Basic Converbs in Turkish

In Brief

Turkish converbs (zarf-fiiller) turn a verb into a linking form: -ip joins actions, -erek describes how something is done, -ince means “when,” and -meden means “without” or sometimes “before.” The final verb normally carries the tense and person: Gelip oturdum means “I came and sat down,” with only oturdum marked as past and first-person singular.

Overview

A converb is a verb form that works adverbially—that is, it adds information about the main action rather than forming a complete statement on its own. Turkish calls these forms zarf-fiiller. They make it possible to place several actions in one smooth sentence and show whether those actions happen in sequence, describe a manner, set a time, or do not happen at all.

English usually expresses these relationships with separate words and flexible clause patterns: “and then,” “by,” “while,” “when,” and “without.” Turkish often attaches the same idea directly to a verb stem. For example, gör- means “see,” while görünce means “when [someone] sees/saw” and görmeden means “without seeing” or “before seeing.” A Turkish converb does not always match one fixed English phrase; its meaning depends on the main verb and the situation.

These four forms are introduced around A2 because they rely on skills you already use with ordinary verbs: finding the verb stem and applying vowel harmony. The beginner rule is simple: build the converb from the first action and put tense and person on the final verb. Later sections explain important differences in subject reference and meaning.

How It Works

The four core patterns

Form	Core function	Typical English rendering	Example
-(y)ip / -(y)ıp / -(y)up / -(y)üp	links actions, often in sequence	and; and then; having done	gelip — coming and / having come
-(y)erek / -(y)arak	gives manner or means	by doing; while doing	koşarak — by running / running
-(y)ince / -(y)ınca / -(y)unca / -(y)ünce	marks the time or trigger	when; once; upon doing	gelince — when [someone] comes/came
-meden / -madan	marks an action not performed	without doing; before doing	görmeden — without seeing / before seeing

The y shown in parentheses is a buffer consonant: it keeps two vowels apart after a vowel-final stem. Thus oku- becomes okuyup, okuyarak, and okuyunca. The form -meden/-madan attaches without this buffer: okumadan.

Step 1: find the verb stem

Remove the dictionary ending -mek/-mak:

Dictionary form	Stem	Meaning
gelmek	gel-	to come
bakmak	bak-	to look
okumak	oku-	to read
başlamak	başla-	to begin

Some common verbs show the same stem alternation found elsewhere in Turkish. For example, gitmek commonly gives gidip, giderek, gidince; etmek gives edip, ederek, edince. Learn these as familiar verb-stem changes, not as exceptions unique to converbs.

Step 2: choose the harmonious vowel

Turkish suffix vowels adjust to the last vowel of the stem. -ip and -ince use four-way harmony:

Last stem vowel	-(y)ip	-(y)ince	Examples
e, i	-ip	-ince	gelip, gelince
a, ı	-ıp	-ınca	bakıp, bakınca
o, u	-up	-unca	okuyup, okuyunca
ö, ü	-üp	-ünce	gülüp, gülünce

-erek and -meden use two-way harmony. After front vowels (e, i, ö, ü), use -erek and -meden; after back vowels (a, ı, o, u), use -arak and -madan: gülerek, gelmeden, bakarak, okumadan.

-(y)ip: linking actions

Use -(y)ip when one subject performs connected actions. The actions often happen in order:

Eve gelip yemek yedim. — “I came home and ate.”

The final verb, yedim, carries past tense and “I.” The converb gelip receives no separate tense or person ending. Its time is understood through the final verb and context. This form can also list more than two actions: Kalkıp duş alıp evden çıktım (“I got up, took a shower, and left home”).

Do not assume that -ip always means a sharply separate “then.” Closely connected or partly overlapping actions are possible: Oturup konuşalım means “Let’s sit down and talk.”

-(y)erek: manner, means, or accompanying action

Use -(y)erek to answer “How?” or “By what action?”:

Koşarak geldi. — “He came running.”
Düzenli çalışarak Türkçeni geliştirebilirsin. — “You can improve your Turkish by studying regularly.”

