BASICS OF TURKISH
BASICS OF TURKISH GRAMMAR
Pronouns & Nouns, Possession, Postpositions, Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions
| Absolute / Nominative |
ben | biz | I | we | |
| sen | siz | you | you | ||
| o | onlar | he / she / it | they | ||
| Accusative / Direct object |
beni | bizi | me | us | |
| seni | sizi | you | you | ||
| onu | onları | he / she / it | them | ||
| Genitive / Possessive / Owner-of, of-X |
benim | bizim | my ... | our ... | |
| senin | sizin | your ... | your ... | ||
| onun | onları | his / her / its ... | their ... | ||
| Dative / Indirect object / motion toward |
bana | bize | to me | to us | |
| sana | size | to you | to you | ||
| ona | onlara | to him / her / it | to them | ||
| Locative | bende | bizde | in me | in us | |
| sende | sizde | in you | in you | ||
| onda | onlarda | in him / her / it | in them | ||
| Ablative / comparison / motion from/through |
benden | bizden | from/than me | from/than us | |
| senden | sizden | from/than you | from/than you | ||
| ondan | onlardan | from/than him / her / it | from/than them |
| kaç? | how much? or how many? |
| ne? | what? |
| kim? | who? |
| kimin? | whose? |
| hangi? | which? |
| niç? | why? |
| ne zaman? | when? |
| nasıl? | how? |
Noun declension
| Case | Application | Singular | Plural |
| Absolute | nominative | -- | -ler |
| Accusative | direct object | -(y)i | -leri |
| Genitive | owner-of, of-X | -(n)in | -lerin |
| Dative | indirect object, motion toward | -(y)e | -lere |
| Locative | in a place | -de | -lerde |
| Ablative | motion from | -den | -lerden |
Lewis' book distinguishes between the indefinite accusative, which uses the absolute form, and the accusative case. His examples are as follows, the distinction is not at all clear to me...
- Gazete çıkarmak zor bir iş.
To publish newspapers is a hard job. (absolute form) - Bu gazeteyi çıkarmak zor bir iş.
To publish this newspaper is a hard job. (accusative form)
Noun declensions by example
| Front vowels | un-round | round | |||||||||
| house | coffee | front | roof | ||||||||
| Absolute | ev | evler | kahve | kahveler | ön | önler | örtü | örtüler | |||
| Accusative | evi | evleri | kahveyi | kahveleri | önü | önleri | örtüyü | örtüleri | |||
| Genitive | evin | evlerin | kahvenin | kahvelerin | önün | önlerin | örtünün | örtülerin | |||
| Dative | eve | evlere | kahveye | kahvelere | öne | önlere | örtüye | örtülere | |||
| Locative | evde | evlerde | kahvede | kahvelerde | önde | önlerde | örtüde | örtülerde | |||
| Ablative | evden | evlerden | kahveden | kahvelerden | önden | önlerden | örtüden | örtülerden | |||
| Back vowels | un-round | round | |||||||||
| ceiling | handle | ball | neighbor | ||||||||
| Absolute | tavan | tavanlar | kabza | kabzalar | top | toplar | komşu | komşular | |||
| Accusative | tavanı | tavanları | kabzayı | kabzaları | topu | topları | komşuyu | komşuları | |||
| Genitive | tavanın | tavanların | kabzanın | kabzaların | topun | topların | komşunun | komşuların | |||
| Dative | tavana | tavanlara | kabzaya | kabzalara | topa | toplara | komşuya | komşulara | |||
| Locative | tavanda | tavanlarda | kabzada | kabzalarda | topda | toplarda | komşuda | komşularda | |||
| Ablative | tavandan | tavanlardan | kabzadan | kabzalardan | topdan | toplardan | komşudan | komşulardan | |||
| Variable consonants |
Dog | Book | |||||||||
| Absolute | köpek | köpekler | kitap | kitaplar | |||||||
| Accusative | köpeği | köpekleri | kitabı | kitapları | |||||||
| Genitive | köpeğin | köpeklerin | kitabın | kitapların | |||||||
| Dative | köpeğe | köpeklere | kitaba | kitaplara | |||||||
| Locative | köpekte | köpeklerde | kitapta | kitaplarda | |||||||
| Ablative | köpekten | köpeklerden | kitaptan | kitaplardan | |||||||
