Learn Hardcore Turkish: Seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum. - I feel safe because I can speak openly with you.

The “full” form is:
- benimle – with me
- seninle – with you
- onunla – with him/her/it
These come from benim / senin / onun (genitive forms) + ile (“with”).
In everyday speech, people often shorten seninle → senle, benimle → benle, etc.

In your sentence, seninle sounds a bit more careful / neutral. You could say:

Senle açıkça konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

and it would still be natural in most contexts, just a touch more colloquial.

Writing senin ile separately is also grammatically correct, but in modern Turkish the joined form seninle is more common in this kind of sentence.

How is konuşabildiğim formed? What does each part mean?

Konuşabildiğim is quite packed; it literally means “that I am able to speak” / “that I can speak” and is used here as a verb phrase turned into a noun-like form.

Breakdown:

konuş- – verb stem: “to speak, to talk”
-a- / -ebil- – the ability suffix -(y)ebil, “can, be able to”
- konuş-a-bil- → “can speak / be able to speak”
-dik- → here appears as -diğ- because of consonant harmony/spelling rules
This is the verbal noun / participle suffix -dik (changes shape: -dik / -dık / -dük / -duk / -tiğ / -tuğ / etc.), often translated as “the … that …”.
-im – 1st person singular possessive “my”

So:

konuş-a-bil-diğ-im ≈ “my being able to speak” / “that I can speak”

In the sentence:

seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için
→ “because I can talk openly with you”
(literally: “because of my being able to talk openly with you”)

This -dik structure is necessary to attach için (“for/because of”) to a whole action (“my being able to talk”) rather than to a simple noun.

Why do we use konuşabildiğim with için? Why not konuşabiliyorum için?

You cannot attach için directly to a finite verb form like konuşabiliyorum.
İçin needs a noun or a noun-like form before it.

❌ Seninle açıkça konuşabiliyorum için… – ungrammatical

Instead, Turkish turns the verb phrase into a verbal noun / participle using -dik, and then için can follow that:

konuşabildiğim için
= “because I can speak”

Compare:

Geldim, çünkü seni özledim. – “I came, because I missed you.”
(here çünkü connects two normal clauses)
Seni özlediğim için geldim. – “I came because I missed you.”
(here we use -diğim için, verbal noun + için)

So with için, you typically see forms like:

geldiğim için – because I came
konuşabildiğim için – because I can speak

What is the difference between using için and çünkü for “because” in sentences like this?

İçin and çünkü both express cause, but they behave differently.

Position and structure

çünkü links two full clauses:
- Kendimi güvende hissediyorum, çünkü seninle açıkça konuşabiliyorum.
  “I feel safe, because I can talk openly with you.”
için follows a noun or a verbal noun:
- Seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.
  “Because I can talk openly with you, I feel safe.”

Typical order

With çünkü, the result usually comes first:
- Kendimi güvende hissediyorum, çünkü…
With için, the cause clause often comes first:
- … için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

Nuance

They are both natural here; the choice is partly stylistic:

çünkü tends to sound a bit more spoken, straightforward.
-diğim için is a very common, slightly more “sentence-integrated” way to express the cause.

Why do we say kendimi here? Could we just say güvende hissediyorum?

With hissetmek (“to feel”), Turkish very often uses a reflexive pronoun:

kendimi – myself
kendini – yourself / himself / herself
kendimizi – ourselves, etc.

Literally, kendimi güvende hissediyorum is “I feel myself safe / in safety.”

Is kendimi required?

Kendimi güvende hissediyorum. – Very natural, most common.
Güvende hissediyorum. – Also possible and understandable; you’re just omitting the reflexive, which is often implied.

However, with hissetmek in this meaning (“to feel emotionally, to feel in a state”), including kendimi is so common that many speakers will prefer it.

When would we drop it?

You might drop kendimi if the focus is strongly on the feeling itself:

Bugün çok iyi hissediyorum. – “I feel very good today.”
(No kendimi; still perfectly normal.)

So in your sentence, kendimi adds the typical reflexive pattern and sounds very natural, but Güvende hissediyorum is still grammatically OK.

Why does kendimi have the -i ending?

Kendimi is in the accusative case.

Breakdown:

kendim – “myself”
(root kendi
- 1st person suffix -m)
kendim-i → kendimi – “myself” as a direct object

The verb hissetmek is transitive: it usually takes a direct object:

Bir şey hissetmiyorum. – “I don’t feel anything.”
Soğuk hissediyorum. – “I feel cold.” (informal use)
Kendimi yorgun hissediyorum. – “I feel (myself) tired.”