The first example describes an accompanying manner; the second describes a means of achieving a result. The subject of the converb is normally the same as the subject of the main verb. English may use “by,” “while,” or an -ing form, but Turkish uses the same converb.

-(y)ince: when an action occurs

Use -(y)ince when one event provides the time or trigger for another:

Eve gelince beni ara. — “Call me when you get home.”
Haberi duyunca çok sevindi. — “She was very happy when she heard the news.”

The converb itself does not mark past, present, or future. Gelince can therefore mean “when you get home” in an instruction or “when he/she got home” in a past narrative. The main verb and context supply the time.

Unlike -ip and -erek, -ince can readily introduce an event with a different stated subject: Ben gelince Ali çıktı means “When I arrived, Ali left.” If no separate subject is stated, listeners infer it from context.

-meden/-madan: without doing or before doing

Use -meden/-madan when the first action does not happen:

Görmeden geçti. — “He passed without seeing.”
Evden çıkmadan ışıkları kapat. — “Turn off the lights before leaving home.”

“Without” emphasizes the missing action; “before” emphasizes the order. Turkish does not change the suffix between these readings. The situation determines the best English translation. A separate subject is possible when clearly expressed: Ben gelmeden toplantı başladı (“The meeting started before I arrived”).

Making the other converbs negative

The forms -ip, -erek, and -ince can be made negative with -me/-ma, with a buffer y before a following vowel:

Positive	Negative	Meaning
gelip	gelmeyip	not coming and…
gülerek	gülmeyerek	by not smiling / without smiling
gelince	gelmeyince	when [someone] does not come

The negative -meden/-madan form already means that the action does not occur. Use gelmeden, not gelmemeden, for ordinary “without coming/before coming.”

Examples in Context

Turkish	English	Note
Gelip gördüm.	I came and saw.	-ip links two completed actions.
Markete gidip ekmek aldık.	We went to the shop and bought bread.	The final verb marks past tense and “we.”
Kalkıp pencereyi açar mısın?	Would you get up and open the window?	Two closely connected actions.
Çocuk odaya gülerek girdi.	The child entered the room smiling.	-erek describes manner.
Koşarak geldi.	He/She came running.	The pronoun is inferred from context.
Her gün okuyarak yeni kelimeler öğreniyorum.	I learn new words by reading every day.	-erek expresses the means.
İşin bitince bana mesaj gönder.	Send me a message when your work is finished.	-ince sets the time.
Onu görünce şaşırdım.	I was surprised when I saw him/her.	The final verb supplies past time.
Ben gelince onlar yemek yiyordu.	When I arrived, they were eating.	The two clauses have different subjects.
Görmeden geçti.	He/She passed without seeing.	The missing action is emphasized.
Kahvaltı yapmadan evden çıkma.	Don’t leave home without having breakfast.	-madan means “without.”
Karar vermeden önce biraz düşün.	Think a little before making a decision.	-meden önce makes “before” explicit.
Yağmur dinmeden dışarı çıkmayacağız.	We will not go out before the rain stops.	Context favors a “before/until” reading.
Beni beklemeyip yalnız gitti.	He/She did not wait for me and went alone.	Negative -ip: -meyip.

Common Mistakes

Putting tense and person on the converb

• Wrong: Geldimip oturdum.
• Right: Gelip oturdum.
• Why: The converb uses the stem gel- plus -ip. The final verb oturdum carries the past tense and first-person ending for the whole sequence.

Ignoring vowel harmony

• Wrong: bakip, gülünca, koşerek
• Right: bakıp, gülünce, koşarak
• Why: -ip and -ince have four vowel variants; -erek has two. Choose the form from the last vowel in the stem.

Forgetting the buffer y after a vowel

• Wrong: okuip, başlaınca
• Right: okuyup, başlayınca
• Why: A vowel-final stem takes buffer y before -ip, -erek, and -ince. Compare okuyarak and başlayınca. Do not add it to okumadan.

