I've noticed that the future tense can have shortened forms in the colloquial language, as example, my Turkish friend once told me 'seni özlicem' instead of 'seni özliyeceğim' and 'mektubu beklicem' instead of 'mektubu bekliyeceğim'.

Could somebody give me the details about how to construct the shortened forms?

I have another question too: is there a way to know which non-monosyllabic words don't change their final consonants (p t k ç)when a suffix beginning with a vowel is added, like "cumhüriyeti" or "cenneti" instead of "cumhüriyedi or "cennedi", or they have to be learned by heart.

Merhaba Iceheart_Omnis,

your first question is easier to answer. First of all, the correct form to write the words you mentioned is as follows:

özleyeceğim
bekleyeceğim

There are many different accents spoken in Türkiye, like in any other country. So different ways to say a word are things about accent. Istanbul accent is accepted as standart accent. According this we say it like that:

"bekliyceğm"

There is a slang version but I suggest to avoid it (it is better to avoid gitçem, alcam, yapçam etc).

A few more examples:
written language: gideceğim
spoken (standard): gidiceğm

written language: alacağım
spoken (standard): alıcağm

written language: yapacağım
spoken (standard): yapıcağm

Your second question is complicated. The consonant mutation rule is different for single syllable words and multiple syllable words. It is also different for originally Turkish words and adopted words. Certainly there are also exceptions.

Both words you mentioned (cennet and cumhuriyet) are from Arabic. This is why they dont follow the rules.

On this issue more information can be found here in Turkish.
http://www.dilimiz.gen.tr/dilbilgisi/ses/unsuzler/ozellikler.html#pctk

Sağol Erdinc:

I understand that future tense issue better now, so the a/ı e/i change is only in the spoken language but it shouldn't be written.

But outside Istanbul do pepole make that vowel shift or is that mostly in the Istanbul accent (my friend is from Istanbul)

Merhaba Iceheart_Omnis,

yes you are right. The accents should never be written. Written Turkish always remains the same.

Standart spoken Turkish (Istanbul Turkish) is not only common in Istanbul. It is accepted as the right way to speak Turkish.

Like British have BBC, we have the TRT (Turkish Radio and TV). This is a partly independent official broadcasting company. The most correct form of speaking Turkish can be found in TRT news and this will be Istanbul Turkish. They will not say "gidecek" but will say "gidicek".
Speaking this way is also common in other big cities, especially in İzmir.

Another famous example -as you might know- is "bir".
"bir" should be said as "bi" when used as "a".

bi araba= a car

"istanbul" is also an interesting word. I like to hear and speak it as ıstanbul (undotted). I think this is the correct way but it is not so common.

Merhaba!

Thank you very much for this wonderful site. It is very helpful.

This is my first post. I started learning turkish about a year ago, my girlfriend is from İstanbul.

I think that shortened forms of future tense are very important. They are used very much, and still not easy to learn, because the correct forms cant be found in books. From these examples that you give, I cant construct a general rule. So if you would write some more examples, it would really help a lot. It would be even better to have a rule, but I am not sure if it is possible. I will write bellow the list of turkish verbs that I think are important, if you would write the correct shortened future forms, it would be great.

Çok teşekkür ederim,

Dragan

olmak
yapmak
gitmek
gelmek
sevmek
istemek
yürümek
çalışmak
yemek
içmek
yüzmek
düşÃ¼nmek
bilmek
bakmak
anlamak
oynamak
vermek
almak
söylemek
uyumak
uyanmak
açmak
kapamak
çekmek
itmek
demek
kazanmak
görmek
okumak
korkmak
konuşmak
temizlemek
öpmek
anlatmak
koşmak
sormak
atlamak
yaşamak
ölmek
ayrılmak
denemek
koymak
izlemek
beklemek
yazmak
getirmek
girmek
bulmak
atmak
durmak
kalmak
satmak
ummak
bitmek
gülmek
aramak
göstermek
vurmak
başlamak
çıkmak
inanmak
giymek
kızmak
unutmak
bagırmak
dönmek
bırakmak
beğenmek
özlemek

(I am sure this is more then enough)

Merhaba Kartal,
welcome to the Turkish Class Forums. Hope you will enjoy your stay.

The future tense actually has no short form. Future tense suffixes are -ecek and -acak and verbs in future tense can only be written with these suffixes. In written language other versions will be incorrect.

It is also perfectly alright to pronounce future tense as we write it.
Example:

bakacağım
gideceğim
koşacağım
gelecek misin?
Yapacak mısın?

There are also two shorter ways to pronounce future tense. This is smillar to English in saying "I've" instead "I have". The difference though is that we can only write them in on way.

So this is written language:
gideceğim

These are possible pronounciations:

1. As written: gideceğim
2. Standard pronounciation : gidiceğm
3. Street Slang : gitçem

Below you see more examples. The first wrod is the infinitive, the second word is the written form and the third word represents the standart pronounciation.

