Optative Mood (-e)

The Optative Mood (İstek Kipi) expresses a wish, suggestion or intention. In modern Turkish it is used mainly in the 1st person: "let me...", "let's...", and in questions "shall I...?", "shall we...?".

Formation

Verb stem + -(y)A + personal ending. In practice you need two forms:

• Ben: -(y)AyIm → -eyim / -ayım
• Biz: -(y)AlIm → -elim / -alım

After a vowel-final stem, add buffer y: bekle- → bekleyeyim, bekleyelim. Some stems soften t → d: git- → gideyim, gidelim; et- → edeyim, edelim.

Negative: -mA + buffer y + optative: gitmeyelim (let's not go), yapmayalım (let's not do it).

Question: the particle is written separately and follows vowel harmony: Gideyim mi? (Shall I go?), Gidelim mi? (Shall we go?), Yapayım mı? (Shall I do it?)

Examples

• Hadi sinemaya gidelim! (Come on, let's go to the cinema!)
• Çay koyayım mı? (Shall I pour you some tea?)
• Bir bakayım. (Let me have a look.)
• Bu akşam ne yapalım? (What shall we do this evening?)
• Geç kalmayalım. (Let's not be late.)
• Bakalım ne olacak. (Let's see what happens.)

What About the Other Persons?

Older Turkish had a full set (sen gidesin, o gide, siz gidesiniz, onlar gideler), but these 2nd and 3rd person forms are archaic and very limited in modern speech. They survive mainly in fixed wishes such as Kolay gele! (May it be easy! — said to someone working), which today is usually Kolay gelsin!. Today, for "let him/her..." use the imperative -sIn: Ali de gelsin. (Let Ali come too.)

Common Mistakes

• Writing the spoken pronunciation. Wrong: geliyim, gidiyim. Correct: geleyim, gideyim.
• Forgetting the softening. Wrong: gitelim. Correct: gidelim.
• Using -sIn for "let's". Gitsin means "let him/her go"; "let's go" is gidelim.
• Confusing it with the future. Gidelim mi? is a suggestion (Shall we go?); Gidecek miyiz? asks about a plan (Are we going to go?).
• Wrong question harmony. Wrong: yapayım mi? Correct: yapayım mı?