ELONIO
Log inSign up

Kayak yapmak zor değil.

Kayak yapmak zor değil.
Skiing is not hard.
From Lesson 101:Activities with yapmak·Turkish

Breakdown of Kayak yapmak zor değil.

değil
not
zor
difficult
kayak yapmak
to ski

Questions & Answers about Kayak yapmak zor değil.

Why is the dictionary form yapmak used here to mean "skiing"?
In Turkish, infinitive verbs ending in -mak or -mek can act as nouns. This is just like adding "-ing" to a verb in English to make it a subject (a gerund). Here, yapmak acts as a noun, making kayak yapmak mean "skiing" or "to ski".
Why do we need yapmak? Can't we just use a single verb for "to ski"?
Turkish doesn't have a single dedicated verb for "to ski". Instead, it pairs the noun kayak (ski) with the helper verb yapmak (to do / to make). You will see yapmak used this way with many sports and activities, like spor yapmak (to exercise) or piknik yapmak (to have a picnic).
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Turkish, the third-person "is" suffix (like -dir or -tir) is often dropped in everyday speech and writing. While you could technically say zor değildir, just saying zor değil is completely natural and grammatically correct.
Could I use yok instead of değil to say "not hard"?
No, because yok means "there is not" or "does not exist". When you want to say that something is not a certain adjective (like "not hard", "not cold", or "not big"), you must always use değil.

Learn Kayak yapmak zor değil and more in Turkish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Turkish →