I have rewritten all this list again. I don't why but at first I had included the street slang. Later, especially when our foreign members started to talk like wannabee teenagers I realised that I made a mistake.


olmak -olacağım - olucağm
yapmak - yapacağım - yapıcağm
gitmek - gideceğim - gidiceğm
gelmek - geleceğim - geliceğm
sevmek - seveceğim - seviceğm
istemek - isteyeceğim - istiyceğm
yürümek - yürüyeceğim - yürüyceğm
çalışmak - çalışacağım - çalışıcağm
yemek -yiyeceğim - yiyiceğm
içmek - içeceğim - içiceğm
yüzmek - yüzüceğim - yüzüceğm
düşÃ¼nmek - düşÃ¼neceğim - düşÃ¼nüceğm
bilmek - bileceğim - biliceğm
bakmak - bakacağım - bakıcağm
anlamak - anlayacağım - anlıycağm
oynamak - oynayacağım - oynuycağm
vermek - vereceğim - vericeğm
almak - alacağım - alıcağm
söylemek - söyleyeceğim - söyliyceğm
uyumak - uyuyacağım - uyuyucağm
uyanmak - uyanacağım - uyanıcağm
açmak - açacağım - açıcağm
kapamak - kapayacağım - kapıycağm
çekmek - çekeceğim - çekiceğm
itmek - iyeceğim - iticeğm
demek - diyeceğim - diyiceğm
kazanmak - kazanacağım - kazanıcağm
görmek - göreceğim - görüceğm
okumak - okuyacağım - okuycağm
korkmak - korkacağım - korkucağm
konuşmak - konuşacağım - konuşucağm
temizlemek - temizleyeceğim - temizliyceğm
öpmek - öpeceğim - öpüceğm
anlatmak - anlayacağım - anlıycağm
koşmak - koşacağım - koşucağm
sormak - soracağım - sorucağm
atlamak - atlayacağım - atlıycağm
yaşamak - yaşayacağım - yaşıycağm
ölmek - öleceğim - ölüceğm
ayrılmak - ayrılacağım - ayrılıcağm
denemek - deneyeceğim - deniyceğm
koymak - koyacağım - koyucağm
izlemek - izleyeceğim - izliyceğm
beklemek - bekleyeceğim - bekliyceğm
yazmak - yazacağım - yazıcağm
getirmek - getireceğim - getiriceğm
girmek - gireceğim - giriceğm
bulmak - bulacağım - bulucağm
atmak - atacağım - atıcağm
durmak - duracağım - durucağm
kalmak - kalacağım - kalıcağm
satmak - satacağım - satıcağm
ummak - umacağım - umucağm
bitirmek - bitireceğim - bitiriceğm
gülmek - güleceğim - gülüceğm
aramak - arayacağım - arıycağm
göstermek - göstereceğim - göstericeğm
vurmak - vuracağım - vurucağm
başlamak - başlayacağım - başlıycağm
çıkmak - çıkacağım - çıkıcağm
inanmak - inanacağım - inanıcağm
giymek - giyeceğim - giyiceğm
kızmak - kızacağım - kızıcağm
unutmak -unutacağım - unutucağm
bağırmak - bağıracağım - bağırıcağm
dönmek - döneceğim - dönüceğm
bırakmak - bırakacağım - bırakıcağm
beğenmek - beğeneceğim - beğeniceğm
özlemek - özleyeceğim - özliyceğm

Ok, I understand this now. Thanks for making it clear!

Deli_kizin,
you are totally right.

Pls read ur PM Qdemir..

Hehe I decided to get up early today. To get some paperwork done for moving to Turkey. I think that's quite a good reason to wake up early

me neither Since when do you study Turkish, Bod? I have the feeling you started only short time ago, but are progressing very fast. I don't seem to have time for it?

ile : with

yiyiyorum comes from yemek. The verb stem is ye. Because it is irregular it doesnt become yiyor as it should be.

yiyiyorum : yi + y + iyor +um > verb stem + buffer + present continuous tense + personal suffix

All the souces disagree with me and show yemek as a regular verb. Winmekmak, the verb conjugator website below and most importantly TDK is suggestion "yiyor" like "yemek yiyorum". I disagree. I think the correct one should be "yemek yiyiyorum" but you might as well join the opposite as it is the majority.

http://www.tdk.org.tr/TDKSOZLUK/SOZBUL.ASP?kelime=yemek
http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/cache/31.yemek.shtml

And this is my explanation on
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE SUFFIXES:

For this tense we have the following suffixes:
-ıyor
-iyor
-uyor
-üyor
-yor

The dictionary form of a verb in Turkish is the infinitive which has -mak or -mek at the end. If we drop -mak or -mek we get the verb stem or verb base. Either the verb stem is ending with a consonant or with a vowel. So we have two options. Lets start with the first:

