Present Continuous Tense (Şimdiki Zaman in Turkish)

 

Present Continuous Tense (Şimdiki Zaman in Turkish) is used to tell an action that began in the past and is still continuing at the moment of speaking. In Turkish, Şimdiki Zaman is sometimes used to express an action that will take place in the near future or it is used instead of the simple present tense.

Turkish is an agglutinative language, which means that new words are formed by adding suffixes to word roots. And in order to form the present continuous tense (Şimdiki Zaman) in Turkish we should add one of these suffixes:

-iyor

-ıyor

-uyor

-üyor

In order to obtain the present continuous tense (Şimdiki Zaman), we should remove the root "mak/mek" from the infinitive form and then add the appropriate present continuous tense's suffix (-Iyor). For example, the verb root of "dinlemek" would be "dinle", "konuşmak" would be "konuş" etc...

The present continuous tense is expressed in four ways:

1- Positive (konuşuyorum - I am speaking)

2- Negative (konuşmuyorum - I am not speaking)

3- Positive Question  (konuşuyor muyum? -  am I speaking)

4- Negative Question (konuşmuyor muyum -  am I not speaking)

1- Positive Form

As we mentioned, in order to form the present continuous tense (Şimdiki Zaman) in Turkish we should add one of these suffixes: -iyor, -ıyor, -uyor, -üyor

Which of these suffixes do I choose to place beside the root verb? It depends on the last vowel in the root verb.

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- When the last vowel in the root verb is either e or i, we choose -iyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either a or ı, we choose -ıyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either o or u, we choose -uyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either ö or ü, we choose -üyor.

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If the root verb ends in a vowel, we drop the vowel at the end completely and then add the suffix.

Example: 

dinle + yor = dinliyor

 

başla + yor = başlıyor

 

oyna+ yor = oynuyor

Öğrenciler otobüs bekliyor. (beklemek)

Öğretmen konuyu tekrarlıyor. (tekrarlamak)

Bahçıvan bahçeyi suluyor. (sulamak)

de (demek)+ yor = diyor 

ye (yemek)+ yor = yiyor

2- Negative Form

In Turkish, the negative suffixes are "ma" and "me". But in the Present tense, it turns into -mi, -mi, -mu, -mu. The question suffix and the negation suffix should not be confused with each other. The Negative suffix comes before the Present tense, and the question suffix comes after the Present tense.

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How do you know which suffix to choose for the negative form? As above, you look at the last vowel in the root verb and accordingly you choose the right suffix.

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- When the last vowel in the root verb is either e or i, we choose -miyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either a or ı, we choose -mıyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either o or u, we choose -muyor.

- When the last vowel in the root verb is either ö or ü, we choose -müyor.

Example: 

Öğretmen öğrencilere kötü not vermiyor.

Ben sigara içmiyorum.

Öğrenciler derste hiç konuşmuyor.

3- Positive Question

When forming the positive question in the present continuous tense, the question suffix (-mi, -mi, -mu, -mu) is placed between the present continuous tense suffix (-Iyor) and the personal pronoun suffix.

The "Onlar/they" pronoun is an exception, you just add "mı" at the end. Since we can't have two vowels side by side, we add the protection letter "y" to turn "muum" into "muyum" for "Ben/I". Same in  "Biz/We ","muuz" becomes "muyuz.

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How do you know which suffix to choose for the negative form? Same as above, you look at the last vowel in the root verb and accordingly you choose the right suffix.

Example: 

Anneni çok özlüyor musun?

Öğretmeninizi seviyor musunuz?

Sen beni tanıyor musun?

3- Negative Question

To make a question from the negative form in the present continuous tense, do the same as you did in the positive question (above) plus add the negative suffix between the root verb and the present continuous tense suffix. "Onlar" is the exception where we just add "mı" at the end.

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Example: 

Sen dün okula gitmedin mi?

Onlar da bu şehirde yaşamıyorlar mı?

Aldığın notu hak ettiğini düşünmüyor musun?

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