# Grammar: -miyor değil



## sufler

Merhaba.
For a long time I've known that certain verb forms in Turkish can be used as adjectives.
For examples the activity-related stems ending with -miş4, like: _kaybolmuş anılar _- lost memories _/memories which have been lost/_
and for the present tense activities we use the -(y)an/en forms, like: _evime gelen adam_.
They work as adjectives and it's clear so far.

Yet I have also learned that the -yor forms cannot be used as adjectives ever.
So, I can't say _evime geliyor adam güzeldir_. It must be "gelen" instead.
Taking this into account, I've come to conclusion that -yor forms are specifically verbal and they can't take any noun/adjective modifiers.

But today while looking over a Turkish book I found such a sentence:
*"...ama aklım onunla geçirdiğimiz hareketli günlere de takılmıyor değildi."*

This was a big surprised to see the particle "değil" which is usually used to negate nouns and adjectives after a *verb*, 
which is moreover already negative in the stem (-ılmıyor)!

I could suppose it's possible to say *takılmamakta değildi* _(lit. wasn't in not-longing)_ or possibly *takılmayan değildi  *(_wasn't the one which is not longing)

_but the original form _takılmıyor değildi_ makes little sense for me... it sounds like "is not longing wasn't"


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## murattug

simply 
takılmıyor değildi = takılıyordu

I think it is named double negative, see also this link in wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative#Two_negatives_resolving_to_a_positive


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## Reverence

You know the sentences which go like, "Not that he wasn't...", right? There's your answer.


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## sufler

Ok, I figured out this must've been a kind of double negative.
Therefore my doubts concern only the way that it is created.
Why do you use the word _değil_ which usually accompanies nouns _(bu adam arkadaşım değil)_ or adjectives _(o güzel değil) _?
But here we have to do wıth a typical verbal form.

So, why don't you say for example *takılmayan değildi*? Here it seems normal: a noun + _değil_.

Another thought,
Provided the original sentence was correct. So then, why don't you usually say for instance: _Sinemaya gidiyor değilim_, but "gitmiyorum"?Is that correct at all? With _"gidiyor değilim"_?


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## Rallino

> So then, why don't you usually say for instance: _Sinemaya gidiyor değilim_, but "gitmiyorum"?Is that correct at all? With _"gidiyor değilim"_?


There is a nuance, though. I would translate them differently:

Sinemaya gitmiyorum. = I'm not going to the movie theatre.
Sinemaya gidiyor değilim. = (Well,) it's not like I'm going to the movie theatre or anything...


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## Reverence

sufler said:


> Ok, I figured out this must've been a kind of double negative.
> Therefore my doubts concern only the way that it is created.
> Why do you use the word _değil_ which usually accompanies nouns _(bu adam arkadaşım değil)_ or adjectives _(o güzel değil) _?
> But here we have to do wıth a typical verbal form.
> 
> So, why don't you say for example *takılmayan değildi*? Here it seems normal: a noun + _değil_.
> 
> Another thought,
> Provided the original sentence was correct. So then, why don't you usually say for instance: _Sinemaya gidiyor değilim_, but "gitmiyorum"?Is that correct at all? With _"gidiyor değilim"_?



Uh, since when is _takılmıyor_ a typical verbal form? It's no more a verb than _takılmayan_.

The difference between "sinemaya gitmiyorum" and "sinemaya gidiyor değilim" is the same difference between "I'm not going to the cinema" and "It's not that I'm going to the cinema".


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## sufler

Reverence said:


> Uh, since when is _takılmıyor_ a typical verbal form? It's no more a verb than _takılmayan_.



I thought that there must be a difference between them, because you can say for example "sinemaya giden adam sensin", but you'd rather not say "sinemaya gidiyor adam sensin".. I think.


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## Reverence

Good point. Let me elaborate.

It's true that "gidiyor" is a verb most of the time, but here, "değil" has nominalized it. Technically, "gidiyor değilim" is not much different than, say, "uzun değilim". It loses its verbal status and starts describing the subject, much like another adjective would.


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## sufler

Ok, I think I'm getting it  Are there other situations when -yor forms get nominalized or adding "değil" is the only possibility?


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## Reverence

Sure, there are cases other than "değil" as well. The verb "olmak" is infamous for nominalizing all manner of verbs.

- Arabanın soldan yaklaşıyor olduğunu göz önüne alırsak, geçiş hakkı diğer araçtadır. (If we consider that the car is approaching from the left, the right of way belongs to the other vehicle.)

There's also the mostly-obsolete verb "imek", which is mostly reduced to its suffix form in modern Turkish:

yapıyor idi -> yapıyordu

Just off the top of my head.


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