English collapses a lot of distinct ideas into one ending: "swimming" can mean the activity, an instance of it, or the style of someone's stroke. Turkish splits these across three nominalizers — -mAk, -mA, and -(y)Iş — and they are not interchangeable. Choosing the wrong one rarely makes you incomprehensible, but it does mark you as a learner, because native speakers feel the difference in meaning sharply. This page contrasts the three so you can pick the right one on purpose.
The one-line distinction
- -mAk — the activity in the abstract, subject-neutral, the dictionary infinitive. "To swim / swimming as such."
- -mA — a specific action or instance, able to carry a subject via a possessive, and often a concrete result. "The (act of) swimming," "your swimming."
- -(y)Iş — the manner or way of doing it, a single characteristic occurrence. "The way one swims," "someone's stroke / gait / look."
Yüzmek sağlığa çok iyi gelir.
Swimming is very good for your health. (the activity in general)
Senin bu kadar hızlı yüzmen herkesi şaşırttı.
Your swimming this fast amazed everyone. (a specific, subjected instance)
Onun yüzüşü tam bir profesyonel gibiydi.
The way he swam was just like a true professional. (manner)
All three come from yüz- "swim," yet they answer different questions: yüzmek answers "what activity?", yüzmen answers "whose act and that it happened," yüzüş answers "in what manner?"
-mAk: the abstract activity
The -mAk infinitive is the most generic. It refers to the activity as a concept, takes no possessive, and inflects for case by dropping its k (yüzmek → yüzmeyi). Use it for general statements, after istemek, and in purpose clauses with için.
Yabancı dil öğrenmek sandığından daha kolay.
Learning a foreign language is easier than you think.
Sigara içmeyi bırakmak istiyorum.
I want to quit smoking.
-mA: the specific action, and concrete results
The -mA action nominal points at a particular instance rather than the abstract category, and — its superpower — it can take a possessive to name a subject (gelmesi "his coming," gelmeni "your coming"). This is why it, not -mAk, builds different-subject complement clauses.
Onun bu işten ayrılması bizi gerçekten üzdü.
His leaving this job genuinely saddened us.
Sınava geç kalmana çok şaşırdım.
I was very surprised at your being late to the exam.
Beyond clauses, -mA is also the workshop where Turkish forges concrete nouns — frozen results of an action. Dondurma ("ice cream," literally "the freezing/frozen one") from dondurmak; dolma ("stuffed vegetable") from dolmak; kavurma ("braised meat") from kavurmak; kazma ("pickaxe") from kazmak. These are no longer "the act of"; they are the thing produced. The same productive ending lies behind a whole stratum of deverbal nouns.
Yazın en sevdiğim şey limonlu dondurma yemek.
My favorite thing in summer is eating lemon ice cream.
-(y)Iş: the manner of doing
The -(y)Iş suffix nominalizes the manner, style, or single characteristic occurrence of an action — "the way one does it." It has the full four-way harmony (-ış / -iş / -uş / -üş), and after a vowel-final stem it inserts the buffer -y-.
| Verb | -(y)Iş form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| gülmek "laugh" | gülüş | (someone's) laugh / way of laughing |
| bakmak "look" | bakış | look, glance, gaze |
| yürümek "walk" | yürüyüş | walk, gait; (also) a walk/hike |
| oturmak "sit" | oturuş | way of sitting, posture |
| açılmak "open up" | açılış | opening (ceremony) |
Note yürü- "walk" ends in a vowel, so the buffer -y- appears: yürü + -y- + -üş → yürüyüş. This manner reading is what no other nominalizer gives you.
Onun o tatlı gülüşünü hiç unutmadım.
I never forgot that sweet laugh of his.
Kadının bakışından bir şeylerin yanlış olduğunu anladım.
From the woman's look I understood something was wrong.
Her sabah parkta uzun bir yürüyüş yaparım.
Every morning I take a long walk in the park.
Many -(y)Iş forms have also lexicalized into fixed nouns — açılış "opening (ceremony)," kapanış "closing," çıkış "exit," giriş "entrance/introduction." These are everyday vocabulary, not clause-building tools.
