Turkish Passive Mood
Turkish Passive Mood
- The Passive Mood:
- Signifies that the verb acts upon the subject of the sentence:
- "
The man (subj.)was bitten by the dog."
- The Active Mood:
- Signifies that the verb acts on the object of the sentence:
- "The dog bit
the man (obj.)"
Turkish Passive Mood Verb Forms
The Active Mood:
The verb acts on the object of the sentence.
Kemal swept the street yesterday.
The subject "Kemal" and the object "the street".
The Passive Mood:
Signifies that the verb acts upon the subject of the sentence.
The street is being swept by Kemal
"the street" is the subject.
"Kemal" (the person doing the sweeping) is called "the agent" in grammar.
The Impersonal Passive
"the street" is the subject without any agent operating on it.The street will be swept every day
Order of Verbal Mood Suffixes
The order that the suffixes are added to the verb as as follows:
1. Reflexive
2. Reciprocal
3. Causative
4. Passive
- Active:acımakto feel pain
- Reflexive:acınmakto feel pain in oneself, to grieve
- Causative:acındırmakto cause to grieve
- Causative Passive:acındırılmakto be made to grieve
- Active:tanımakto know
- Reciprocal:tanışmakto know one another
- Causative:tanıştırmakto introduce
- Causative Passive:tanıştırılmakto be introduced
Negation -me- plus ability -ebil- and inability -eme- for Verb Mood are sufixed.
The tense suffixes:
‑iyor‑ ‑ir‑ ‑ecek‑ ‑di‑ ‑miş‑ are added.
The Person Suffix completes the verb.
- Active Present Continuous
yapmakto do
yapıyorumI am doing - Passive Present Continuous
yapılmak[yap-ıl-mak]to be done
yapılıyorIt is being done - Active Potential Simple Present
yapabilmek[yap-abil-mek]to be able to do
yapabilirimI can do - Passive Potential Simple Present
yapılabilmek[yap-ıl-abil-mek]to be able to be done
yapılabilirit can be done - Negative Active Present Continuous
yapmamak[yap-ma-mak]to not do
yapmıyorumI am not doing - Negative Active Present Continuous
yapılmamak[yap-ıl-ma-mak]to not be done
yapılmıyorit is not being done - Negative Passive Potential Future
yapılamamak[yap-ıl-ama-mak]to not be able to be done
yapılamayacakit will not be able to be done - Active Future Potential:
Onu yapabileceğiz[yap-abil-eceğ-iz]we will be able to do it - Causative Future Potential:
Onu yaptırabileceğiz[yap-tır-abil-eceğ-iz]we will be able to get it done
There are many other tenses and persons that can be built up using the causative and cooperative verbs in all tenses and persons.
This is one of the difficulties for Turkish learners.
Using and recognizing the verb forms and their meanings easily.
It takes practice for the student
It is second nature to a Turkish national.
Turkish Passive Mood Formation
The Turkish passive verb stem is formed by adding the passive suffix -il or -n (after a vowel) to the basic verb stem.
The verb stem can be an active , co-operative or a causative verb stem.
The suffix -il -ıl -ul -ül is added to the verb stem:
görülmek
[görülmek]to be seen
Verb stem ending -l use suffix -in - ın - un -ün
bulunmak
[bulunmak]to be found
For Verb stems ending vowel -n is added:
beklenmek
[bekle-n-mek]to be awaited
Turkish Passive - verb stems ending in a consonant
| 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 | to not do | yapılmamak | to be not done |
| kesmemek | to not cut | kesilmemek | to be not cut |
| kırmamak | to not break | kırılmamak | to be not broken |
Turkish Passive Verb Examples
- Active
anlamakto understand - Active Causative
anlatmakto explain - Passive Causative
anlatılmakto be understood - Active
kırmakto break - Active Causative
kırdırmakto break something - Passive
kırılmak to be broken
[itself in a broken state] - Passive Causative
kırdırılmakto be broken by somebody - Active Verb
bulmak to find - Co-operative Active
buluşmakto meet/to find each other - Co-operative Passive
buluşulmakto be met/to be found together - Active
anlamakto understand - Co-operative Active
anlaşmakto agree/to understand each other - Co-operative Passive
anlaşılmakto be agreed - Active
çarpmak to hit, collide - Co-operative Active
çarpışmakto collide with something - Co-operative Passive
çarpışılmakto be in collision with something
None of Verbs above end in -l
Consequently the -il passive suffix is used.
