yazmak and okumak (to write and read) | Turkish Grammar

yazmak (to write) and okumak (to read) are among the first action verbs you will ever use in Turkish, and they make a perfect pair to learn together: one ends in a consonant stem, the other in a vowel stem, so between them they show you almost every conjugation pattern you will need. They are also a quiet trap, because okumak does not only mean to read — it is the everyday Turkish word for to study and to attend school. Learn these two well and you will have a template for hundreds of other verbs.

The stems

Drop the dictionary ending -mak / -mek and you are left with the stem. There are no consonant changes in either verb — they are both fully regular.

yazmak → stem yaz- (ends in a consonant)
okumak → stem oku- (ends in a vowel)

The vowel-final stem of okumak matters a great deal. Whenever a suffix begins with a vowel, Turkish inserts a buffer -y- between the stem and the suffix to keep two vowels from colliding: oku-y-or → okuyor, oku-y-an → okuyan. The consonant stem yaz- never needs a buffer.

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The single most useful fact on this page: okumak means both to read and to study. “Üniversitede ne okuyorsun?” is not asking what book you have open — it means “What are you studying at university?”

Present continuous (-İyor)

This is the tense you will reach for constantly — “I am writing”, “I am reading / studying”. The suffix is -İyor, and because okumak ends in a vowel, that vowel drops before -İyor: oku- becomes oku-yor → okuyor (not okuiyor).

Person	yazmak	okumak
ben	yazıyorum	okuyorum
sen	yazıyorsun	okuyorsun
o	yazıyor	okuyor
biz	yazıyoruz	okuyoruz
siz	yazıyorsunuz	okuyorsunuz
onlar	yazıyorlar	okuyorlar

Sana bir mektup yazıyorum, birazdan biter.

I'm writing you a letter, it'll be done in a moment.

Şu an çok yoğunum, sınava çalışıyorum, sürekli ders okuyorum.

I'm really busy right now, I'm studying for an exam, I'm reading textbooks nonstop.

Kızım Boğaziçi'nde tıp okuyor, çok gurur duyuyoruz.

My daughter is studying medicine at Boğaziçi, we're very proud.

Simple past (-DI)

The definite past says that something happened and you witnessed or are sure of it. The suffix is -DI, which here surfaces as -dı / -di (the stem-final consonant is voiced, so no hardening to -tı).

Person	yazmak	okumak
ben	yazdım	okudum
sen	yazdın	okudun
o	yazdı	okudu
biz	yazdık	okuduk
siz	yazdınız	okudunuz
onlar	yazdılar	okudular

Dün gece o kitabı bir oturuşta okudum, inanılmazdı.

Last night I read that book in one sitting, it was incredible.

Adresini bir kâğıda yazdım ama kâğıdı kaybettim.

I wrote your address on a piece of paper but I lost the paper.

The aorist (-Ar / -İr): a vowel-stem surprise

The aorist (-Ar/-İr) is the tense of habits, general truths and “I usually do this”. Here the two verbs diverge in a way worth memorising. Consonant-stem yazmak takes -ar: yazar (he/she writes, as a habit). Vowel-stem okumak takes -r straight onto the vowel: okur (he/she reads). This is the regular pattern — vowel-final stems add only -r.

Person	yazmak (aorist)	okumak (aorist)
ben	yazarım	okurum
sen	yazarsın	okursun
o	yazar	okur
biz	yazarız	okuruz
siz	yazarsınız	okursunuz
onlar	yazarlar	okurlar

The negative aorist is irregular for everyone: it drops the aorist vowel and uses -maz / -mez. So he doesn't write is yazmaz, and he doesn't read is okumaz — never okurmaz.

O her sabah gazete okur, sonra kahvesini içer.

He reads the newspaper every morning, then drinks his coffee.

Ben şiir pek okumam ama roman çok okurum.

I don't really read poetry, but I read a lot of novels.

Negative and question forms

The negative goes inside the verb with -ma / -me, placed right after the stem and before the tense suffix. For the -İyor tense the negative vowel narrows: yaz-mı-yor → yazmıyor, oku-mu-yor → okumuyor.

