Open any Turkish newspaper, scientific abstract, court ruling, or official circular and you will meet a present tense you rarely hear in conversation: -mAktA, usually with -dIr attached as -mAktAdIr. It means almost exactly the same thing as the everyday continuous -(I)yor — an action ongoing now or generally true — but it carries an entirely different register: formal, written, and authoritative. If -(I)yor is how a friend tells you what's happening, -mAktAdIr is how an institution tells the public what is the case. Reading formal Turkish without recognising it is like reading English law while skipping every "hereby."
Where it comes from: the locative of an infinitive
The form is wonderfully transparent once you see its parts. Take the -mAk infinitive (the dictionary form, gelmek "to come," artmak "to increase") and put it in the locative case (-DA, "in/at"). gelmek → gelmekte, literally "in the coming," "in the act of coming." That locative-of-a-nominal is the heart of the construction: you are placing the subject within an ongoing action.
Ekonomi yavaş yavaş toparlanmaktadır.
The economy is gradually recovering.
Fiyatlar her geçen gün artmaktadır.
Prices are rising with each passing day.
Because the base is the locative of a noun-like infinitive, the spelling is fully predictable: -mAk harmonises to -mak / -mek, the locative to -ta / -te after the voiceless k, giving the surface forms -makta / -mekte. So artmak → artmakta, gelişmek → gelişmekte, beklemek → beklemekte. There is no separate "tense suffix" to memorise — it is infinitive + locative, then the personal copula.
The -dIr that makes it authoritative
The -dIr on the end is the generalizing/assertive copula (the same -DIr you meet in Türkiye bir cumhuriyettir "Turkey is a republic"). It is not strictly required — bare -mAktA is grammatical — but in formal prose -mAktAdIr is the norm, and the -dIr lends a tone of established, asserted fact, exactly suited to reports and regulations.
Söz konusu yasa, tüm vatandaşları kapsamaktadır.
The law in question covers all citizens.
Araştırma, iklim değişikliğinin hızlandığını göstermektedir.
The research shows that climate change is accelerating.
Bakanlık, konuyla ilgili çalışmaların sürdüğünü belirtmektedir.
The ministry states that work on the matter is ongoing.
A handful of high-frequency verbs appear in -mAktAdIr so often in news and academic writing that they are worth memorising as fixed signals of the register: gelişmektedir ("is developing"), beklenmektedir ("is expected"), devam etmektedir ("continues, is ongoing"), bulunmaktadır ("is located / exists"), artmaktadır ("is increasing").
Yeni teknolojiler hızla gelişmektedir.
New technologies are developing rapidly.
Önümüzdeki yıl büyümenin yüzde üç olması beklenmektedir.
Growth is expected to be three percent next year.
Person endings and the past form
Because -mAktA ends in the personal copula slot, it takes the -y- copular personal endings, not the verbal ones. "I am working" (formally) is çalışmaktayım; "we are waiting" is beklemekteyiz.
| Person | Form (çalışmak) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ben | çalışmaktayım | I am working |
| sen | çalışmaktasın | you are working |
| o | çalışmaktadır | he/she/it is working |
| biz | çalışmaktayız | we are working |
| siz | çalışmaktasınız | you (pl.) are working |
| onlar | çalışmaktadırlar | they are working |
Bu konuda elimizden geleni yapmaktayız.
We are doing everything we can on this matter.
For a past ("was -ing"), the copular past -(y)DI slots in after the locative: -mAktAydI. Fabrika o yıllarda binlerce kişi çalıştırmaktaydı — "the factory employed thousands in those years." This pattern (-mAktAydı) also appears in literary narration for a sustained, ongoing past state.
Eski köprü o dönemde hâlâ kullanılmaktaydı.
The old bridge was still in use at that time.
When to use it — and when it sounds wrong
Use -mAktA(dIr) in academic writing, news reporting, legal and official documents, technical descriptions, and formal speeches. Avoid it in casual conversation, texting, or dialogue — there it sounds stiff, pompous, even comical, like saying "I am presently engaged in the consumption of breakfast." In speech, the same idea is plain -(I)yor.
Rapora göre işsizlik oranı düşmektedir.
According to the report, the unemployment rate is falling. (formal/written)
İşsizlik düşüyor galiba, öyle diyorlar.
Unemployment's going down, I think — that's what they're saying. (informal/spoken)
Notice the same fact — düşmektedir vs düşüyor — flips entirely in feel. That contrast is the whole point: the proposition is identical; only the register changes.
Common mistakes
❌ Şu an kahve içmekteyim, sonra geliyorum.
Stylistically wrong — using -mAktA in casual chat sounds absurdly stiff.
✅ Şu an kahve içiyorum, birazdan geliyorum.
I'm having a coffee right now; I'll come in a bit. (use -(I)yor in speech)
❌ Fiyatlar artmaktadır mı?
Incorrect — -mAktAdIr belongs to formal declarative statements, not casual yes/no questions.
✅ Fiyatlar artıyor mu?
Are prices rising? (questions take everyday -(I)yor)
❌ Çalışmaktayorum.
Incorrect — blending -mAktA with the -(I)yor suffix; they are alternatives, never stacked.
✅ Çalışmaktayım.
I am working. (formal) — or çalışıyorum (everyday)
❌ Ekonomi toparlanmakdadır.
Incorrect spelling — after the voiceless k the locative is -ta, not -da.
✅ Ekonomi toparlanmaktadır.
The economy is recovering.
Key takeaways
- -mAktA(dIr) is the formal, written equivalent of -(I)yor — same imperfective meaning, different register. It is pervasive in news, science, law, and officialese.
- It is built transparently: -mAk infinitive + locative -DA, giving -makta / -mekte, with the voiceless-k locative always spelled -ta / -te.
- The optional -dIr is the assertive copula; -mAktAdIr is the default formal shape and carries an authoritative tone.
- Person is marked with the copular endings (çalışmaktayım, beklemekteyiz), and the past is -mAktAydI.
- Treat it as a register switch, not a separate tense — and never stack it with -(I)yor or use it in casual speech.
Now practice Turkish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Aspect: How Turkish Slices TimeB2 — How Turkish distributes aspect across tenses, auxiliaries and converbs — the -(I)yor vs -Ir split, perfect -mIş olmak, and lexical-aspect compounds.
- The -DIr Suffix: Assertion and RegisterB2 — The third-person copular -DIr is optional in everyday Turkish but adds formality, marks generic truths, and signals confident inference ('must be') — common in encyclopedic and scientific prose, yet stilted in casual conversation.
- Academic and Scientific StyleC1 — The grammar of scholarly Turkish — the formal present -mAktAdIr, assertive -DIr, impersonal passives, and the heavy nominalization that makes academic prose impersonal and dense.
- Journalistic StyleB2 — How Turkish news writes itself — headline ellipsis, the reportative -mIş and attribution phrases that flag unverified claims, agentful tarafından passives, and izafet-heavy institution names.