Hello, welcome to lesson. Today, we are going to talk about "Present Continious Tense / Şimdiki Zaman."

"I am going, she is reading, etc.." are sentences that belong to Present Continious Tense. In English, we create this structure by using "-ing" suffix. In Turkish, we do this by adding a suffix, too.

-yor is the suffix for Present Continious Tense, and it never changes form for Vowel Harmony, -yor is one of some suffixes that doesn´t meet Vowel Harmony principles.

Do you remember the previous lessons about Simple Present Tense? At those lessons, we had told about "Main Form of Simple Present Tense (also Simple Present Tense form of verb for 3rd Singular Person)". Same principle is valid here, too. When we connect VERB ROO/STEM and -yor suffix, it is the Main Form of Verb for PCT, and PCT form of 3rd Singular Person, "o")

But, there is a little difference here. When we want to combine verb root and -yor suffix, we put A VOWEL behind these two structures and we select this according to Vowel Harmony.

"Yap + yor" is incorrect, in here, for an easier pronounce we put a vowel between "yap" and "-yor".

We select these connection vowel by the principle below:

1) If last vowel of verb stem is "a or ı" , use "ı" as connection vowel,

2) If last vowel of verb stem is "e or i" , use "i" as connection vowel,

3) If last vowel of verb stem is "u or o", use "u" as connection vowel,

4) If last vowel of verb stem is "ü or ö" , use "ü" as connection vowel.

Let´s start to examples:

"He/she/it is doing"

To do is "yapmak" in Turkish. Verb stem/root is "yap". We will combine "yap" and "-yor". We will need connection vowel for this. Last vowel of "yap" is "a", so we need "ı" vowel to put.

Yap + ı + yor : He / she / it is doing!

Let´s use a different verb this time, "anlatmak" means "to tell". Verb stem/root is "anlat" and last vowel is "a". So, we will put "ı" between verb root/stem and -yor suffix.

Anlat + ı + yor : He / she / it is telling!

Let´s use these verbs:

Bakmak (to look), Bilmek (to know), Görmek (to see), Duymak (to hear), Oturmak (to sit down), Kalkmak (to stand up), Yazmak (to write), Öğrenmek (to learn), Öğretmek (to teach) :

Bak + ı + yor : He / she / it is looking

Bil + i + yor : He / she / it is knowing

Gör + ü + yor : He / she / it is seeing

Duy + u + yor : He / she / it is hearing

Otur + u + yor : He / she / it is sitting down

Kalk + ı + yor : He / she / it is standing up

Yaz + ı + yor : He / she / it is writing

Öğren + i + yor : He / she / it is learning

Öğret + i + yor : He / she / it is teaching

What is going to happen if a verb ends with a vowel?

Last vowels of some verbs change when they meet "-yor" suffix. We call it "vowel narrowing."

For "okumak" word, there is not a problem. Oku + yor is correct.

But, there is a little complicated rule if verb ends with "a or e" vowel, at this point:

Let´s see it with an example:

Atlamak, means "to jump". Verb root/stem ends with "a". And, when it meets "-yor", it gets narrowed. "a" vowel generally narrows and becomes "ı" but, althought not at common verbs, if there is a vowel before "a" and if it is "o" or "u", it becomes "u".

Atla + yor > Atlı + yor! : He/she/it is jumping!

Anlamak is "to understand."

Anla + yor > Anlı + yor : He/she/it is understanding!

Saklamak is "to hide"

Sakla + yor > Saklı + yor : He/she/it is ending.

Yaşamak is "to live" :

Yaşa + yor > Yaşı + yor : He/she/it is living.

If last vowel is "e", it becomes "i".

Eklemek means "to add":

Ekle + yor > Ekli + yor : He/she/it is adding

Beklemek means "to wait":

Bekle + yor > Bekli + yor : He/she/it is waiting

Exceptionally, if there is a vowel before "e" and it is "ö" , "e" becomes "ü":

Söylemek means "to say"

Söyle + yor > Söylü + yor > He/she/it is saying

At next lesson, we are going to conjugate this structure for personal pronouns:

"I am going, you are doing etc..."

thx

turkishcobra //