Bubixo · Turkish
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The -yor present: what is happening right now

Grammar 2 · 12 examples

Good news: Turkish has two present tenses, and the split is one you already make in English without thinking. -yor is your «I am doing» — what is going on right now, or what is true in this stretch of your life. The habitual «I do» is the aorist, and it gets its own chapter later. How to build it. A dictionary verb ends in -mek or -mak (gelmek = to come). Drop -mek/-mak, add -yor, then the person: -um/-üm/-ım/-im = I · -sun/-sün/-sın/-sin = you · (nothing) = he/she/it -uz/-üz/-ız/-iz = we · -sunuz/-sünüz = you (plural) · -lar/-ler = they Three things to watch. 1) If the stem ends in a consonant you need a linking vowel: gel → gel-İ-yor. 2) If it ends in a vowel, that vowel drops: bekle → bekl-i-yor. 3) -yor itself NEVER changes shape — it is the one ending in the language that ignores vowel harmony. Remember it as the exception that proves how regular everything else is. And notice what you do not have to do: there is no «he/she/it» to choose between. One word, o, covers all three. No gender, ever.

verb stem + (ı/i/u/ü) + yor + personal ending → gel + i + yor + um = Geliyorum
Geliyorum.I am coming. gel + i + yor + um. One word does the work of three.
Gidiyorum.I am going. Careful: git softens to gid before a vowel.
Ne yapıyorsun?What are you doing? yap + ı + yor + sun.
Türkçe öğreniyorum.I am learning Turkish — right now, in this part of my life.
Çalışıyor musun?Are you working? The question rides along as a separate little word: mu/mü/mı/mi.
Kitap okuyoruz.We are reading a book. oku ends in a vowel → oku + yor + uz.
Onlar televizyon izliyorlar.They are watching television. -lar at the end marks third person plural.
Bekliyorum.I am waiting. bekle loses its final e: bekl + i + yor + um.
Anlamıyorum.I do not understand. The negative -ma slips in before -yor: anla + mı + yor + um.
Şu anda Türkiye'de yaşıyoruz.We are living in Turkey at the moment — a temporary state, so -yor is right.
Yağmur yağıyor.It is raining. Literally «rain rains» — and there is no dummy «it» to insert.
Beni duyuyor musunuz?Can you hear me? beni = me, the definite object ending doing its job.
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