vermek (to give) | Turkish Grammar

vermek ("to give") is one of the most structurally important verbs in Turkish, because it does the work of three different grammatical machines at once. As an ordinary verb it is the model ditransitive — it takes two objects, a recipient in the dative and a thing in the accusative, and learning its pattern teaches you how every "give"-type verb behaves. As a light verb it combines with bare nouns to form dozens of everyday expressions (karar vermek "to decide," söz vermek "to promise"). And as an auxiliary, -(y)Iver, it attaches to other verbs to add a sense of suddenness or ease. Master vermek and you have a key that opens three doors.

The stem and the forms

The stem is ver-, and it is regular throughout. Note the past tense is verdim ("I gave") with a voiced d, since r is voiced; the aorist is verir.

Tense / form	"I" form	"he/she/it" form
Present continuous -(I)yor	veriyorum	veriyor
Aorist -(A/I)r	veririm	verir
Past -DI	verdim	verdi
Future -(y)AcAK	vereceğim	verecek
Evidential -mIş	vermişim	vermiş

Bana biraz su verir misin, boğazım kurudu.

Could you give me some water? My throat's gone dry.

Maaşımı henüz vermediler, bu ay biraz sıkışığım.

They haven't paid my salary yet, so I'm a bit short this month.

The ditransitive pattern: dative recipient + accusative thing

This is the core grammar point. vermek takes two arguments:

the recipient — who receives — in the dative -(y)A
the thing — what is given — in the accusative -(y)I (when definite)

The classic model sentence is Ali'ye kitabı verdim — "I gave the book to Ali." Ali'ye is dative (recipient), kitabı is accusative (the definite thing given). Note the apostrophe before the case ending on the proper noun Ali'ye; this is the standard Turkish convention for separating a suffix from a proper name.

Ali'ye kitabı verdim ama daha geri getirmedi.

I gave the book to Ali, but he hasn't brought it back yet.

Garson hesabı bize değil, yan masaya verdi.

The waiter gave the bill not to us but to the next table.

Anahtarı kapıcıya ver, yokken o sular çiçekleri.

Give the key to the caretaker — he waters the plants while we're away.

If the thing given is indefinite, it stays bare while the recipient keeps the dative: Ali'ye bir kitap verdim ("I gave Ali a book"). The recipient's dative never drops, whether the thing is definite or not — that is the stable anchor of the pattern.

💡

Drill vermek as a two-slot frame: [recipient + dative] [thing + accusative] verdim. Fill the slots with new nouns until it's automatic. Because so many verbs of transfer, communication, and teaching share this exact pattern (göndermek "send," söylemek "tell," öğretmek "teach"), vermek is the template for all of them.

vermek as a light verb

A huge number of Turkish expressions are built from a bare noun plus vermek, where vermek carries almost no independent meaning of its own — it is a "light verb." The noun stays bare (no accusative), because it is not really an object but part of a fixed compound predicate.

Expression	Literal	Meaning
karar vermek	to give a decision	to decide
söz vermek	to give a word	to promise
cevap vermek	to give an answer	to answer, reply
izin vermek	to give permission	to allow, let
ara vermek	to give a gap	to take a break
zarar vermek	to give harm	to harm, damage

A subtlety worth flagging honestly: when these light-verb phrases take a further complement, the thing decided or permitted often appears in the dative, not the accusative. Gitmeye karar verdim ("I decided to go") uses the dative -mAyA; çocuğa izin vermek ("to give the child permission") puts the person in the dative. So the case after a light-verb vermek phrase has to be learned per expression — there is no single rule.

Sonunda taşınmaya karar verdik, bu ev çok küçük.

We've finally decided to move — this flat is too small.

Yarın mutlaka ararım, sana söz veriyorum.

I'll definitely call tomorrow — I promise you.

Öğretmen sınavda sözlük kullanmamıza izin verdi.

The teacher allowed us to use a dictionary in the exam.

Biraz ara verelim mi? İki saattir çalışıyoruz.

Shall we take a break? We've been working for two hours.

vermek as the -(y)Iver auxiliary: suddenness and ease

Attached to another verb stem, vermek becomes the suffix -(y)Iver (harmonising: -ıver/-iver/-uver/-üver). It adds a flavour of suddenness, quickness, or "just doing it without fuss." It is colloquial and very common in speech.

The form is verb stem + -(y)Iver + tense ending: git- → gidiver (the t voices to d before the vowel), al- → alıver, bak- → bakıver, gel- → geliver.

Sen otur, ben markete koşup bir ekmek alıvereyim.

You sit down — I'll just dash to the shop and grab a loaf.

Söyleyiverdi işte, kimseye danışmadan, herkes şaşırdı.

He just blurted it out, without consulting anyone — everyone was stunned.

Bir bakıver şuna, çok mu zor anlamadım.

Just have a quick look at this — I can't tell if it's hard.

In the first two examples the suffix signals casual quickness ("just grab," "just blurt out"); the -(y)Iver softens the action into something small and effortless. This is a register marker too: -(y)Iver is informal, common in everyday conversation but rare in formal writing.

Negative and question forms

Negative: vermiyorum (present continuous), vermedim (past), vermeyeceğim (future); aorist negative vermem / vermez. Question particle separate: verdin mi?, verir misin?.

Telefonumu kimseye vermem, içinde her şey var.

I don't give my phone to anyone — everything's on it.

Bana bir saniye izin verir misin, hemen geliyorum.

Could you give me one second? I'll be right back.

Common mistakes

❌ Ali kitabı verdim.

Incorrect — the recipient must be in the dative: Ali'ye kitabı verdim.

✅ Ali'ye kitabı verdim.

I gave the book to Ali.

❌ Sana hediyeyi vereceğim.

Incorrect when you mean a non-specific gift — a vague 'a gift' should be bare: sana bir hediye vereceğim. The accusative hediyeyi pins it to a specific, already-known present.

✅ Sana bir hediye vereceğim.

I'm going to give you a gift.

❌ Gitmeyi karar verdim.

Incorrect — karar vermek's complement takes the dative -mAyA, not the accusative: gitmeye karar verdim.

✅ Gitmeye karar verdim.

I decided to go.

❌ Sana söz veriyorum kelime.

Incorrect — söz vermek is a fixed unit meaning 'promise'; you don't add a literal 'word' object.

✅ Sana söz veriyorum.

I promise you.

❌ Bir ekmek alıvermek istiyorum yazılı raporda.

Incorrect register — the -İver suffix is informal/colloquial and out of place in a written report.

✅ Bir somun ekmek almak istiyorum.

I'd like to buy a loaf of bread.

💡

When you learn a vermek light-verb phrase, learn its downstream case too. karar vermek is followed by a dative -mAyA ("decide to do"), izin vermek puts the person in the dative — these are not predictable from vermek itself, so memorise each phrase with the case it triggers.

Key takeaways

vermek is the model ditransitive: recipient in the dative (Ali'ye), thing in the accusative when definite (kitabı).
The recipient's dative is constant; the thing drops its accusative only when indefinite (bir kitap).
As a light verb it builds everyday expressions: karar vermek, söz vermek, cevap vermek, izin vermek, ara vermek — and their downstream case must be learned per phrase.
As the auxiliary -(y)Iver it adds suddenness/ease and is informal: alıver, gidiver, bakıver.
Forms are regular: stem ver-, aorist verir, past verdi, future verecek, evidential vermiş.

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