Learn Turkish: Çamaşırları yıkaman lazım. - You need to wash the laundry.

In Turkish, to say someone needs to do something, you literally say "their doing is necessary". First, turn the verb yıka- (to wash) into a noun using the -ma suffix to get yıkama (washing). Then, add the possessive ending for "your" (-n), giving us yıkaman. Finally, add lazım (necessary). So, it literally translates as "your washing is necessary".

Why does çamaşır have the -ları ending here?

Çamaşır means laundry or clothes. We add -lar to make it plural, and then the accusative case ending -ı to make çamaşırları. Even though yıkaman acts like a noun in this grammar structure, it still takes a direct object just like a normal verb. Because we are talking about specific laundry ("the" laundry), it requires the accusative case.

Could I add the word for "you" to the beginning of this sentence?

Yes, but you have to use senin (your), not sen (you)! Because the grammatical structure translates to "your washing is necessary", you need the possessive pronoun. Saying Senin çamaşırları yıkaman lazım is perfectly correct, but we usually drop senin because the -n ending on yıkaman already makes it clear who needs to do the washing.

The suffix -ma is also the negative ending. Does yıkaman mean "don't wash"?