Hi everybody!
I hope someone can help me with this because I've asked this before but I can't get it well!
is there ANY difference between the verbs "YAPMAK and ETMEK " ? I know they both mean to make /do/ perform but...when should I use them? for instance , is "Etmek" like = to do and "yapmak" like "to make" as in english " Do the housework" BUT we say "MAKE COFFEE " NOT "Do the coffee"... it really mixes me up! could you give me examples please? as for the sentence :
"e-maillerini almak beni çok mutlu ediyor" (getting your e-mails makes me happy" ) CAN I SAY " Emaillerini almak beni çok mutlu YAPIYOR?
Thanks a lot !!!
Dilara.

Greetings,
Both are auxiiary verbs. These types verbs are used next to a noun to buils its verb version. There are 16 such auxiliary verbs. Here are a few examples with the two that you mentioned:

dans etmek
park etmek
hayal etmek
borç yapmak

The nouns that are used with an auxiliary verb are assigned to certain auxiliary verbs. This means you can not change the auxiliary verb. The only thing you can do is to check a dictionary so you can see what auxiliary verb is assigned to a certain noun. These "noun + auxiliary verb" versions are limited in number. This means there are a few thousand of then and it is possible to generate a full list.
While I was working on the update on winmekmak I have worked in dictionary databases and ı have seen such a complete list. It was too big. As a result I have included all "noun + etmek" versions in winmekmak. That means when you type "dans etmek" or "yardım etmek" it makes a correct translation.

One interesting detail is that most of the 16 auxiiary verbs are used as ordinary verbs as well. This is very smillar to "do" in English. There is one auxiliary verb do and one ordinary verb do.

Bu dans böyle yapılmaz. > yapmak is ordinary verb.
Çok güzel dans ediyorsun. > etmek is auxiliary verb.
Burada dans etmek çok keyifli. > etmek is an auxiliary verb.

"yapmak" can be an ordinary verb and an auxiliary verb.
"etmek" has no ordinary verb version. It can only be an auxiliary verb.

What do you mean about auxilary verbs ?
Can you give some examples pls ?

In Turkish they are called "yardımcı fiiller" (helping verbs). They help to create verb names (infinitives) out of nouns. I have already given many examples above.

These are helping verbs in Turkish. Next to each I have added an example.

almak > makas almak, duş almak
atmak > göz atmak
bulunmak > lutufta bulunmak
durmak > bakadurmak
etmek > dans etmek
geçmek > dalga geçmek
gelmek > karambole gelmek
getirmek > oyuna getirmek
gitmek > hoşa gitmek
göstermek >itaat göstermek
kalmak > bakakalmak
olmak > gitmez oldu, yapmaz oldu
vermek > gidivermek, yapıvermek
yapmak > piyasa yapmak

The examples are infinitives. For instance "dans etmek" is an infinitive and "dalga geçmek" is another infinitive.

In a sentence what you call main verb is called the predicate.

In Turkish we don't have main verbs in sentences. We have prdicates (yüklem). The predicate can be a noun or verb.

The infinitives I have mentioned above (dans etmek, dalga gçmek etc.) and one word infinitives (koşmak, sevmek etc) are not different. They can be a prdicate or not when used in a sentence. A verb can be a predicate or not in a sentence. This doesn't have anything to do with our issue.

Let me show you an example with an ordinary verb:

yüzmek:
1. "Denizde yüzüyorum."
In this sentence the predicate is yüzüyorum. Since yüzüyorum is a conjugation of the verb yüzmek we say that this is a verb sentence. In other words, the predicate is a verb. Bu cümlede yüklem fiildir.

2. Denizde yüzmek yasak.
The predicate in this sentence is "yasak". "Denizde yüzmek" is the subject.

3. "Sana yol göstermek istiyorum." In this sentence the predicate is "istiyorum" and "yol göstermek" is the object.

The topic is very simple actually. Let me try to summarize in another way:
There are infinitives. A infinitive is a word that is a name of a verb. For instance koşmak, yüzmek, gitmek, bakmak etc are infinitives. Also 'söz vermek', 'yardım etmek', 'dans etmek', 'demir atmak' are infinitives as well.
An infinitive can be anything in a sentence. It can be the object, subject or predicate.

Helping verbs in Turkish (etmek, olmak, yapmak, vermek etc) are helping to create verb names (infinitives). These verbs are ordinary verbs at the same time.

Ordinary verbs:
yapmak > to make
vermek > to give
almak > to buy, to take
olmak > to be, to become

Auxiliary verbs:
teşekkür etmek > to thank
dans etmek > to dance
söz vermek > to promise
duş almak > to take a shower

The "vermek" in "söz vermek" has nothing to do with the ordinary infinive "vermek".

Examples:
"Geri döneceğime söz veriyorum."
The prediacte in this sentence is "söz veriyorum" and not just veriyorum.

"Kalemi bana ver."
The predicate in this sentence is "ver".

Thanks a lot for your replies Erdic, your help is highly appreciated!!
I wasn't aware of "Auxiliary Verbs" or helping verbs at all...in fact, this is the first time I heard about them and I suppose this happened to many people on the site who asked for more examples.
It isn't easy to understand for me but I am sure I'll "process" the information you gave us little by little and with a lot of practice.
I also have problems with the accelerative and mutual action verbs...I think these are interesting topics to talk about as well.
Greetings to everybody from latin america:
Dilara.

Good question. There should be one or two more. I have limited access to my sources right now. I can't tell more than I did from memory. Bye.

Could be "eylemek" one of auxiliary verbs? Or it is replaced with "etmek"?