Imperative: The Full Set of Forms

This page lays the whole imperative out in a single grid so you can see how the pieces fit together. Turkish does something English cannot: alongside the ordinary "you" command it has a genuine third-person imperative — one suffix that means "let him come," "may she stay," "have them wait." Where English has to build a "let" phrase, Turkish has a dedicated verb form. For the conceptual walkthrough of each form see the main imperative page; here the goal is the full paradigm, affirmative and negative, side by side.

The full affirmative grid

The imperative covers only second and third person — there is no first-person imperative, because you cannot command yourself. "Let me / let's" belongs to the optative, a separate mood.

Two of these suffixes carry a vowel that must harmonise. The -(y)In ending takes the four-way I vowel (in / ın / un / ün), so it comes out as gelin, oturun, görün, bakın. The -sIn ending harmonises the same four ways (sin / sın / sun / sün): gelsin, otursun, görsün, baksın. The capital I in the formulas is exactly this four-way vowel.

The buffer y after vowel stems

When the stem ends in a vowel, a buffer -y- slides in before -(y)In / -(y)InIz so two vowels never touch — that is what the (y) in the formula marks. So bekle- "wait" gives bekleyin, not beklein; başla- "start" gives başlayın; oku- "read" gives okuyun. The -sIn ending begins with a consonant, so it never needs the buffer: beklesin, okusun.

Third person: "let him / let them"

The headline feature of the Turkish imperative is its third person. With -sIn (3sg) and -sInlAr (3pl) you issue a command about someone who is not the listener: gelsin "let him come," gelsinler "let them come." English has no single form for this — it reaches for "let him…", "have her…", or the more formal "may…". Turkish does it with one tidy suffix, and the same form carries a whole emotional range: a literal instruction relayed through a third party, a blessing (Allah yardım etsin "may God help"), or a resigned "let them, then."

In casual speech the plural -lAr is often dropped when plurality is already obvious from context, so you will hear gelsin doing duty for "let them come" too. The full gelsinler is never wrong, though, and it is what you write.

The negative grid

To turn any imperative into a prohibition, insert the verbal negative -mA- between the stem and the ending. Nothing else changes — the endings themselves stay put. The only one that looks different at first is the bare 2sg, simply because the positive gel has no ending for -mA- to sit in front of. For the full treatment, including the all-important stress shift, see negative commands.

Notice that once -mA- ends in a vowel, the 2pl form picks up the same buffer -y- you saw above: gelme-y-in → gelmeyin. The negative is the cleanest part of the system — one suffix, slotted in, and the rest of the paradigm runs unchanged.

How this differs from English

English speakers stumble on the third person because English forces a periphrasis. "Let him come" is built from the verb let plus an object plus a bare infinitive; "may they rest" recruits a modal. Turkish folds all of that into -sIn / -sInlAr, a single suffix on the main verb. The mental move to make is: when you would say "let X (do)," do not translate "let" — reach for -sIn on the verb of X's action. "Let him wait" is not bırak beklemek but simply beklesin.

The second-person ladder also has no clean English parallel: English has one imperative ("come!") for everyone, while Turkish grades it for intimacy and formality. Matching the verb's politeness to the social situation is part of getting the form right, not an optional flourish — see making polite requests.

Common mistakes

The biggest transfer error is translating English "let" word-for-word. There is no bırak and no için in a third-person command. The "let" meaning lives entirely inside -sIn.

This one is not ungrammatical, just mismatched: pairing the courtesy word lütfen with a bare informal stem sends mixed signals. Match the verb's politeness to the situation.

Key takeaways

• The imperative covers second and third person only — there is no first-person imperative; "let me / let's" is the optative.
• The 2nd-person ladder is -Ø → -(y)In → -(y)InIz: gel, gelin, geliniz.
• The third person is the standout: -sIn "let him come" (gelsin) and -sInlAr "let them come" (gelsinler) — one suffix where English needs a "let" phrase.
• A buffer -y- appears after vowel stems before -(y)In: bekleyin, okuyun.
• The negative is just -mA- slotted in: gelme, gelmeyin, gelmesin, gelmesinler — never değil; see negative commands.