The Type 1 personal endings are the workhorses of Turkish conjugation. They are the subject markers you attach after the present continuous, the aorist, the future, the evidential past — and on plain "X is Y" sentences with no verb at all. Because the same six endings serve all of those, the smartest thing you can do as a learner is drill them until they are automatic, once, and then reuse them everywhere. This page is that drill.
The six endings
| Person | Ending | On gelmek (present continuous) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1sg (I) | -(y)Im | geliyorum | I am coming |
| 2sg (you) | -sIn | geliyorsun | you are coming |
| 3sg (he/she/it) | -Ø | geliyor | he/she/it is coming |
| 1pl (we) | -(y)Iz | geliyoruz | we are coming |
| 2pl (you-pl/formal) | -sInIz | geliyorsunuz | you (pl/polite) are coming |
| 3pl (they) | -lAr | geliyorlar | they are coming |
Notice the shape of the set: vowel-based first persons (-Im, -Iz), s-initial second persons (-sIn, -sInIz), a zero third-person singular, and -lAr for the plural. The I in every one of these is a four-way harmony vowel (i / ı / u / ü), and the A in -lAr is two-way (e / a). That is why geliyor takes -um/-uz (rounded, after the o of -yor) while gelir takes -im/-iz.
Same set across four tenses
The headline efficiency of Type 1 is that it does not care which of these tenses it lands on — it is identical on all of them. Watch the I form ride through four tenses on the stem al- "to take/buy":
- present continuous: alıyorum (I am buying)
- aorist: alırım (I buy / I'll buy)
- future: alacağım (I will buy)
- evidential: almışım (apparently I bought)
Four tenses, one and the same ending logic. Learn -Im / -sIn / -Ø / -Iz / -sInIz / -lAr once and you have learned the subject markers for all of them.
Her sabah aynı kafeden kahve alıyorum, beni artık tanıyorlar.
Every morning I buy coffee from the same café, they recognise me now.
Merak etme, akşama kadar işi bitiririm.
Don't worry, I'll finish the job by this evening.
In alıyorum the tense is the present continuous -ıyor and the I is -um; in bitiririm "I'll finish" the tense is the aorist -ir and the I is -im. Different tenses, same Type-1 family — only the harmony vowel shifts.
The same set on nominal predicates
Type 1 is not only for verbs. The very same endings turn a noun or adjective into a complete "I am / you are" sentence — Turkish has no separate verb "to be" in the present. This is exactly why the set is worth over-learning: it is the present copula too.
Ben öğretmenim, eşim de doktor.
I'm a teacher, and my wife is a doctor.
Çok yorgunsun, biraz dinlensene.
You're really tired, why don't you rest a bit?
Öğretmen + -im = öğretmenim "I am a teacher"; yorgun + -sun = yorgunsun "you are tired." The endings are the identical Type-1 markers — which is the whole reason they reappear after the verbal tenses. You are seeing one system, not two.
The buffer y: only after a vowel
The (y) in -(y)Im and -(y)Iz is a buffer consonant that appears only when the base in front ends in a vowel, to keep two vowels from colliding. After a consonant there is no y.
| Base ends in… | 1sg | 1pl |
|---|---|---|
| consonant (geliyor) | geliyorum | geliyoruz |
| consonant (gelir) | gelirim | geliriz |
| vowel (hasta "ill") | hastayım | hastayız |
| vowel (okuyacağ-… ) | okuyacağım | okuyacağız |
Two subtleties hide in the future tense. The future suffix is -(y)AcAK; its own final k softens to ğ before a vowel-initial ending, so yapacak + -ım becomes yapacağım (no buffer y needed, because ğ is now a consonant), while a vowel-final stem shows both effects: oku- + -yacak + -ım → okuyacağım. The 3sg is the plain yapacak with -Ø.
Yarın sınava gireceğim, bu yüzden bütün gece çalışacağım.
I'm taking an exam tomorrow, so I'll study all night.
Galiba hasta oluyorum, boğazım çok ağrıyor.
I think I'm getting ill, my throat hurts a lot.
Gireceğim and çalışacağım show the future -acak/-eceğ plus the Type-1 -im; oluyorum shows the continuous plus -um. All Type 1.
The 3sg is genuinely zero — don't fill it
The third-person singular has no ending. Geliyor on its own means "he/she/it is coming"; gelir means "he comes." English speakers, used to he comes, feel an urge to add something here. Resist it — the bare tense form is the 3sg.
Annem her akşam yemekten sonra biraz yürüyüş yapar.
My mum takes a little walk every evening after dinner.
Tren birazdan kalkıyor, acele etmemiz lazım.
The train is leaving shortly, we need to hurry.
Yapar "she does/takes" (aorist, 3sg) and kalkıyor "it is leaving" (continuous, 3sg) carry no personal ending at all. The 3pl optionally adds -lAr (yaparlar, kalkıyorlar) when the subject is plural and you want to mark it.
Common mistakes
❌ Ben her gün spor yapıyom.
Incorrect — colloquial clipping of -yorum; in standard Turkish the 1sg ending is full -Iyorum: yapıyorum.
✅ Ben her gün spor yapıyorum.
I exercise every day.
❌ Yarın seni arayacağım deyil mi?
Incorrect — the verb form arayacağım is right (future + Type-1 -ım); the error is 'deyil' for değil. The ending itself is correct.
✅ Yarın seni arayacağım, değil mi?
I'll call you tomorrow, right?
❌ Biz çok mutluuz.
Incorrect — after a vowel-final base you need the buffer y: mutlu + -yuz = mutluyuz.
✅ Biz birlikte çok mutluyuz.
We're very happy together.
❌ O her sabah erken kalkıyorlar.
Incorrect — a singular subject (o) takes the zero 3sg ending, not -lAr: kalkıyor.
✅ O her sabah erken kalkıyor.
She gets up early every morning.
The clipped yapıyom is everyday spoken Turkish but is wrong in writing and careful speech — the standard 1sg is the full -Iyorum. The mutluuz error is a missing buffer y (it must be mutluyuz). And matching a singular subject with -lAr is a frequent slip; the 3sg is zero.
Key takeaways
- The Type 1 endings are -(y)Im, -sIn, -Ø, -(y)Iz, -sInIz, -lAr.
- They attach uniformly after the present continuous -Iyor, the aorist -Ir, the future -(y)AcAK, and the evidential -mIş — and on noun/adjective predicates. Learn them once.
- The 1sg is -Im, never -m: alıyorum, gelirim, yapacağım, gitmişim.
- The 3sg is zero — the bare tense form is already "he/she/it."
- The buffer y appears only after a vowel (hastayım, okuyacağım); after a consonant there is no y (geliyorum).
Now practice Turkish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Verb Personal Endings: The Two SetsA1 — Turkish marks the subject on the verb with one of two ending sets; which set you use depends entirely on the tense suffix in front of it, and the 1sg form is the clearest tell.
- Present Continuous -(I)yorA1 — How to form and use the -(I)yor present, Turkish's everyday tense for ongoing and near-future actions.
- The Aorist -(A/I)r: Habitual and GeneralA2 — How to form the Turkish aorist and why it covers habits, general truths, and polite offers rather than the present moment.
- The Future -(y)AcAKA2 — How to form the Turkish future tense, including the k→ğ softening and the buffer -y- after vowel stems.