Turkish builds nouns out of verbs three main ways, and choosing among them is a real B2 hurdle because English collapses them all into the -ing form or the infinitive. -mAk is the dictionary infinitive — the generic activity. -mA names a specific action that has a subject of its own. -(y)Iş captures the manner or a single instance — "the way of doing". The decision usually comes down to one question: does the embedded action have its own subject, and do you care about the manner? For the forms in detail, see the -mAk verbal noun and the -mA verbal noun.
The three at a glance
| Suffix | Meaning | Subject situation | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -mAk | generic activity / infinitive | no own subject; same-subject after istemek | yüzmek (to swim / swimming) |
| -mA | a specific action, with a subject | takes a possessive; different-subject complements; after gerek/lazım | gelmen (your coming) |
| -(y)Iş | the manner / a single instance | "the way of doing", a one-off | gülüş (a/the laugh, the way of laughing) |
Yüzmek çok güzeldir.
Swimming is wonderful. (the activity in general)
Onun bu kadar çabuk öğrenmesi beni şaşırttı.
His learning this fast surprised me. (a specific action, with a subject)
Onun gülüşü çok tatlı.
Her laugh / the way she laughs is very sweet. (the manner)
Three deverbal nouns, three jobs. Hold onto the first column: generic activity, specific subjected action, manner.
-mAk vs -mA: the subject decides
This is the choice you will make most often, and the rule is clean. If the embedded verb's subject is the same as the main subject — typically after istemek "to want" — use -mAk. If the embedded verb has a different subject, you must use -mA plus a possessive that names that subject (and the subject, if separate, takes the genitive).
Bu akşam dışarı çıkmak istiyorum.
I want to go out this evening. (I want, I go out — same subject)
Yarın erken gelmeni istiyorum.
I want you to come early tomorrow. (I want, you come — different subjects)
This is the page's central minimal pair. In çıkmak istiyorum, I both want and go out, so the bare infinitive -mAk suffices. In gelmeni istiyorum, I want but you come — two subjects — so the embedded verb becomes -mA with the second-person possessive -n: gelmen "your coming", here in the accusative gelmeni. English signals the same split with "to go out" vs "you to come"; Turkish does it with the suffix and the possessive. For more on this construction around wanting, see expressing desire with istemek.
-mA carries an obligatory subject
Because -mA turns the action into a noun that has a subject, it is the form you need whenever a clause needs to specify who acts — after gerek / lazım ("necessary"), after prepositions and possessives, and as the subject or object of a larger sentence.
Senin de toplantıya gelmen gerekiyor.
You need to come to the meeting too. (gerek + -mA, subject = you)
Erken gelmen çok iyi oldu.
Your coming early turned out great.
Note the genitive–possessive agreement: senin … gelmen, (senin) … gelmen. The subject is genitive, the verbal noun takes the matching possessive. This page is the quick decision guide; for a deeper linguistic comparison of all three — including lexicalized forms like dondurma and çıkış — see the three ways to nominalize.
By contrast, -mAk does not take a possessive subject. It is subject-neutral — the generic activity, suitable for definitions, generalizations, and same-subject complements.
Sabahları erken kalkmak hiç kolay değil.
Getting up early in the mornings isn't easy at all. (general statement)
-(y)Iş: the manner or single instance
-(y)Iş is the odd one out: it does not name the abstract activity or a subjected action, but the manner, style, or a single concrete instance of doing — "the way of doing", "a/the doing". It is four-way harmonic (-ış / -iş / -uş / -üş) with a buffer -y- after a vowel.
Yürüyüşü herkesten farklı.
His walk / the way he walks is unlike anyone else's.
Bu yemeğin pişiriliş tarzını çok beğendim.
I really liked the way this dish is cooked.
Compare pişirmek (the activity of cooking) with pişiriliş (the manner/style of cooking). Where -mAk would name the bare act, -(y)Iş names how it is done. Many of these have become fixed nouns: gülüş (a laugh / smile), bakış (a glance / gaze), duruş (a stance / posture), çıkış (an exit), giriş (an entrance). When you mean the abstract or generic activity, do not use -(y)Iş.
Tabloya uzun uzun bakışı beni etkiledi.
The long way he gazed at the painting moved me. (a single instance + manner)
Quick decision flow
- Does the embedded action have its own subject that differs from the main subject? → -mA + possessive (genitive subject). gelmeni istiyorum, gelmen gerek.
- Is it a same-subject complement (especially after istemek) or a generic activity / definition? → -mAk. gitmek istiyorum, yüzmek güzeldir.
- Do you mean the manner, style, or a single instance ("the way of doing")? → -(y)Iş. yürüyüşü, gülüşü.
Common mistakes
The flagship error is using -mAk across two different subjects, where Turkish requires -mA.
❌ Gelmek istiyorum
Wrong if you mean 'I want YOU to come': bare -mAk forces one shared subject, so this can only mean 'I want to come'. For a different subject use -mA + possessive → gelmeni istiyorum.
✅ Gelmeni istiyorum
I want you to come.
Using -mAk after gerek/lazım instead of subjected -mA:
❌ Senin gelmek gerek
Wrong: gerek needs the subjected verbal noun → senin gelmen gerek.
✅ Senin gelmen gerek
You need to come.
Forgetting the genitive–possessive agreement on -mA:
❌ Sen erken gelmen iyi oldu
Wrong: the subject of a -mA clause is genitive → senin erken gelmen iyi oldu.
✅ Senin erken gelmen iyi oldu
Your coming early was good.
Using -(y)Iş for the abstract activity instead of -mAk:
❌ Yüzüş çok güzeldir
Wrong if you mean 'swimming is wonderful': for the generic activity use -mAk → yüzmek çok güzeldir. -(y)Iş is the manner/instance, not the abstract activity.
✅ Yüzmek çok güzeldir
Swimming is wonderful.
Dropping the buffer -y- on -(y)Iş after a vowel-final stem:
❌ Yürüüşü farklı
Wrong: a buffer -y- is needed after the vowel → yürüyüşü.
✅ Yürüyüşü farklı
His walk is different.
Key takeaways
- -mAk = generic activity / infinitive, subject-neutral; the same-subject complement after istemek: gitmek istiyorum, yüzmek güzeldir.
- -mA = a specific action with its own subject; possessive-marked, with a genitive subject; required after gerek/lazım and for different-subject complements: gelmeni istiyorum, gelmen gerek.
- -(y)Iş = the manner or a single instance ("the way of doing"): yürüyüşü, gülüşü — not the abstract activity.
- The decisive question for -mA vs -mAk is the subject: different subject → -mA; same subject → -mAk.
- Spelling: -mA
- possessive with a genitive subject; -(y)Iş is four-way harmonic with a buffer -y- after vowels (yürüyüş).
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Infinitive as a Noun: -mAkA2 — Using the -mAk infinitive as a subject-neutral verbal noun, and how it takes case (yüzmeyi, gitmeye) once the final k drops.
- The Action Nominal -mAB1 — The -mA verbal noun and how its possessive suffix encodes a subject, enabling different-subject complement clauses like gelmeni istiyorum.
- -mA vs -mAk vs -(y)Iş: Three Ways to NominalizeB2 — How Turkish's three deverbal nominalizers divide labor — -mAk for the abstract activity, -mA for a specific (possibly subjected) action, -(y)Iş for the manner of doing.
- Wanting: istemek and canım istiyorA2 — The three ways Turkish says 'want' — with an infinitive, with a noun object, and the idiomatic canım istiyor — and the crucial same-subject versus different-subject split.