uçmak ("to fly") and yüzmek ("to swim") are both intransitive motion verbs, but their real teaching value is not where they go — it is how they slot inside other verbs. When you want to say you can swim, or that you love flying, the verb does not stay an infinitive; it becomes a verbal noun in the accusative: yüzmeyi biliyorum ("I know how to swim / I can swim"), uçmayı severim ("I love flying"). This -mAyI pattern — the -mA verbal noun plus the accusative -(y)I — is exactly what verbs of skill (bilmek "to know how"), preference (sevmek "to love," tercih etmek "to prefer"), and learning (öğrenmek) demand of their verb object. uçmak and yüzmek are the friendliest verbs to drill that pattern on, because "I can swim" and "I love flying" are sentences you actually need.
The stems and the forms
Drop -mAk and you get the stems uç- (ending in the voiceless ç) and yüz- (ending in the voiced z). Both are regular, with one spelling point each.
uç- ends in the voiceless ç, so the past suffix surfaces as -tu (not -du): uçtum, uçtu. The aorist is uçar — a back, unrounded -Ar.
yüz- ends in the voiced z, so the past keeps -dü: yüzdüm, yüzdü. The aorist is yüzer — a front, unrounded -Er.
| Tense / form | uçmak — "I" / "he" | yüzmek — "I" / "he" |
|---|---|---|
| Present continuous -(I)yor | uçuyorum / uçuyor | yüzüyorum / yüzüyor |
| Aorist -(A/I)r | uçarım / uçar | yüzerim / yüzer |
| Past -DI | uçtum / uçtu | yüzdüm / yüzdü |
| Future -(y)AcAK | uçacağım / uçacak | yüzeceğim / yüzecek |
| Evidential -mIş | uçmuşum / uçmuş | yüzmüşüm / yüzmüş |
Kuşlar güneye doğru uçuyor, demek ki kış geliyor.
The birds are flying south — winter must be coming.
Deniz bugün çok sakin, biraz açılıp yüzelim mi?
The sea is very calm today — shall we swim out a little?
A note on uçmak: it is the verb for the agent who flies — a bird flies, a plane flies, a pilot flies. When you travel by plane, Turkish more often says uçakla gitmek ("to go by plane") in everyday speech, though uçmak is perfectly natural too: Yarın İstanbul'a uçuyorum ("I'm flying to Istanbul tomorrow"). Note the ASCII apostrophe in İstanbul'a — proper nouns take the case suffix after an apostrophe.
The destination and source go in the dative and ablative
Both verbs are intransitive but take goals and sources like any motion verb. A destination is dative (-(y)A), a source is ablative (-DAn). A bird flies to the nest (yuvaya uçar) and from the branch (daldan uçar); a swimmer swims to the shore (kıyıya yüzer).
Karşı kıyıya kadar yüzebilir misin?
Can you swim all the way to the far shore?
Uçağımız yarın sabah Ankara'dan İzmir'e uçacak.
Our plane will fly from Ankara to İzmir tomorrow morning.
Balıklar gibi suyun altında yüzüyordu, hayran kaldım.
He was swimming underwater like a fish — I was amazed.
The headline pattern: -mAyI with bilmek, sevmek, öğrenmek
Here is the reason these two verbs share a page. To make uçmak or yüzmek the object of another verb — "I can swim," "I love flying," "I'm learning to swim" — you do not leave it as the -mAk infinitive. You convert it to the -mA verbal noun and put the accusative -(y)I on it, giving -mAyI (with a y buffer between the two vowels). So:
yüz--me-yi→yüzmeyi("swimming," as a definite object)
uç--ma-yı→uçmayı("flying," as a definite object)
This -mAyI form is what bilmek ("to know how to"), sevmek ("to love"), öğrenmek ("to learn"), and tercih etmek ("to prefer") govern. The accusative appears because these verbs treat the activity as a specific, definite thing — the swimming, the flying — that you know, love, or are learning.
Yüzmeyi yedi yaşında öğrendim, hâlâ çok severim.
I learned to swim at seven, and I still love it.
Küçük kardeşim daha yüzmeyi bilmiyor, ona öğretiyorum.
My little brother can't swim yet — I'm teaching him.
Uçmayı hiç sevmem, her türbülansta kalbim ağzıma geliyor.
I don't like flying at all — my heart leaps into my mouth at every bit of turbulence.
Notice the difference from English. English uses an infinitive after "know how" ("know how to swim") but a gerund after "love" ("love swimming"). Turkish makes no such split: both bilmek and sevmek take the same -mAyI form. Yüzmeyi biliyorum and yüzmeyi seviyorum are built identically — only the main verb changes. That uniformity is a gift, once you stop reaching for the English infinitive after bilmek.
bilmek ("know how to") the trap is reaching for the bare infinitive: not yüzmek biliyorum but yüzmeyi biliyorum. The activity is a definite object, so it takes the -mA verbal noun plus the accusative: -mAyI. Same form after sevmek, öğrenmek, tercih etmek. See non-finite/verbal-noun-mak and verb-reference/bilmek.When the activity is the object of a preference and you mean it generically, the accusative is still the norm in standard usage: yüzmeyi severim ("I love swimming"). Contrast this with cases where the activity is the subject of a sentence — there it takes the -mAk infinitive or -mA form without accusative: Yüzmek sağlıklıdır ("Swimming is healthy"). The accusative -mAyI is specifically the object form.
