Can and cannot

What you will practice

• Choose ebil or abil from the last vowel of the stem.
• Use eme or ama for “cannot.”
• Insert y when the stem ends in a vowel.

Explanation

Can

Ability uses -ebil or -abil. The vowel is the last vowel of the stem. Front vowels e i ö ü take e: gelebilirim, “I can come,” yüzebilirim, “I can swim,” and görebilirim, “I can see.” Back vowels a ı o u take a: yazabilirim, “I can write,” and bakabilirim, “I can look.” After bil, the next vowel is always -ir, because bil itself has i. That is why the ending of yazabilirim is -irim, not a back vowel.

Cannot

“Cannot” uses a different suffix, -eme or -ama, with the same choice of e or a. gelemem means “I cannot come.” yüzemem means “I cannot swim.” yazamam means “I cannot write.” Keep this apart from the plain negative. gelmem means “I do not come.” It does not say whether the person is able to. The vowel in gele- is what makes the form ability. The examples below are skills, so “can” stays clear.

Stems that end in a vowel

If the stem ends in a vowel, insert y before the suffix. okumak ends in u, a back vowel, so “I can read” is okuyabilirim and “I cannot read” is okuyamam. The y is a buffer, and the a still comes from u. A front vowel works the same way: söyleyebilirim, “I can say.” On the positive, “I” is -im because it follows -ir. On the negative, “I” is only -m: gelemem and okuyamam.

Examples

1. Yüzebilirim.I can swim.
2. Yüzemem.I cannot swim.
3. Yazabilirim.I can write.
4. Okuyabilirim.I can read.
5. Okuyamam.I cannot read.

Common mistakes

• gelmem and gelemem are both real. Only gelemem means “I cannot come.”
• After -bil, write -ir. yazabilirim does not switch to ı at the end.