Feelings and Opinions | Turkish Grammar

Saying what you think and how you feel is the backbone of any real conversation. Turkish handles opinions much as English does — a frame like "I think that…" — but it handles many feelings in a way that surprises English speakers: a large set of emotion expressions are not "I am X," they are little possessive constructions that literally say something happened to your inside, to your liking, to your heart. Learn that pattern and you stop translating emotions word-for-word and start feeling them the Turkish way.

Stating an opinion: Bence and düşünüyorum

The quickest opinion marker is bence "in my opinion / I think," built from ben "I" plus the equative suffix -ce. It opens the sentence and needs no verb of its own. For a fuller frame, use düşünmek "to think" or sanmak "to think/suppose," with the clause marked by diye or by the nominalizer -dığını.

Bence bu film fazla uzun, sıkıldım.

In my opinion this film is too long, I got bored.

Yarın yağmur yağacak diye düşünüyorum.

I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Onun haklı olduğunu sanmıyorum.

I don't think he's right.

There's a real nuance between the two verbs: düşünmek is a considered opinion ("I've thought about it and conclude…"), while sanmak carries a hint of "I assume, but I might be wrong." Reaching for sanmak when you're actually sure makes you sound tentative.

Feeling something: hissetmek

For physical or emotional sensation, hissetmek "to feel" works much like English, with the thing felt usually as an adjective or noun phrase plus kendimi "myself."

Kendimi bugün çok yorgun hissediyorum.

I feel very tired today.

Yanında kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

I feel safe next to you.

Adjective + copula moods: mutluyum, üzgünüm, kızgınım

Many states do follow the simple "I am X" pattern: take an adjective, add the personal copula ending. Mutluyum "I'm happy," üzgünüm "I'm sad," kızgınım "I'm angry," yorgunum "I'm tired," heyecanlıyım "I'm excited." The copula ending harmonizes (-(y)ım/-(y)im/-(y)um/-(y)üm).

Sınavı geçtim, çok mutluyum!

I passed the exam, I'm so happy!

Bana yalan söylediğin için sana kızgınım.

I'm angry at you for lying to me.

Gidişine üzgünüm ama anlıyorum.

I'm sad you're leaving, but I understand.

So far, so English-like. The trap is assuming every feeling works this way. It doesn't.

The possessive emotion idioms

Here is the single most important insight on this page. A whole family of everyday emotion expressions in Turkish are idiomatic possessive constructions, not adjective-plus-be. They literally say "my something did X" or "my inside got X." The grammatical subject is a body-part or abstract noun carrying a possessive ending, and the emotion is encoded in the verb. You cannot build these from "I am…"; you have to learn them whole.

Hoşuma gitti — "I liked it." Literally "it went to my liking" (hoş "pleasant" + -um "my" + dative -a + gitti "went"). The thing you liked is the subject; your liking is the destination it "went to."

Yeni saç modelin çok hoşuma gitti.

I really liked your new hairstyle. (lit. it went to my liking)

Bu fikir hoşuma gitmedi, başka bir şey düşünelim.

I don't like this idea, let's think of something else.

Canım sıkıldı — "I got bored / I'm down." Literally "my soul got squeezed" (can "soul" + -ım "my" + sıkıldı "got pressed/bored"). Depending on tone it ranges from "I'm bored" to "I'm a bit fed up."

Bütün gün evde oturdum, canım sıkıldı.

I sat at home all day, I got bored.

Onun lafları yüzünden canım sıkıldı.

His words got me down.

İçim rahatladı — "I felt relieved." Literally "my inside relaxed" (iç "inside" + -im "my" + rahatladı "relaxed"). You say it the moment a worry lifts.

Çocukların eve sağ salim döndüğünü duyunca içim rahatladı.

When I heard the kids got home safe and sound, I felt relieved.

Bayıldım — "I loved it." Literally "I fainted" (from bayılmak "to faint"), used hyperbolically the way English says "I'm obsessed" or "I'm dying over it." The thing loved takes the dative.

Bu tatlıya bayıldım, tarifini verir misin?

