The suffix -(I)yor is the workhorse of spoken Turkish. It is the tense you reach for to say what is happening right now (geliyorum, "I am coming"), but it also covers a huge amount of what English handles with the plain present ("I work in a bank", "I'm leaving tomorrow"). If you learn only one Turkish tense first, learn this one — it will carry you through everyday conversation.
How -(I)yor is built
A Turkish verb in this tense stacks three things in order: stem + linking vowel + yor + personal ending. The trick that trips up beginners is that the linking vowel harmonizes but -yor itself never changes. The o in yor stays o no matter what vowels surround it — it is one of the very few suffixes in the language that refuses to harmonize.
The linking vowel is a high vowel (I-type), so it has four possible shapes — ı, i, u, ü — chosen by four-way vowel harmony from the last vowel of the stem:
| Last stem vowel | Linking vowel | Stem | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| e, i | i | gel- | geliyor |
| a, ı | ı | al- | alıyor |
| o, u | u | kork- | korkuyor |
| ö, ü | ü | gör- | görüyor |
Notice that the rounded vowels (o, u, ö, ü) pull the linking vowel into a rounded shape too — this is labial attraction. It is why gör- gives görüyor, not göriyor. English speakers almost always say göriyor the first hundred times; train your ear to the rounded ü.
Geliyorum, bir dakika!
I'm coming, one second!
Çocuk korkuyor, ışığı açar mısın?
The kid is scared, can you turn on the light?
Stem-final vowels drop
If the stem already ends in a vowel, there is no room for a separate linking vowel — Turkish simply deletes the stem-final vowel and harmonizes whatever is left. So başla- ("begin") does not become başlaıyor; the final a drops and the linking vowel surfaces as ı, giving başlıyor. Likewise ağla- ("cry") → ağlıyor, and bekle- ("wait") → bekliyor.
There is one tidy exception to keep straight: when the stem ends in o or u, the vowel does not drop, because o/u are already high or back enough to glide straight into -yor. So oku- ("read") simply adds -yor: okuyor, not okıyor. The same goes for uyu- ("sleep") → uyuyor.
Film başlıyor, telefonu sessize al.
The movie's starting, put your phone on silent.
Bebek yine ağlıyor.
The baby is crying again.
Ne okuyorsun?
What are you reading?
The personal endings
After -yor you add the Type 1 personal endings. Because the vowel before them is always o, the endings are predictable: they round to match. Here is the full paradigm with yap- ("do/make"):
| Person | Affirmative | English |
|---|---|---|
| ben | yapıyorum | I'm doing |
| sen | yapıyorsun | you're doing |
| o | yapıyor | he/she/it is doing |
| biz | yapıyoruz | we're doing |
| siz | yapıyorsunuz | you (pl./formal) are doing |
| onlar | yapıyorlar | they're doing |
The third person singular (o) has no ending at all — bare -yor is already "he/she/it is doing". This is a recurring feature of Turkish: the o form is usually the shortest.
Akşam ne yapıyorsun?
What are you doing this evening?
Annem mutfakta yemek yapıyor.
My mom is making food in the kitchen.
Negation: -mI- before -yor
To negate, insert the negation vowel -mI- between the stem and -yor. Because -yor eats the vowel in front of it, the negation marker surfaces as a high vowel: gel-me- + yor → gelmiyor, yap-ma- + yor → yapmıyor, bekle-me- + yor → beklemiyor. The full negative of beklemek ("to wait") in biz is beklemiyoruz.
Beklemiyoruz, hemen gidelim.
We're not waiting, let's go right now.
Neden cevap vermiyorsun?
Why aren't you answering?
Why English speakers misuse it: -(I)yor does double duty
Here is the single most important idea on this page. In English, "I am working" and "I work" are two different tenses with two different meanings. In Turkish, -(I)yor often does the job of both. It is the default present:
- Right now: Şu an yemek yiyorum. — "I'm eating right now."
- These days / a current state: Bir bankada çalışıyorum. — "I work at a bank." (an ongoing situation, not happening at this instant)
- A planned near future: Yarın İstanbul'a gidiyorum. — "I'm going to Istanbul tomorrow."
What -(I)yor does not cover well is habits and general truths. For "I drink tea every morning" or "water boils at 100 degrees", Turkish uses the aorist -(A/I)r instead. The mental split English speakers must build is roughly: if the action is anchored to now or to a current ongoing situation, use -(I)yor; if it is a timeless habit or characteristic, use the aorist. The page -(I)yor vs -Ir walks through the gray zone in detail.
Bu yaz Almanca öğreniyorum.
I'm learning German this summer.
Hafta sonu köye gidiyoruz.
We're going to the village this weekend.
Common mistakes
❌ Şu an çay içerim.
Incorrect — aorist used for an action happening right now
✅ Şu an çay içiyorum.
I'm drinking tea right now.
Using the aorist (içerim) for a present-moment action is the classic transfer error. İçerim means "I drink (habitually)", not "I'm drinking now".
❌ Annem yemek yapayor.
Incorrect — linking vowel not harmonized to the stem
✅ Annem yemek yapıyor.
My mom is making food.
After yap-, the last vowel is a, so the linking vowel must be ı: yapıyor, never yapayor.
❌ Çocuk göriyor.
Incorrect — linking vowel not rounded after a rounded stem
✅ Çocuk görüyor.
The child sees / can see.
Because gör- has a rounded ö, labial attraction forces the linking vowel to ü: görüyor.
❌ Film başlaıyor.
Incorrect — stem-final vowel not dropped
✅ Film başlıyor.
The movie is starting.
When the stem ends in a or e, drop it before -yor: başla- → başlıyor, bekle- → bekliyor.
❌ Kitap okuyyor.
Incorrect — no extra vowel or doubled y after o/u stems
✅ Kitap okuyor.
He/she is reading a book.
After a stem ending in o or u, just attach -yor directly: oku- → okuyor.
Key takeaways
- Structure: stem + linking high vowel (ı/i/u/ü) + yor + personal ending.
- The linking vowel harmonizes four ways and rounds after o/u/ö/ü (görüyor, okuyor).
- -yor never harmonizes — the o is fixed.
- Stem-final a/e drops (başlıyor, ağlıyor); stems in o/u keep their vowel (okuyor, uyuyor).
- Negate with -mI-: gelmiyor, yapmıyor, beklemiyoruz.
- -(I)yor is the everyday present for now, current situations, and near-future plans — but not for habits and general truths, where you use the aorist.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- 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.
- Type 1 Endings (-(y)Im set)A1 — The Type 1 personal endings -(y)Im, -sIn, -Ø, -(y)Iz, -sInIz, -lAr mark the subject after the continuous, aorist, future, and evidential tenses and on noun predicates — the same set every time, so you learn them once.
- Rounding and the -yor SuffixB2 — Why the high vowel right before -yor rounds after a rounded stem (oluyor, görüyor) even though -yor itself never changes — and the historical labial attraction behind it.
- -(I)yor vs -(A/I)r: Now vs GenerallyA2 — How to choose between the Turkish present continuous and the aorist — and why it is not the same split as English continuous vs simple present.