Talking about your likes and hobbies is where two grammar skills meet: choosing the right "like" verb — and they each demand a different case — and turning an activity verb into a noun so you can say "I like swimming." English papers over both: "like" governs everything, and "swimming" is just "swimming." Turkish makes you commit. Sevmek takes the accusative, hoşlanmak takes the ablative, and "I like doing X" is built from the verbal noun -mAyI plus severim. Get these patterns straight and you can describe any taste or pastime accurately.
sevmek: "to like / to love" + accusative
The workhorse verb is sevmek "to like / to love." It governs the accusative case — the definite object marker -(y)I (-i/-ı/-u/-ü). When you like a specific, known thing, mark it accusative.
Futbolu çok severim, her maçı izlerim.
I really like football, I watch every match.
Bu şarkıyı çok sevdim, kim söylüyor?
I really liked this song — who's singing it?
But here's a subtlety English speakers miss: when you like a thing in general — a whole category — Turkish often drops the accusative and uses the bare noun, because there's nothing specific to point at.
Çikolata severim ama beyaz çikolatayı sevmem.
I like chocolate, but I don't like white chocolate.
In that sentence, çikolata (general "chocolate") is bare, while beyaz çikolatayı ("(the) white chocolate," a specific subtype singled out for contrast) takes the accusative -yı. This general-vs-specific feel is the same logic that governs the accusative everywhere in Turkish.
Use the present aorist severim / sevmem for stable tastes ("I like / I don't like as a rule"), and the past sevdim for an immediate reaction to one thing ("I liked this").
hoşlanmak: "to be fond of" + ablative
The verb hoşlanmak "to like, to be fond of" means almost the same as sevmek but governs the ablative case — the "from" marker -DAn (-den/-dan/-ten/-tan). Literally it's "to take pleasure from," so the source of pleasure is marked "from." See uses of the ablative.
Klasik müzikten hoşlanırım, beni sakinleştiriyor.
I'm fond of classical music — it calms me down.
Soğuk havadan hiç hoşlanmıyorum.
I really don't like cold weather.
Hoşlanmak is a touch more formal and reflective than sevmek; it's the verb of considered preference. It also has a romantic shade — birinden hoşlanmak "to fancy / have a crush on someone" — so be a little careful using it about people.
Galiba senden hoşlanıyorum.
I think I have a crush on you.
"I like DOING X": the -mAyI severim pattern
This is the centerpiece. To say "I like swimming / reading / cooking," English uses a bare -ing form. Turkish has no such thing — it must first turn the verb into a noun, then mark it as the object of sevmek.
The recipe: take the verb stem, add the verbal-noun suffix -mA (-ma/-me) to get "the act of X-ing," then add the accusative -(y)I so it can be sevmek's object. The two together surface as -mAyI (a buffer -y- slips in between the two vowels). See the verbal noun.
| Verb | Verbal noun (-mA) |
| "I like …-ing" |
|---|---|---|---|
| yüzmek (swim) | yüzme | yüzmeyi | yüzmeyi severim |
| okumak (read) | okuma | okumayı | okumayı severim |
| yürümek (walk) | yürüme | yürümeyi | yürümeyi severim |
| resim yapmak (paint) | resim yapma | resim yapmayı | resim yapmayı severim |
Yüzmeyi severim ama koşmayı sevmem.
I like swimming but I don't like running.
Akşamları kitap okumayı çok severim.
I really like reading in the evenings.
Yeni yemekler denemeyi seviyorum, mutfakta vakit geçiriyorum.
I like trying new dishes — I spend time in the kitchen.
The harmony does the rest of the work for you: front-vowel stems give -meyi (yüzmeyi, yürümeyi), back-vowel stems give -mayı (okumayı, koşmayı). The same pattern works with sevmek's relatives: okumaktan hoşlanırım ("I'm fond of reading," with hoşlanmak you switch to the -mAktAn ablative verbal noun instead).
