The Verb “To Be” in Turkish: Endings, Negatives and Questions

There is no separate verb for “to be” in Turkish in the present tense. Instead, you add a short ending, called a personal suffix, to the noun or adjective: öğrenci (student) becomes öğrenciyim (I am a student), and yorgun (tired) becomes yorgunsun (you are tired). For “he”, “she” and “it” you usually add nothing at all: O öğrenci. means “He/She is a student.”

Below you will find the full set of endings with audio, how vowel harmony and the buffer letter y shape them, negatives with değil, questions with mi, the ending -dir, “to be” with places, the difference from var and yok, and common mistakes.

Turkish has no separate word for “am”, “is” and “are”

English uses a separate verb: I am, you are, she is. Turkish puts an ending on the word that describes the subject, and the pronoun is optional because the ending already shows who you mean.

• Ben öğretmenim.

  I am a teacher.

• Öğretmenim.

  I am a teacher.

• Sen çok yorgunsun.

  You are very tired.

• O İngiliz.

  He/She is English.

• Biz hazırız.

  We are ready.

If you know İyiyim (I’m fine) from Turkish greetings, you have already used this pattern: iyi (good, well) plus -yim (I am).

Dictionaries translate “to be” as olmak, but you do not use it for a simple “am”, “is” or “are”. You need olmak for “to become” and for forms the endings cannot make, such as the future: Öğretmen olacağım. (I will be a teacher.)

“To be” in Turkish: the personal suffixes at a glance

Here are all six endings. Most of them have four versions, because their vowel changes to match the word, which the next section explains. The y in brackets appears only after a vowel, and the plural ending for onlar is optional.

Here is the first model word, öğrenci (student), in every person. Press play to hear each sentence.

• Ben öğrenciyim.

  I am a student.

• Sen öğrencisin.

  You are a student.

• O öğrenci.

  He/She is a student.

• Biz öğrenciyiz.

  We are students.

• Siz öğrencisiniz.

  You are students. / You are a student. (formal)

• Onlar öğrenci.

  They are students.

Notice that there is no word for “a” in these sentences. Öğrenciyim is simply “I am a student”. For onlar, the ending -ler/-lar is optional: when the pronoun is there, people usually drop it (Onlar öğrenci.), and without the pronoun it tells you who is meant (Yorgunlar. They are tired).

Siz is also the polite “you” for one person. With an older stranger, a customer or someone you have just met, Türk müsünüz? (Are you Turkish?) sounds more respectful than Türk müsün?

Vowel harmony and the buffer y in “to be”

The vowel in the ending is chosen by the last vowel of the word. For these endings there are four options, i, ı, u and ü, which is why this is called four-way vowel harmony. For the full picture, including the two-way harmony of endings like the plural, see our guide to Turkish vowel harmony.

The second rule is the buffer y. Turkish endings avoid putting two vowels side by side, so when a word ends in a vowel and the ending starts with one (the ben and biz endings), a y goes in between: hasta + y + ım = hastayım. The sen and siz endings start with s, so they never need it: hastasın, hastasınız.

Here are the other two model words. Yorgun (tired) ends in a consonant, so there is no buffer. Hasta (sick) ends in a vowel, so listen for the y in the ben and biz forms.

• Yorgunum.

  I am tired.

• Yorgunsun.

  You are tired.

• O yorgun.

  He/She is tired.

• Yorgunuz.

  We are tired.

• Yorgunsunuz.

  You are tired. (plural or formal)

• Yorgunlar.

  They are tired.

• Hastayım.

  I am sick.

• Hastasın.

  You are sick.

• O hasta.

  He/She is sick.

• Hastayız.

  We are sick.

• Hastasınız.

  You are sick. (plural or formal)

• Onlar hasta.

  They are sick.

He, she, it: no ending, and when you will see -dir

In conversation, the third person has no ending. O doktor. is a complete sentence: “He/She is a doctor.” The same goes for things: Çay sıcak. (The tea is hot.)

