Zero (suffixless) derivation in Turkish

As an agglutinative language, Turkish loves its suffixes. With suffixes, we conjugate verbs, pluralize nouns, and even make nouns out of verbs and vice versa. But sometimes the suffixes are put off to the side, and new words are created without derivational endings (which is called zero derivation).

This blog will examine the most common examples of zero derivation in Turkish. Let's begin.

Nouns derived from imperative verbs

As you might already know, the second-person singular imperative is suffixless in Turkish — it consists only of the verb stem. Here are some examples to jog your memory (remember these verbs if you don't know them already, you'll need them).

• gelmek (to come) - Gel! (Come!)

• kaçmak (to flee, to run away) - Kaç! (Run away!)

• gitmek (to go) - Git! (Go!)

Here's the fun part — we can make nouns by reduplicating a verb in the imperative or sticking two imperative verbs together.

• Gel! + Git! → gelgit (tide)

• Tut! (Hold!) + Kal! (Stay!) → tutkal (glue)

• Yap! (Make!) + Boz! (Break!) → yapboz (jigsaw puzzle)

• Kay! (Slide!) → kaykay (skateboard)

• Çek! (Pull!) + Yat! (Lie Down!) → çekyat (sofa bed)

• Vur! (Hit!) + Kaç! → vurkaç (hit and run, possibly a calque from English)

• Kap! (Grab!) + Kaç! → kapkaç (snatch theft)

• Kaç! → kaçkaç (forced mass evacuation)

• Sek! (Hop!) → seksek (hopscotch)

• Seç! (Choose!) + Al! (Take!) → seçal (self service)

• Kaç! + Göç! (Migrate!) → kaçgöç (the practice of Muslim women avoiding physical and verbal contact with men who are not immediate relatives)

• Ört! (Cover!) + Bas! (Step!) → örtbas etmek (to conceal, to sweep under the rug)

• İttir! (Push!) + Git! → ittirgit (scooter, first attested in the children's cartoon Pepee, possibly invented by the producers, too)

Nouns derived from verb stems

Some verb stems that end in -ş or -n also double as nouns or adjectives.

• özenmek (to try hard, to put effort to, to emulate) - özen (care, attention)

• inanmak (to believe) - inan (strong, doubtless belief)

• savaşmak (to battle) - savaş (battle, war)

• barışmak (to make peace, to make up with) - barış (peace)

• göçmek (to migrate, from earlier kötüşmek) - göç (migration)

• güreşmek (to wrestle) - güreş (wrestling)

• güvenmek (to trust) - güven (trust)

• şişmek (to swell, to inflate) - şiş (swollen)

Zero derivation caused by consonant deletion

Some suffixes in Turkish, such as -İ[g] (verb-to-noun) and -İ[r] (noun-to-verb), have lost their final consonants throughout time. This has led to the creation of homophonous pairs that look like they have zero derivation but actually do not (the suffix is still there, you just cannot see it).

• ağrımak (to ache) → ağrıg → ağrı (ache, pain)

• boyamak (to paint, to color) → boyag → boya (paint)

• korumak (to protect, to reserve) → korug → koru (grove, small forest)

• sıvamak (to plaster) → sıvag → sıva (plaster)

• ekşimek (to go sour, to go off) → ekşig → ekşi (sour)

• eski (old) → eskirmek → eskimek (to grow old, to age, to wear out)

Time to practice what you have learned at this blog!