Hobby vocabulary and the question
To ask about hobbies, the natural questions are Hobilerin ne(ler)? "What are your hobbies?" or Boş zamanlarında ne yaparsın? "What do you do in your free time?" — note the aorist yaparsın (a habitual, see the routines page).
Boş zamanlarında ne yaparsın? — Genelde gitar çalarım.
What do you do in your free time? — I usually play guitar.
Hobilerim yüzmek ve fotoğraf çekmek.
My hobbies are swimming and photography.
Some hobbies are expressed with light-verb collocations — fixed noun-plus-verb pairs you learn whole:
| Activity | Collocation | Literal |
|---|---|---|
| play an instrument | gitar / piyano çalmak | "to play guitar / piano" |
| play a sport/game | tenis / futbol oynamak | "to play tennis / football" |
| take photos | fotoğraf çekmek | "to pull a photo" |
| do sport, exercise | spor yapmak | "to do sport" |
| go for a walk | yürüyüş yapmak / yürüyüşe çıkmak | "to do/go on a walk" |
Crucially, Turkish splits English "play": çalmak is to play an instrument, oynamak is to play a game or sport. Never mix them.
Hafta sonları arkadaşlarla tenis oynarız.
At weekends we play tennis with friends.
Küçükken keman çalardım, şimdi vaktim yok.
I used to play the violin as a kid; now I don't have time.
Saying you dislike or hate something
The clean negative of sevmek is sevmemek "to not like" (sevmem "I don't like"). For stronger dislike, nefret etmek "to hate" takes the ablative -DAn, just like hoşlanmak. And hoşuma gitmek ("it appealed to me," covered on feelings and opinions) handles immediate reactions.
Beklemeyi hiç sevmem, sabırsız biriyim.
I really don't like waiting — I'm an impatient person.
Yalandan nefret ederim.
I hate lying / lies.
Common mistakes
The two big errors are choosing the wrong case for the "like" verb, and using the infinitive instead of the -mAyI verbal noun for "I like doing X."
❌ Yüzmek severim.
Incorrect — the activity is sevmek's object, so it needs the accusative verbal noun -mAyI, not the bare infinitive -mAk.
✅ Yüzmeyi severim.
I like swimming.
❌ Müziği hoşlanırım.
Wrong case — hoşlanmak governs the ablative, so it must be müzikten, not the accusative müziği.
✅ Müzikten hoşlanırım.
I'm fond of music.
❌ Futboldan severim.
Wrong case — sevmek takes the accusative, not the ablative; that's futbolu.
✅ Futbolu severim.
I like football.
❌ Hafta sonu gitar oynarım.
Wrong verb — an instrument is 'played' with çalmak, not oynamak (which is for games/sports).
✅ Hafta sonu gitar çalarım.
At weekends I play guitar.
❌ Okumak çok seviyorum.
Two issues — the activity needs to be a nominalized object (okumayı), and a stable taste reads better in the aorist (severim).
✅ Okumayı çok severim.
I really like reading.
Key takeaways
- sevmek + accusative: futbolu severim; with general categories the noun can stay bare (çikolata severim).
- hoşlanmak + ablative: müzikten hoşlanırım — more reflective, with a romantic shade for people.
- "I like DOING X" = verbal noun -mAyI
- severim: yüzmeyi severim, okumayı severim — never the bare infinitive.
- English "play" splits: çalmak for instruments, oynamak for games and sports.
- Dislike/hate: sevmemek (don't like), nefret etmek + ablative (hate); immediate reactions use hoşuma gitti.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Liking and Loving: A ReferenceB1 — The full Turkish family of liking and loving — sevmek, beğenmek, hoşlanmak, bayılmak and the hoşuma gitmek idiom — each with its required case.
- 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.
- When to Use the AblativeB1 — The five jobs of the ablative -DAn — source, material/cause, comparison 'than', partitive, and verb-selected complements like korkmak and hoşlanmak.
- Feelings and OpinionsB1 — Expressing what you think and how you feel in Turkish — opinion frames, adjective-plus-copula moods, and the possessive emotion idioms that catch every learner.