A2 · Subordinate clauses: converbs and participles · about 7 minutes
“-ip”: and then
I get up and have a shower
Two actions one after the other — only the last verb carries tense and person.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need8
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- duşshower
- geriback, backwards
- içeriin, inside
- girmekto enter, to go in
- televizyontelevision
- yıkamakto wash
- hemenimmediately, right away
- yatmakto lie down, to go to bed
Understand
Remember-ip is “and then” on the verb: only the last verb carries tense and person.
- Signal words
- sonra
- önce
- hemen
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Turkish.
| after e, i | gelip · bitirip |
| after a, ı | alıp · kalkıp |
| after o, u | oturup · okuyup |
| after ö, ü | görüp · dönüp |
| with softening | gidip · edip |
| in a sentence | Eve gelip yemek yedim. |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-ip links two actions one after the other.
Sabah kalkıp duş alıyorum.In the morning I get up and have a shower.
Only the last verb carries tense and person.
Markete gidip ekmek aldım.I went to the supermarket and bought bread.
After a vowel there is a y.
Mehmet kitabı okuyup geri verdi.Mehmet read the book and gave it back.
In the future and in commands too: the last verb says when.
Oturup biraz dinlen!Sit down and have a little rest!
Both actions belong to the same person.
Elif kapıyı açıp içeri girdi.Elif opened the door and went in.
Example sentences
Akşam eve gelip televizyon izliyoruz.In the evening we come home and watch television.
Çocuklar ellerini yıkayıp masaya oturdu.The children washed their hands and sat down at the table.
Yarın İzmir'e gidip annemi göreceğim.Tomorrow I’m going to İzmir to see my mother.
6 more example sentences
Kahvemi içip çıkıyorum.I’ll finish my coffee and go.
Ayşe telefonu kapatıp uyudu.Ayşe switched her phone off and went to sleep.
Yarın gelip seni alacağım.Tomorrow I’ll come and pick you up.
Mektubu yazıp postaya verdim.I wrote the letter and posted it.
Duş alıp kahvaltı yaptık.We had a shower and then breakfast.
Mehmet işten dönüp hemen yattı.Mehmet came back from work and went straight to bed.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
The “and” comes along from English: Eve gelip ve yemek yedim. But -ip already is the “and”; a ve after it says it twice. Either -ip without ve — or two full verbs with ve: Eve geldim ve yemek yedim.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself9 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
When the same person does two things one after the other, English says “and” and both verbs keep their form: “I get up and have a shower.” Turkish adds only -ip to the first verb and gives tense and person to the last one alone: Kalkıp duş alıyorum. The -ip is the “and then”.
The ending follows four-way vowel harmony: gelip, alıp, oturup, görüp. After a vowel there is a y: okuyup, bekleyip. gitmek and etmek soften before the vowel: gidip, edip.
Tense and person are only on the last verb, and they apply to both: Eve gelip yemek yedim. “I came home and ate.” — Yarın gelip seni alacağım. “Tomorrow I’ll come and pick you up.” You need no ve “and” in between; it would even be wrong.
A closer look
“-ip” or “ve”?
Two full verbs with ve are not wrong: Eve geldim ve yemek yedim. But they sound like a list. If the two actions belong closely together — first one, then the other, the same person — Turkish uses -ip. With different people only ve works: Ben yemek yaptım ve Ayşe bulaşıkları yıkadı.
Fixed pairs
Some verbs occur together so often that they act like one word: gidip gelmek “to go back and forth, to commute”, gidip görmek“to go and see”kalkıp gitmek“to just get up and go”: Her gün Bursa'ya gidip geliyor. “He commutes to Bursa every day.”
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English links verbs with “and” and gives each its form. Turkish only gives the last one its form; the verbs before it carry -ip and wait. That way a long chain can arise that only says who and when at the very end.
Kalkıp yüzümü yıkayıp kahvaltı yaptım.I got up, washed my face and had breakfast.
Worth knowing
The tense applies backwards
Because the -ip verb has no tense, it takes that of the last verb. The same gelip works in the past, the present and the future.
Yarın gelip seni alacağım.Tomorrow I’ll come and pick you up.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gitmek · oturmak · gelmek · içmek · görmek · okumak · kalkmak · açmak