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Turkish Verbs Vocabulary — Essential Action Words

Verbs are the engine of any sentence, so a core set of Turkish action words takes you a long way fast — with them you can say what you do, want and intend. This page gathers essential Turkish verbs: gitmek (to go), gelmek (to come), yemek (to eat), görmek (to see), each with its English meaning and a button to hear it. Two notes for English speakers. First, the dictionary form of every Turkish verb ends in -mek or -mak — that's the "to ___" infinitive — and which ending it takes follows vowel harmony, the pattern that keeps a word's vowels in tune. Second, Turkish is agglutinative: tense, person and much more are added as endings onto the verb root, so one verb can grow into a whole sentence's worth of meaning. Spelling stays phonetic throughout, so each form reads as written. Tap any 🔊 to hear it. Read the table to get familiar, then carry these verbs into the game below, where matching each one makes the action words automatic.

Key words explained

• walk yürümek🔊 We like to walk by the river after dinner.
• talk konuşmak🔊 Let us talk about your plans for the summer.
• work çalışmak🔊 She has to work late on Fridays.
• play oynamak🔊 The children play in the park every afternoon.
• open açmak🔊 Could you open the window, please?
• close kapatmak🔊 Remember to close the gate behind you.
• start başlamak🔊 The film is about to start.
• stop durmak🔊 The bus will stop right outside the school.

All 239 Turkish verbs words

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