Wanting, needing, if

20.1 -mek istemek: wanting to

istemek is "to want". With a thing, it takes an object as any verb does: bare for some of something, with -(y)I for a particular one.

To want to do something, the verb goes before istemek in its -mAk form, the infinitive, as before için: gelmek istiyorum, "I want to come". The order is the reverse of English's: what is wanted first, the wanting last.

In the aorist, istemek is softer, as "would like" is: it makes invitations, and answers them.

20.2 Wanting someone else to do something

-mAk is for wanting to do something yourself. When the one who wants and the one who does are different people, the verb takes -mA instead, the ending of almaya, "to buy", in the chapter on joining. It makes the verb a noun, "coming", and is glossed VN, for verbal noun. A possessive ending says whose the coming is, and -(y)I follows, since the whole thing is the object of istemek.

After -(s)I, "its", the -(y)I takes an n: gelmesini. The doer, when named, takes the genitive, as it does with a participle: Ali'nin gelmesini, "Ali to come".

This -mA looks like the -mA of "not", and is a different ending. gelme on its own is "don't come"; with a possessive after it, gelmen, it is "your coming". The words around it tell them apart.

20.3 lazım and gerek: needing

lazım, "needed", stands after the thing that is needed. The one who needs it takes -(y)A: bana, "to me", sana, "to you".

When what is needed is an action, the verb takes -mA and a possessive ending, as after istemek, but with no -(y)I: gitmem lazım, "I need to go", is word for word "my going is needed". gerek, "need", does the same, and so does the verb made from it, gerekmek, "to be needed".

Gerek yok is "there's no need". The action that isn't needed takes -(y)A before it:

A third way is ihtiyaç, also "need", with a possessive ending and var: "I have a need". The thing needed takes -(y)A.

gitmem has a second meaning: it is also "I don't go", the aorist's negative. In gitmem lazım the lazım after it shows it is a noun.

20.4 -meli: must and should

-mAlI goes straight on the stem, and the person endings of "I am" follow it: -meli or -malı by harmony, and then -yim, -sin and the rest. The glosses write must.

-mAlI is both "must" and "should": what the speaker thinks has to happen, or ought to. Said to someone else, it is advice.

For "mustn't", -mA comes before it: söylememelisin, "you mustn't tell". For "should have", -(y)DI comes after it, as it comes after a noun for "was", with the short person endings: gelmeliydin, "you should have come".

-mAlI also makes a guess, as English's "must" does: what must be so, from what the speaker knows.

20.5 zorunda: having to

When there is no choice about it, Turkish says zorunda, after the verb's -mAk form, with the person endings of "I am": gitmek zorundayım, "I have to go". zor is "force", "difficulty", and zorunda is word for word "in its force": "I am under the force of going".

With -(y)DI after it, it is "had to": gitmek zorundaydım, "I had to go". And zorunda değilsin is "you don't have to".

That makes four ways to say "I have to go", all everyday Turkish, each a little different in what it stresses:

20.6 -se: if

"If" is an ending too, -(y)sA: -se or -sa by harmony, with a y before it after a vowel. It goes on the verb of the "if" half of the sentence, and that half comes first. The glosses write if.

For what may well happen, -(y)sA goes after the aorist, and the person endings that follow it are the short ones of the past: -m, -n, -k, -nIz.

In "they", -lAr comes before -(y)sA. For "if not", the aorist's own negative, -mAz, takes its place: gelmezsen, "if you don't come".

After a noun or an adjective, or var and yok, -(y)sA goes straight on, with the same person endings after it: hastaysan, "if you're ill", varsa, "if there is".

It goes after other tenses as well, for what may already be so: geliyorsan, "if you're coming", geldiyse, "if he's come". And with a question word it makes "whatever", "wherever":

20.7 Wishes, and if things were different

-sA can also go straight on a verb's stem, with no aorist before it: gelsem, gelsen, gelse, gelsek, gelseniz, gelseler. Then it is further from fact: it says what isn't so, or what is only an idea.

After keşke, "if only", it is a wish:

With "we" and mI it is a suggestion, as "what if we ...":

And it is the "if" of things that aren't so. The other half then says what would happen, with the aorist and -DI after it: gelirdim, "I would come", gitmezdim, "I wouldn't go".

Ben olsam, "if I were", is how Turkish says "if I were you".

With bile, "even", after it, -sA on the stem is "even if":

20.8 -ince: when, as soon as

-(y)IncA says that one thing happens and the other follows on from it: "when", "as soon as". It has four forms by harmony, -ince, -ınca, -unca and -ünce, with a y before them after a vowel: okuyunca, "when he reads". The glosses write when.

Like the endings of the chapter on joining, it takes no person endings, and its time is the main verb's. When its doer is someone else, it comes first, with no ending: Ali gelince, "when Ali came", or "when Ali comes".

-(y)ken, -(y)IncA and -DIğI zaman all come out as "when" in English, each in its own way: