.
Verbs whose stem ends in -L
When the verb stem ends in -L then the passive mood is formed by the addition -in (subject to vowel harmony)
| Active Mood |
Passive Mood |
| delmek |
to pierce |
delinmek |
to be pierced |
| bilmek |
to know |
bilinmek |
to be known |
| almak |
to take |
alınmak |
to be taken |
| bulmak |
to find |
bulunmak |
to be found |
Verbs whose stem ends in a vowel
When the verb stem ends in a vowel then the passive sign is simply -n
| Active Mood |
Passive Mood |
| beklemek |
to wait
to expect |
beklenmek |
to be waited for
to be expected |
| kapamak |
to close |
kapanmak |
to be closed |
| yemek |
to eat |
yenmek |
to be eaten |
Examples of the Passive
Active Verb
- Ali, pencereyi kapadı - Ali closed the window
Passive Verb
- Pencere kapandı - The window was closed (ie. not open)
Causative Forms
An Example in the Causative Active
- Pencereyi kapattı - He closed the window
Here (above) the object is "window" and the verb is Causative Active
An Example in the Causative passive
- Pencere onun tarafından kapatıldı - The window was closed by him.
- Pencere Mehmet tarafından kapatıldı - The window was closed by Mehmet.
Here the subject is "window" and the verb is Causative Passive.
More about - the agent
In the last two examples the agent who closes the window is mentioned.
Turkish has a particular construction in the Passive to denote the agent acting on the subject. For pronouns such as - my, your, his, our their - the agent (the pronoun itself) is placed in the Genitive Case and followed by tarafından - by
Pronouns - Examples including - the agent - in the Genitive.
- Hesap, benim tarafımdan ödenecek
- The bill will be paid by me.
- Kitap, onların tarafından yazılacak
- The book will be written by them
Proper Nouns - Examples including - the agent - in the Nominative.
If the agent is a Proper Noun then it is just in the Nominative (subject) Case - the Genitive is not used.
- Top, Mustafa tarafından bulundu - (NOT - Mustafa 'nın)
- The ball was found by Mustapha
- Araba, Ali tarafından temizleniyor
- The car is being cleaned by Ali
Note that the subject is followed by a comma, this is a good policy to follow when writing Turkish.
There is also the possibility of these being understood a "nicknames" if a break is not put afer the subject. For instance: Araba Ali - Auto Ali - may be a name so used and as far a Top Musafa - Ball Mustafa - this is the sort of nickname used in the "Gay Community..!"
The agent is placed in the Genitive Case and followed by - tarafından - by but the Genitive Case is used only for Pronouns. For Nouns the Nominative Case is used, just like the preposition - ile - with, also, and - so it becomes - benimle - with me.. - but - with Ahmet - Ahmet'le -(not Ahmet'inle)
The Reflexive Form of the Verb
The reflexive form of the verb is used when the action of the verb refers back to the subject as opposed to the object. In English this is usually shown by the use of the reflexive pronouns - myself, yourself, ourselves etc...
However in Turkish the feeling of "self" is understood by using the reflexive form of the verb.
- Mehmet yıkandı - Mehmet washed himself.
Other Examples of Reflexive Forms in English
- I shaved myself
- He washed himself
- You have cut yourself
- We helped ouselves
In Turkish a special Reflexive form of the verb stem is used to convey the reflexive meaning and takes the form of the suffix -in (subject to vowel harmony) or -n after verb stems ending in a vowel. As can be seen the reflexive sign -n is the same as the passive form for those verbs whose stems end in a vowel but the context of the sentence is usually enough to make the meaning passive or reflexive quite evident.
Examples of Use for the Reflexive Verb
If we take the verb yıkamak - to wash we would say:
- çamaşırı yıkadım - I washed the shirt
However - if we say - I washed myself, I had a wash - then the reflexive form must be used:
- yıkandım - I had a wash, I washed myself
Similarly the verb soymak - to undress
- soymak - to undress somebody
- soyunmak - to undress oneself
