Turkish Language - Wide Tense (Geniş Zaman)

Turkish Language - The Simple Present Tense - Positive

The Simple Present Tense is also known as the Aorist (Boundless) Tense in some grammar books.

This tense is known as the Wide Tense Tense in Turkish grammatical terms as it signifies an unbounded time situation. In Turkish it is called Geniş Zaman - The Wide Tense. It is also considered as a gentle tense and is used as a polite imperative or polite request. The three uses of the Simple Present are as follows:

(1) Habitual Action

This tense is used where verbs are required to signify a timeless situation in meaning:
Her gun denizde yüzerim. - I swim in the sea every day.
Ayşe hanım dondurmayı cok sever. - Miss Ayshe likes ice cream a lot.
Her gece eve dönerim. - I come back home every night.
Her gün düzenli olarak traş olur. - He shaves regularly each day.
Genelikle et yeriz. - Generally we eat meat.
Her hafta sonunda futbol oynarlar. - They play football every weekend.
In the sentences above there is no indication of future, past or present time. The tense then is used to denote action that is habitual or ongoing.

Thanks to Nurcan Akaltun Çiftçi for corrections to the above section - JG - May 2008.

(2) Consent or Willingness

The tense also shows consent or willingness.
Kapıyı açar mısınız? - Would you open the door please? - [a polite request.]
Buna bakar mısınız? - Would you look at this please - [a polite command.]
Evet, onu yaparım. - Yes, I will do the job - [a willing consent.]
İki gecelik bir oda tutarız - We will take a room for two nights.
In Turkish - would you..? and please.. - are not translated as it is inherent within the tense itself. This tense is a polite tense.

The Polite Command
Bakar mısınız? - Would you look, please?
This is the polite way to get attention of a waiter or any person. It is similar to the Welsh - Look you? - in that it is not rude.

The Polite Request
Bir çay rica ederim - A tea, please - [Lit: I request a tea.]
Pencereyi kapatır mısınız? - Would you close the window, please?
This is the polite way of asking questions or giving minor orders to strangers.

The Polite Consent
Ben onu yaparım - I'll do it.
This is a nice way of accepting the responsibility of something.

(3) Uncertain Future

The Simple Present is also used for future events which are not timed.
Saatin altında seni beklerim - I'll be waiting under the clock for you.
Parkın yanındaki bankayı tabii ki bulursunuz - You'll find the bank all right, next to the Park.
Yarın ofiste buluşuruz - We'll see each other in the office tomorrow.

Positive Form

The tense sign is -r which is added directly to the verb stem as follows:
Single Syllable Verbs
For verbs of one syllable which end in a consonant - the positive tense sign is -ar or -er. There are some exceptions to this general rule. This tense is the only one which shows some irregularity in its formation.

Exceptions to Single Syllable Verbs
Some 13 single syllable verbs take the tense sign as -ir -ır -ür -ur these verbs are listed below.

Multi Syllable Verbs
For verbs consisting of more than one syllable the tense sign is -ir -ır -ür -ur - according to Vowel harmony.

Verb Stems Which end in a vowel
For all verbs ending in a vowel the tense sign is -r-. The Personal suffixes are added to the tense sign to complete the verb in number..

Single Syllable Verb Root ending in a consonant
In this case -ar or -er is added after dropping -mak or -mek
Verb	Meaning	Wide Tense	Tense
yapmak	to do, to make	kesmek	to cut
yaparım	I do	keserim	I cut
yaparsın	you do	kesersin	you cut
yapar	he does	keser	he cuts
yaparız	we do	keseriz	we cut
yaparsınız	you do	kesersiniz	you cut
yaparlar	they do	keserler	they cut

The Five Verbs which Show Consonant Mutation
Remember also that the five verbs that soften their final -t to -d when a vowel is added in the suffix:
Verb	Infinitive	Wide Tense	Tense
gitmek	to go	gider	he goes
etmek	to do	ederim	I do
tatmak	to taste of	tadarlar	they taste of
ditmek	to shred	didersin	you shred
gütmek	to nourish	güderim	I nourish..

