inanmak and güvenmek (to believe and to trust)

Here is a pair that English speakers get wrong in almost exactly the same way, which makes them the perfect thing to learn together. inanmak "to believe" and güvenmek "to trust" both govern the dative case — sana inanıyorum "I believe you," ona güvenme "don't trust him." In English these verbs take a plain direct object ("I believe you," "I trust him"), so the instinct is to reach for the accusative. That instinct is wrong, and it produces one of the most recognisable beginner errors in Turkish: ❌ seni inanıyorum. Learn the two verbs as a single dative-governing unit and the error never forms. For the wider list of verbs whose case you simply have to memorise, see verbs that take a case; this page zooms in on the two most important members.

Why dative? The Turkish logic of belief and trust

There is a real intuition behind the case, even though you should ultimately memorise it as a fact. The dative (covered in full on the dative case page) is Turkish's case of direction toward — motion to a place, a goal, a recipient. Turkish construes believing and trusting as orienting yourself toward a person: you extend your faith to them, you lean toward them. So the person is a destination, marked with -(y)A (-e / -a, with buffer -y- after a vowel), not a thing acted upon.

You can see the dative ending doing its work in every object: san-a, adam-a, doktor-a. After a vowel the buffer -y- appears: Ayşe'ye inanıyorum "I believe Ayşe," Ali'ye güvenmiyorum "I don't trust Ali." Memorise the verbs in the shape inanmak -(y)A and güvenmek -(y)A, the same way the verbs-with-cases page recommends fusing every verb to its case.

Believing a person vs. believing a fact

A subtlety worth pinning down: the dative is for believing a person (taking their word). When you believe a fact, statement, or proposition, that fact appears as the thing believed and is not in the dative — it is either a nominalized -DIK clause or a noun the belief is about.

That last example shows the equivalent of English "believe in": hayaletlere inanmak "to believe in ghosts," Tanrı'ya inanmak "to believe in God." Turkish does not add a separate preposition; the dative alone carries the "in." And notice the -DIK clause itself takes the dative: söyle-diğ-in-e "to what-you-said," gel-eceğ-in-e "to your-going-to-come" (future -(y)AcAK). The whole nominalized clause is treated as the destination of your belief.

inanç, inanmak and the abstract noun

The verb inanmak has a high-frequency abstract noun, inanç "belief / faith / conviction," formed with the -(n)ç suffix. It is worth knowing because it appears constantly in discussions of religion, conviction, and values, and because it patterns with the verb: inancım "my faith," inançlı "having faith, devout," inançsız "without faith." The related adjective inanılmaz "unbelievable" (literally "cannot-be-believed," a passive negative aorist participle) is one of the most common intensifiers in casual speech.

güvenmek — to trust, and to rely on

güvenmek is the trust verb, also dative: birine güvenmek "to trust someone." It shades easily into "rely on / count on," and the negative imperative güvenme "don't trust" is a piece of everyday advice. The related noun güven means "trust / confidence" and gives the very common compound güvenlik "security / safety."

Note kendine güvenmek "to trust oneself / be self-confident," with the reflexive kendi in the dative — a fixed and very useful phrase. The negation here, as on the negation -mA page, slots in before the tense suffix: güven-mi-yorum "I don't trust," güven-me "don't trust."

One extension is worth flagging: you can also "trust in" a quality or resource, and it stays dative — the thing relied on is just another destination. Gücüne güvenmek "to trust in one's (own) strength," paranıza güvenmeyin "don't rely on your money," şansına güvenmek "to count on one's luck." There is no separate "rely on" construction with another case here; the single frame güvenmek -(y)A covers trusting a person, trusting yourself, and trusting in a thing alike. Keep it as your default and the dative will be right in the overwhelming majority of sentences.

Aorist forms

Both verbs are regular in the aorist: inanırım / inanır "I believe / he believes (generally)" and güvenirim / güvenir "I trust / he trusts." The aorist gives the characterising, dispositional reading — ben kimseye güvenmem "I don't trust anyone (that's my nature)" — while the present continuous güvenmiyorum describes a here-and-now stance. The aorist negatives are inanmam "I don't / won't believe (it)" and güvenmem "I don't trust," both common as flat refusals.

Common mistakes

Key takeaways

• inanmak "believe" and güvenmek "trust" both govern the dative -(y)A, against the English instinct to use a plain object. Learn them as sana inanıyorum / sana güveniyorum.
• The dative makes sense as Turkish's "direction toward" case: you orient your faith toward a person.
• "Believe in" (ghosts, God) is just the plain dative — no extra word: hayaletlere / Tanrı'ya inanmak.
• Believing a fact uses a -DIK (or future -(y)AcAK) complement, itself in the dative: söylediğine inanmıyorum.
• Know the noun inanç "faith" and güven "trust / confidence," plus kendine güvenmek "to be self-confident." Aorists are regular: inanır, güvenir.