Turkish Potential Mood Positive – to be able, I can

Turkish Potential Mood Positive – to be able, I can

Turkish Potential Mood Positive – to be able, I can

The Potential Mood indicates:
abilityto be able, can or dispositionmay, might

The Potential Mood uses the addition of bilmekto know to form its sense of meaning.

It takes the form with a dotted i and is not subject to vowel harmony.

bilmek is a word in its own right.

It is is similar to the Scottish use of “ken” – to know 
Do you ken the swimming?
[Do you know how to swim?]

Positive Potential Mood Formation

To form various tenses -mek -mak infinitive sign is replaced by -e–a-

The verb bilmekto know is affixed thus forming -ebil- -abil- as the Potential Mood Suffix.

In Turkish a new verb is formed.

English uses the auxiliary verb to be able

• Active Verb:
  yazmakto write
  gelmekto come
  gülmekto laugh
• Passive Verb:
  yazılmakto be written
• Passive Potential:
  yazılabilmek
  to be able to be written
• Active Potential:
  gelebilmek
  to be able to come
  yazabilmek
  to be able to write
  gülebilmek
  to be able to laugh
• The Causative Potential:
  güldürmekto make s.o. laugh
• Causative Potential Passive :
  güldürebilmek
  to be able to make s.o. laugh

Turkish Positive Potential – verb stem terminates in a vowel.

• Verb Stems ending in a Vowel: add -yebil- -yabil- using buffer letter -y-
• yürümekto walk → yürüyebilmek
  [yürüyebilmek]
  to be able to walk
• taşımakto carry → taşıyabilmek
  [taşıyabilmek]
  to be able to carry

Turkish Potential Mood Examples

Potential Mood Present Continuous Tense:
gelebiliyorum
I can come, I am able to come, I may come, I might come

Potential Mood Present Simple Tense:
gelebilirim
I can come, I am able to come, I may come, I might come

Potential Mood Future Tense:
gidebileceksiniz
you will be able to go, etc.

Turkish Potential Mood Past Tense:
başlayabildik
we were able to start, etc..

Turkish Potential Mood Present Continuous Conjugation

• Active:görmekto see →
• Passive:görebilmek
  to be able to see
• görebiliyorum
  I can see, I am able to see, I may see, I might see
• görebiliyorsun
  you can see, you are able to see
• görebiliyor
  he can see, he is able to see
• görebiliyoruz
  we can see, we are able to see
• görebiliyorsunuz
  you can see, you are am able to see
• görebiliyorlar
  they can see, they are able to see

Turkish Potential Interrogative

The Interrogative is formed in a similar manner by using a personalised question tag.

It is written separately and follows vowel harmony.

• gelebiliyor muyum?
  Can I come?
• gelebiliyor musunuz?
  Can you come?

Turkish Potential Mood Future Conjugation

• Future Potential:
  kalmakto stay, to remain →
  kalabilecekto be able to stay, remain
  [in future time]
• kalabileceğim
  I will be able to stay
• kalabileceksin
  you will be able to stay
• kalabilecek
  he will be able to stay
• kalabileceğiz
  we will be able to stay
• kalabileceksiniz
  you will be able to stay
• kalabilecekler
  they will be able to stay
• Future Interrogative Potential: Is formed in a similar manner.
• gidebilecek misiniz?
  will you be able to go?

Turkish Potential Mood Definite Past Tense

• beklemekto wait, to expect →
• bekleyebilmekto be able to wait, expect
• bekleyebildim
  I could wait
• bekleyebildin
  you could wait
• bekleyebildi
  he could wait
• bekleyebildik
  we could wait
• bekleyebildiniz
  you could wait
• bekleyebildiler
  they could wait

Turkish Potential Mood Definite Unreal Past Tense

Use of simple timeless present tense by adding tense sign -ir causes the meaning to be “unreal”.

• Past Definite Potential Unreal:
• beklemekto wait, to expect →
  bekleyebilirmek
  to be able to wait, expect
• bekleyebilirdim
  I could have waited
• bekleyebilirdin
  you could have waited
• bekleyebilirdi
  he could have waited
• bekleyebilirdik
  we could have waited
• bekleyebilirdiniz
  you could have waited
• bekleyebilirdiler
  they could have waited

Turkish Potential Mood Indefinite Past Tense

• Past Indefinite Potential:
• düşünmekto think →
• düşünebilmekto be able to think
  düşünebilmişimit seems I was able to think
• düşünebilmişsin
  it seems you were able to think
• düşünebilmiş
  it seems he was able to think
• düşünebilmişiz
  it seems we were able to think
• düşünebilmişsiniz
  it seems you were able to think
• düşünebilmişler
  it seems they were able to think
• Active potential Interrogative form:
• bekleyebilmişsiniz mi?
  could you have waited?

Turkish Potential Mood Past Continuous Tense

• Imperfect Past Potential Passive:
• yapmakto do, to make →
  yapabilmekto be able to do
• yapabiliyordum
  I was able to do
• yapabiliyordun
  you were able to do
• yapabiliyordu
  he was able to do
• yapabiliyorduk
  we were able to do
• yapabiliyordunuz
  you were able to do
• yapabiliyorlardı
  they were able to do
• Interrogative form:
• durabiliyorlardı mı?
  were they able to stop, halt ?

This example shows clearly that the auxiliary bilmek"to know" is a separate word in its own right.

It keeps its dotted i as it is not subject to vowel harmony rules.

Turkish Potential Mood Positive – to be able, I can

Turkish Potential Mood Positive – to be able, I can