Exceptions to Single Syllable Verbs
The following 13 single syllable verbs are exceptions in that they form the tense with -ir or -ır or -ur or -ür. Aide memoir: All these verb stems - except one - sanmak end in -r or -l.
Verb	Meaning	Wide Tense	Meaning
almak	to take	alırım	I take
bilmek	to know	bilir	he knows
bulmak	to find	bulur	he finds
durmak	to stop, halt	dururuz	we stop
gelmek	to come	gelirsiniz	you come
görmek	to see	görürler	they see
kalmak	to stay	kalırım	I stay
olmak	to become	olursun	you become
ölmek	to die	ölür	it dies
sanmak	to suppose	sanırız	we suppose
vermek	to give	verirsiniz	you give
varmak	to arrive	varırlar	they arrive
vurmak	to hit	vururum	I hit

Verb Stems which end in a Vowel
In this case the Tense sign -r is added after dropping -mak or -mek
Verb	Meaning	Wide Tense	Meaning
demek	to say, mean	anlamak	to understand
derim	I say	anlarım	I understand
dersin	you say	anlarsın	you understand
der	he says	anlar	he understands
deriz	we say	anlarız	we understand
dersiniz	you say	anlarsınız	you understand
derler	they say	anlarlar	they understand

Some Examples - the tense sign is -r

demek - der - to say
Dünya yuvarlaktır derler - They say the world is round.
yemek - yer - to eat
Her gün ekmek yeriz - We eat bread every day.
beklemek - bekler - to wait
Her gün köşede beklersiniz, değil mi? - Every day you wait at the corner , don't you?
söylemek - söyler - to speak
Her zaman "hayır'ı" derler - They say "No" every time. [the word "hayır'ı" is a Direct Object]

Multi Syllable Vowels Which end in a Consonant
Verbs consisting of more than one syllable in the verb stem take tense sign -ir -ır -ür -ur according to vowel harmony.
Verb	Meaning	Wide Tense	Meaning
göndermek	to send	kazanmak	to win
gönderirim	I send	kazanırım	I win
gönderirsin	you send	kazanırsın	you win
gönderir	he sends	kazanır	he wins
göndeririz	we send	kazanırız	we win
gönderirsiniz	you send	kazanırsınız	you win
gönderirler	they send	kazanırlar	they win

Some Examples - the tense sign is -ir -ır -ür -ur

kazanabilmek - kazanabilir - to be able to win
Her hafta Milli Piyango'yu kazanabilirsin - You can win the lottery every week.
-a tırmanmak - to climb (to, up to..)
Her yıl Nemrut Dağı'na tırmanırız - We climb (to)Mount Nemrut every year.
Note: - tırmanmak - to climb (to, up to) - takes a Dative Object in -a or -e as this verb shows "movement towards..."
götürmek - götürür - to bring
Mehmet, yemeğini her gün evden götürür - Mehmet, brings his lunch from home every day.
beğenmek - beğenir - to like, approve
Türk kahvesini beğenirler - They like Turkish coffee.

Translation of - "used to.."

If the past tense endings are added to the Wide Tense Positive -r verb stem then the meaning is habitual in the past. This translated by - used to ... - in English. However in Turkish the Simple Present Tense is used with the past tense personal endings habitual in the past.

Sık sık buraya gelirdim.: I used to come here very often
*Gençken çok gülerdin: You used to laugh a lot when [Lit: while..] you were young.
This is another way of saying: ** Genç olduğun zaman çok gülerdin. - When you were young you used to laugh a lot.
Kuşadada (Kuşadasında) kalırken her zaman denizde yüzerdi: He always used to swim in the sea when staying at Kuşadası.
Note: Locally people say Kuşadada - "in Kuşadası" - but grammatically it should be - Kuşadasında - "in Kuşadası"
1950 yılından önce Türkiyede kola içilirdi.: Coca-cola used to be drunk in Turkey before 1950.
Dersler bittikten sonra uzun zaman/süre beni beklerdin.: You always used to wait for me a long time after school finished.
Tatilde kamp yaparken hep/daima iyi uyurlardı: They always used to sleep very well while on holiday while camping.

We should note that although iken translates as while.. in English, it is very often better to translate it as - "when..", although this is not literally correct [see * and ** above]