what is it?
The suffix -mA is the standard way to negate a verb in Turkish. It attaches directly to the verb stem, before any tense or aspect suffix, and follows vowel harmony: -ma after back vowels (a, ı, o, u) and -me after front vowels (e, i, ö, ü). One important exception applies to the present-continuous tense marker -(I)yor: the negation vowel is raised and fuses with -yor, producing -mIyor (e.g. gelmiyor, not *gelmeyor).
when to use it
Negating any finite verb. Whenever you want to say that an action does not or did not happen, insert -mA between the verb stem and the tense suffix.
All tenses and persons. The suffix is used regardless of tense (present continuous, simple past, etc.) or person (I, you, he/she, etc.).
Before the tense suffix — always. The order is fixed: stem + negation + tense + person. The negation suffix never follows the tense suffix.
formation
The general pattern is: stem + -ma/-me + tense suffix + person suffix. Before -(I)yor the negation vowel is raised to ı/i/u/ü according to vowel harmony, giving -mIyor. The table below shows both tenses for two common verbs.
| stem | tense | negated form (1sg) | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| gel- | present continuous (-(I)yor) | gelmiyorum | I am not coming |
| git- | present continuous (-(I)yor) | gitmiyorum | I am not going |
| oku- | present continuous (-(I)yor) | okumuyorum | I am not reading |
| gel- | simple past (-dI) | gelmedim | I did not come |
| git- | simple past (-dI) | gitmedim | I did not go |
| oku- | simple past (-dI) | okumadım | I did not read |
Vowel harmony summary for -mA: if the last vowel of the stem is a, ı, o, or u → use -ma; if it is e, i, ö, or ü → use -me. Before -yor, the vowel further raises: -ma → -mı / -mu and -me → -mi / -mü, then merges with -yor.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Not raising the negation vowel before -yor. A common error is writing *gelmeyor instead of gelmiyor. The vowel in -mA must raise from a/e to ı/i/u/ü when followed by -yor. The resulting cluster -mIyor is a fixed, fused form — memorise it as a unit.
Placing negation after the tense suffix. Turkish word order within a verb is strict: stem → negation → tense → person. Writing *geliyorma or *geliyorum değil (as a single verb form) is not valid. The negation suffix -mA must always come immediately after the stem, before the tense marker.
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Siz henüz otele ___ . Odalarınız hazır.
Fill in the blank with the correct negative verb form.