I loved this dessert, can you give me the recipe?

What unites these is that the feeler is not the subject — your liking, your soul, your inside is. This is why "I am bored" translated literally never works: there's no adjective "bored" doing copula duty; the boredom lives in canım sıkıldı.

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When an emotion in Turkish feels strangely "indirect," check whether it's a possessive idiom. The pattern is [body/abstract noun + possessive] + verb: hoşuma gitti, canım sıkıldı, içim rahatladı, kanım kaynadı ("I warmed to them"). Memorize them as fixed units, not as words.

Beğenmek vs. sevmek vs. hoşuma gitmek

Three ways to say you like something, and they're not interchangeable. Beğenmek is "to like/approve of" a specific instance ("I like this shirt"). Sevmek is "to love" or "to like" in a deep, lasting way ("I love my family," "I love coffee"). Hoşuma gitmek is the idiom for an immediate reaction ("it appealed to me"). Mixing them up is the classic intermediate error — see the related page on beğenmek and sevmek for the full breakdown.

Bu ceketi beğendim, deneyebilir miyim?

I like this jacket, can I try it on?

Annemi çok seviyorum.

I love my mother very much.

Giving an opinion with a reason

Real opinions come with a "because." Turkish links the reason with çünkü "because" (a separate clause) or with -dığı için "because/since" (a nominalized clause before the main verb).

Bence yürüyerek gidelim, çünkü hava çok güzel.

I think we should walk, because the weather is lovely.

Trafik kötü olduğu için metroyu tercih ediyorum.

Because the traffic is bad, I prefer the metro.

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To sound natural giving opinions, soften them. Native speakers pad with bence, bana göre ("according to me"), galiba ("I guess"), and the tag değil mi? ("right?"). A bare assertion can land as blunt; a softener makes it conversational.

Common mistakes

The most frequent error is translating the possessive emotion idioms literally as "I am…" constructions:

❌ Sıkıldım çünkü bu film sıkıcı.

Understandable but flat — for 'I'm fed up/down' the idiom 'canım sıkıldı' is what natives reach for.

✅ Canım sıkıldı çünkü bu film sıkıcı.

I'm fed up because this film is boring.

Building "I liked it" from a "be" structure instead of the hoşuma gitti idiom:

❌ Bu şarkı hoşum.

Incorrect — there is no adjective 'hoş' agreeing with 'I' here; the idiom needs the possessive plus dative plus 'gitmek'.

✅ Bu şarkı hoşuma gitti.

I liked this song.

Using sevmek for a one-off reaction where beğenmek is needed:

❌ Bu filmi çok sevdim, ilk defa izledim.

Odd — 'sevmek' implies lasting love, clashing with a first, one-off viewing.

✅ Bu filmi çok beğendim, ilk defa izledim.

I really liked this film, I watched it for the first time.

Forgetting the dative with bayılmak:

❌ Bu yemeği bayıldım.

Incorrect — 'bayılmak' takes the dative, so it must be 'yemeğe', not the accusative 'yemeği'.

✅ Bu yemeğe bayıldım.

I loved this dish.

Over-using sanmak when you're actually certain, which makes you sound unsure:

❌ Eminim, doğru cevap bu sanıyorum.

Contradictory — 'eminim' (I'm sure) clashes with the tentative 'sanıyorum'.

✅ Eminim, doğru cevap bu, böyle düşünüyorum.

I'm sure, this is the right answer, that's what I think.

Key takeaways

Open opinions with bence; expand with düşünüyorum (considered) or sanıyorum (assumed, possibly wrong).
Many states are plain adjective + copula: mutluyum, üzgünüm, kızgınım.
But a key family of emotions are possessive idioms, not "I am X": hoşuma gitti (I liked it), canım sıkıldı (I got bored), içim rahatladı (I felt relieved), bayıldım (I loved it).
The feeler in those idioms is not the subject — your liking/soul/inside is. Learn them as whole units.
Distinguish beğenmek (approve of, this instance) from sevmek (love, lasting) from hoşuma gitmek (immediate appeal).

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