Breakdown of Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum.
Questions & Answers about Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum.
You can break the sentence down like this:
- Cuma – Friday
akşam-ı – evening + -ı (3rd person possessive: its evening)
- Cuma akşamı ≈ the evening of Friday → Friday evening / on Friday evening
arkadaş-lar-ım-la
- arkadaş – friend
- -lar – plural → friends
- -ım – my (1st person singular possessive)
- -la – with
- arkadaşlarımla → with my friends
buluş-mak
- buluş- – to meet up (to get together, a reciprocal verb)
- -mak – infinitive suffix → to meet
istiyor-um
- istiyor- – is wanting / wants
- -um – I (1st person singular ending)
- istiyorum → I want / I am wanting
Altogether: On Friday evening, with my friends, to meet (I) want.
Natural English: I want to meet (up) with my friends on Friday evening.
The -ı in akşamı here is not an object (accusative) ending in meaning, even though it looks the same in form.
In this phrase:
- akşam-ı is 3rd person singular possessive: its evening
- Cuma akşamı literally means the evening of Friday → Friday evening / on Friday evening
Turkish often uses this possessive pattern for time expressions:
- Pazartesi sabahı – Monday morning (literally: Monday’s morning)
- Salı gecesi – Tuesday night (Tuesday’s night)
- Perşembe günü – on Thursday (Thursday’s day)
So akşamı here is part of a fixed way of saying “Friday evening”, not marking a direct object.
The idea of “with” is inside the word arkadaşlarımla:
- arkadaş – friend
- -lar – plural → friends
- -ım – my → my friends
- -la – with
So arkadaşlarımla literally means “with my friends.”
The general order of suffixes is:
root + plural + possessive + case/postposition
arkadaş + lar + ım + la → arkadaşlarımla
Yes, both forms are grammatically correct:
- arkadaşlarım ile
- arkadaşlarımla
They mean the same thing: with my friends.
Details:
- ile is a separate word meaning with.
- In everyday speech it very often attaches to the previous word as -la / -le / -yla / -yle:
- arkadaşlarım + ile → arkadaşlarımla
Nuance:
- arkadaşlarımla – more common in spoken and casual Turkish.
- arkadaşlarım ile – a bit more formal or careful, more typical in writing.
In normal conversation, you will mostly hear arkadaşlarımla.
Because the verb buluşmak works differently from English “meet”:
- buluşmak (biriyle) – to meet up / get together with someone
- It is a reciprocal, intransitive verb: it does not take a direct object.
- You meet with someone: biriyle buluşmak, arkadaşlarımla buluşmak.
So:
- arkadaşlarımla buluşmak – to meet (up) with my friends ✅
- arkadaşlarımı buluşmak – ungrammatical ❌ (trying to use buluşmak with a direct object)
If you want to use a verb that takes a direct object, you can use:
- arkadaşlarımı görmek – to see my friends
- arkadaşlarla tanışmak – to (first) meet friends / get acquainted with friends
But with buluşmak, you need “with”: biriyle / arkadaşlarımla buluşmak.
Turkish is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns (ben, sen, o, etc.) are usually left out when the verb ending already shows the subject.
In istiyor-um:
- -um = I
- So istiyorum already means I want.
You could say:
- Ben Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum.
This is also correct, but ben is only used for emphasis (for example, to contrast with someone else: “I want to meet them, not you.”). In neutral statements, the pronoun is normally omitted.
buluşmak is the infinitive form of the verb buluşmak (to meet up).
In Turkish, when you say “want to do X”, the structure is:
[infinitive] + istemek
gitmek istiyorum – I want to go
konuşmak istiyorum – I want to speak
buluşmak istiyorum – I want to meet (up)
So here:
- buluşmak – to meet
- istiyorum – I want
- buluşmak istiyorum – I want to meet.
The infinitive buluşmak plays the role that “to meet” plays in English.
You can say buluşmayı istiyorum, but it sounds more formal, heavier, and a bit unusual in everyday speech.
Difference in structure:
buluşmak istiyorum
- buluşmak – infinitive, like “to meet”
- Natural, standard way to say “I want to meet.”
buluşma-yı istiyorum
- buluşma – the meeting (verbal noun)
- -yı – accusative (object) marker → the meeting (as a thing)
- Literally: “I want the meeting.”
We normally use infinitive + istemek for wanting to do something:
- Türkçe öğrenmek istiyorum. – I want to learn Turkish.
- Seni görmek istiyorum. – I want to see you.
So here, buluşmak istiyorum is the natural choice.
Both come from istemek (to want), but they have different uses:
istiyorum – present continuous form
- Current, concrete desire or plan
- “I want (now)” / “I’m wanting”
- Fits things you actually plan or feel at this moment.
isterim – aorist (general/habitual) form
- General preference, habit, or a polite/soft “I would like”
- Examples:
- Fırsat bulursam gitmek isterim. – I would like to go if I find the chance.
- In restaurants: Bir çay isterim. – I’d like a tea. (polite)
In Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum, you are talking about a specific plan/desire, so istiyorum is the natural choice.
Yes. Turkish word order is flexible, though the main verb tends to come last. Different orders change the emphasis, not the basic meaning.
All of these are grammatical:
Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum.
- Neutral: time first, then with whom, then buluşmak istiyorum.
- Common and natural.
Arkadaşlarımla Cuma akşamı buluşmak istiyorum.
- Slightly more focus on with whom.
Arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum Cuma akşamı.
- Stronger emphasis on “on Friday evening” (often used in contrast with other times: not Saturday, but Friday evening).
As a beginner, it’s safest to keep time expressions early and the main verb at the end, like in the original sentence.
In standard modern Turkish spelling:
- Days of the week and months are written with a capital letter:
- Pazartesi, Salı, Çarşamba, Perşembe, Cuma, Cumartesi, Pazar
- Time-of-day words like sabah, öğle, akşam, gece are written with lowercase, unless they start the sentence.
So inside a sentence:
- Cuma akşamı arkadaşlarımla buluşmak istiyorum.
- Cuma – capitalized
- akşamı – lowercase
Some key pronunciation points:
C – pronounced like “j” in “jam”, not like English “k”:
- Cuma ≈ ju-ma
ş – pronounced like “sh” in “shoe”:
- akşamı ≈ ak-sha-muh
- arkadaşlarımla ≈ ar-ka-dash-lahr-um-la
- buluşmak ≈ boo-loosh-mak
ı (undotted i) – a sound that doesn’t exist in English; it’s a relaxed “uh” made further back in the mouth:
- akşamı – final ı ≈ soft “uh”
- arkadaşlarımla – the ı sounds are that same uh sound
- buluşmak – buluş- has u (as in “book”) + ş; no ı here actually, but arkadaşlarım and akşamı do.
A rough syllable breakdown:
- Cuma – Ju-ma
- akşamı – ak-sha-mı
- arkadaşlarımla – ar-ka-daş-la-rı-mı-la (spoken smoothly)
- buluşmak – bu-luş-mak
- istiyorum – is-ti-yo-rum
The exact sounds differ from English, but these approximations are enough to get you close.