So kendimi functions as the direct object of hissediyorum, which is why it has the -i (accusative) ending.

Why is it güvende and not güvenli? What is the difference?

Both come from the noun güven (“trust, safety, security”), but they are used differently:

güvende = güven + -de (locative case “in/at”)
→ literally: “in security / in safety”
In this phrase, güvende hissetmek = “to feel safe / to feel secure.”
güvenli – adjective: “safe, secure”
- güvenli bir yer – a safe place
- güvenli bir sistem – a secure system

The natural idiom for “feel safe” is:

Kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

Kendimi güvenli hissediyorum is not idiomatic; native speakers would almost always say güvende here. Think of güvende as meaning “in a state of security” when used with hissetmek.

What exactly is hissediyorum made of? Why the double s?

Hissetmek is a compound verb: his + etmek.

his – “feeling, sense, sensation” (from Arabic)
etmek – “to do / to make”

In many such compounds, etmek merges with the noun and some spelling changes happen; here, in the dictionary form it’s written as hissetmek with a double s.

Conjugation of the present continuous:

hisset-iyor-um → hissediyorum
- his(s)et- – verb stem (“to feel”)
- -iyor – present continuous
- -um – 1st person singular

So:

hissediyorum = “I am feeling / I feel”

The double s is just the standard spelling of this verb in modern Turkish; you always keep it: hissetmek, hissediyorum, hissettin, etc.

Does hissediyorum mean “I am feeling” (progressive) or “I feel” (simple present)? Why use this tense?

Formally, -iyor is the present continuous suffix (“I am doing”), but in Turkish it is very often used for:

current states and feelings that are true right now but not simply timeless habits.

So:

Kendimi güvende hissediyorum.
→ Best translated as “I feel safe (now / in this situation).”

If you used the simple present -er:

Kendimi güvende hissederim.

this would usually sound like a habitual statement: “I (generally) feel safe (in that kind of situation / whenever X happens).” That’s a different nuance.

In everyday language, emotions, mental states, and opinions are typically expressed with -iyor:

Seni çok seviyorum. – “I love you.”
Korkuyorum. – “I’m scared / I feel afraid.”
Mutlu hissediyorum. – “I feel happy.”

Can we change the word order of this sentence? What are some natural alternatives?

Yes, Turkish word order is quite flexible. Your original:

Seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

is perfectly natural. Some alternatives:

Put the main clause first:

Kendimi güvende hissediyorum, çünkü seninle açıkça konuşabiliyorum.
(Here we also switched to çünkü
- finite verb.)

Keep için but move the reason clause later:

Kendimi güvende hissediyorum, seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için.
(Still fine; a bit more “afterthought” style.)

Minor internal changes:

Seninle konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.
(You can omit açıkça if you don’t need to stress “openly.”)

The most important constraint: elements that belong together (like konuşabildiğim için) should stay together, and hissediyorum (the main verb) normally comes at or near the end of its clause.

Why is there no ben in the sentence? Where is the subject?

Turkish normally drops subject pronouns when the person is clear from the verb endings.

In your sentence, “I” is marked in two places:

In konuşabildiğim:
- -im at the end → 1st person singular (“I” / “my” ability to speak)
In hissediyorum:
- -um at the end of -yor-um → “I”

Because of these endings, adding ben is optional:

Ben seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için kendimi güvende hissediyorum.

is grammatically correct, but ben would add emphasis, something like:

“I feel safe because I can talk openly with you (as opposed to others / in contrast).”

In neutral, non-contrastive statements, Turkish usually omits ben.

What does açıkça add exactly? How is it different from açık açık or açık bir şekilde?

All three relate to the idea of “openly / frankly / clearly,” but they differ slightly in form and nuance.

açıkça

açık (open, clear) + -ça (adverb-forming suffix)
→ “openly, frankly, clearly (in an open manner)”

In your sentence:

Seninle açıkça konuşabildiğim için…
→ “Because I can talk openly with you…”

This is the most standard, neutral adverb form here.

açık açık

Repetition of the adjective for emphasis.
Often means “very openly / plainly / without hiding anything.”

Example:

Seninle açık açık konuşabilmek benim için önemli.
“Being able to talk with you very openly is important to me.”

açık bir şekilde

Literally “in an open way/manner.”
Slightly more formal/explicit; often used in careful or written style.

Example:

Seninle açık bir şekilde konuşabildiğim için…
(Also correct, a bit more wordy.)

In your original sentence, açıkça is the most natural and concise choice.