Ilabilir

Ilabilir is a term encountered in discussions of Turkish grammar rather than a standard Turkish dictionary entry. In linguistic and educational contexts, it is often used as an illustrative form to demonstrate the potential mood created by the suffix -ebilir/-abilir, rather than as a standalone verb with a fixed meaning.

Morphology and usage

The Turkish suffix -ebilir (and its vowel-harmony variants -abilir, -ebilir, -abilir, -abilir) attaches to a verb stem to express ability or possibility, roughly equivalent to “can” or “may” in English. For example, a stem such as yap- (to do) forms yapabilir (can do), görebilir (can see), içebilir (can drink), or okuyabilir (can read). The form is used across present and future contexts and can be negated with the negative particle -may-: yapamayabilir (might not be able to do). The exact vowel in the stem may shift due to Turkish vowel harmony, and occasional stem changes may appear when the suffix is added.

Function and nuance

Ilabilir as an educational device helps learners recognize how the potential mood interacts with tense, aspect, and negation. It does not represent a separate lexical item with a fixed meaning; instead, it demonstrates a productive pattern for constructing statements about capability or possibility in Turkish. Its appearance in texts is typically bounded to grammar explanations, dictionaries’ usage notes, or examples illustrating modal meaning rather than everyday vocabulary.

See also

Turkish grammar, Turkish suffixes, Turkish modal verbs, potential mood.

Note

Ilabilir is described here as a pedagogical form used to illustrate the suffix -ebilir; it is not a commonly used standalone dictionary entry in standard Turkish.