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Imperative
-in, -iniz, -sin, -sinler

The imperative is the command tense. While in English, giving commands can come off as rude, the imperative is far more common and acceptable in Turkish. Just in case, there are also polite forms to soften the tone. And, if you want to add some urgency, there's a form for that, too. In Turkish, the imperative operates in only the second (you) and third person (he, they) cases. The second person case corresponds to a direct command (come!), while the third person suggests an action to be taken by someone else (let him come). Since the two cases occur in distinct contexts, we treat them separately below.

yap!	do!
ye	eat
oturma	don't sit
gelin	come
içiniz	drink
baksana!	look here!
gitsin	let him go
gitsinler	let them go
dinlesenize!	why don't you all just listen!

Commands (Second Person Imperative)

Just as in English, the command is very simply the verb stem itself.

Verb	Imperative	English
almak	al	take
koşmak	koş	run
gitmek	git	go
uyumak	uyu	sleep

When you're talking to more than one person, or you want to soften your tone (when talking to a stranger or superior, for example), add -in to the verb stem. -in follows i-type vowel harmony. To avoid vowel collisions with stems that end in a vowel, add a buffer y.

Verb	Imperative	English
almak	alın	take
koşmak	koşun	run
gitmek	gitin	go
üyümek	üyüyün	sleep

There is a third, even more polite form that is rarely spoken. You will, however, encounter this form on public signs and in other formal instructions. The suffix is -iniz, added directly to the verb stem. It follows i-type vowel harmony and avoid vowel conflicts with a buffer y.

Verb	Imperative	English
almak	alınız	take
koşmak	koşunuz	run
dinlemek	dinleyiniz	listen

Finally, there is another imperative form that adds emphasis, urgency, or impatience to commands. Add -sene to the verb stem and follow e-type vowel harmony. When speaking to more than one person, this suffix becomes -senize. Depending on your tone of voice, this suffix can function as a friendly suggestion or rather unpleasant expression of impatience. Think of it as English why don't you?

Verb	Imperative	English
almak	alsana	Why don't you take it?
bakmak	baksana!	Look now!
dinlemek	dinlesene	Why don't you listen?
oturmak	otursanıza!	Now just sit all of you!
gelmek	gelsenize!	Why don't you all just come already!

Negative Commands

To form a negative imperative, simply add the negative suffix -me after the verb stem, followed by whichever imperative suffix you want to use. Put another way, add the imperative suffix to the negative infinitive. There is no negative form of -sene and -senize.

Verb	Negative	Negative Imperative	English
almak	ma	alma	don't take
gelmek	me	gelme	don't come
bakmak	ma	bakmayın	don't look (polite or plural)
dinlemek	me	dinlemeyiniz	don't listen (very polite or public)

You may have noticed that the negative imperative looks just like the short infinitive. For example, yüzme can both mean don't swim and swimming (in its gerund form, as in yüzme havuzu - swimming pool). Since verbs in Turkish almost always appear at the end of the sentence, it's usually immediately clear which form is being used.

Havuzda yüzme!
Don't swim in the pool!

Ben bir yüzme havuzu almak istiyorum.
I want to buy a swimming pool.

Politer Alternatives to Commands

Commands (yap, otur) aren't necessarily impolite, but there are some more graceful alternatives to tell someone what to do. In particular, use questions in the simple present or subjunctive.

Oturur musunuz?
Could you sit?

Ekmek alır mısın?
Could you buy some bread?

Gidelim mi?
Shall we go?

Bakalım mı?
Could you look?

Suggest Another Person's Action (Third Person Imperative)

In the previous section, we covered the second person (you) form of the imperative; that is, the case in which you are applying the imperative to the person with whom you are speaking. The imperative also has a third person (he, they) form that is used to suggest what someone else should do.

The suffix for third person imperative is -sin, added directly to the vowel stem. It follows i-type vowel harmony and means let her do or I hope she does.

Verb	Imperative	English
gelmek	gelsin	Let him come. He should come.
bakmak	baksın	Let her look. She should look.
uyumak	uyusun	Let it sleep. It should sleep.
koşmak	koşsun	Let him run. He should run.

Don't confuse this suffix with the you personal suffix (as in hastasın - you are sick). If -sin is added directly to the verb stem with no other suffixes before it, it's the imperative.

To form the negative, add the negative suffix -me after the verb stem and before -sin.

Verb	Negative	Imperative	English
gelmek	me	gelmesin	Let him not come. He shouldn't come.
bakmak	ma	bakmasın	Let her not look. She shouldn't look.
yağmur yağmak	ma	yağmur yağmasın	Let it not rain. I hope it doesn't rain.

The plural form of -sin is -sinler.

Verb	Imperative	English
gelmek	gelsinler	Let them come. They should come.
koşmak	koşsunlar	Let them run. They should run.
yazmak	yazmasınlar	Let them not write. They should't write.

The Subjunctive as Imperative

There is technically no first person (I, we) form of the imperative. However, in practice, the subjunctive is used to express a very similar meaning. In fact, many grammar books present the imperative and the subjunctive as a single let verb form; it's not a bad approach since, conceptually, they are so similar.

We cover the subjunctive on a page of its own, but present the first person forms here since they are used so often. Similar to -sin, they convey a desired or compelled action. They are -eyim and -elim, follow e-type vowel harmony, resolve vowel collisions with buffer y, and mean let me and let us respectively.