Present Tense

The present tense, especially its third person singular form, closely resembles the verbal adverb ending in -a, -ə, -ıy, -i. Its formation follows these patterns:

🌷 Verb stems ending in a consonant, or the diphthong -aw (-yəw), take -a or -ə. Final -k, -q and -p change to -g, -ğ and -b:

yaz (write) – yaza (he/she/it writes)

kil (come) – kilə (he/she/it comes)

qu (chase) – quwa (he/she/it chases)

çıq (go out) – çığa (he/she/it goes out)

tük (pour) – tügə (he/she/it pours)

tap (find) – taba (he/she/it finds)

üp (kiss) – übə (he/she/it kisses)

cıy (gather) – cıya (he/she/it gathers)

söy (love) – söyә (he/she/it loves)

🌷 Stems ending in the vowel -i take -yə:

ki (dress) – kiyə (he/she/it dresses)

ti (touch) – tiyə (he/she/it touches)

💡 Exception: di (to say) – di (he/she/it says)

However, “diyә” is sometimes also used.

🌷 The final verb stems -a, -ə, -e change to -ıy, whereas -ə and -e to -i, and stems ending in -ı take -y:

qara (look) – qarıy (he/she/it looks)

eşlə (work, make, do) – eşli (he/she/it works, makes, does)

uqı (read) – uqıy (he/she/it reads)

🌷 The other persons are formed by adding the pronominal personal endings -m (-mın, -men), -sıñ, -señ, -bız, -bez, -sız, -sez, -lar, -lər to the present stem:

min yazam – I write

sin yazasıñ – you write

ul yaza – he/she writes

bez yazabız – we write

sez yazasız – you (plural) write

alar yazalar – they write

min kiləm – I come

sin kiləseñ – you come

ul kilə – he/she comes

bez kiləbez – we come

sez kiləsez – you (plural) come

alar kilələr – they come

💡 The first person singular has two forms, a full form -mın/-men (e.g. yazamın) and a reduced form -m (e.g. yazam). In the contemporary Tatar literary language and modern speech, the former is used infrequently.

🌷 In the older language, the third person singular had the ending -dır, -der (yazadır, kiləder). In the present language, -dır, -der is mostly used as a modal particle (indicating doubt).

The present tense in Tatar denotes:

1. An action or state occurring or existing at the moment of speaking (Present Continuous)

2. An action or state occurring regularly or repeatedly, or an action or state performed or existing usually, habitually or customarily (Present Simple)

3. Generic statements or statements of timeless validity, indisputable facts (Present Simple)

4. The present tense is stylistically used to describe the events in the past to actualize, to give more vividness and effect to the narration:

Babay atqa suqtı. At çaba, min yögerəm. (İbrahim Ğəzi, “Malaylıqta qunaqta”)

The old man whipped the horse. The horse gallops off, and I run.

5. The present tense is used to inform of an action which will definitely take place in the future:

Yartı səğəttən min öydə bulam. (Şərif Xösəyenov, “Zöbəydə – adəm balası”)

I’ll be home in half an hour.

🌷 Here are 10 most frequently used verbs in Tatar

diyü – to say (reported speech)

bulu – to be

alu – to take

itü – to do (part of phrasal verbs)

eşləw – to work, to do

birü – to give

kilü – to come

baru – to go

əytü – to say, to tell

qaraw – to look