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Introduction
Grammar
Turkish grammar is simplistic once you get used to the style. However, it can seem to be very difficult since the
grammatical structure is totally different from the Indo-European languages. This is because Turkish is from a
different language family called Ural-Altaic languages. Some languages similar to Turkish are 'Finnish, Hungarian,
Estonian, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Kazak, Uzbek, Tatar, Manchu'. Compared to English, the most fundamental
differences in Turkish grammar can be listed as:
• Arkadaşım [My friend --> subject] araba [car -->object] aldı [bought-->verb].
• No gender
• No gender in personal pronouns (the Turkish word for 'he', 'she' and 'it' is 'o')
• Vowel harmony
• Harmony of vowels is a very fundamental property of Turkish. The rules concerning vowel harmony
need to be learned as one of the first steps because they affect the way almost all the other rules are
applied.
• Use of suffixes
• Suffixes are very widely used in Turkish. The meaning of prepositions, personal pronouns and tenses
are all countered by adding suffixes to word roots.
Once you get to these differences and learn the basic harmony rules, the rest of the grammar is quite simple. Almost
everything follows well defined, simple rules.
Sounds
Another important point is the way you read a written text. There is exactly one sound for each character in Turkish.
A character always represents the same sound, regardless of its position in a word or the characters next to it.
Therefore, it is straightforward to pronounce a word that you see for the first time once you are familiar with the
characters in the Turkish alphabet.
Vocabulary
Once you are comfortable or at least familiar with the harmony rules, the main challenge will be the vocabulary.
Turkish vocabulary can be very challenging since the words have no resemblance to the European languages except
the few words adapted directly from these languages.
Alphabet
The letters of Turkish alphabet and the sounds associated with these are in the following table...
The general rule is in Turkish is that every vowel will take the consonant before it to form a syllable, so apart from
the first syllable of a word, every syllable in a pure Turkish word begins with a consonant. This applies also when
suffixes are added to a word and when two or more words form a single unit.
Examples:
bil-gi-sa-yar - computer
ma-sa - table
bar-dak- glass
ka-lem - pencil
ki-tap - book
te-le-fon - phone
a-dam - man
def-ter - notebook
Stress in words
Turkish words are usually stressed on their last syllable. The common exceptions to this rule are place names,
adverbs, compound words, certain foreign borrowings, and some words denoting relatives and living creatures.
Some suffixes are not stressed but usually when a suffix is added the stress moves to the last syllable of the
resultant word:
ar-ka-daş (friend)
ar-ka-da-şım (my friend)
ar-ka-da-şı-ma (to my friend)
ma-sa (table)
ma-sa-da ( on the table) Na-sıl-sı-nız?(How are you?)
İ-yi-yim (I'm fine.)
Numbers
Constructing numbers in Turkish is simple and straightforward. The rule is to line up the parts in decreasing
magnitude like in English, but without putting any conjunctive words in between. For example, direct translation of
1256 from Turkish would be 'thousand two hundred fifty six'. Let's continue to construct numbers after you take a
look at the table below. The numbers from 0 to 10 definitely need to be learned without any rule, as well as 10, 20, ...,
100 and 1,000-1,000,000-1,000,000,000.... After that, it's all about applying the simple-straightforward rules and
practicing.
Looking at the table above, let us see how some numbers are read in different cases:
104 --> yüz dört 148 --> yüz kırk sekiz 752 --> yedi yüz elli iki
48,392 --> kırk sekiz bin üç yüz 305,018 --> üç yüz beş bin on
1,765 --> bin yedi yüz altmış beş
doksan iki sekiz
4,762,345,258 --> dört milyar yedi yüz altmış iki milyon üç yüz kırk beş bin iki yüz elli sekiz
104.25 -> yüz dört virgül yirmi beş 14.8 -> on dört virgül sekiz 7.52 -> yedi virgül elli iki
Now, let us take a look at how order is indicated using the numbers. The suffix used for order is -inci. Adding this at
the and of any number will give the meaning of order. An important point to pay attention here, as always, is that this
suffix changes according to vowel harmony.
