A2 · Commands, wishes and conditions · about 7 minutes
Must and should with “-meli”
I must, you should
One ending for obligation and advice — and the trap with “don’t have to”.
Do you know this already?
“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 need7
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- randevuappointment
- ışıklight
- yanmakto burn; to be on (light)
- karınbelly, stomach
- mutlakadefinitely, without fail
- zordifficult, hard
- halletmekto sort out, to deal with
Understand
Remembergelmelisin “you must come”, gelmemelisin “you mustn’t come” — “you don’t have to” is something else.
- Signal words
- mutlaka
- hemen
- artık
- daha çok
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 negation question marker
| I must come | (ben) gelmeliyim |
| you must come | (sen) gelmelisin |
| he, she must come | (o) gelmeli |
| we must come | (biz) gelmeliyiz |
| you must come (plural, polite) | (siz) gelmelisiniz |
| they must come | (onlar) gelmeliler |
| you shouldn’t come | (sen) gelmemelisin |
| must I come? | (ben) gelmeli miyim? |
| I must do | (ben) yapmalıyım |
| we must do | (biz) yapmalıyız |
| you shouldn’t do | (sen) yapmamalısın |
| he, she must be (I suppose) | (o) olmalı |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
-meli names an obligation or advice.
Hastasın, doktora gitmelisin.You are ill, you should go to the doctor.
Then come the person endings of “to be”, with y after the i.
Yarın erken kalkmalıyım.I must get up early tomorrow.
The negative means “shouldn’t” or “mustn’t”.
Bu kadar çok kahve içmemelisin.You shouldn’t drink so much coffee.
In a question mi carries the person.
Önce randevu almalı mıyım?Do I have to make an appointment first?
With olmalı you make an assumption: “must be”.
Işıklar yanıyor, Ayşe evde olmalı.The lights are on, Ayşe must be at home.
Example sentences
Daha çok su içmelisin.You should drink more water.
Saat dokuzda ofiste olmalıyım.I have to be in the office at nine.
Bu ilacı aç karnına almamalısınız.You shouldn’t take this medicine on an empty stomach.
5 more example sentences
Bu filmi mutlaka görmelisin!You really must see this film!
Artık eve dönmeliyiz.We must go home now.
Çocuklar erken yatmalı.Children should go to bed early.
Kapıyı kilitlemeyi unutmamalıyım.I mustn’t forget to lock the door.
Bu saatte otobüs gelmeli.The bus should come about now.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English “mustn’t” and “don’t have to” are already a trap: one is a ban, the other is freedom. Turkish follows “mustn’t”: Yarın gelmemelisin. is a ban — “you shouldn’t come tomorrow”. For “you don’t have to” you need zorunda değilsin or gerek yok.
Quick check
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Practise
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
With -meli you say what is necessary or what you advise someone: Doktora gitmelisin. “You should go to the doctor.” — Yarın erken kalkmalıyım. “I must get up early tomorrow.” English distinguishes “must” and “should”; Turkish has one form for both.
-meli or -malı follows two-way vowel harmony. Then come the person endings of “to be”, with y after the i: gelmeliyim, gelmelisin, gelmeli, gelmeliyiz, gelmelisiniz, gelmeliler.
Negative with -me- in front: gelmemelisin “you shouldn’t come, you mustn’t come”. Question with the separate particle: Gelmeli miyim? “Must I come?”
Careful: gelmemelisin never means “you don’t have to come”. You say that with gelmek zorunda değilsin or gelmene gerek yok.
A closer look
Other ways of saying “must”
Besides -meli you hear -mek zorundayım “I am forced to, I have to” for an obligation from outside, and gitmem lazım “I need to go” for what is simply necessary. -meli sounds most like advice and inner conviction.
Çalışmak zorundayım, ama gitmeliyim de.I have to work, but I really ought to go as well.
“should have …”
With -di after it, advice becomes regret: Daha erken gelmeliydin. “You should have come earlier.”
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
Compared with English
“Must”, “have to”, “should” and “ought to” are four English words of different strength. In Turkish it is one ending; how urgent it is comes from words like mutlaka “definitely” or from your tone.
Mutlaka gelmelisin!You really must come!
The verbs on this page, in every form: gitmek · içmek · çalışmak · görmek · dönmek · kalkmak · yanmak