You will still meet the suffix -dir. It follows four-way vowel harmony (-dir, -dır, -dur, -dür), and after the voiceless consonants ç, f, h, k, p, s, ş, t its d becomes t (-tir, -tır, -tur, -tür). You will meet it in three situations.

1. Facts in writing. Textbooks, encyclopedias, news and official texts use -dir to state general facts.

• Ankara, Türkiye'nin başkentidir.

  Ankara is the capital of Turkey.

• İstanbul, Türkiye'nin en büyük şehridir.

  Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city.

2. Signs and rules. Notices use it because it sounds official and final. Yasak (forbidden) ends in k, so it takes -tır.

• Sigara içmek yasaktır.

  Smoking is prohibited.

• Giriş ücretsizdir.

  Entry is free.

3. “Probably” or “must be”. In speech, -dir often turns a statement into a confident guess. Learners easily miss this use.

• Yorgundur.

  He’s probably tired. / He must be tired.

• Şu an evdedir.

  She’s probably at home right now.

• Kerem nerede? – İştedir.

  Where is Kerem? – He’s probably at work.

Be careful with O öğretmendir in conversation. It can sound as if you are guessing (“she must be a teacher”) or reading from a textbook. To simply say what someone does, O öğretmen. is the natural choice.

Saying “not”: değil plus the personal suffix

To make a “to be” sentence negative, put the word değil (not) after the noun or adjective and move the personal suffix onto değil. The word in front stays as it is.

• Öğrenci değilim.

  I am not a student.

• Yorgun değilsin.

  You are not tired.

• O doktor değil.

  He/She is not a doctor.

• Biz Türk değiliz.

  We are not Turkish.

• Hasta değilsiniz.

  You are not sick.

• Onlar evli değil.

  They are not married.

Değil never changes its vowels. Its last vowel is always i, so its endings are always değilim, değilsin, değiliz, değilsiniz, whatever word comes before it. And because değil ends in a consonant, it never needs the buffer y.

Asking questions: mi plus the personal suffix

For a yes/no question, add the question word mi after the noun or adjective, then put the personal suffix on mi. Mi is written as a separate word, and unlike değil, it follows vowel harmony: mi, mı, mu or mü, depending on the word before it. Because mi ends in a vowel, the ben and biz forms need the buffer y: miyim, miyiz.

• Yanlış mıyım?

  Am I wrong?

• Öğrenci misin?

  Are you a student?

• Kerem evde mi?

  Is Kerem at home?

• Hazır mıyız?

  Are we ready?

• Türk müsünüz?

  Are you Turkish? (plural or formal)

• Onlar yorgun mu?

  Are they tired?

Stress the syllable just before mi; mi itself stays unstressed. To answer, say Evet (yes) or Hayır (no) and repeat the word with its ending:

• Yorgun musun? – Evet, yorgunum.

  Are you tired? – Yes, I am.

• Öğretmen misin? – Hayır, öğretmen değilim.

  Are you a teacher? – No, I’m not.

Here is everything together with yorgun. Notice that değil keeps its i, while mi becomes mu to match the u in yorgun, or mı after the plural ending -lar.

For a negative question, combine the two: değil + mi + ending. Türk değil misin? means “Aren’t you Turkish?”, and Evde değil mi? means “Isn’t he at home?”

Where are you? “To be” with places

The same endings work with places. First add the locative ending -de/-da (in, at, on), which becomes -te/-ta after the voiceless consonants listed above. Then add the personal suffix. Because the locative ends in a vowel, the ben and biz forms take the buffer y.

• Neredesin? – Evdeyim.

  Where are you? – I’m at home.

• İşteyim.

  I’m at work.

• Otobüsteyim.

  I’m on the bus.

• Kerem okulda.

  Kerem is at school.

• Parktayız.

  We’re in the park.

• Neredesiniz?

  Where are you? (plural or formal)

• Onlar İstanbul'da.

  They’re in Istanbul.

Nerede means “where”, so Neredesin? is literally “where-are-you?”. With names of places, Turkish puts an apostrophe before the ending: İstanbul'dayım (I’m in Istanbul). Negatives and questions work exactly as before: Evde değilim. (I’m not at home.) Evde misin? (Are you at home?)

