The Converb -(y)ArAk ('by / while doing')

The converb -(y)ArAk turns a verb into an adverb of manner or means: it tells you how the main action is carried out. Koşarak geldi is not "he ran and came" but "he came running" — running is the way he came. This is the suffix to reach for whenever English would use "by doing", "while doing", or an "-ing" that describes the manner of another action.

What -(y)ArAk does

-(y)ArAk attaches to a verb stem and strips it of tense and person, exactly like the other converbs: the grammar lives on the final verb. What makes -(y)ArAk distinct is its meaning. It does not just say two things happened — it says the converb action is the manner or instrument of the main action. The two actions belong to one subject and unfold together.

In each, the -(y)ArAk verb answers the question nasıl? ("how?"). He came — how? Running. She told it — how? Laughing. You decide — how? By thinking. That "how?" test is the surest way to know -(y)ArAk is the right converb.

For an English speaker, the key is that English has two different patterns here and Turkish unifies them under one suffix. "He came running" uses a bare -ing of manner; "I learned it by reading" uses by + -ing of means. Turkish does not distinguish them: both are -(y)ArAk. So okuyarak öğrendim covers "I learned by reading", and koşarak geldi covers "he came running", with the very same ending.

The two-way form and the buffer -y-

Unlike four-way -(y)Ip, the suffix -(y)ArAk harmonizes only two ways, taking the low vowel a or e by front/back harmony:

After a vowel-final stem, insert the buffer -y- so two vowels do not collide: yürü- → yürüyerek, dinle- → dinleyerek, ağla- → ağlayarak, oku- → okuyarak.

Note dinleyerek (the stem dinle- ends in a vowel, so the buffer -y- appears) and yürüyerek (likewise from yürü-). Forgetting the buffer is the most common spelling slip with this suffix.

The means sense: "by doing"

When -(y)ArAk marks an instrument or method, English almost always uses "by -ing". This is the sense that learners undervalue, because they reach for a sequence converb instead.

In çok çalışarak geçti, the studying is the means by which the passing happened — one continuous effort, not "she studied and then, separately, passed". That single-event, instrumental reading is exactly what -(y)ArAk carries and -(y)Ip does not.

-(y)ArAk vs -(y)Ip: manner versus sequence

This is the contrast that defines the page. Both -(y)ArAk and -(y)Ip chain same-subject verbs onto one final verb, but they answer different questions:

• -(y)ArAk answers how? — the converb is the manner/means of the main action, happening together with it.
• -(y)Ip answers and then? — the converb is an earlier, separate action in a sequence.

The English translation makes the difference vivid. "I learned it by reading" is means, so it must be -(y)ArAk: okuyarak öğrendim. Saying okuyup öğrendim would mean "I read it and then learned it" — two stages, not a method. When the first action is the way you do the second, only -(y)ArAk is right.

Here the smiling and the greeting are simultaneous — manner — so -(y)ArAk is the only natural choice; gülümseyip selam verdi ("she smiled and then greeted us") would split one warm gesture into two cold steps. The full side-by-side treatment lives on choosing -(y)ArAk vs -(y)Ip, and the broader family on the converbs overview.

A fixed idiom: olarak

The most frequent -(y)ArAk form you will meet is olarak, from olmak ("to be/become"). It has hardened into a postposition-like word meaning "as / in the capacity of", and it is everywhere in real Turkish.

You do not need to "build" olarak each time — treat it as a ready-made word. It still follows the same logic ("being X", i.e. "in the manner of X"), which is why it qualifies the main statement just like any other -(y)ArAk adverb. For how such forms sit alongside plain manner words, see manner adverbs.

Common mistakes

Using -(y)Ip where the meaning is manner/means, not sequence:

Dropping the buffer -y- after a vowel-final stem:

Choosing the wrong harmony vowel (it is two-way a/e, never i/u):

Putting tense or person on the converb verb instead of the final verb:

Using a finite clause where Turkish prefers the compact converb:

Key takeaways

• -(y)ArAk marks the manner or means of a same-subject action — it answers how? and the two actions happen together.
• It is two-way harmonic (-arak / -erek) and takes a buffer -y- after a vowel (yürüyerek, dinleyerek, ağlayarak).
• English splits this into "manner -ing" (came running) and "by -ing" (learned by reading); Turkish unifies both under -(y)ArAk.
• Contrast with -(y)Ip: that is plain "and then" sequence, two separate actions — so "I learned it by reading" is okuyarak öğrendim, never okuyup öğrendim.
• The hardened form olarak ("as / as a result") is an everyday word you can use without rebuilding it.