Public signs are grammar at its most compressed. A Turkish sign cannot afford words, so it leans on two of the language's most economical tools: the impersonal passive to forbid things (içilmez "is not drunk / no smoking") and the very formal imperative -(y)InIz to request them politely (kapatınız "please close"). Decode these two patterns and you can read almost any door, wall, or notice in Turkey. The signs below were written for this guide in the standard, generic style of real Turkish signage — none reproduces a specific copyrighted notice. Read them, then work through what each construction is doing.
The signs
Sigara içilmez.
No smoking. (lit. Cigarettes are not drunk.)
Girilmez.
No entry. (lit. It is not entered.)
Çıkış
Exit
Lütfen kapıyı kapatınız.
Please close the door.
Çalışma saatleri: 09.00 – 18.00
Working hours: 09.00 – 18.00
Park yapılmaz.
No parking. (lit. Parking is not done.)
Yetkisiz kişiler giremez.
Unauthorised persons may not enter.
Lütfen sıraya giriniz.
Please get in line.
Çimlere basmayınız.
Do not step on the grass.
Arızalıdır, kullanmayınız.
Out of order, do not use.
Sign by sign
"Sigara içilmez." The classic. İçilmez = iç- ("to drink/consume") + passive -il- + the negative aorist -mez: "is not consumed." Turkish says "cigarettes are not drunk" because içmek covers smoking. The form -mAz is the negative of the aorist, and on signs it states a standing prohibition: not "is not being smoked right now" but "smoking is not done here, ever." This generic, rule-stating force is exactly why signage reaches for the aorist. See syntax/impersonal-passive.
"Girilmez." A one-word sign, and a perfect example of the impersonal passive of an intransitive verb. Girmek ("to enter") has no object, yet Turkish can still passivise it impersonally: girilmez literally means "it is not entered (by anyone)." English has no clean equivalent — "no entry" or "do not enter" are the closest. This impersonal passive of an intransitive is a favourite of officialdom precisely because it forbids without naming who is forbidden.
"Çıkış" A deverbal noun, not a verb: çık- ("to exit/go out") + the noun-forming suffix -ış → çıkış ("exit, the act of going out"). Its partner is giriş ("entrance"), from gir- + -iş. These two appear on every door and form. Note how the same root gives both the verb (çıkmak) and the labelled noun (çıkış) — Turkish derivation at its tidiest.
"Lütfen kapıyı kapatınız." Now the polite imperative. Kapatınız = kapat- ("to close") + the very formal imperative -(y)InIz: "please close." This -InIz ending is a notch more formal and distant than the ordinary plural/polite imperative -In (kapatın) — it is the register of official notices, customer-facing instructions, and ceremonious requests. Lütfen ("please") softens it further. Crucially, kapıyı ("the door") carries the accusative -yı: here the verb is active, the door is a definite object, so it must be marked. Contrast this with the passive signs, where the affected noun is the subject and takes no case. See verbs/imperative-paradigm and register/formal-siz.
"Çalışma saatleri: 09.00 – 18.00" Pure noun-phrase grammar. Çalışma saatleri ("working hours") is an izafet chain: çalışma ("working," a verbal noun from çalış-) modifies saat ("hour"), and the head noun takes the plural -ler plus the third-person possessive -i → saatleri ("the hours of working"). This bare-izafet "X hours / X room / X price" pattern is everywhere on signs: ziyaret saatleri ("visiting hours"), bilet gişesi ("ticket booth"). Notice Turkish writes clock times with a full stop, not a colon: 09.00. See nouns/izafet-indefinite.
"Park yapılmaz." Yapılmaz = yap- ("to do/make") + passive -ıl- + negative aorist -maz: "is not done." The whole phrase park yapmak ("to park," literally "to do parking") is a compound verb of the noun-plus-yapmak type, and the prohibition passivises the yapmak part: "parking is not done (here)." This is the standard no-parking sign, more idiomatic than a bare park edilmez.
"Yetkisiz kişiler giremez." A richer sign. Yetkisiz = yetki ("authority") + the privative -siz ("without") → "unauthorised, lacking authority." Giremez is different from girilmez above: it is gir- + the negative abilitative -e- ("cannot") + aorist -mez → "cannot enter / may not enter." So this sign is not impersonal — it has a real subject, yetkisiz kişiler ("unauthorised people") — and it denies ability/permission: those people may not enter. The contrast with the impersonal girilmez is subtle but real: girilmez forbids the act; giremez denies a class of people permission.
