açmak "to open" and kapatmak "to close" are the everyday opposites you reach for dozens of times a day — doors, windows, the radio, the TV, your phone, a shop, a conversation. Both are transitive: they act on a direct object, which goes in the accusative when it is definite. Their real value for a learner, though, is twofold: they extend cleanly to turning devices on and off, and each has an intransitive-passive partner (açılmak, kapanmak) that lets the same event be described without an agent — the door opens rather than I open the door.
The accusative object
Because these verbs are transitive, the thing being opened or closed is a direct object. A specific, definite object carries the accusative ending -I.
Lütfen pencereyi aç, içerisi çok sıcak.
Please open the window, it's very hot in here.
Çıkarken kapıyı kapat, kedi kaçmasın.
Close the door when you leave, so the cat doesn't run off.
Hediyeyi açtığında gözleri parladı.
When she opened the gift, her eyes lit up.
If the object is indefinite — "open a window," any window — it stays bare (no accusative): pencere aç. The accusative appears exactly when the object is identifiable, which is the general accusative rule, not anything special about these verbs. For the choice between bare and marked objects, see verb–noun collocations.
Turning devices on and off
This is the high-frequency extension every learner needs. In Turkish you "open" and "close" your appliances: açmak = turn on / switch on, kapatmak = turn off / switch off. Lights, radio, TV, computer, oven, heating, air conditioning — all of them.
Üşüdüm, kaloriferi açar mısın?
I'm cold, could you turn on the heating?
Yatmadan önce bütün ışıkları kapat.
Turn off all the lights before going to bed.
Haberleri kaçırmayalım, televizyonu aç.
Let's not miss the news, turn on the TV.
There is a more "technical" verb for cutting power, kapatmak's cousin söndürmek (extinguish, for fires and sometimes lights), but for ordinary "turn it on / off" in daily speech, açmak and kapatmak are what natives use without thinking.
The phone: açmak = answer, kapatmak = hang up
A special and very common case. With telefon, açmak means to answer / pick up and kapatmak means to hang up / end the call. This follows the same image — you "open" the line and "close" it.
Telefonu açmıyor, herhalde toplantıdadır.
He's not answering the phone, he must be in a meeting.
Konuşma bitince telefonu nazikçe kapattı.
When the conversation ended, she gently hung up the phone.
So telefonu aç is "answer the phone," not "open the phone" — context makes it unambiguous. The same pair handles hesabını kapatmak (close an account), dükkânı açmak / kapatmak (open / close up shop), and even abstract openings like konuyu açmak "to bring up a topic."
O konuyu yemekte açma, herkes rahatsız oluyor.
Don't bring that topic up at dinner, it makes everyone uncomfortable.
kapatmak vs kapamak
Turkish has two closely related forms: kapatmak and kapamak. They overlap almost completely for "to close / shut," and both are correct. In modern usage kapatmak is the more frequent, default choice for "close, turn off, hang up," while kapamak is slightly more old-fashioned or regional but perfectly understood.
Kapıyı kapadı ve odadan çıktı.
He shut the door and left the room.
In practice, learn kapatmak as your everyday verb and simply recognize kapamak when you meet it. They are not different in meaning; they are stylistic variants of the same verb.
The intransitive-passive partners: açılmak and kapanmak
Here is where açmak / kapatmak teach a structural lesson. Each has a partner formed with the passive/intransitive suffix -Il- / -In-: açılmak "to be opened / to open (by itself)" and kapanmak "to be closed / to close (by itself)." These let you describe the same event with no agent — the focus is on the thing, not on who acted.
| Transitive (someone does it) | Intransitive / passive (it happens) |
|---|---|
| Kapıyı açtım. (I opened the door.) | Kapı açıldı. (The door opened.) |
| Pencereyi kapattım. (I closed the window.) | Pencere kapandı. (The window closed.) |
| Dükkânı açtılar. (They opened the shop.) | Dükkân açıldı. (The shop opened.) |
Rüzgârdan kapı kendiliğinden kapandı.
The door closed by itself because of the wind.
Mağaza saat ondan sonra açıldı.
The store opened after ten o'clock.
The key difference from English: where English reuses open and close for both ("I open the door / the door opens"), Turkish marks the shift overtly with -Il-. The transitive form takes an object in the accusative; the intransitive form has a subject and no object. This is the cleanest everyday example of the Turkish passive in -il.
açılmak also covers nice idiomatic extensions: hava açıldı "the weather cleared up," okullar açıldı "schools opened (term started)." All still mean "open up / become open" without an agent.
Sabah yağmurluydu ama öğleden sonra hava açıldı.
It was rainy in the morning, but the weather cleared up in the afternoon.
Common mistakes
The errors cluster around the accusative and around the transitive/intransitive split:
❌ Kapı açtım.
Incorrect — a specific door is definite and needs the accusative -I.
✅ Kapıyı açtım.
I opened the door.
❌ Kapıyı açıldım.
Incorrect — açılmak is intransitive and takes no object; with an object you need açtım.
✅ Kapıyı açtım.
I opened the door.
❌ Işığı çevir.
Incorrect — Turkish doesn't 'turn' a light; it opens it.
✅ Işığı aç.
Turn on the light.
❌ Telefonu cevapladım.
Incorrect for picking up a ringing phone — cevaplamak is 'reply to', not pick up; use telefonu açtım.
✅ Telefonu açtım.
I answered the phone.
The recurring lesson: definite object → accusative with açmak/kapatmak; no object → açılmak/kapanmak; and for devices and phones, open and close, never "turn" or "answer (cevaplamak)."
Key takeaways
- açmak / kapatmak are transitive: the definite object takes the accusative (kapıyı, radyoyu, telefonu).
- They extend to devices (turn on / off: ışığı aç, televizyonu kapat) and to the phone (aç = answer, kapatmak = hang up).
- kapatmak ≈ kapamak — same meaning, kapatmak is the modern default.
- The intransitive-passive partners açılmak / kapanmak describe the event with no agent (kapı açıldı "the door opened"), and never take an accusative object.
- See açmak/kapatmak in context and the passive in -il for the broader pattern.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Passive -Il / -In / -nB1 — How to build the Turkish passive from any verb stem, choosing -Il, -In, or -n by the final sound, and how the impersonal passive expresses generic 'one/you'.
- The Accusative -(y)I and DefinitenessA1 — The accusative ending marks a direct object as specific — and because Turkish has no word for 'the', the accusative effectively IS the definite article.
- How to Use the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the Turkish verb-reference pages — stem, key forms, governed case, and the irregular-feeling details they highlight.
- Verb-Noun Collocations by ThemeB2 — Fixed verb-noun pairings clustered by topic — food, money, communication, decisions — where the conventional verb is set per noun and rarely matches English.