imek

Turkish

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish ایمك (imek, “to be”), from Proto-Turkic *er- (“to be (aux.)”). Cognate with Azerbaijani *imək, Old Turkic 𐰼 (er-, “to be”), Uzbek *emoq and Uzbek *ermoq, Yakut эр (er, “to be”). Uyghur and Uzbek have largely retained the usage of this verb in its 7 derivative patterns in total (whereas other derivatives are lost).

Verb

imek

1. (auxiliary, defective) to be

Usage notes

• This verb is never found in its infinitive/dictionary form and only has a limited number of conjugations. For an infinitive of "to be," olmak is used instead.
• For "to be" in future tense, see olmak.

Related terms

• idi (“was”) (idim/idin/idi/idik/idiniz/idiler): from Proto-Turkic *er-ti (“was”), equivalent to conjugation with -di (“past tense marker”)
• imiş (“was, apparently was”) (imişim/imişsin/imiş/imişiz/imişsiniz/imişler): from Proto-Turkic *er-miĺ (“was”), equivalent to conjugation with -miş (“evidential past tense marker”)
• ise (“if, if it is”) (isem/isen/ise/isek/iseniz/iseler): from Proto-Turkic *er-se (“if”), equivalent to conjugation with -se (“conditional mood marker”)
• idük (idüğüm/idüğün/idüğü/idüğümüz/idüğünüz/idükler): from Proto-Turkic *er-tük, equivalent to conjugation with -dik
• iken (“when, while, meantime”): doublet of Turkish erken. See there for further etymology. This type of "conjugation" is not found in any other verb