satmak (to sell) and the buy/sell pair | Turkish Grammar

satmak ("to sell") and almak ("to buy") are the two ends of every transaction, and together they give you one of the cleanest case-logic lessons in Turkish. The verb almak is covered in full on its own page — almak — so this page focuses on satmak and, above all, on the case symmetry that links the two. Once you see that selling to someone uses the dative while buying from someone uses the ablative, a whole web of commercial sentences clicks into place: the goods are always the accusative object, the direction of the goods decides the case on the other person.

satmak: the forms and the object

The stem is sat-. It is regular: present satıyor, aorist satar (an -Ar verb, like most disyllabic and many monosyllabic stems — contrast almak → alır), past sattı (note the doubled t: stem-final t meets the -tı of the past), future satacak. The thing sold takes the accusative when it is a definite object.

Form	satmak (sell)	almak (buy)
Present -(I)yor (3sg)	satıyor	alıyor
Aorist (3sg)	satar	alır (irregular -Ir)
Past -DI (3sg)	sattı	aldı
Future -(y)AcAK (3sg)	satacak	alacak
The other party	buyer = dative	seller = ablative

Eski arabamı sonunda sattım, çok rahatladım.

I finally sold my old car — what a relief.

Bu dükkân taze balık satıyor, her sabah gidiyorum.

This shop sells fresh fish — I go every morning.

The case symmetry: dative to sell, ablative to buy

This is the heart of the pair, and it is worth slowing down for, because it encodes a piece of Turkish's spatial logic. Think of the goods as a thing that moves. The dative (-(y)A) marks a goal, a destination — where something goes to. The ablative (-DAn) marks a source — where something comes from. In a sale, the goods leave the seller and go to the buyer. So:

From the seller's side, the buyer is the goal: ona sattım — "I sold (it) to him." → dative.
From the buyer's side, the seller is the source: ondan aldım — "I bought (it) from him." → ablative.

The very same transaction, described from the two ends, flips the case because it flips the direction of travel. This is not an arbitrary rule you memorise — it is the dative/ablative distinction doing exactly what it always does.

Komşuya eski bisikleti yüz liraya sattım.

I sold the old bicycle to the neighbour for a hundred lira.

Bu bisikleti komşudan yüz liraya aldım.

I bought this bicycle from the neighbour for a hundred lira.

Read those two together: same bicycle, same neighbour, same hundred lira — but komşuya sattım (dative) versus komşudan aldım (ablative). The price, by the way, also takes the dative in both: yüz liraya ("for a hundred lira"), where the dative marks the price point reached.

Evi bize çok uygun bir fiyata sattılar.

They sold us the house at a very reasonable price.

Bu telefonu kimden aldın, bana da lazım.

Who did you buy this phone from? I need one too.

💡

Sell to = dative; buy from = ablative. The goods always go from the seller toward the buyer, so the seller is a source (ablative) and the buyer is a goal (dative). Ona sattım, ondan aldım — same person, opposite case, because the direction of the goods flips.

The full transaction in one sentence

When you name both the goods and the buyer, the goods are accusative and the buyer is dative — and Turkish word order lets you front whichever you want to emphasise.

Babam arabayı bir öğrenciye yarı fiyatına sattı.

My dad sold the car to a student for half price.

Tabloyu ona satmam, ne kadar verirse versin.

I won't sell the painting to him, no matter how much he offers.

satılmak (be sold) and satılık (for sale)

The passive of satmak is satılmak ("to be sold"), formed with the passive -Il. You meet it constantly on signs and in the news, because it lets you talk about the goods without naming a seller.

Bütün biletler bir saatte satıldı, çok şaşırdım.

All the tickets sold out in an hour — I was amazed.

Bu ürün artık eczanelerde satılmıyor.

This product is no longer sold in pharmacies.

Closely related — and extremely high-frequency — is the adjective satılık ("for sale"), built with -lIk on the stem. You see it on every shop window and property listing. Its opposite for renting is kiralık ("for rent").

Köşedeki o güzel ev satılık, fiyatını merak ediyorum.

That lovely house on the corner is for sale — I'm curious about the price.

Don't confuse satılık (the adjective "for sale," a static label) with satılıyor (the verb "is being sold," an ongoing action). A window sign says satılık; a news report says bu eserler açık artırmada satılıyor ("these works are being sold at auction").

Common Mistakes

❌ Komşudan eski bisikleti sattım.

Direction reversed — you sell TO the buyer (dative): komşuya sattım. Ablative is for buying FROM.

✅ Komşuya eski bisikleti sattım.

I sold the old bicycle to the neighbour.

❌ Bu telefonu ona aldım.

Ambiguous/wrong — to buy FROM someone use the ablative ondan; ona aldım means 'I bought it FOR him.'

✅ Bu telefonu ondan aldım.

I bought this phone from him.

The dative ona aldım is not an error in itself — it means "I bought it for him" (beneficiary). But for "buy from," you need the ablative ondan.

❌ Araba sattım.

A definite object needs the accusative: arabayı sattım (the car). Bare araba reads as 'I sold a car / some car.'

✅ Arabayı sattım.

I sold the car.

❌ Bu ev satılıyor bir tabela gördüm.

On a sign, 'for sale' is the adjective satılık, not the verb satılıyor: 'satılık' tabelası.

✅ Evin önünde 'satılık' tabelası vardı.

There was a 'for sale' sign in front of the house.

❌ Biletleri satıldı.

Passive verbs have no accusative subject — the tickets are the subject: biletler satıldı.

✅ Bütün biletler satıldı.

All the tickets were sold.

Key Takeaways

satmak ("sell") and almak ("buy") share the accusative for the goods; the other party is what differs.
Sell to = dative (ona sattım); buy from = ablative (ondan aldım) — the goods move from seller (source) to buyer (goal).
The price takes the dative too: yüz liraya sattım ("sold for a hundred lira").
The passive satılmak ("be sold") names the goods, not the seller: biletler satıldı.
satılık is the adjective "for sale" (a label); satılıyor is the verb "is being sold" (an action).

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