The Top 100 Most Common Turkish Verbs You Need to Know

Why Verbs Matter Most in Turkish

In Turkish, the verb usually comes at the very end of the sentence (Subject-Object-Verb). Because of the language's agglutinative nature, a single verb can encode the subject, the tense, the mood, and the negative all in one word!

For example: Gidemeyecekmişim means "Apparently, I won't be able to go."Because verbs hold so much power, learning the most common ones will give you massive leverage in understanding and speaking.

The "Big Three" Helper Verbs

Before memorizing long lists, you must learn the three verbs that form thousands of compound verbs in Turkish.

1. Olmak (To Be / To Become / To Happen)

There is no "to be" verb in the present tense (it is handled by suffixes like -im/-sin), but "olmak" is used for the future, past, and for compound verbs.

• Mutlu olmak (To be happy)
• Hazır olmak (To be ready)
• Ne oldu? (What happened?)

2. Etmek (To Do / To Make)

"Etmek" rarely stands alone. It is glued to Arabic and Persian loanwords to make them verbs.

• Teşekkür etmek (To thank)
• Yardım etmek (To help)
• Kabul etmek (To accept)

3. Yapmak (To Do / To Make)

Used for physical actions, chores, and native Turkish compound verbs.

• Yemek yapmak (To cook)
• Spor yapmak (To do sports / exercise)
• Alışveriş yapmak (To shop)

Essential Daily Action Verbs

Here is a curated list of verbs you will use every single day:

The Quirk of Turkish Verbs

You will notice that all dictionary forms of Turkish verbs end in -mak or -mek. This is the infinitive form (equivalent to "to..." in English). The vowel harmony rules dictate which one is used.

To conjugate a verb, you chop off the -mak/-mek to find the verb root.
Gelmek (to come) → Root: Gel-
Then, you add tense suffixes.
Gel-iyor-um (I am coming).

Want to memorize these faster? We have interactive flashcard decks specifically for the top verbs in Turkish. Spaced repetition will burn these into your long-term memory.