Verb-Noun Collocations by Theme | Turkish Grammar

Beyond the light verbs, Turkish has a deep layer of verb–noun collocations where the verb keeps its full meaning but is still locked to a particular noun by convention. You pull money, give a decision, give your word. Because English distributes these among different verbs — withdraw, decide, promise — a learner has no way to predict the Turkish partner. The fix is to learn the pairings in thematic clusters: when you study "money" or "communication" as a set, the conventional verbs reinforce one another and become reliable in production. This page gives four such clusters.

Food and drink

Turkish kitchen vocabulary is built almost entirely from fixed pairs, and the verbs are oddly specific. Tea alone uses three different verbs depending on the stage: you demlemek it (steep/brew it in the pot), then koymak it (pour/serve it into the glass), and you pişirmek food (cook it) — never the all-purpose "make."

Collocation	Literal	Meaning
çay demlemek	to steep tea	to brew tea
çay koymak	to put tea	to pour/serve tea
yemek pişirmek	to cook food	to cook (a meal)
sofra kurmak	to set up the table	to lay the table

Sen sofrayı kur, ben de çayı demleyeyim.

You lay the table, and I'll brew the tea.

Sana bir çay koyayım mı, demli mi seversin?

Shall I pour you a tea — do you like it strong?

Annem akşama enfes bir yemek pişirmiş.

My mother has cooked a wonderful meal for tonight.

Notice sofra kurmak uses kurmak ("to set up, found") — the same verb you use to set up an organization or wind a clock. English "lay the table" gives you no hint of this.

Money and banking

Financial collocations are where English calques fail most often, because the Turkish verbs are vividly physical. You pull money out (çekmek) and you lay money down into an account (yatırmak, literally "to make lie down"). Borrowing is almak ("to take"), and lending is its mirror, vermek ("to give").

Collocation	Literal	Meaning
para çekmek	to pull money	to withdraw money
para yatırmak	to lay money down	to deposit money
borç almak	to take debt	to borrow
borç vermek	to give debt	to lend

Maaşımı hesaba yatırdılar, yarın biraz çekerim.

They deposited my salary into the account — I'll withdraw some tomorrow.

Arkadaşımdan borç aldım, ay sonunda öderim.

I borrowed from my friend — I'll pay it back at the end of the month.

💡

The verb çekmek ("to pull") is the hidden hub of Turkish collocation. It withdraws money (para çekmek), takes photos (fotoğraf çekmek), endures suffering (acı çekmek), and dials a phone in older usage. When English uses an abstract verb and you can't guess the Turkish one, çekmek is a strong first bet.

Communication and speech

This cluster is dominated by vermek ("to give"), used for handing over abstract things — a word, news, an answer, permission. English scatters these across promise, inform, answer, and allow, which is exactly why the cluster must be learned together.

Collocation	Literal	Meaning
söz vermek	to give one's word	to promise
haber vermek	to give news	to inform, let someone know
cevap vermek	to give an answer	to answer, reply
izin vermek	to give permission	to allow

Treni kaçırırsan bana hemen haber ver.

If you miss the train, let me know right away.

Sorularıma hâlâ cevap vermedin.

You still haven't answered my questions.

Babam geç saatte dışarı çıkmama izin vermedi.

My father wouldn't allow me to go out late.

Once you internalize that "give" is the communication verb, a whole family of expressions falls into place at once — and you stop reaching for a literal verb of "promising" or "informing" that does not exist.

💡

Think of vermek ("give") as the verb of handing over the intangible: a word (söz), news (haber), an answer (cevap), permission (izin). Once one of these clicks, learn the rest as a set — they all share the same verb, so the cluster locks in together and you never have to guess.

Decisions and plans

For decisions, Turkish offers a meaningful pair: karar vermek ("to give a decision," to decide) and karar almak ("to take a decision"). They are not interchangeable. Vermek is the personal, mental act of making up your mind; almak is the institutional act of an official body reaching a resolution — a board, a court, a government.

Collocation	Register	Meaning
karar vermek	neutral, personal	to decide (make up one's mind)
karar almak	formal, institutional	to pass/adopt a decision
plan yapmak	neutral	to make a plan
önlem almak	neutral / formal	to take a precaution/measure

Sonunda taşınmaya karar verdik.

We've finally decided to move.

Yönetim kurulu fabrikayı kapatma kararı aldı.

The board adopted a decision to close the factory.

Hükûmet sel için yeni önlemler aldı.

The government has taken new measures against flooding.

The contrast between karar vermek and karar almak is a perfect miniature of the whole topic: same noun, two verbs, two registers, one of which English collapses entirely.

Common mistakes

❌ Bankadan biraz para aldım (meaning 'I withdrew').

Incorrect for withdrawing — 'para almak' means to receive money; withdrawing from an account is 'para çekmek'.

✅ Bankadan biraz para çektim.

I withdrew some money from the bank.

❌ Sana yarın haber yaparım.

Incorrect — news is 'given' (haber vermek), not 'made'.

✅ Sana yarın haber veririm.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

❌ Çay yaptım, ister misin?

Understandable but not idiomatic — tea is brewed (demlemek).

✅ Çay demledim, ister misin?

I've brewed tea — would you like some?

❌ Sorularına cevap yaptın mı?

Incorrect — answers are 'given' (cevap vermek), not 'made'.

✅ Sorularına cevap verdin mi?

Did you answer his questions?

❌ Hesaba maaşımı çektiler.

Incorrect — putting money into an account is 'yatırmak'; 'çekmek' is taking it out.

✅ Hesaba maaşımı yatırdılar.

They deposited my salary into the account.

Key takeaways

Verb–noun collocations are fixed per noun and rarely match English; learn them in thematic clusters so the conventional verbs reinforce each other.
Money is physical: çekmek (pull = withdraw), yatırmak (lay down = deposit), almak/vermek (borrow/lend).
Communication runs on vermek (give): söz vermek (promise), haber vermek (inform), cevap vermek (answer), izin vermek (allow).
çekmek ("pull") is a recurring hub — money, photos, suffering — and a good default guess when English uses an abstract verb.
For decisions, karar vermek is personal and karar almak is institutional: same noun, two verbs, two registers.

Now practice Turkish

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Turkish→