forms and modified nouns
| -li | with or with the quality of or belonging to | sulu = "with water" atlı = "horseman" köylü = "villager" |
| -siz | without | susuz = "without water" |
| -çi, -ci | The professional | gazeteci = "journalist", çaycı = "tea seller", dişçi = "dentist" |
| -[y]ici | The habitual | yazmak = "to write", so yazıcı = "writer" |
| -çe | -ish or as for | çocukça = "childish[ly]" türkçe = "Turkish" bence = "as for me" |
| -(i)msi, -(i)mtrak, -si | -ish or -like | duvarımsı = "wall-like" beyazımtrak = "whitish" çocuksu = "child-like" |
| -daş | fellow- | okuldaş = "schoolmate" -daş does not follow vowel harmony |
| -lik | abstract noun formation | büyüklük = "largeness" or "size" susuzluk = "waterlessness" or "thirst" Granted, susuzluk is rather stilted, a Turk would more likely ask "Susadın mı?" for "Are you thirsty?" |
| -igde, -ligi | of the, similar to -lik | |
| -sel | abstract adjective formation | tarih = "history", tarihsel = "historic" |
| -ki | abstract adjective formation | sabahki hava = "morning weather" Amerikadaki çocuklar = the children in America Ahmet'inki = "Ahmet's" (with possessive) |
| -ki | added to genitive case to form a possessive pronoun | Bu kalem benim değil. = "This is not my pencil." (simple denial) Bu kalem benimki değil. = "This pencil is not mine (I do have a pencil, but this one is not it)." Bu köpek benimki. = "This dog is mine." |
| -çik, -cik, -ceğiz, -ce | Diminutive | Ahmetçik = "my pal Ahmet" Köyceğiz = "the dear little village" and a lakeside town in southwestern Turkey. |
| -[y]iş | Add to a verb stem for the noun form | girmek = "to enter", so giriş = "entrance" çıkmak = "to exit", so çıkış = "exit" |
| -leyin | by or at | geceleyin = "by night" akşamleyin = "at evening" |
| -ken | while | yazarken = "while writing" |
| -oğlu | son of | Köseoğlu Bey = "Mr Son-Of-The-Bald-Man" |
| Comparison | For adjectives or adverbs, use daha for "more": |
daha büyük = "bigger" (more big) daha iyi = "better" (more good) |
| For nouns, use: ablative measure |
benden büyük = "bigger than me" benden iyi = "better than me" |
|
| Superlatives | Use en for "most": | en büyük = "biggest" (most big) en iyi = "best" (most good) |
Demonstratives
| bu | this, close to the speaker |
Bu köpek benimki. This dog is mine. |
| şu | this or that, further away |
Şu dağ Ağrı Dağı. That mountain is Mount Ararat. |
| o | that | O Ağrı Dağı. That is Mount Ararat. |
| nere-si | where? |
| bura-sı | here |
| ora-sı | there |
Add from/in/to endings to demonstrative pronouns to yield:
| burada | here | orade | there | nerede? | where? | ||
| buradan | from this place | oradan | from there | nereden? | from where? | ||
| buraya | to this place | oraya | to there | nereye? | to where? |
Possession
There is what G.L. Lewis terms "indefinite" ownership, in which -i is added to the noun which is owned in a way that is not very possessive. Compare this to the more possessive "definite" version:
| Indefinite | Sultan Ahmet Camii | Sultan Ahmet Mosque | Atatürk Bulvarı | Atatürk Boulevard | ||
| Definite | Sultan Ahmed'in türbesi | Sultan Ahmet's tomb | Atatürk'ün evi | Atatürk's house |
The definite possessive is complicated, and I'm skipping details here, but the form is:
owner(n)in ownedX
where X is replaced by:
| -(i)m | -(i)miz | owned by me | owned by us | |
| -(i)n | -(i)niz | owned by you | owned by you | |
| -(s)i | -leri | owned by it | owned by them |
So, since fil is "elephant" and ev is "house," filin evi means "the elephant's house", and fillerin evleri means "the elephants' houses". Note that you often leave off the possessor, especially when it's a pronoun or can be derived from context. Thus:
Filim büyük. = My elephant is big.