Artık o gazeteyi okumuyorum, çünkü çok taraflı.

I don't read that newspaper anymore, because it's very biased.

The question particle mı / mi / mu / mü is a separate word that comes after the verb and harmonises with the last vowel.

Bu akşam o raporu yazıyor musun, yoksa yarına mı kaldı?

Are you writing that report tonight, or has it been left for tomorrow?

Çocuklar artık okuyabiliyor mu, yoksa hâlâ harfleri mi öğreniyorlar?

Can the children read now, or are they still learning the letters?

Passive: yazılmak and okunmak

The passive turns to write into to be written and to read into to be read. For consonant stems ending in most consonants you add -İl-, and for vowel stems (and stems ending in -l) you add -İn-. So:

yazmak → yazılmak (to be written)
okumak → okunmak (to be read / to be recited)

These are extremely common in signs, instructions and announcements, because Turkish loves an agentless passive where English would use a vague you or one.

Bu form mavi kalemle doldurulur, kurşun kalemle yazılmaz.

This form is filled out in blue pen; it is not written in pencil.

Mevlit törenlerinde Kur'an okunur ve dualar edilir.

At memorial ceremonies the Quran is recited and prayers are said.

Note that okunmak keeps the “recite/chant” sense too, because okumak itself can mean to recite or even to sing a traditional song.

Participles: yazan, yazdığım, okunan

Turkish has no relative pronouns like who or which; instead it turns the verb into an adjective that sits in front of the noun. The two you meet first are the subject participle -An and the object participle -DİK + possessive.

-An describes the doer: yazan = “(the one) who writes / wrote”, okuyan = “(the one) who reads / is reading”.
-DİK describes something the action is done to, and carries a possessive for the doer: yazdığım = “(the thing) that I wrote”, okuduğun = “(the thing) that you read”.
The passive stem gives okunan = “(the thing) that is read / being read”.

Bu mektubu yazan kişi adını yazmamış.

The person who wrote this letter didn't write their name.

Geçen yaz okuduğum roman hâlâ aklımda, çok etkileyiciydi.

The novel I read last summer is still on my mind, it was very moving.

If you want the full logic of when to choose -An over -DİK, see the dedicated comparison page — it is one of the genuine hurdles of intermediate Turkish.

Common mistakes

❌ Üniversitede çalışıyorum.

If you mean 'I'm a student', this is wrong — çalışmak means 'to work (a job)', not to study a subject. Use okumak.

✅ Üniversitede okuyorum.

I'm studying at university.

❌ O her gün gazete okuiyor.

Wrong — the stem vowel of oku- must drop before -İyor.

✅ O her gün gazete okuyor.

He reads the newspaper every day.

❌ Ben şiir okurmam.

Wrong negative aorist — it must drop the aorist -r and use -maz/-mez.

✅ Ben şiir okumam.

I don't read poetry.

❌ Bu kitap kolay okuyor.

Wrong — 'this book reads easily' needs the passive; the book doesn't do the reading.

✅ Bu kitap kolay okunuyor.

This book reads easily / is easy to read.

❌ Mektubu yazan adamı tanımıyorum, ismi mektupta yazıyor.

The second clause is fine in speech, but learners often mis-stem it; note the -An participle yazan modifies adam directly with no relative pronoun.

✅ Mektubu yazan adamı tanımıyorum.

I don't know the man who wrote the letter.

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When a Turk asks “Ne okuyorsun?” in a school context, answer with a field of study, not a book: “Hukuk okuyorum.” (I'm studying law.) Answering with a book title sounds like you misunderstood the question.

Key takeaways

yazmak = consonant stem yaz-; okumak = vowel stem oku-, which drops its vowel before -İyor and adds only -r in the aorist (okuyor, okur).
okumak means to read, to study, to attend school, and to recite — context decides.
Negative aorist is irregular: yazmaz, okumaz, never okurmaz.
Passives are yazılmak and okunmak, used constantly in signs and instructions.
Participles: yazan / okuyan (the doer), yazdığım / okuduğum (the thing acted upon), okunan (the thing being read).

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