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Subjunctive
-elim, -eyim

The subjunctive expresses wishes and desires, while most commonly used to make a suggestion about future action. There are two forms: -eyim and -elim. When covering the subjunctive, most grammar books present it alongside the imperative since they serve such similar roles in modern Turkish. The English equivalent to the Turkish subjunctive is roughly let: here, let me do that, let's go.

yapayım	let me do
gidelim	let's go
dinleyelim	let's listen
konuşmayalım	let's not talk

Forming the Subjunctive

-eyim means let me do. Add it directly to the verb stem and harmonize it according to the e-type rules.

Verb	eyim	Subjunctive	English
yapmak	ayım	yapayım	let me do
yardım etmek	eyim	yardım edeyim	let me help
vermek	eyim	vereyim	let me give

-elim means let us do. Just like -eyim we add it directly to the verb stem and use e-type vowel harmony.

Verb	elim	Subjunctive	English
gitmek	elim	gidelim	let's go
almak	alım	alalım	let's buy
koşmak	alım	koşalım	let's run

Vowel conflict. When the verb stem ends in a vowel (in either case), add a buffer y.

Verb	eyim/elim	Subjunctive	English
uyumak	alım	uyuyalım	let's sleep
yemek	eyim	yiyeyim	let me eat
demek	eyim	deyeyim	let me speak

Negative. To form the negative subjunctive, add the negative suffix -me after the verbs stem and before the subjunctive suffix. Notice that this will always require a buffer y.

Verb	Negative	Subjunctive	English
gitmek	me	gitmeyelim	let's not go
içmek	me	içmeyeyim	let me not drink
almak	ma	almayayım	let me not buy

Questions. To form a question, simply add the question article mi as a separate word after the subjunctive verb form. Think of subjunctive questions as English shall questions: shall we go? or shall I help?

Verb	Subjunctive	Question	English
gitmek	gidelim	gidelim mi?	shall we go?
yardım etmek	yardım edeyim	yardım edeyim mi?	shall I help?
atmak	atayım	atayım mı?	shall I throw?
buluşmak	buluşalım	buluşalım mı?	shall we meet up?

Negative questions. To form a negative question, simply add the question article mi as a separate word after the negative subjunctive form.

Verb	Negative Subjunctive	Question	English
gitmek	gitmeyeyim	gitmeyeyim mi?	shall I not go?
buluşmak	buluşmayalım	buluşmayalım mı?	shall we not meet up?

Other Subjunctive Forms

eyim and elim cover only two of the subject cases: first person singular and plural. There are actually forms for every subject case, but they are very rarely used in modern Turkish in favor of the imperative forms (see the next section). They are characterized by an e (or a, following e-type vowel harmony) after the stem, and we present them here for completion.

Verb	Subjunctive Ending	Subjunctive	English
gelmek	eyim	geleyim	let me come
gelmek	esin	gelesin	let you come, you should come
gelmek	e	gele	let him/her/it come
gelmek	elim	gelelim	let's come
gelmek	esiniz	gelesiniz	let you come, you should come (plural or polite)
gelmek	eler	geleler	let them come

Subjunctive with Imperative

Turkish grammar books often present the subjunctive and imperative together since they both serve to command or suggest something. Conceptually, it is useful to think of -eyim and -elim as the first person forms of the imperative.

Verb	Imperative/Subjunctive	Turkish	English
gelmek	eyim	geleyim	let me come
gelmek	-	gel	come
gelmek	sin	gelsin	let him come, he should come
gelmek	elim	gelelim	let's come
gelmek	sin	gelsin	come (plural or polite)
gelmek	sinler	gelsinler	let them come

In learning Turkish, the above table will be most useful in your conceptual understanding of commands and suggestion. Whether the suffixes are technically subjunctive or imperative is fun grammar trivia, but practically, the table above is the most coherent when considering how the language is actually used.