Bu benim büyük filimdir. = Hey, this is my big elephant, get your own!
(-dir is formal or for emphasis to say ".... is")
filim would mean "my elephant", while benim filim would very adamantly make the case that the elephant was, in fact, mine, and not anyone else's.
Sahip means "owner" or "master", and halı means "rug". Note the logic of "the owner of the rug", where the rug has an owner, and thus "rug" is the possessor (of an owner) and the owner is the thing possessed (by the rug). Thus halının sahibi for "the rug's owner".
Finally, note that çocukların bahçeleri is ambiguous, it could mean either "the garden of the children" or "the gardens of the children". It must be derived from context (about the number of gardens), or by intentionally malforming the possessed item as çocukların bahçesi to explicitly mean the one garden of the multiple children.
They work somewhat as prepositions do in English, and fall into three classes depending on the declension of the modified word.
| Class 0 -- absolute | üzere, üzre |
on yol üzere = on the road |
| Class I -- ablative: -den | başka | other than, except for bizden başka = except for us köpeklerimden başka = except for my dogs |
| beri | since, subsequent to on saatten beri = for the past 10 hours saat ondan beri = since 10:00 |
|
| bu yana | since Cumadan bu yana = since Friday |
|
| dolayı | because of Atatürk'den dolayı, buradayız. Because of you, we are here. |
|
| evvel | before, earlier than (also önce in some regions) bizden evvel = earlier than us saat ondan evvel = before 10:00 |
|
| içiri | inside, into Kebapçıdan içiri girdik = We went into a kebap shop. |
|
| itibaren | with effect from, starting from Cumadan itibaren her gün, kebapçıya gideceğiz. Every day starting from Friday, we will go into a kebap shop. |
|
| sonra | after, later than bizden sonra = later than us saat ondan sonra = after 10:00 |
|
| Class II -- dative: -(y)e | dair | about, concerning Osmanlı tarihe dair bir kitap = A book about Ottoman history |
| doğru | straight toward Bu yol İstanbul'a doğru gitiyor. This road goes straight toward Istanbul |
|
| göre | according to Gazeteye göre, hava güzel olacak. According to the newspaper, the weather is going to be nice. |
|
| kadar | up to, until, as far as, as much as saat ona kadar = until 10:00 evime kadar = as far as my house Bir saat kadar otobüse bindim = I rode the bus for one hour. Halk İndiana'da filler kadar şişman. = People in Indiana are as fat as elephants. |
|
| karşı | against, opposite bana karşı = against me |
|
| nazaran | compared to, in regard to Kediye nazaran filim daha büyük. = Compared to a cat, my elephant is larger. |
|
| rağmen | despite ona rağmen = despite that |
|
| Class III -- possessive for personal pronoun, singular interrogative pronoun, or singular demonstrative pronoun; otherwise no suffix |
gibi | like, similar to kedi gibi = like a cat sizin gibi = like you |
| için | because of, for, for the purpose of bunu için = because of this |
|
| ile / -(y)le | with, by the kedi ile -or- kediyle = with a cat Elmayı kilo ile satıyorum. = I sell apple by the kilogram. |
Other qualifiers or pronouns
| bazı, kimi | some | bazı adam, kimi adam = "some man" bazı adamlar, kimi adamlar = "some men" |
| her | every | Bu tren her gün Istanbul'a gidiyor. = "This train goes to Istanbul every day." |
| biraz | a little, from az, little |
Az şarapı içerim. = I drink little wine. Ahmet Bey dedi, "Biraz içerim". = "Mr. Ahmet said, 'I drinks a bit'". |
| kimse | whoever, or no one in the negative |
Bir kimse size arıyordu. = "Someone was looking for you." Kimse aldırış etmiyor. = "No one is paying attention." |
Conjunctions
| ve | and | Evimde su sıcak ve soğuk var. | In my house there is hot and cold water | |
| veya | or | Kedisiniz kara veya ak? | Is your cat black or white? | |
| ki | that | Diroylar ki olmıyacak. | They are saying that it will not happen | |
| de | too, also | Biz de mi gidelim? | Shall we too go? |
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