Feelings and appearances (‑mış gibi olmak, ‑ıyor gibi olmak, ‑ar gibi olmak, ‑acak gibi olmak)

Prerequisites for this Turkish Grammar Lesson

Using gibi forms

In each of the grammar forms below, there is an initial verb with one kind of ending, but without a personal ending, followed by the word gibi, followed by another verb or phrase. In each of the forms, some of the most common verbs have been provided in the grammar form explanation, but these can also be exchanged for other verbs. Also, in most of the following forms, the addition of a ‑miş ending onto the first verb is optional, and can be used to increase the emphasis on the strength of a feeling.

Sanki

It can be helpful to think of each of these forms as a replacement for the word sanki (as if). Usually any of the sentences using a gibi form could be rewritten to use a different (more standard) grammar form if the word sanki is added. It is also possible to use the word sanki in the same sentence as a gibi form, but this is rare because the meaning of the word sanki is usually redundant with the meaning of the grammar form itself. For example, the following examples are sentences with approximately the same meaning, one sentence using a gibi form and one using the word sanki.

Examples
Yapacak(mış) gibi oldum.
Sanki yapacaktım.

Yapıyor(muş) gibi oldum.
Sanki yapıyorum.

Yapar(mış) gibi oldum.
Sanki yaparım.

Yapmış gibi oldum.
Sanki yapmış oldum.

Feeling/seeming as if something was about to happen

Grammar form:

• Verb + acak/ecek + (optional mış/miş)    gibi    olmak/hissetmek

This grammar form is very similar to the ‑acaktı/-ecekti ending because it is used to describe something that was about to happen. However, this grammar form is used to emphasize that something seemed as though something was about to happen, but it didn’t. When this grammar form is used in the first person, it is mainly used to emphasize a feeling that the person speaking had (I felt like I was going to…) Otherwise, it can also be used to describe the speaker’s impression about the appearance of something (He seemed as if he was going to…) Note that the addition of the ‑miş ending is optional. When the ‑miş ending is present, it emphasizes that the feeling or impression was very strong.

Examples
Sıcaktan şikayet edecek gibi oldum ama kendimi engelledim.
I was about to complain about the heat but I stopped myself.
(Excerpt from blog post)

Sonlara doğru pes edecek gibi oldum ama eşim, annem ve kayınvalidem beni yüreklendirdi.
Toward the end I felt like I was going to give up, but my husband, mother, and mother-in-law encouraged me to keep going.
(Excerpt from news story)

Buraya yürürken birden bayılacak gibi oldum. O yüzden bakkaldan su aldım.
When I was walking here I suddenly felt as if I was going to faint. That’s why I bought water from the corner store.

Galatasaray kaybedecekmiş gibi oldu ama sonra kazandı.
Galatasaray (a soccer team) seemed like they were going to lose but then they won.

Dün gece eşim çok rahatsızdı. Öyle ki doğum yapacakmış gibi hissetti.
Last night my wife was so uncomfortable that she felt like she was going to give birth.

Annem bize gelecekmiş gibi oldu ama vazgeçti.
My mother had seemed like she was going to come to [visit] us, but changed her mind.

Feeling/seeming as if something is happening

Grammar form:

• Verb + ıyor/iyor/uyor/üyor + (optional muş)    gibi    olmak/hissetmek

This grammar form combines the continuous present tense ‑ıyor ending with the “gibi” word. It is mainly used for explaining an impression or feeling about something that is currently happening or just happened a few minutes ago. This form is often used with the first person ending when the person speaking expects other people to think that they are acting in a certain way, but they want to show that this is not the case. This form can also be used in a similar way to the past continuous (‑iyordu) ending, to say that it seems like something was happening, as in the first example below.

Examples
Bugünün sporu, 47,3 km’lik bisiklet sürüşüydü. Eve geldiğimde quadriceps’lerim yanıyormuş gibi hissettim.
Today’s exercise was a 47.3 kilometer bike ride. When I got home, I felt like my quadriceps were burning.
(Excerpt from forum post)

Servisi de gayet iyi…burada reklam yapıyor gibi oldum belki ama iyinin hakkını vermek lazım.
Their service was also really good… I might seem like I’m advertising for them but you have to give credit where credit is due.
(Excerpt from forum post)

Reklam yapıyormuş gibi oldum ama adamlar çok iyi yapmışlar.
I know it seems like I’m advertising for them, but those guys did really well.
(Excerpt from forum post)

Çok fazla şikayet ediyor gibi oldum belki ama, bahsetmeden geçemeyeceğim iki şey daha var…
I know it seems like I’m complaining too much, but there are two more things I can’t continue without mentioning.
(Excerpt from blog post)