"Lütfen sıraya giriniz." Another formal request. Giriniz = gir- + -iniz → "please enter." Sıraya = sıra ("line, queue") + dative -ya ("into the line") — you get into a queue, so the dative marks the destination, exactly as with English "get in line." The idiom sıraya girmek ("to line up") pairs the dative noun with the verb.
"Çimlere basmayınız." A formal prohibition via the imperative — note this differs from the passive prohibitions. Basmayınız = bas- ("to step/press") + the negative -ma- + formal imperative -yınız → "do not step." Çimlere = çim ("grass, lawn") + plural -ler + dative -e ("onto the grass"), because basmak governs the dative: you step onto something. So Turkish has two ways to forbid on a sign — the impersonal basılmaz ("is not stepped on") and the addressed basmayınız ("do not step") — and signs use both.
"Arızalıdır, kullanmayınız." Common on broken machines. Arızalıdır = arıza ("fault, malfunction") + the adjectival -lı ("having") → arızalı ("faulty, out of order") + the assertive copula -dır → "it is out of order." That -dIr gives the official, declarative tone typical of notices. Kullanmayınız = kullan- ("to use") + negative -ma- + formal imperative -yınız → "do not use." Together: a statement of fact plus a polite command, the standard shape of a warning notice.
Reading -mAz correctly
The biggest stumbling block for English speakers is the negative aorist -mAz on signs. Learners see girilmez or içilmez and try to translate it as a tense — "it is not entered," "is not drunk" — and then get confused about who is or isn't doing it. The fix is to stop treating these as ordinary statements and read them as standing rules: -mAz on a sign means "this is not to be done here." It is the aorist's job to express timeless generalities, and a prohibition is exactly that — a rule that holds at all times, for everyone.
The second confusion is between -mAz (impersonal passive prohibition) and -(y)AmAz (cannot). Girilmez = "no entry" (the act is forbidden); giremez = "(someone) cannot/may not enter." The first has no subject; the second denies permission to a named group. Spotting the little -e-/-a- of ability before the -mez tells you which one you are reading.
Common mistakes
❌ Sigara içmez.
Incorrect — without the passive, this means 'he/she doesn't smoke', not 'no smoking'.
✅ Sigara içilmez.
No smoking. (lit. Cigarettes are not drunk.)
❌ Lütfen kapı kapatınız.
Incorrect — 'kapı' is a definite object of the active imperative, so it needs the accusative -yı.
✅ Lütfen kapıyı kapatınız.
Please close the door.
❌ Yetkisiz kişiler girilmez.
Incorrect — with a stated subject you want 'giremez' (may not enter), not the impersonal 'girilmez'.
✅ Yetkisiz kişiler giremez.
Unauthorised persons may not enter.
❌ Çimlere basmaz.
Incorrect — '-maz' here reads 'does not step'; a formal prohibition needs the imperative 'basmayınız' or the passive 'basılmaz'.
✅ Çimlere basmayınız.
Do not step on the grass.
Key takeaways
- Sign prohibitions use the impersonal passive + negative aorist -mAz: içilmez (no smoking), girilmez (no entry), park yapılmaz (no parking) — read these as "this is not to be done here."
- Sign requests use the very formal imperative -(y)InIz: kapatınız, giriniz, kullanmayınız — more formal than plain -In, the register of official notices.
- Don't confuse -mAz (impersonal "is not done") with -(y)AmAz (a named subject "cannot / may not"): girilmez vs giremez.
- An active imperative keeps its definite object in the accusative: kapıyı kapatınız; a passive prohibition makes the affected thing the subject with no case: kapı kapatılmaz.
- Labels and "X hours / X exit" phrases are izafet noun chains (çalışma saatleri) and deverbal nouns (çıkış, giriş).
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Impersonal and Generic StatementsB2 — How Turkish says 'one', 'you', or 'people in general' — chiefly through the impersonal passive of intransitive verbs.
- Formal Register: siz, -(y)InIz, HonorificsA2 — How spoken and written Turkish signals respect through siz, the polite imperative -(y)InIz, and honorifics like Bey, Hanım, and Sayın.
- Indefinite Izafet: Çay BardağıA2 — The indefinite izafet builds noun-noun type compounds — çay bardağı 'tea glass' — with a bare first noun and only the head taking -(s)I; no genitive, because it names a kind, not an owner.
- Imperative: The Full Set of FormsA2 — The complete imperative grid — bare 2sg (gel), polite/plural -(y)In and formal -(y)InIz (gelin, geliniz), and the third-person -sIn / -sInlAr (gelsin, gelsinler) that gives 'let him/them come' a dedicated form, with the matching negatives.