The minimal triplets
The contrast is sharpest when you line up all three from one root. The differences are real:
| Root | -mAk (activity) | -mA (act / result) | -(y)Iş (manner) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ye- "eat" | yemek "to eat / food" | yeme "(the) eating of" | yiyiş "way of eating" |
| bak- "look" | bakmak "to look" | bakma "(the) looking, look after" | bakış "gaze, glance" |
| aç- "open" | açmak "to open" | açma "(act of) opening; a kind of pastry" | açılış "opening ceremony" |
| çık- "go out" | çıkmak "to go out" | çıkma "(act of) leaving; jutting balcony" | çıkış "exit; outburst" |
Yemek is so common as "food" that the activity and the concrete noun have merged in that one word — a reminder that lexicalization can blur the lines for individual items even though the system is clear. Two genuinely different sentences:
Bu restoranda yemek çok lezzetli.
The food at this restaurant is delicious. (yemek = food)
Onun acele acele yiyişi annesini hep kızdırırdı.
His hurried way of eating always annoyed his mother. (yiyiş = manner)
How to choose
A quick mental flowchart:
- Do you mean the activity in general, or do you need a bare object after istemek / a purpose with için? → -mAk.
- Do you need to attach a subject ("X's doing"), or do you mean a specific act / result / dish / tool? → -mA.
- Do you mean the way / manner / style of doing, or a single characteristic instance ("a glance," "a walk")? → -(y)Iş.
For a more example-driven decision guide focused purely on picking between them, see choosing -mA vs -mAk vs -(y)Iş.
Common mistakes
❌ Onun gidişini istiyorum.
Wrong — for 'I want him to go' you need the subjected -mA, not the manner -(y)Iş: gitmesini.
✅ Onun gitmesini istiyorum.
I want him to go.
❌ Senin yüzmek çok güzeldi.
Wrong — with a possessor ('your') you must use the subjected -mA form: yüzmen.
✅ Senin yüzmen çok güzeldi.
Your swimming was very nice.
❌ Sabah parkta uzun bir yürüme yaptım.
Wrong — 'a walk' as an event is the lexicalized -(y)Iş noun: yürüyüş.
✅ Sabah parkta uzun bir yürüyüş yaptım.
In the morning I took a long walk in the park.
❌ yürüüş
Wrong — the vowel-final stem yürü- needs the buffer -y- before -üş.
✅ yürüyüş
walk / gait (with buffer -y-)
❌ Sergiyi açma yarın saat beşte.
Wrong — for the 'opening (ceremony)' use the lexicalized -(y)Iş noun açılış.
✅ Serginin açılışı yarın saat beşte.
The exhibition's opening is tomorrow at five.
Key takeaways
- Three nominalizers, three jobs: -mAk = abstract activity, -mA = specific act / subjected action / concrete result, -(y)Iş = manner or characteristic instance.
- Only -mA takes a possessive to encode a subject; only -mAk works as the bare object of istemek and in için purpose clauses.
- -(y)Iş has full four-way harmony and a buffer -y- after vowels: gülüş, bakış, yürüyüş.
- Many -mA and -(y)Iş forms have lexicalized into ordinary nouns (dondurma, çıkış, açılış) — recognize them as vocabulary.
- When in doubt, ask whether you mean the activity, a subjected act/result, or the manner — and let the answer pick the suffix.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Infinitive as a Noun: -mAkA2 — Using the -mAk infinitive as a subject-neutral verbal noun, and how it takes case (yüzmeyi, gitmeye) once the final k drops.
- The Action Nominal -mAB1 — The -mA verbal noun and how its possessive suffix encodes a subject, enabling different-subject complement clauses like gelmeni istiyorum.
- Deverbal Nouns: -GI, -Im, -GIç, -mAnB2 — A family of semi-productive suffixes that turn verbs into nouns — sev- 'love' becomes sevgi 'love', öğret- 'teach' becomes öğretmen 'teacher' — so that once you spot the suffix you can see the verb hiding inside everyday vocabulary.
- -mA vs -mAk vs -(y)Iş: Which NominalizationB2 — Three ways to turn a verb into a noun: -mAk for the generic activity, -mA for a specific action with a subject, -(y)Iş for the manner or single instance.