Present Continuous Tense

The Present Continuous Tense takes the form of - "be doing, be not doing, be saying, be not saying, be going, etc.. I am going, are you thinking? we are not staying, are they not trying? etc.."

Forming the Infinitive of Turkish Verbs

To form the Infinitive of Turkish Verbs -mek or -mak is added to the verb stem. gelmek [gel-mek] - to come - almak [al-mak] - to take The choice of adding -mek or -mak is bound by the Rules of Vowel Harmony.

There is a separate Infinitive form for the negative verb
The negative is characterized with the negative particle -me- or -ma (according to vowel harmony rules) added to the positive verb stem. Thus the negative verb root becomes gelme- not come - and alma- not take. By adding the infinitive suffix -mek or -mak we arrive at the negative verbs - gelmemek [gelme-mek] - not to come - and almamak [alma-mak] - not to take. This method of forming the negative is true for all verbs in Turkish.
See About the Infinitive

E-Dotted Verbs

For verbs of the E-Dotted Group with e i ö ü in verb stem the suffix -mek signifies the positive verb and -memek signifies the negative of the verb. Applying Vowel harmony rules then:

-mek is added to verbs whose final root vowel is -e
vermek [ver-mek] - to give
vermemek [verme-mek] - not to give

-mek is added to verbs whose root vowel is -i
bilmek [bil-mek] - to know
bilmemek [bilme-mek] - not to know

-mek is added to verbs whose root vowel is -ö
görmek [gör-mek] - to see
görmemek [görme-mek] - not to see

-mek is added to verbs whose root vowel is -ü
gülmek [gül-mek] - to laugh
gülmemek [gülme-mek] - not to laugh

A-Undotted Verbs

For verbs of the A-Uotted Group with a ı o u in verb stem the suffix -mak signifies the positive verb and -memek signifies the negative of the verb. Applying Vowel harmony rules then:

-mak is added to verbs whose root vowel is -a
yapmak [yapmak] - to do, make, perform
yapmamak [yapmamak] - not to do

-mak is added to verbs whose root vowel is -ı
ağrımak [ağrımak] - to ache
ağrımamak [ağrımamak] - not to ache

-mak is added to verbs whose root vowel is -o
kopmak [kopmak] - to snap
kopmamak [kopmamak] - not to snap

-mak is added to verbs whose root vowel is -u
kurumak [kurumak] - to dry
kurumamak [kurumamak] - not to dry

Formation of the Present Continuous Tense

The Tense sign of the Present Continuous Tense is -iyor- -ıyor- -üyor- -uyor- which is added to the verb root. The tense endings are completed by adding the personal suffixes.

The first letter -i- of -iyor- is subject to vowel harmony with the verb stem's final vowel. The Tense Sign -iyor- can be likened to the English Tense sign -ing.

Conjugation Examples

Examples of the Present Continuous Tense

The E-Dotted Vowels

Note that the final vowel of any verb stem is dropped when adding -iyor in order to keep two vowels apart. This applies to all negative Verbs - in both the A-UnDotted Vowel and the E-Dotted Groups - as they all end in a vowel of the -me or -ma negative particle. As an example see bilme-mek becomes bil-m-iyor in table above.

Note that the final vowel of any verb is dropped when adding -iyor in order to keep two vowels apart. This applies to all positive Verbs. (in both A-Nodots and E-Dotted Groups). As an example see kuru -mak becomes kur -uyor and ağrı -mak becomes ağr -ıyor in table above. All negative verb stems lose their final stem vowel as they end in the negative particle -me or -ma.

The A-UnDotted Vowels

The root of this verb is bekle- but we must also drop this final vowel -e before adding the tense sign-iyor- in order that two vowels do not occur together. [bekleiyorum would be incorrect]. The Rule is that the final vowel of verb stem is dropped along with -mek or -mak

Verb Root ending in a Vowel

A-UnDotted verbs ending in a consonant

A verb of the A-UnDotted Group therefore the tense sign also begins with an UnDotted ı viz. -ıyor-

For verbs of the A-NoDots Group with a i o u in verb stem the suffix -mak signifies the positive verb - while -mamak is used for the negative verb. The positive verb is bakmak - to see. The negative verb is bakmamak - not to see

E-Dotted verb ending in a vowel

For verbs of the E-Dotted Group with e ı ö ü in verb stem the suffix -mek signifies the positive verb while -memek is used for the negative verb. The positive verb is yürümek - to walk. The negative verb is yürümemek - not to walk.
yürümek - to walk - is a verb of the E-Dotted Group therefore the tense sign also begins with an dotted ü -üyor-. This verb also has a final vowel in the verb stem which is dropped along with the infinitive sign -mek. The tense sign -üyor- is then added under vowel harmony rules.