I. If the verb stem ends with a consonant we have these options:

-ıyor
-iyor
-uyor
-üyor

You simple look at the last vowel and choose the correct suffixes. Here is the last vowel -suffix chart:

1. a > -ıyor
2. ı > -ıyor

3. e > -iyor
4. i > -iyor

5. o > -uyor
6. u > -uyor

7. ö > -üyor
8. ü > -üyor

Example:
bilmek :
-What is the verb stem?
-It is "bil".
-What is the last vowel in "bil"?
-It is "i".
-What suffix do we use for "i"?
-We use -iyor.
-So what does it become?
-It becomes "bil + iyor"


Konuşmak:
-What is the verb stem?
-It is "konuş".
-What is the last vowel in "konuş"?
-It is "u".
-What suffix do we use for "u"?
-We use -uyor.
-So what is it at the end?
- It is konuş + uyor


II. If the verb stem ends with a vowel the present continuous tense suffix is "-yor". But before you add yor check below if you have to change the last vowel or not.

If it ends with

1. a > changes to ı
yaşamak > yaşa > yaşı > yaşı + yor

2. e > changes to i
dinlemek > dinle > dinli > dinli + yor

3. ı > no change
tanımak > tanı > tanı + yor

4. i > no change
erimek > eri > eri + yor

5. o > impossible condition
No example for this. Verb stem has to end with a vowel and this vowel has to be o. I think this condition is non-existant.
We don't have o and ö after the first syllable. So it has to be a single syllabling verb stem ending with "o" which I can't think of any.

6. u > no change
korumak > koru > koru + yor

7. ö > impossible condition
Again I think non-existant. The verb stem has to end with a vowel and this vowel has to be ö. I can't think of any example. We dont have ö or o after first syllable. It could be OK if it had been in the a single syllabling verb stem but doesnt seem any.

8. ü > no change
yürümek > yürü > yürü + yor

Exercise:
demek > What is the present continous of it? Follow section II. to solve it.

There is no confusion with verb stems ending with a vowel. It is all within the rules shown above. I think there are not many exceptions. In fact I cant think of any except yemek.

The TDK is the official organisation on this subject but unfortunately not very spot on all the time. I disagree with TDK on the following words where the first is TDK's suggestion.

yiyor - yiyiyor
entelektüel - entellektüel
sağ ol - sağol
hoşÃ§a kal - hoşÃ§akal

English in its history had also some changes but these are spread to a wider time range and things are more sattled down. On the other hand Turkish had lots of changes during the last 80 years and still it continues.
In Turkish a 30 year old book can be very difficult to read depending on the author.
I also understand you on following the official suggestion but I would like take more time before doing so. They are making some suggestions and with time the daily usage may change according their suggestions. So their suggestion might have acceptance. Of course this is not always the case.

Hi Kadir,
These last examples you have shown are all incorrect usages.

For "yemek yemek" TDK suggests "yemek yiyorum" as present continuous. I think 'yiyiyorum' is also acceptable. This is the only acceptable verb to be used like this I think.

Stil "yiyorum" sounds strange to me but I admit that it is the way to go and is more common.

i understand now how to say 'i will...' in short, but what are the rules for saying 'we will...' in short? for example we will come = geleceğiz, how would i make this shorter? is it gelcez? because im sure this looks odd!

oh right thanks, so all you do is change the 'm' to 'z' yeah? i thought i was wrong because i didn't think i'd heard anyone say it before, so thanks for clearing that up

But don't forget this:

You cannot use them while you writing.
It is not like in English: i will=i'll
You may write like this in English,^^

But not in Turkish... They are just to say.
say: görecez/görcez/görüceğz
but write: göreceğiz

Greetings,
I have edited my first few posts in this thread.

I decided to avoid the slang version of future tense pronounciations.

Please check messages till message number 6 for updated information.

Let me summarize this issue:

There is only one correct way to write verbs in future tense conjugation and this is by including -ecek or -acak suffixes.

1. Correct spelling: "yapacağım, yapacaksın, yapacak, yapacağız, yapacaksınız, yapacaklar, gideceğim, arayacak mısın?"

2. Suggested pronounciation is according "Istanbul Turkish". We normally would pronounce these words as "yapıcağm, yapıcaksın, yapıcak, yapıcağz, yapıcaksınız, yapıcaklar, gidiceğm, arıyıcak mısın?"

3. Pronouncing them as they are written (#1) is also acceptable.

4. There is one more and shorter way to pronounce them. It goes like "yapçam, yapçaksın, yapçak, gitçem etc." and I think it is best to avoid this street slang.

when i first started learning turkish i used to wonder why no one ever said 'i will...', then when i learnt there were shorter versions i realised they did say it, they just never said the full versions!