The present-continuous suffix -(I)yor has a reputation as a "non-harmonizing" ending, and that is true of one part of it: the yor never changes. But that reputation hides a subtler point that catches out even advanced learners. Right before the frozen yor sits a connecting high vowel — the capital I — and that vowel does harmonize, and crucially it rounds after a rounded stem. So you get geliyor but görüyor, alıyor but oluyor. Getting yor right is easy; getting the vowel in front of it right is the real skill. This page is about that one vowel.
The pre-yor vowel is the harmony-bearing slot
Write the suffix as -(I)yor and the structure is clear: a four-way high vowel (capital I), then the fixed string yor. Everything that vowel harmony has to decide happens in that capital I. And because I is the four-way vowel, it must match the last stem vowel in both frontness and rounding — exactly the rule you already know from the accusative and the past tense.
So before you can write the verb, you ask the usual two questions about the stem's last vowel: front or back? rounded or unrounded? The answer fills the I slot, and only then does yor follow, unchanged.
Sana doğru geliyorum, birazdan oradayım.
I'm heading your way; I'll be there shortly.
Marketten dönerken ekmek alıyorum, başka bir şey var mı?
I'm buying bread on my way back from the shop — is there anything else?
Gel-i-yor-um: last stem vowel e is front and unrounded, so I → i. Al-ı-yor-um: last stem vowel a is back and unrounded, so I → ı. Notice the yor is identical in both, while the vowel before it tracks the stem. So far this is ordinary four-way harmony; the interesting cases are rounded stems.
After a rounded stem, the pre-yor vowel rounds
This is the heart of the page. When the stem's last vowel is rounded (o, u, ö, ü), the connecting I rounds too — to u after a back rounded vowel and to ü after a front rounded one. This is what produces the forms learners most often get wrong.
Hava birden soğudu, galiba kar yağıyor; her şey beyaz oluyor.
The weather suddenly turned cold; I think it's snowing — everything's turning white.
Gözlüğümü takmadan tabelaları zor görüyorum.
Without my glasses I can barely make out the signs.
Ol-u-yor: the stem ol- has back rounded o, so I → u, giving oluyor — never oliyor or olıyor. Gör-ü-yor-um: the stem gör- has front rounded ö, so I → ü, giving görüyorum — never göriyorum. The vowel immediately before yor is rounded because the stem vowel is rounded, even though yor itself does not budge.
Akşamları parkın etrafında bir saat yürüyorum.
In the evenings I walk around the park for an hour.
Yürü-yor-um: the stem yürü- ends in front rounded ü, so the connecting vowel is ü — and here the stem already ends in ü, which feeds directly into the suffix. (More on vowel-final stems below.)
A low a at the seam blocks rounding — but only if it survives
Standard four-way harmony has a wrinkle that -yor makes visible. The connecting vowel copies the rounding of whatever vowel sits immediately before it — and a back low a is unrounded, so when an a is the vowel right before the suffix, the connecting vowel comes out unrounded ı, no matter what rounded vowel stood earlier in the word:
Doktor her sözcüğü tane tane okuyor.
The doctor is reading out every word one by one.
Komşular yeni bir bahçe duvarı yapıyor.
The neighbours are building a new garden wall.
Yap-ı-yor: the stem yap- ends in unrounded a, so the connecting vowel is unrounded ı. Oku-yor, by contrast, ends in rounded u, so its vowel rounds to u (and that u triggers vowel-dropping — next section). The lesson so far: round the pre-yor vowel only when the vowel right before it is rounded, not just because the word "feels" rounded.
There is one trap, though, exactly where vowel-final -A stems delete their final vowel before -yor. Once that a is gone, the connecting vowel listens to whatever vowel is now stem-final. So başla- → başlıyor (the surviving vowel is unrounded a in baş), but topla- → topl-u-yor (the surviving vowel is rounded o). The deleted a never had a vote; the vowel it leaves exposed does.