An Example of a Negative verb

This example contains vowels of the A-Nodots Group, so the first vowel of -ıyor is also undotted. The final vowel of the negative particle -ma is also dropped (to keep two vowels apart)

Forming Positive Questions

To form questions the question particle mi? - (which is subject to Vowel harmony) - is used after -iyor. It is written separately and the personal ending is added making a question tag. However the third person plural is slightly different in that the question particle mi? is always placed last for reasons of ease of pronunciation. The question particle mi? is subject to vowel harmony so can have four forms mi?, mı?, mu?, mü?. It retains its vowel harmonization even when not attached as a suffix.

A Note about Question Formation Generally
The Question Particle - mı? mi? mu? mü? - is placed after the item that you are questioning: It is NOT always the VERB that is in question. - This is the same for English.

Examples of Question Particle Positioning
Mehmet, şimdi eve gidiyor mu? - Is Mehmet going home now? [Mehmet, is he going home now?] - Question on the verb. [to go - gitmek]
Mehmet, eve mı gidiyor?- Is it home that Mehmet is going to? - Question on the Object - [home - ev]
Mehmet mı, eve gidiyor? - Is it Mehmet who is going home? - - Question on The subject - [Mehmet]
Bisiklet, ters mı duruyor? - Is the bicycle upside down? - [The bicycle, is it upside down? - Here the position of the bicycle is in question]
Mehmet, kemen mİ çalıyor? - Is Mehmet playing the violin? - [Is it the violin? That he is playing. Here the "violin" is in question.]

The verb - çalmak has two meanings: (1) To play a musical instrument and {2) To steal something
O, kemen mı çalıyor? .. Could mean - Is a violin that he is stealing? or Is a violin that he is playing?
Bir hirsiz arabamı çaldı - A thief stole my car......

Quetion Tags in Turkish

The question tags muyum?, musun? etc are always written separately from the verb itself. The tags do however follow vowel harmony rules even that they are not directly suffixed to the verb stem itself.
The negative questions are formed in the same manner using the negative verb stem. Note that the vowel harmonized question tag is still written separated from the verb stem

Some Examples
yarın şehre gidiyorum - tomorrow I am going to town
yarın şehre gitmiyorum - tomorrow I am not going to town
benimle gelmiyor musunuz? - aren't you coming with me?
küçük odada uyumuyorlar mı? - aren't they sleeping in the small room?
evi boyuyor - he is painting the house - [ev-i - Lit: the house - direct object.]
Mehmet kendi evini boyumuyor - Mehmet is not painting his own house - [ev-i-n-i - Lit: the house of him - possessed direct object.]
From Example (1) above it can be seen that Turkish uses the Present Continuous Tense as a Future Tense of Intention, just as we do in English - ie. - We are going to Turkey next month - [Future of Intention]

Spelling Exceptions - Basic Verb Stems
Only four verbs change their root spelling from -t to -d when adding a vowel :
gitmek - to go - becomes - gidiyorum - I am going
ditmek - to shred - (this verb is often used in recipes) - becomes - didiyor - he shreds
tatmak - to taste (of) - becomes - tadıyor - it tastes (of..)
etmek - to do/perform - becomes - ediyorum - I am doing etc.
Note: This verb - etmek - includes all verbs containing - etmek such as kaybetmek - to lose and affetmek - to pardon, to excuse
All other verbs retain their original spelling, for instance:
bitmek - to end - bitiyor - it is finishing - [NOT bidiyor]
batmak - to sink - batıyor - it is sinking - [NOT badıyor]

The Present Progressive Tense

This tense is coming into use more and more each day. It is especially used in newspapers, but is also being used in conversation. Its base is formed by adding the locative suffix to the infinitive, to which the personal endings of the verb "to be" are then added.
It means "I am presently doing something and I am still doing it at the moment". and is best translated into English as "I have been doing (and am still doing..)"

Let us take an example beklemek - to wait
beklemekteyim [beklemek-te-yim] - I have been waiting (and am still waiting..)
Saat beşten beri bankada seni beklemekteyim - I have been waiting for you in the bank since five o'clock (and I am still waiting)

The past tense endings can also be added to change the tense - Mehmet evde beni belemekteydi - Mehmet had been waiting for me at home. A newspaper might print - Futbol takimiz Italyada oynamaktadır. - Our football team are presently playing in Italy (and are still there). We mention this tense as it is used very much in newspaper talk, so you should recognize it as such.