The Continuity Compound: -(y)agelmek
When talking about customs, rituals, and teachings that have endured through generations, Turkish uses a special compound verb form to emphasize this unbroken historical chain: -(y)agelmek. It translates to "to have been doing [something] continuously from the past up to now."
To build this structure, take the main verb stem, add -a or -e (following 2-way vowel harmony), and then attach the verb gelmek (to come). If the verb stem ends in a vowel, insert the buffer y before the -a or -e.
| Verb Stem | Link | Auxiliary | Compound Verb | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sürdür- | -e | gelmek | sürdüregelmek | to have maintained continuously |
| inan- | -a | gelmek | inanagelmek | to have believed continuously |
| benimse- | -ye | gelmek | benimseyegelmek | to have embraced continuously |
Once the compound verb is formed, you conjugate gelmek to match the subject and tense. Because this structure inherently describes history and long-standing traditions, it is almost exclusively conjugated in the past tenses: either the definite past (-di) or the narrative past (-miş).
| The village people have always maintained this ritual. | Köy halkı bu ritüeli hep sürdüregelmiş. |
| Despite all the difficulties, we have been embracing this teaching. | Bütün zorluklara rağmen bu öğretiyi benimseyegeldik. |
Stating Historical Facts
When describing cultural traditions or historical continuity objectively, Turkish often adds the fact suffix -tir (and its harmony variants) to the -miş conjugation. This gives the statement a formal, encyclopedic tone.
| These myths have been told orally for centuries. | Bu mitler yüzyıllar boyunca sözlü olarak anlatılagelmiştir. |
| The society has been embracing its customs for years. | Toplum yıllar boyunca göreneklerini benimseyegelmiştir. |