Çocuklara önce uçmayı değil, korkmadan yüzmeyi öğretmek gerek.
You should first teach children not to fly but to swim without fear.
Negative and question forms
The negative inserts -mA-: uçmuyorum / yüzmüyorum (present continuous, vowel swallowed before -yor), uçmadım / yüzmedim (past), uçmayacağım / yüzmeyeceğim (future). The aorist negative is irregular: uçmam / uçmaz and yüzmem / yüzmez. The question particle stays separate and harmonises.
| Form | Negative (yüzmek) | Question (uçmak) |
|---|---|---|
| Present continuous | yüzmüyorum | uçuyor mu? |
| Aorist | yüzmem / yüzmez | uçar mı? |
| Past | yüzmedim | uçtu mu? |
| Future | yüzmeyeceğim | uçacak mı? |
Penguenler uçamaz ama çok iyi yüzer.
Penguins can't fly, but they swim very well.
Denize girdin mi, yüzmeyi biliyor musun?
Did you go in the sea — do you know how to swim?
Collocations and figurative life
uçmak is rich in idiom. uçuruma uçmak aside, the verb means "to be thrilled / over the moon" in sevinçten uçmak ("to fly with joy"); aklı uçmak is "to be stunned"; and uçmak colloquially means "to be incredibly good" (Bu kek uçmuş!, "This cake is amazing!"). yüzmek collocates with kulaç atmak ("to do strokes") and famously appears in paralar içinde yüzmek ("to swim in money / be rolling in cash").
Sınavı geçince çocuk sevinçten uçtu.
When she passed the exam, the kid was over the moon.
O aile parası içinde yüzüyor ama hiç mutlu değil.
That family is rolling in money, but they're not happy at all.
Common mistakes
❌ Yüzmek biliyorum.
Incorrect — bilmek 'know how to' takes the -mAyI verbal noun, not the infinitive: yüzmeyi biliyorum.
✅ Yüzmeyi biliyorum.
I know how to swim / I can swim.
❌ Uçmak severim.
Incorrect — sevmek takes -mAyI too: uçmayı severim.
✅ Uçmayı severim.
I love flying.
❌ Uçdum dün gece.
Incorrect — the voiceless ç forces -tu in the past: uçtum, not uçdum.
✅ Dün gece İstanbul'a uçtum.
I flew to Istanbul last night.
❌ Denizi yüzdüm.
Incorrect — yüzmek is intransitive; the sea isn't a direct object. Use a goal in the dative or no object: denizde yüzdüm / kıyıya yüzdüm.
✅ Denizde yüzdüm.
I swam in the sea.
❌ Yüzmeyi öğreniyor diye 'yüzmek öğreniyor' demek.
Incorrect — öğrenmek also takes -mAyI: yüzmeyi öğreniyor.
✅ Yüzmeyi öğreniyor.
He's learning to swim.
yüzmeyi biliyorum (can), yüzmeyi seviyorum (love), yüzmeyi öğreniyorum (learning), yüzmeyi tercih ediyorum (prefer). Drill one and you have the form for all of them — the only thing that changes is the final verb. See expressions/likes-hobbies for how this powers talk about pastimes.Key takeaways
uçmak("fly") andyüzmek("swim") are intransitive motion verbs; goals are dative (kıyıya yüzdü), sources ablative (daldan uçtu).- Forms:
uç-gives pastuçtu(with-t-afterç), aoristuçar;yüz-keeps pastyüzdü(after voicedz), aoristyüzer. - Their headline use is as
-mAyIverbal-noun objects of skill and preference verbs:yüzmeyi biliyorum("I can swim"),uçmayı severim("I love flying"),yüzmeyi öğreniyor("learning to swim"). - Turkish makes no English-style split between "know how to swim" (infinitive) and "love swimming" (gerund): both take
-mAyI. - Figurative:
sevinçten uçmak("be over the moon"),paralar içinde yüzmek("be rolling in money").
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.
- bilmek (to know / can)A2 — bilmek 'to know' — its aorist bilir, the -DIK complement for 'know that', and its grammaticalized life as the abilitative auxiliary -(y)Abil(mek), 'to be able to'.
- Likes, Dislikes, and HobbiesA2 — Talking about what you like and how you spend your free time — sevmek with the accusative, hoşlanmak with the ablative, and the key 'I like doing X' pattern: the verbal noun -mAyI + severim (yüzmeyi severim).
- 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.