Turkish Grammer Lessons-GC83.3(maktansa or mektense suffixes in Turkish)

Turkish Grammar Lesson:

Using “-maktansa / -mektense” – “Rather Than Doing” in Turkish

🎯 What Does “-maktansa / -mektense” Mean?

The suffix “-maktansa / -mektense” means:

“Rather than doing…”
“Instead of doing…”
“It’s better to do X than Y.”

It shows that one action is less preferred than another.

🧩 Structure and Formation

Just like “-mek/-mak yerine”, we use the infinitive form of the verb.

🔹 Rule:

Use -maktansa if the verb stem ends with a hard vowel (a, ı, o, u)
Use -mektense if it ends with a soft vowel (e, i, ö, ü)

(This follows vowel harmony rules.)

✅ Examples in Sentences

Turkish Sentence	English Translation
Dondurma yemektense meyve yemek daha sağlıklı.	Rather than eating ice cream, eating fruit is healthier.
Film izlemektense kitap okumayı tercih ederim.	I prefer reading a book rather than watching a movie.
Bağırmaktansa konuşmak daha iyi.	Talking is better than shouting.
Beklemektense gitmek istiyorum.	I want to go rather than wait.
Yalan söylemektense susmak daha iyidir.	It’s better to stay silent than to lie.

🧠 Difference Between “-mek/-mak yerine” and “-mektense/-maktansa”

Expression	English Equivalent	Meaning
-mek/-mak yerine	instead of doing	States that one action was done instead of another.
-mektense/-maktansa	rather than doing	Shows preference – it would be better to do X than Y.

📚 Bonus: Example Pair

🟢 Para harcamak yerine para biriktirdim.
✅ Instead of spending money, I saved money.
👉 (You didn’t spend money. You saved.)

🟢 Para harcamaktansa para biriktirmek daha mantıklı.
✅ Rather than spending money, saving money is more logical.
👉 (Saving is better than spending.)

✍️ Practice Sentences to Try

Complete the sentence using “-maktansa” or “-mektense”:

Oyun oynamaktanse _______________.
Televizyon izlemektense _______________.
Bağırmaktansa _______________.

Turkish Grammer