The -mA verbal noun is one of the engines of Turkish subordination. Where the -mAk infinitive names an action with no doer attached, -mA takes a possessive suffix and so encodes whose action it is: gelmem "my coming," gelmen "your coming," gelmesi "his/her coming." This single ability — turning a verb into a possessable noun — is what lets Turkish say "I want you to come," a sentence the subject-neutral -mAk simply cannot build.
Building the form: -mA + possessive
You take the verb stem, add -mA (harmonizing as -ma / -me), and then the possessive suffix that names the subject. Because -mA ends in a vowel, the vowel-initial possessives attach directly; the third person singular brings in a buffer -s-.
| Subject | gel- "come" | oku- "read" | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg | gelmem | okumam | my coming / reading |
| 2sg | gelmen | okuman | your coming / reading |
| 3sg | gelmesi | okuması | his/her coming / reading |
| 1pl | gelmemiz | okumamız | our coming / reading |
| 2pl | gelmeniz | okumanız | your (pl) coming / reading |
| 3pl | gelmeleri | okumaları | their coming / reading |
The 3sg buffer -s- is the same one you see on possessed nouns (araba → arabası "his car"), so gelme + -si = gelmesi, exactly parallel. Get comfortable with this whole column; it is the workhorse of "that"-style clauses.
Erken gelmen çok iyi oldu.
Your coming early turned out to be very good.
Onun bu kadar çabuk öğrenmesi beni şaşırttı.
His learning this fast surprised me.
Adding case: -mA + possessive + case
This possessed verbal noun behaves like any noun, so it can take case endings on top of the possessive. When the matrix verb governs the accusative, the buffer -n- appears before the case ending (the standard pattern for case after a possessive):
- gelmem
- accusative → gelmemi
- gelmen
- accusative → gelmeni
- gelmesi
- accusative → gelmesini (note the -n- before -i)
| Subject | Possessive |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1sg | gelmem | gelmemi |
| 2sg | gelmen | gelmeni |
| 3sg | gelmesi | gelmesini |
| 1pl | gelmemiz | gelmemizi |
Yarın erken gelmeni istiyorum.
I want you to come early tomorrow.
Onun gitmesini kimse istemiyor.
Nobody wants him to leave.
Bu kararı almanı beklemiyordum.
I wasn't expecting you to make this decision.
The whole point: different subjects
This is where -mA earns its place in the grammar. With istemek ("to want"), if the wanter and the doer are the same person, you use the plain -mAk infinitive: gitmek istiyorum "I want to go." But the instant they differ — "I want you to go" — -mAk has no slot for "you," and Turkish switches to -mA with a possessive:
Gitmek istiyorum.
I want to go (same subject).
Gitmeni istiyorum.
I want you to go (different subject).
The genitive subject is usually optional and dropped because the possessive already names it, but you can spell it out for emphasis or clarity: senin gitmeni istiyorum. The possessive on the verbal noun and the genitive on the pronoun must agree — -n on gitmeni answers senin.
Senin de bizimle gelmeni çok isterdik.
We would really have liked you to come with us too.
Çocukların erken yatmasını istiyorum.
I want the children to go to bed early.
After gerek, lazım, and rica ederim
The -mA nominal is the standard complement after expressions of necessity and polite request. With gerek / lazım ("necessary"), the verbal noun carries the possessive of the person who must act, and typically stands in the bare (nominative) form as the subject of "is necessary":
Yarın erken kalkmam gerek.
I need to get up early tomorrow.
Bu raporu bugün bitirmemiz lazım.
We have to finish this report today.
With rica etmek ("to request") the complement goes into the accusative, just as with istemek, producing a courteous register:
Lütfen kapıyı kapatmanızı rica ederim.
I kindly request that you close the door. (formal)
Beni bir daha aramamanızı rica ediyorum.
I request that you not call me again. (formal)
-mA versus -mAk: the dividing line
Both come from the same verb, both translate into English "-ing," and learners constantly confuse them. The clean test is subject:
- No subject of its own → -mAk. Yüzmek güzeldir "Swimming is nice." Gitmek istiyorum "I want to go."
- Its own subject (via possessive) → -mA. Senin yüzmen güzeldi "Your swimming was nice." Gitmeni istiyorum "I want you to go."
For a three-way comparison that also brings in the manner nominal -(y)Iş, see the -mA / -mAk / -(y)Iş comparison. And for how -mA (alongside -DIK and -(y)AcAK) builds full "that"-clauses, see nominalized 'that'-clauses.
A note for English speakers
English handles "I want you to come" with an infinitive and a separate accusative subject: "you to come." Turkish fuses the subject into the verb as a possessor — literally "your-coming I-want." There is no separate pronoun doing the work; the -n ending on gelmeni is the "you." This is why beginners who reach for gelmek in these sentences always go wrong: the infinitive has no place to put the second subject, and the meaning collapses back to "I want to come myself."
Common mistakes
❌ Senin gelmek istiyorum.
Wrong — different-subject complements need -mA + possessive, not the bare infinitive: gelmeni.
✅ Senin gelmeni istiyorum.
I want you to come.
❌ gelmesi istiyorum.
Wrong — istemek governs the accusative, so the possessed nominal needs -ni: gelmesini.
✅ Onun gelmesini istiyorum.
I want him to come.
❌ Yarın erken kalkmak gerek bana.
Wrong — necessity needs the possessed -mA form naming who must act: kalkmam.
✅ Yarın erken kalkmam gerek.
I need to get up early tomorrow.
❌ gelmem
Wrong as 3sg — the 3sg possessive needs the buffer -s-, giving 'his coming'.
✅ gelmesi
his/her coming (3sg, with buffer -s-)
❌ Kapıyı kapatmanız rica ederim.
Wrong — rica etmek takes the accusative on the complement: kapatmanızı.
✅ Kapıyı kapatmanızı rica ederim.
I kindly ask you to close the door. (formal)
Key takeaways
- -mA
- possessive turns a verb into a possessable action noun: gelmem "my coming," gelmesi "his coming" (3sg buffer -s-).
- It can then take case; the accusative inserts a buffer -n-: gelmeni, gelmesini.
- Its defining job is different-subject complements: gelmeni istiyorum "I want you to come," impossible with -mAk.
- After gerek / lazım it stays bare (kalkmam gerek); after istemek and rica etmek it goes accusative.
- The dividing line with -mAk is simply whether the action carries its own subject.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- 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.
- Nominalized 'That'-ClausesB1 — How Turkish renders English 'that'-complements with -DIK (factual) or -(y)AcAK (future) plus a possessive and case, with the embedded subject in the genitive.
- Necessity with gerek and lazımB1 — Besides the suffix -mAlI, Turkish expresses 'need to' with a nominalized clause: a verbal noun plus gerek or lazım — Gitmem gerek / Gitmem lazım 'I need to go' — where the verb becomes a noun (gitmem 'my going') carrying a possessive ending.
- -mA vs -mAk vs -(y)Iş: Three Ways to NominalizeB2 — How Turkish's three deverbal nominalizers divide labor — -mAk for the abstract activity, -mA for a specific (possibly subjected) action, -(y)Iş for the manner of doing.