Turkish Adverbs: Types, Formation with -ce, and Word Order

Adverbs (zarflar) tell you how, when, where, how often or how much something happens. Turkish adverbs are easier than English ones in one important way: there is usually no special ending. Most adjectives can be used as adverbs exactly as they are. Güzel is “beautiful” in güzel bir şarkı (a beautiful song) and “beautifully” in Güzel şarkı söylüyor (She sings beautifully).

This page sorts the most useful adverbs by type, shows the few suffixes that do form adverbs, and explains where to put them in a sentence.

Adverbs of manner: how?

These describe the way an action is done. Most are ordinary adjectives placed before the verb.

Adverbs of time: when?

• Hemen geliyorum! — I’m coming right away!
• Hâlâ bekliyoruz. — We’re still waiting.
• Artık kahve içmiyorum. — I don’t drink coffee anymore.
• Henüz bitirmedim. — I haven’t finished yet.

Habitual time: -lArI and -leyin

Add the plural plus the third-person possessive (-ları/-leri) to a time word to say “in the …s” or “every …”:

• sabahları — in the mornings; akşamları — in the evenings; geceleri — at night
• pazartesileri — on Mondays; hafta sonları — at weekends
• Sabahları yürüyüş yapıyorum. — I go for a walk in the mornings.

The old suffix -leyin survives in three words: sabahleyin (in the morning), akşamleyin (in the evening), geceleyin (at night). Seasons use -in: yazın (in summer), kışın (in winter).

Adverbs of frequency: how often?

• Bazen sinemaya gideriz. — We sometimes go to the cinema.
• Hiç et yemem. — I never eat meat.
• Asla pes etme! — Never give up!

Hiç also means “ever” in questions: Hiç Kapadokya’ya gittin mi? — Have you ever been to Cappadocia? Hep and her zaman are close, but hep can also mean “all the time” with a complaining tone: Hep geç kalıyorsun! — You’re always late!

Adverbs of place and direction: where?

These words take case endings like nouns: dışarıya (to outside), dışarıda (outside), dışarıdan (from outside). For the question words nerede, nereye, ne zaman, nasıl, see question words.

Adverbs of degree and quantity: how much?

Daha and en form comparatives and superlatives; see comparative and superlative.

Sentence adverbs: the speaker’s attitude

These usually go at the start and comment on the whole sentence:

• belki — maybe: Belki yarın gelirim. — Maybe I’ll come tomorrow.
• herhalde / galiba — probably / I think: Galiba yağmur yağacak. — I think it’s going to rain.
• maalesef — unfortunately: Maalesef bilet kalmadı. — Unfortunately there are no tickets left.
• tabii — of course; mutlaka — definitely: Mutlaka gel! — Be sure to come!

Forming adverbs

1. The suffix -ce / -ca / -çe / -ça

This suffix turns adjectives (and some nouns and pronouns) into adverbs. It follows 2-way vowel harmony and becomes -çe/-ça after a voiceless consonant (the ketçap rule).

• Kapıyı sessizce kapattı. — He closed the door quietly.
• Bence haklısın. — I think you’re right.
• İyice karıştırın. — Mix thoroughly.

The same suffix on plural time words means “for (many) …”: saatlerce (for hours), günlerce (for days), yıllarca (for years): Saatlerce bekledik. — We waited for hours. On a language name it gives the language itself: Türkçe, İngilizce.

2. Reduplication

Repeating a word gives an adverb, often with a sense of gradualness or intensity:

• yavaş yavaş — slowly, little by little: Yavaş yavaş alışıyorum. — I’m slowly getting used to it.
• sık sık — often; tek tek — one by one; güzel güzel — nicely, peacefully
• Çocuklar güzel güzel oynuyor. — The children are playing nicely.

3. Converbs

Verb forms like koşarak (running), gülerek (laughing) and bile bile (knowingly) work as adverbs of manner. They are covered in converbs.

Word order

The usual order is time → place → manner → verb:

Yarın sabah parkta yavaş yavaş koşacağım. — Tomorrow morning I’ll jog slowly in the park.

• Manner adverbs stay right before the verb: Türkçeyi iyi konuşuyor, not İyi Türkçeyi konuşuyor.
• Degree adverbs stay right before what they modify: çok güzel (very beautiful), çok seviyorum (I love it a lot).
• Time adverbs are flexible but usually come first.

Adverbial phrases with case endings

Many time and place expressions are simply nouns with a case ending or a postposition, used as adverbs:

• dative: akşama (by/for the evening), sonuna kadar (to the end): Akşama hazır olur. — It’ll be ready by the evening.
• locative: şu anda (at the moment), aslında (actually): Aslında haklısın. — Actually, you’re right.
• ablative: birdenbire (suddenly), gerçekten (really), yeniden (again): Gerçekten çok güzel. — It’s really beautiful.
• with boyunca (throughout): yaz boyunca (all summer), gün boyunca (all day): Gün boyunca yağmur yağdı. — It rained all day.

Learn these as fixed expressions rather than analysing them each time; gerçekten and aslında in particular are among the most frequent adverbs in spoken Turkish.

Common mistakes

1. Adding a suffix where none is needed. Hızlıca koşuyor is possible, but hızlı koşuyor is the everyday form.
2. Positive verb with hiç or asla. Hiç gidiyorum is wrong; use a negative verb: Hiç gitmiyorum.
3. Using pek like çok. In everyday Turkish pek mostly appears with negatives: Pek iyi değil (not very good). For “very” in a positive sentence, use çok.
4. Confusing hâlâ and henüz. Hâlâ is “still” (Hâlâ uyuyor); henüz with a negative is “not yet” (Henüz uyanmadı).

Mini-exercise

Choose or form the right adverb.

1. “Please speak slowly.” → Lütfen … konuşun.
2. “I sometimes drink coffee.” → … kahve içerim.
3. “We waited for hours.” → … bekledik.
4. “I don’t live there anymore.” → … orada oturmuyorum.
5. “He quietly left the room.” → Odadan … çıktı.
6. “In my opinion, this film is very good.” → …, bu film çok iyi.

Answers

1. Lütfen yavaş konuşun.
2. Bazen kahve içerim.
3. Saatlerce bekledik.
4. Artık orada oturmuyorum.
5. Odadan sessizce çıktı.
6. Bence bu film çok iyi.

Practice this

Check the -ce/-ca/-çe/-ça choice for new words in the harmony calculator, then try the level test to see which grammar to tackle next.