Aorist / Broad Present Tense (Geniş Zaman) in Turkish
Aorist / Broad Present Tense (-ir / -er)
The Aorist (-r / -ar / -ir) denotes habitual actions, universal truths, willingness, polite requests (yapar mısınız?), and uncertain future promises.
The Aorist / Broad Present Tense (Geniş Zaman) is one of the most versatile verbal aspects in Turkish. It covers habits, general truths, spontaneous promises, willingness, and polite requests.
Suffix selection rules: 1. Vowel stems: Take simple -r: oku-r (reads), uyu-r (sleeps), anla-r (understands). 2. Single-syllable consonant stems: Typically take -ar / -er: yap-ar (does), git-er → gider (goes), yaz-ar (writes), koş-ar (runs). (Thirteen common single-syllable verbs exceptionally take -ır/-ir: alır, bilir, bulur, durur, gelir, görür, kalır, olur, ölür, sanır, verir, vurur, varır). 3. Multi-syllable consonant stems: Take 4-way -ır / -ir / -ur / -ür: öğren-ir (learns), konuş-ur (speaks), çalış-ır (works).
Crucially, the negative of the aorist is formed with -mAz (1st person: -mAm): yap-ma-m (I don't do / won't do), yap-maz-sın (you don't do), yap-maz (he doesn't do), yap-mayız (we don't do), yap-maz-sınız (you don't do), yap-maz-lar (they don't do).
The aorist question form is the standard formula for polite requests: Bakar mısınız? (Excuse me / Would you look?), Bana yardım eder misiniz? (Could you help me?).
Examples
Dünya, güneşin etrafında üç yüz altmış beş günde döner.
The Earth revolves around the sun in three hundred sixty-five days.
Lütfen bana şu tuzu uzatır mısınız?
Could you please pass me that salt?
Ben akşamları genellikle kitap okur, müzik dinlerim.
In the evenings I usually read books and listen to music.
O böyle haksız ve kaba davranışları asla kabul etmez.
He never accepts such unfair and rude behavior.
Related terms
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