Using 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
By practice and reading the logic of them quickly becomes clear to the student.
Turkish Passive verb stems ending in ‑l
For veb stems ending in -L the passive mood is formed by the addition ‑in ‑ın ‑ün ‑un
| 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 |
Turkish Passive verb stems ending a vowel.
Verb stem ends in a vowel 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 kapadıAli closed the window. - Impersonal Passive Verb
Pencere kapandıThe window was closed
[ie. not open] - Passive Verb
Ali tarafından pencere kapandıThe window was closed by Ali.
In the last example above we can see that it was Ali who closed that window:
by Ali. Ali is the agent by which the window was closed.
Turkish Passive Agent - tarfındanby
Turkish has a particular construction in the Passive to denote the agent acting on the subject.
Proper Nouns:
Ali tarafındanby Ali.are NOT suffixed with the ownership
[genitive]‑in ‑ın ‑un ‑ünThe Personal Pronouns:
my, your, his, our, their
[the pronoun itself as the agent]IS suffixed with the ownership ‑in ‑ın ‑un ‑ünIt is followed by its version of tarafındanby in agreement.
- Benim tarafımdan pencere kapandı.
The window was closed by me - Onun tarafından pencere kapandı.
The window was closed by him.
- The Agent: must agree with the subject:
- benim → tarafımdan
- senin → tarafından
- onun → tarafından
- bizim → tarafımızdan
- sizin → tarafınızdan
- onların → taraflarından
- Pencereyi kapattı.
He closed the window. - Pencere onun tarafından kapatıldı.
The window was closed by him. - Pencere Mehmet tarafından kapatıldı.
The window was closed by Mehmet. - Hesap, benim tarafımdan ödenecek.
The bill will be paid by me. - Kitap, onların tarafından yazılacak.
The book will be written by them. - Top, Mustafa tarafından bulundu.
[NOT Mustafa 'nın]
The ball was found by Mustapha. - Araba, Ali tarafından temizleniyor.
The car is being cleaned by Ali.
Turkish Passive Mood Future
- Active:
kesmekto cut - Mehmet, yarın onu kesecek.
Mehmet will cut it tomorrow. - Passive:
kesilmekto be cut - Yarın o kesilecek.
It will be cut tomorrow. - ALSO: Yarın o kesilecektir.
It is to be cut tomorrow. - Active Potential Future:
kesebilmekto be able to cut - Ali, yarın onu kesebilecek.
Ali, will be able to cut it tomorrow. - Passive Potential Future:
kesilebilmekTo be able to be to be cut - Yarın o kesilebilecek.
It will be able to be cut tomorrow.
Turkish Reflexive Verb Form
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.
In Turkish the feeling of "self" is understood by using the reflexive form of the verb.
Mehmet yıkandı.Mehmet washed himself.
Examples of Reflexive Forms in English
I shave myself every day.
He washed himself in the garde.
You have cut yourself badly!
We helped ourselves to succeed.
This reflexive form of the verb stem is used to convey the reflexive meaning
The Reflexive suffix is ‑in ‑ın ‑un ‑ün which abrades to -n after a vowel.
The reflexive sign -n is the same as the passive form for those verbs whose stems end in a vowel,
The context of the sentence is usually enough to make the meaning passive or reflexive evident.
Rarely, the -il suffix is used for the reflexive meaning.
The verb üzmek is to make someone sad and its reflexive / passive üzülmek is to get sad (oneself)
Katmak is to add / join and its reflexive / passive katılmak is to get added ,to join, to attend.
This is really a "grey area" between passive and / or reflexive.
Examples of Use for the Reflexive Verb
The Actve Verb:
yıkamakto wash
çamaşırı yıkadımI washed the shirt
Reflexive Verb:
yıkanmakto wash oneself
yıkandımI had a wash, I washed myself
Similarly the verb soymakto undress
soymakto undress somebody[Active]
soyunmakto undress oneself[Reflexive]