Unit 6 of the A1 course, Neredesin?, practices these sentences with places around town.

“To be” or var and yok?

Learners often reach for var (there is) and yok (there isn’t) when they mean “to be”, or the other way round. Ask yourself: am I saying what or where something is, or that it exists? Use the personal suffixes and değil to describe a specific person or thing, or to say where it is. Use var and yok for “there is” and “there isn’t”.

• Banka orada.

  The bank is over there.

• Burada bir banka var.

  There is a bank here.

• Kerem evde değil.

  Kerem isn’t at home.

• Evde kimse yok.

  There’s nobody at home.

• Kahve sıcak mı?

  Is the coffee hot?

• Kahve var mı?

  Is there any coffee?

English “have” turns into var and yok as well, with a “my” ending on the noun. Unit 5 of the A1 course, Ailem, teaches this pattern with family words.

• İki kardeşim var.

  I have two siblings.

• Arabam yok.

  I don’t have a car.

So yok is not the negative of “to be”. “I am not a teacher” is Öğretmen değilim, never “Ben öğretmen yok”.

Öğrenciyim or öğrencim? Common mistakes

1. Mixing up “I am” and “my”. The ending for “I am” looks a lot like the possessive ending for “my”. After a vowel, they are easy to tell apart, because only “I am” has the buffer y.

• Öğrenciyim.

  I am a student.

• Ali benim öğrencim.

  Ali is my student.

• Hastayım.

  I am sick.

• Hastam bugün daha iyi.

  My patient is better today.

After a consonant, the two look identical: öğretmenim can mean “I am a teacher” or “my teacher”. Context usually decides (Ben öğretmenim versus Benim öğretmenim), and so does stress. The “I am” ending is never stressed, so the stress stays where it is in öğretmen (öğretMEnim). In “my”, the stress moves onto the ending (öğretmeNİM).

2. Forgetting the buffer y. “Öğrenciim” and “hastaım” are not Turkish. After a vowel, the ben and biz endings always get a y: öğrenciyim, hastayız.

3. Changing the vowels of değil. It is always değilim, değilsin, değiliz, even after words like yorgun or Türk.

4. Putting the ending in the wrong place in questions. Mi is a separate word and the personal suffix goes on it: Öğrenci misin?, not “öğrencimisin” or “öğrencisin mi”.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “I am” in Turkish? There is no separate word. Add -(y)im, -(y)ım, -(y)um or -(y)üm to the noun or adjective: Türküm (I am Turkish), mutluyum (I am happy).

What is the Turkish copula? “Copula” is the grammar term for “to be” when it links a subject to a description. In the present tense, Turkish uses the personal suffixes in this guide, plus değil for negatives and -dir for formal statements and guesses.

Is değil used with verbs? Not to make a verb negative. Verbs have their own negative suffix, -me/-ma, inside the verb: gelmiyorum (I am not coming), çalışmıyorum (I am not working). After a verb, you will hear değil most often in the tag değil mi? (right?): Geliyorsun, değil mi? (You’re coming, right?)

How do you say “I was” in Turkish? Add -(y)di and then a short person ending: yorgundum (I was tired), evdeydin (you were at home), öğrenciydik (we were students). The vowel follows four-way harmony, and after a voiceless consonant the d becomes t: Çay sıcaktı. (The tea was hot.) For “wasn’t”, the endings go on değil: değildim (I wasn’t).

Do I need ben, sen and the other pronouns? No, the ending already shows the person. Use a pronoun for emphasis or contrast: Ben öğretmenim, o öğrenci. (I am the teacher, she is the student.)

Practice “to be” in Unit 2 of the A1 course

Reading the tables is the first step. The second is saying the forms out loud until they come without thinking. Unit 2 of Mitsling’s A1 course, Ben öğrenciyim, which is free, covers pronouns, jobs, nationalities and every “to be” ending, with audio and speaking exercises. Questions with mi follow in Unit 3, and değil in Unit 9. If you would like a teacher to listen and correct you, you can also book a live lesson with Kerem.