A2 · Verb forms · about 7 minutes
Need and must: “lazım” and “gerek”
I must go, I need
Two words for “necessary” — the person sits on the verb in front, not on “lazım”.
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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 need5
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- lazımnecessary, needed
- gerekneed, necessity
- gerekmekto be necessary
- formform
- doldurmakto fill; to fill in
Understand
RememberThe person sits on the verb: gitmem lazım, gitmen gerek — lazım itself never changes.
- Signal words
- lazım
- gerek
- gerekiyor
- gerek yok
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Turkish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending auxiliary verb
| I have to go | (benim) gitmem lazım |
| you have to go | (senin) gitmen lazım |
| he, she has to go | (onun) gitmesi lazım |
| we have to go | (bizim) gitmemiz lazım |
| you have to go (plural, polite) | (sizin) gitmeniz lazım |
| they have to go | (onların) gitmeleri lazım |
| I have to work | (benim) çalışmam gerek |
| you have to work | (senin) çalışman gerek |
| he, she has to work | (onun) çalışması gerek |
| we have to work | (bizim) çalışmamız gerek |
| you have to work (plural, polite) | (sizin) çalışmanız gerek |
| they have to work | (onların) çalışmaları gerek |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
With a noun lazım means “I need”; the person is in the dative.
Bana bir doktor lazım.I need a doctor.
With a verb the verbal noun with a possessive ending comes first.
Şimdi gitmem lazım.I have to go now.
lazım and gerek never change; the person is in the verb before them.
Bu akşam çalışmamız gerek.We have to work this evening.
Without a possessive ending it means “one has to”.
Burada biraz beklemek lazım.Here you have to wait a little.
“No need” is gerek yok with the dative.
Yarın gelmene gerek yok.You don’t have to come tomorrow.
Example sentences
Saat beşte evde olmam lazım.I have to be home at five.
Ayşe'nin erken kalkması gerekiyor.Ayşe has to get up early.
Bize yeni bir masa lazım.We need a new table.
5 more example sentences
Bu formu doldurmanız gerek.You need to fill in this form.
Teşekkür etmene gerek yok.There’s no need to thank me.
Biraz dinlenmen lazım.You need to rest a little.
Kaç gün kalmamız gerekiyor?How many days do we have to stay?
Bana biraz para lazım.I need a bit of money.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English says “I must”, with “I” as the subject. So learners build Ben gitmek lazım. — subject, infinitive, lazım. But the person belongs on the verbal noun as a possessive ending: gitmem “my going”. benim“my” in front is possibleben“I” is not
Quick check
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Lazım and gerek mean “necessary, needed”. With a noun they mean “I need”: Bana su lazım. “I need water”, literally “to me water is needed”. The person is in the dative.
With a verb they mean “I have to”. The verb is then the verbal noun in -me or -ma with a possessive ending: gitmem lazım “I have to go”, literally “my going is needed”. The forms are gitmem, gitmen, gitmesi, gitmemiz, gitmeniz, gitmeleri — always before lazım or gerek, which never change.
Without a person you say what is generally necessary: Beklemek lazım. “One has to wait.” Gerek sounds a little more matter-of-fact than lazım; gerekiyor is the same as a verb.
For “there’s no need, you don’t have to” say gerek yok with the dative: Gelmene gerek yok. “You don’t have to come.”
A closer look
“zorunda”: no choice
If you want to stress that you have no choice, say -mek zorundayım: Pazartesi çalışmak zorundayım. “I have to work on Monday, whether I like it or not.” The negative zorunda değilsin means “you don’t have to”.
Gelmek zorunda değilsin.You don’t have to come.
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
Compared with English
“I need” and “I have to” are two verbs with “I” as the subject in English. In Turkish it is the same word, and the “I” never appears as a subject: once as “to me” (bana), once as “my” (gitmem).
Bana bir taksi lazım, hemen gitmem lazım.I need a taxi, I have to leave right away.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gelmek · gitmek · beklemek · gerekmek