Bütün dizileri takip ediyor gibi oldum ama yok öyle bir şey.
I know it sounds like I’m following all the shows [that are on TV], but that’s not the case.
(Excerpt from forum post)

Feeling/seeming as if something had started to happen

Grammar form:

• Verb + ar/er/ır/ir/ur/ür + (optional mış/miş/muş/müş)    gibi    olmak/hissetmek

This form combines the aorist tense with the “gibi” word. It is most commonly used when the speaker is describing something that seemed as though it was starting to happen. This form can also be used to describe something that did actually start happening and seemed as if it were going to continue, but did not. In addition to these meanings, this form can also be used with the same meaning as the ‑ıyor gibi olmak or the ‑acak gibi olmak forms above. As in the forms above, the ‑mış ending in this form is optional and can be used to emphasize the strong emotion behind the feeling or impression.

Examples
Ölür gibi oldum ama yaşıyordum
I felt like I was dying but I was still living
(Title of a blog post)

Ofisime 5 dakika uzakta olmama rağmen sanki bir kır restoranında yemek yermiş gibi hissettim.
Even though I was only 5 minutes from my office, I felt like I was eating a meal in a rustic backwoods restaurant.
(Excerpt from restaurant review)

Bu sabah hastalanır gibi oldum, ama geçti.
This morning I felt like I was starting to get sick, but it passed.

Feeling/seeming as if something had happened

Grammar form:

• Verb + mış/miş/muş/müş    gibi    olmak/hissetmek/görünmek

This form combines the completive ‑mış ending with the “gibi” word. It is used to say that it seems like something happened in the past. In some cases, this form resembles the -mış oldu (have done) form, except that it is used when describing something that seems to have happened or when describing that a person feels like they have done something.

Examples
Sergiye baktığımda zamanda yolculuk yapmış gibi oldum.
When I looked at the display it was as if I had time travelled.
(Excerpt from news story)

Resmen babamın hastalığını kullanmış gibi oldum.
I really feel like I’ve exploited my father’s sickness.
(Excerpt from book)

Sen o filmi çok iyi anlattın. Öyle ki ben de onu izlemiş gibi oldum.
You explained that movie so well that now I feel like I’ve watched it too.

Bugün bacaklarım çok ağrıyor. 100 kilometre yürümüş gibi oldum.
My legs hurt a lot today. It’s as if I walked 100 kilometers.

Ne oldu? Hiç uyumamış gibi görünüyorsun!
What happened? You look like you haven’t slept at all!

Pretending

Grammar form:

• Verb + ar/er/ır/ir/ur/ür + (mış/miş/muş/müş)    gibi    yapmak
• Verb + ıyor/iyor/uyor/üyor + (muş)    gibi    yapmak/davranmak
• Verb + acak/ecek + (mış/miş)    gibi    yapmak/davranmak
• Verb + mış/miş/muş/müş    gibi    yapmak/davranmak

These forms function similarly to the forms explained above, but in these cases the meaning is that someone is pretending to do something. The first verb can be in the aorist, continuous present, future, or completive past tense.

The final verb in this form, which can be either yapmak (literally, “to do”) or davranmak (literally, “to behave”) shows that the person was pretending. This final verb is usually in the past tense: yaptı/davrandı.

Examples
Daha önce iki kez yaprak verecek gibi yaptı, ama sebebini çözemediğim bir nedenden yapraklar kurudu.
Twice before it looked like it was going to leaf out but for some unknown reason the leaves dried up.
(Excerpt from forum post)

Pazara gider gibi yaptı, banka soydu.
He pretended to be going to the bazaar, [but instead] he robbed a bank.
(Headline of news story)

Ellerini havaya kaldırıp teslim olurmuş gibi yaptı.
He put his hands up and pretended to be surrendering.
(Excerpt from a short story)

Mehmet ne kadar aileden, çocuklardan bahsetse de Arzu ikna olmuş gibi yaptı ama devam etti plan kurmaya.
No matter how much Mehmet talked about family and children, Arzu pretended to be convinced but continued scheming.
(From blog post about a Turkish TV show)

Ellerimle çevirdim aldığım kitabın sayfalarını gözlerimle okuyormuş gibi yaptım ama okumadım.
Sınıfta öğretmenimi dinliyormuş gibi yaptım ama dinlemedim.
Annemle babamı kandırmak için evde ders çalışıyormuş gibi yaptım ama çalışmadım.
With my hands I turned the pages of the book I got, with my eyes I pretended to read, but I didn’t read it.
In class I pretended to listen to my teacher but I didn’t listen.
In order to deceive my parents I pretended to study at home but I didn’t study.
(Excerpt from a poem)

Additional Resources

• Türkçe Öğreniyorum, Yüksek Türkçe: page 100.
  This page has 19 related fill-in-the-blank exercise questions.
  

This lesson is a prerequisite for: