A surprisingly large share of what English expresses with a single verb, Turkish expresses with a noun plus a light verb. To "decide" is karar vermek (literally "to give a decision"); to "help" is yardım etmek ("to do help"); to "promise" is söz vermek ("to give a word"). The light verb carries almost no meaning of its own — the noun does the semantic work — but which light verb pairs with which noun is fixed and must be memorized. The danger for English speakers is calquing: you reach for "make a decision" → karar yapmak, which is simply wrong. This page gives you the high-frequency collocations with the correct light verb attached, so you learn the pairing as one unit.
The four workhorse light verbs are etmek (to do), yapmak (to make/do), vermek (to give), and almak (to take). A handful of idioms also use geçirmek (to pass/put through), çıkmak (to go out), and yemek (to eat). The meaning lives in the noun; your job is to learn its habitual partner.
vermek (to give): decisions, promises, breaks
You give several abstract things in Turkish that English does not. The most important is karar vermek "to decide" — literally "to give a decision." This is the canonical example of why calquing fails: English "make a decision" tempts you toward yapmak, but Turkish insists on vermek.
Sonunda yurt dışına taşınmaya karar verdik.
We finally decided to move abroad.
Hangi üniversiteye gideceğine karar verdin mi?
Have you decided which university you'll go to?
Söz vermek "to promise" — literally "to give a word," exactly the English "give one's word." The person promised takes the dative.
Sana söz veriyorum, bir daha geç kalmayacağım.
I promise you, I won't be late again.
Ara vermek "to take a break" — literally "to give a gap." Note that English takes a break but Turkish gives one.
Bir saat çalıştık, biraz ara verelim.
We've worked an hour, let's take a short break.
etmek (to do): help, thanks, mention, control
Etmek is the default light verb for many Arabic- and Persian-origin nouns. The cluster includes yardım etmek "to help," teşekkür etmek "to thank," devam etmek "to continue," kontrol etmek "to check," and dikkat etmek "to pay attention / be careful." The object of yardım etmek is in the dative (you help to someone).
Taşınırken bana yardım eder misin?
Will you help me while I'm moving house?
Yağmurlu yolda dikkat et, kaygan olabilir.
Be careful on the rainy road, it could be slippery.
Çıkmadan önce ocağı kapattığını kontrol et.
Before you leave, check that you turned off the stove.
A spelling note: some etmek compounds fuse and change spelling — hisset-mek (← his + etmek), kaybet-mek (← kayıp + etmek), affet-mek (← af + etmek). The final consonant of the noun doubles or the vowel drops. Keep these fused spellings.
Anahtarımı kaybettim, her yere baktım.
I lost my key, I looked everywhere.
yapmak (to make/do): plans, mistakes, choices
Yapmak pairs with many native and everyday nouns: plan yapmak "to make a plan," hata yapmak "to make a mistake," alışveriş yapmak "to shop," spor yapmak "to exercise." The split between etmek and yapmak is partly historical (loanwords lean etmek, native and concrete nouns lean yapmak) but ultimately you memorize each pairing.
Hafta sonu için bir plan yaptık mı?
Have we made a plan for the weekend?
Küçük bir hata yaptım, hemen düzelttim.
I made a small mistake, I fixed it right away.
almak (to take): appointments, decisions of a sort, breaths
Almak appears in randevu almak "to make/get an appointment," nefes almak "to breathe," karar almak "to take a decision" (more formal/institutional than karar vermek), and duş almak "to take a shower."
Yarın için diş hekiminden randevu aldım.
I got an appointment with the dentist for tomorrow.
Yönetim kurulu zam yapmama kararı aldı.
The board took a decision not to give a raise.
Note the pair karar vermek (personal, "I decided") vs. karar almak (institutional/formal, "a decision was taken"). They're not freely interchangeable: an individual verir, a committee alır.
Idioms with geçirmek, çıkmak, göze almak, yemek
Beyond the four core light verbs, several fixed verbal idioms are worth their own attention.
Hayata geçirmek — "to implement, to put into practice, to realize" (literally "to pass into life"). What you implement is the project or plan.
Bu projeyi gelecek yıl hayata geçireceğiz.
We'll implement this project next year.
Yola çıkmak — "to set out, to set off, to hit the road" (literally "to go out onto the road").
Sabah erkenden yola çıktık, akşam vardık.
We set off early in the morning and arrived in the evening.
Göze almak — "to risk, to brave, to take the chance of" (literally "to take into the eye"). What you risk takes the accusative.
Her şeyi kaybetmeyi göze alarak kendi işini kurdu.
Risking losing everything, he started his own business.
Kafayı yemek — "to go crazy, to lose it" (informal; literally "to eat the head"). Used colloquially for stress, obsession, or losing one's mind.
Bu kadar gürültüde çalışırsam kafayı yiyeceğim.
If I work in this much noise, I'm going to lose it.
Common mistakes
The signature error is calquing the English light verb onto the Turkish noun:
❌ Henüz bir karar yapmadım.
Incorrect calque of 'make a decision' — Turkish 'gives' a decision.
✅ Henüz bir karar vermedim.
I haven't made a decision yet.
Using yapmak for "to help" instead of etmek (and forgetting the dative object):
❌ Lütfen beni yardım yap.
Doubly wrong — it's 'yardım etmek', and the object is dative: 'bana'.
✅ Lütfen bana yardım et.
Please help me.
Conjugating the noun instead of the light verb:
❌ Sana sözledim, gelirim.
Incorrect — you don't conjugate the noun 'söz'; conjugate 'vermek'.
✅ Sana söz verdim, gelirim.
I promised you, I'll come.
Confusing institutional karar almak with personal karar vermek:
❌ Ben bu yaz tatile gitmeme kararı aldım.
Stilted — an individual 'verir' a personal decision; 'almak' here sounds institutional.
✅ Ben bu yaz tatile gitmeme karar verdim.
I decided not to go on holiday this summer.
Saying yola gitmek instead of the fixed yola çıkmak for "to set out":
❌ Sabah erken yola gittik.
Wrong verb — the idiom for setting off is 'yola çıkmak', not 'yola gitmek'.
✅ Sabah erken yola çıktık.
We set off early in the morning.
Key takeaways
- Many Turkish "verbs" are noun + light verb collocations; the noun carries the meaning, the light verb is nearly empty.
- The four core light verbs are etmek, yapmak, vermek, almak — and the pairing is fixed: you give a decision (karar vermek), do help (yardım etmek), make a plan (plan yapmak), take an appointment (randevu almak).
- Learn each noun together with its habitual light verb to avoid English calques like karar yapmak.
- The light verb takes tense, person, and negation; the noun stays frozen.
- Key fixed verbal idioms: hayata geçirmek (implement), yola çıkmak (set out), göze almak (risk), kafayı yemek (go crazy, informal).
Now practice Turkish
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