anlatmak means "to explain, to tell, to narrate" — and like göstermek, it is a frozen causative hiding in plain sight. It is anlamak "to understand" plus the causative suffix, so its literal sense is "to cause someone to understand". That is exactly what explaining and storytelling are. Mastering anlatmak also means sorting out the three Turkish verbs English collapses into "tell/say": anlatmak (explain/narrate at length), söylemek (state/tell a fact), and demek (quote the exact words). They have different jobs and different grammar.
anlamak → anlatmak: the logic of "make understand"
The root anla- "understand" takes the causative -t to give anlat- "make understand" → "explain, narrate". Once you see this, the case frame is automatic, exactly as it was for görmek → göstermek. In a causative, the person who would do the base action (here, the one who understands) becomes a dative argument, and the content (the thing understood) is the accusative object.
So "tell me the story" is bana hikayeyi anlat: bana (to me, dative) is made to understand, hikayeyi (the story, accusative) is the content.
Dün gece olanları bana baştan anlat.
Tell me what happened last night from the beginning.
Öğretmen konuyu çok güzel anlatıyor.
The teacher explains the topic really well.
The frame: dative listener, accusative content
The listener takes the dative and is freely omitted when obvious. The content takes the accusative when definite, and can itself be a nominalized clause.
Çocuklara her gece bir masal anlatırım.
I tell the children a story every night.
Sana ne olduğunu anlatmaya çalışıyorum, dinle.
I'm trying to explain to you what happened — listen.
Babam savaş yıllarını saatlerce anlatırdı.
My father used to talk about the war years for hours.
When there is no specified listener, you simply drop the dative; anlatmak does not need one to be grammatical. Bir hikaye anlatayım mı? "Shall I tell a story?"
Three "tell/say" verbs: anlatmak vs söylemek vs demek
This is the heart of the page, because English "tell/say" maps onto three Turkish verbs with non-overlapping grammar. Choosing the wrong one is the single most common B1 mistake here.
| Verb | Core sense | Frame | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|
| anlatmak | explain, narrate, recount (at length) | dative listener + accusative content | stories, topics, situations, "tell me about…" |
| söylemek | state, tell, say (a fact, a request) | dative listener + accusative content / -mAsI clause | "tell me your name", reported requests, singing |
| demek | say (these exact words), call, mean | quote + dative listener | direct quotation, "what does X mean?" |
anlatmak is for unfolding something — a story, an explanation, an account. You cannot anlatmak a single word or a yes/no.
Tatilini anlat bakalım, nasıl geçti?
Tell me about your holiday — how was it?
söylemek is for stating a discrete fact, name, or request. Use it for "tell me the answer / your name / the time", and for reporting a request with a -mAsI clause. (It is also the verb for "to sing" a song.)
Adını söyler misin?
Could you tell me your name?
Gelmemi söyledi ama nedenini söylemedi.
He told me to come but didn't say why.
demek quotes the literal words, in direct speech, and the quotation comes before the verb.
Annem, “Dikkatli ol” dedi.
My mother said, 'Be careful.'
A useful test: if you could replace English "tell" with "explain" or "narrate", use anlatmak. If you could replace it with "state/say (that)", use söylemek. If you are reproducing someone's exact words, use demek. See söylemek for its own full treatment.
Idioms and extended senses
anlatmak also means "to convey / get across", and shows up in a few set phrases:
- derdini anlatmak — to make oneself understood, get one's point across
- lafı anlatmak — to make someone grasp what you mean (informal)
Yabancı dilde derdimi anlatmakta zorlanıyorum.
I have trouble making myself understood in a foreign language.
There is also the reflexive-flavoured intransitive use anlatmak in anlatabildim mi? "Did I manage to make myself clear?" — a very common conversational tag.
Bu çok önemli, anlatabildim mi?
This is really important — am I making myself clear?
Conjugation snapshot
anlatmak is a regular -mak verb with a back, unrounded final vowel. The aorist is anlatır.
| Form | 1sg | 3sg | 3pl |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present (-Iyor) | anlatıyorum | anlatıyor | anlatıyorlar |
| Aorist (-Ir) | anlatırım | anlatır | anlatırlar |
| Past (-DI) | anlattım | anlattı | anlattılar |
| Future (-AcAk) | anlatacağım | anlatacak | anlatacaklar |
| Reported (-mIş) | anlatmışım | anlatmış | anlatmışlar |
Notice the doubled t in the past anlattım: the -t of the causative stem meets the -DI suffix, which surfaces as -tı after a voiceless consonant, giving anlat-tı.
Common mistakes
The biggest error is using anlatmak where Turkish wants söylemek or demek.
❌ Bana adını anlat.
Incorrect — a name is a discrete fact, so use söylemek, not anlatmak.
✅ Bana adını söyle.
Tell me your name.
❌ “Teşekkürler” anlattı.
Incorrect — quoting exact words needs demek, not anlatmak.
✅ “Teşekkürler” dedi.
She said, 'Thank you.'
Conversely, learners use söylemek for a real narration, which sounds oddly clipped:
❌ Bütün hikayeyi bize söyledi.
Incorrect — a whole story is narrated, so use anlattı, not söyledi.
✅ Bütün hikayeyi bize anlattı.
He told us the whole story.
A case error: putting the listener in the accusative (transferring "tell me" as a direct object).
❌ Beni her şeyi anlattı.
Incorrect — the listener is dative (bana), not accusative (beni).
✅ Bana her şeyi anlattı.
He told me everything.
And forgetting that demek takes no accusative content noun:
❌ Bunu kimseye deme, sır.
Incorrect — 'don't tell anyone this' is a request to keep silent, which needs söyleme; deme would mean 'don't say (the word) this'.
✅ Bunu kimseye söyleme, sır.
Don't tell anyone this — it's a secret.
Key takeaways
- anlatmak = anla- "understand" + causative = "make understand" = "explain / narrate".
- Frame: dative listener
- accusative content (often a whole -DIK / -mA clause).
- Three "tell/say" verbs: anlatmak (narrate/explain at length), söylemek (state a fact or request), demek (quote exact words). Wrong choice is the classic B1 error.
- demek never takes an accusative content noun; it takes a quotation.
- Aorist is anlatır; watch the doubled t in the past tense anlattı.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Causative -DIr / -t / -IrB1 — How Turkish builds 'make/have someone do' with the causative suffix, which allomorph each verb takes, and how the suffix adds a new causer and demotes the old subject.
- anlamak (to understand)A2 — How to use anlamak — its accusative object, the negative aorist anlamam, the -DIK complement for 'understand that…', and the related verbs anlatmak and anlaşmak.
- söylemek (to say / tell)A2 — söylemek 'to tell/say' — the dative addressee and the accusative or -DIK content it governs, why it carries indirect speech, and its second life as 'to sing'.
- Reported Speech: diye, -DIK, and demekB2 — How Turkish reports what people say — direct quotation with diye and dedi versus indirect nominalized clauses with -DIK and -(y)AcAK.