Where the rounding comes from: labial attraction
If you find it strange that a vowel reaches out to match the rounding of the syllable before it, you have noticed a genuine historical layer of Turkish. Linguists call it labial (rounding) harmony or, in older Turcology, labial attraction — a relatively late development in the Turkic languages in which a high vowel takes on the rounding of the preceding vowel. It is exactly this process that turns the underlying high vowel of -(I)yor into u or ü after rounded stems. You do not need the history to use the forms, but it explains why the rule exists at all: rounding harmony is a real, productive part of the four-way system, and -yor, used constantly, is simply where you meet it most often.
Üniversitede ne okuyorsun, mühendislik mi?
What are you studying at university — engineering?
Oku-yor-sun: rounded stem oku-, rounded connecting vowel u, frozen yor, then the personal ending. Every piece earns its shape from the rules you already know — frontness, rounding, and the fixed yor.
Cross-reference: stem-final vowels drop before -yor
You will have noticed that oku-yor and yürü-yor do not show a separate connecting vowel — that is because -(I)yor triggers the deletion of a stem-final vowel, and the surviving vowel does the harmony work. With consonant-final stems the connecting vowel is fully visible (gel-i-yor, gör-ü-yor); with vowel-final stems it interacts with deletion (başla- → başlıyor, bekle- → bekliyor, uyu- → uyuyor). The deletion mechanics — and how the dropped-vowel rounding lands — are covered in detail on the present-continuous page.
Çok yoruldum, erkenden uyuyorum bu akşam.
I'm exhausted; I'm going to bed early tonight.
Uyu- → uyuyor: the stem-final u survives as the rounded vowel, and yor follows. Even through deletion, rounding is preserved.
Common mistakes
❌ Onu net göriyorum.
Incorrect — pre-yor vowel left unrounded after the rounded stem gör-.
✅ Onu net görüyorum.
I can see it clearly.
The stem gör- has front rounded ö, so the connecting vowel rounds to ü: gör-ü-yor.
❌ Hava güzel oliyor.
Incorrect — flat 'i' instead of rounded 'u' after back rounded o.
✅ Hava güzel oluyor.
The weather is turning nice.
Back rounded o in ol- rounds the connecting vowel to u: ol-u-yor.
❌ Her sabah bir saat yüriyorum.
Incorrect — unrounded vowel after the front rounded stem yürü-.
✅ Her sabah bir saat yürüyorum.
I walk for an hour every morning.
The front rounded ü of yürü- keeps the suffix vowel ü.
❌ Mektubu yazuyorum.
Incorrect — over-rounding after the unrounded final vowel a of yaz-.
✅ Mektubu yazıyorum.
I'm writing the letter.
The last stem vowel of yaz- is unrounded a, so the connecting vowel is unrounded ı — round only when the last stem vowel is rounded.
Key takeaways
- -(I)yor = a four-way connecting vowel + the frozen string yor; only the vowel harmonizes.
- That connecting vowel matches the last stem vowel in frontness and rounding: gel-i-yor, al-ı-yor, ol-u-yor, gör-ü-yor.
- Round the pre-yor vowel only when the last stem vowel is rounded; an unrounded final vowel (yap-, yaz-) keeps it ı/i.
- The rounding comes from labial harmony (historically "labial attraction"), a genuine part of the four-way system.
- Vowel-final stems drop their final vowel before -yor (oku → okuyor, başla → başlıyor); see the verb page for the mechanics.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Four-Way Harmony: i / ı / u / üA1 — The high-vowel half of vowel harmony: suffixes notated capital I surface as i, ı, u, or ü, chosen by both the frontness AND the rounding of the last stem vowel.
- Present Continuous -(I)yorA1 — How to form and use the -(I)yor present, Turkish's everyday tense for ongoing and near-future actions.
- Exceptions and Disharmonic WordsB1 — Why some stems break vowel harmony internally and a few suffixes opt out entirely — and why these 'exceptions' never actually break the rule for the suffixes you add.