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### Actions as the Main Predicate

When defining a mission, goal, or philosophy, you often need to say that your purpose "is to do" something. In Turkish, you express this by using the infinitive form of the verb as the main predicate of your sentence.

- **The Infinitive Predicate:** The infinitive suffix is **-mak** or **-mek**. Place the verb in this form at the very end of the sentence.
- **The Formal Copula:** To make a statement sound more definitive, formal, or like an official mission statement, add the copula **-DIr** to the end. Because the infinitive always ends in a voiceless consonant (k), this will always take the form **-tır** or **-tir**.

You can omit the **-tır** / **-tir** in everyday speech, but it is highly common and natural when discussing ideals and visions.

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### Building the Infinitival Phrase

Even though the infinitive acts as the predicate defining your subject, it is still fundamentally a verb. This means it can take direct objects, dative objects, and adverbs just like a regular conjugated verb would. 

The entire phrase leading up to the infinitive builds the complete goal or vision.

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### Expressing Ultimate Visions

When discussing long-term ideals, you will frequently pair these infinitival predicates with adjectives describing the scope or importance of the goal, such as **nihai** (ultimate) or **esas** (main).

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Infinitival predicates ('-mAk')

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (bu, şu, o)

Basic question words (kim, ne)

Plural nouns (-lar, -ler)

I am and you are (-(y)ım, -sın)

We, you, and they are (-(y)ız, -sınız)

Negative statements (değil)

Yes and no questions (mı, mi, mu, mü)

Questions with 'to be' (mısın, mıyım)

Numbers 1 to 10 (bir, iki, üç)

Numbers 11 to 20 (on bir, on iki)

Numbers by tens to 100 (otuz, kırk...)

Counting objects (tane)

The locative case (-da, -de)

Consonant assimilation (-ta, -te)

Asking where (nerede)

There is / there are (var)

There is not / there are not (yok)

Asking how many (kaç)

Infinitive verbs (-mak, -mek)

Informal commands (git, gel)

Negative commands (-ma, -me)

Polite and plural commands (-In, -InIz)

Basic word order

Present continuous for consonant roots (-iyor)

Present continuous for vowel roots (-iyor)

Present continuous personal suffixes (-iyorum)

Negative present continuous (-miyor)

Present continuous questions (-iyor mu)

Future plans with present continuous

The dative case (-(y)a, -(y)e)

Consonant mutation (k, t, p, ç to ğ, d, b, c)

From or out of (-dan / -den)

Directional question words (nereye, nereden)

First and second person possessives (-(i)m, -(i)n)

Third person possessive (-(s)i)

Plural possessives (-imiz, -iniz, -leri)

The genitive case (-(n)in)

Definite noun compounds (-nin ... -si)

Indefinite noun compounds (bare noun + -(s)i)

Possessive buffer letter (n)

Spatial postpositions (içinde, üstünde)

The definite direct object (-(y)ı, -(y)i)

Object question words (kimi, neyi)

Adjectives modifying nouns

Manner and choice questions (nasıl, hangi)

Basic degree modifiers (çok, biraz)

Comparisons (daha, en)

Days of the week

Months of the year

The time question word (ne zaman)

Telling time (saat, buçuk)

Asking the time (saat kaç, saat kaçta)

Basic conjunctions (ve, ama, veya)

Causality conjunction (çünkü)

Means and accompaniment (ile, -(y)lA)

Purpose and beneficiaries (için)

Expressing desire (-mak istemek)

The past copula (-(y)DI)

The direct past tense (-DI)

Past tense personal suffixes (-DIm, -DIn)

Past tense negative (-mAdI)

Past tense questions (-DI mI)

Ordinal numbers (-(I)ncI)

Greetings and politeness

Saying 'too' (de, da)

Conversation fillers (şey, yani, hadi)

Conversational essentials

Reflexive pronouns (kendim, kendin)

Reciprocal pronouns (birbiri)

Indefinite pronouns for people (herkes, kimse)

Indefinite pronouns for things and places (her şey, hiçbir şey)

Conjunctions of consequence (bu yüzden, bu nedenle)

Correlative conjunctions (hem... hem, ne... ne)

Verbs taking the dative case (-e / -a)

Verbs taking the ablative case (-den / -dan)

Time origin (beri)

Time duration (-DIr)

Comparisons of similarity (gibi)

Comparisons of equality (kadar)

Perspectives (göre)

Verbal nouns (-mA / -mE)

Verbal nouns as objects (-mAyI / -mEyI)

Verbal nouns with the dative (-mAyA / -mEyA)

General necessity (lazım / gerek)

Personal necessity (-mAm lazım)

Third-person commands (-sIn / -sInlAr)

First person singular optative (-(y)AyIm)

Question	Answer
mission	misyon
to develop (transitive)	kalkındırmak
Our mission is to develop the society.	Misyonumuz, toplumu kalkındırmaktır.
purpose, aim	gaye
His only aim is to develop this region.	Onun tek gayesi, bu bölgeyi kalkındırmak.
The main purpose is to be heard by everyone.	Asıl gaye, herkes tarafından duyulmaktır.
philosophy	felsefe
principle	ilke
to make adopt	benimsetmek
Our philosophy is to make everyone adopt this principle.	Felsefemiz, herkese bu ilkeyi benimsetmektir.
He is not trying, but at least his philosophy is to not cause harm.	Çabalamıyor ama en azından felsefesi zarar vermemektir.
Our greatest success is to make the team adopt this principle.	En büyük başarımız, takıma bu ilkeyi benimsetmektir.
No matter who asks, my ideal is to be independent.	Kim sorarsa sorsun, idealim bağımsız olmaktır.
To have at least one ideal is to live.	En azından bir ideale sahip olmak, yaşamaktır.
to add (mix in, incorporate)	katmak
The whole issue is to add value to the project.	Bütün mesele, projeye değer katmaktır.
Our vision is to add quality to every product.	Vizyonumuz, her ürüne kalite katmaktır.
accessible	erişilebilir
Their mission is to make education accessible for everyone.	Misyonları, eğitimi herkes için erişilebilir yapmaktır.
The most important purpose is to make the health service accessible.	En önemli gaye, sağlık hizmetini erişilebilir yapmaktır.
ultimate / final (conclusive)	nihai
to form / to create (to constitute)	oluşturmak
Our company's ultimate goal is to create a safe environment in any moment of crisis.	Şirketimizin nihai hedefi, herhangi bir kriz anında güvenli bir ortam oluşturmaktır.
main / principal / core	esas
to spread (transitive)	yaymak
As long as we live, our main purpose is to spread this innovative philosophy everywhere.	Yaşadığımız sürece esas gayemiz, bu yenilikçi felsefeyi her yere yaymaktır.
Our ultimate mission is to spread accurate information even at the cost of losing.	Nihai misyonumuz, kaybetmek pahasına bile doğru bilgiyi yaymaktır.
Our main dream is to create a large library, shall we build it together?	Esas hayalimiz büyük bir kütüphane oluşturmaktır, beraber kuralım mı?
The only operational purpose of this institution is to spread education.	Bu kurumun tek işleyiş amacı, eğitimi yaymaktır.
Our final decision is to postpone this project.	Nihai kararımız, bu projeyi ertelemektir.