Using -ip where the subjects clearly differ

• Wrong: Ben gelip Ali çıktı. (intended: “When I arrived, Ali left.”)
• Right: Ben gelince Ali çıktı.
• Why: Basic -ip normally links actions by the same subject. -ince naturally introduces a timed event whose subject can differ from that of the main clause.

Treating -erek as a simple replacement for every English “and”

• Wrong: Markete giderek ekmek aldım. if you merely mean “I went to the shop and bought bread.”
• Right: Markete gidip ekmek aldım.
• Why: -ip presents a sequence. -erek presents manner or means, so the first version suggests that going to the shop was the means by which the bread was obtained. It can be grammatical, but it changes the focus.

Adding an extra negative suffix to -meden

• Wrong: görmemeden geçti
• Right: görmeden geçti
• Why: -meden/-madan already contains the negative meaning “without/not having done.”

Usage Notes

English translations can hide the difference between the Turkish forms. “He came running” strongly suggests -erek because running describes how he came: Koşarak geldi. “He ran and came here” presents separate actions and may require a different Turkish sentence depending on the intended sequence. Choose the relationship between the actions first, rather than translating the English connector word by word.

A chain of -ip forms is common and natural, especially in instructions and narratives: Soğanı doğrayıp tavaya koyup biraz kızartın (“Chop the onion, put it in the pan, and fry it briefly”). Nevertheless, very long chains become hard to follow. Speakers break them into separate sentences or use another connector when the sequence needs emphasis.

With -meden, English “before” can sometimes be made clearer by adding önce: çıkmadan önce (“before leaving”). The shorter çıkmadan is often enough, but önce removes ambiguity when sequence matters. Conversely, when “without” is the point, no önce is needed.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master every nuance at A2, but these patterns explain forms you will meet later.

First, same-subject control is strongest with -erek and generally expected with basic -ip. A sentence such as Ayşe gülerek odaya girdi naturally means that Ayşe both smiled and entered. Turkish uses fuller subordinate constructions when the background action needs its own explicit participant or more detailed tense marking. -ince and -meden, however, more easily allow an explicitly different subject, as in Sen gelince başlayacağız (“We will start when you arrive”) and Sen gelmeden başladık (“We started before you arrived”).

Second, -ip can connect not only physical actions but also states and predicates: Doktor olup köye döndü means “He/She became a doctor and returned to the village.” Its negative form can create a contrast: Otobüse binmeyip yürüdük (“We didn’t take the bus; we walked”). In such examples, English may prefer a semicolon, “instead,” or a full clause.

Third, -ince often has a trigger-like flavor. Seni görünce mutlu oluyorum can mean “I become happy when I see you,” while Seni gördüğümde mutlu oluyorum uses a more fully nominalized time clause and can sound more neutral or explicitly tied to “the time when.” This contrast belongs to later study, but it helps explain why Turkish has several ways to say “when.”

Finally, Turkish has many additional converbs. At B2 you will meet forms such as -dikçe (“as; the more”), -eli (“since doing”), and -cesine (“as if doing”). They follow the same broad principle—turning a verb into a form that supports another predicate—but add more precise relationships.

Practice Tips

1. Build four forms from one verb. Take a common stem such as gel-, bak-, oku-, or gül- and produce all four: gelip, gelerek, gelince, gelmeden. Saying the forms aloud makes vowel harmony automatic.
2. Retell a routine with an -ip chain. For example: Kalkıp duş alıp kahvaltı yaptım. Then rewrite one part with -erek to describe how, or with -meden to say what you skipped.
3. Ask what relationship you mean. Before choosing a suffix, label it “sequence,” “manner/means,” “when,” or “without/before.” This prevents the common habit of translating English “and” or “while” mechanically.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Past Tense (-di) — helps you recognize how the final verb carries tense and person in a converb sentence.
• Next steps: Advanced Converbs — expands the system with forms expressing duration, increasing change, time since an event, degree, and comparison.