2nd --> ikinci (not ikiinci, one vowel falls when there is two next to each
1st --> birinci
other)
5th --> beşinci 6th --> altıncı (again, not altııncı because one of the double ı's falls)
25th --> yirmi beşinci 50th --> ellinci (note the same vowel fall here)
I want to finish this part by giving the translations of fraction denoting adjectives. These are:
Half --> Yarım (Be careful that this is used only as an adjective, the word buçuk is used instead when you are reading
numbers)
Joe made a foul in the last quarter. --> Joe son çeyrekte bir faul yaptı.
Pronouns 1
Personal Pronouns
Here are the Turkish translations of the personal pronouns. However, these pronouns are generally omitted in
sentences since person is implied in the adjectives or the verbs in sentences. They are often used to stress the person.
onlar adjective-
they onlar they are adjective
ler
I am bad. --> Ben kötü-y-üm. --> Kötüyüm. (Note how kötü and -üm are connected with the fusion consonant 'y'.)
For nouns other than these pronouns, you must use the third person case.
Demonstrative pronouns
Bu bir kitap. --> This is a book. Bunlar kitaplar. --> These are books.
Şu bir kitap. --> That is a book. Şunlar kitaplar. --> Those are books.
O bir kitap. --> That is a book. Onlar kitaplar. --> Those are books.
ev --> house
his/her/its house --> o-n-in ev-i --> onun evi --> evi
my car --> ben-im araba-m --> arabam (the suffix -im becomes -m when added after a vowel, since two vowels don't
come together in Turkish)
his/her/its car --> o-n-in araba-s-ı --> onun arabası --> arabası (Instead of dropping one vowel, here the fusion
consonant 's' is added between vowels since the suffix is only a single vowel.)
For nouns other than these pronouns, always the third person form is used.
For nouns other than these pronouns, always the third person form is used.
Reflexive Pronouns
The way reflexive pronouns are constructed in Turkish is very similar to the way we do it in English. The Turkish word
for self is kendi. The reflexive pronouns hence are as follows:
Pronouns 2
In the previous lesson on pronouns, we covered the basic pronouns. The topics covered were:
• Possessive pronouns
There are also other pronouns used for many different situations, like everybody, nothing... Let's now see the Turkish
meanings for these pronouns.
What is this thing? --> Bu şey ne? There is none left. --> Hiç kalmadı.
Some students are here. --> Bazı öğrenciler burada. Everything's ok. --> Herşey yolunda.
All students are here. --> Bütün öğrenciler burada. Ask something. --> Birşey sor.
Everything is here. --> Herşey burada. Somebody came. --> Birisi geldi.
I saw nothing. --> Hiçbir şey görmedim. Nobody came. --> Hiç kimse gelmedi.
Is there anything? --> Herhangibir şey var mı? Is everybody here? --> Herkes burada mı?
Anybody can come. --> Herhangi birisi gelebilir. All of these are mine. --> Bunların hepsi benim.
Let's start with simple dialogue sentences about time, the question and different answers.
It is ten thirty five. Saat on bire (11-e) yirmi beş (25) var.
Now, time to explain the words and phrases used in this table. Let's start with the question, 'Saat kaç?'. Word by
word:
From the exact hour to half past, you say the time as minutes past hour. From half past to the next hour, convention is
to sat the time as minutes to hour.
Saat hours-i minutes geçiyor. (Note the vowel harmony rules for the suffix -i)
Saat hours-e minutes var. (Note the vowel harmony rules for the suffix -e)
2. Date
English Turkish
Sunday Pazar
Monday Pazartesi
Tuesday Salı
Wednesday Çarşamba
Thursday Perşembe
Friday Cuma
Saturday Cumartesi
Months
Months Months
A simple conversation about the day of the week would be like the following:
English Turkish
günlerden --> from the days (also means among the days)
Putting all these words together, the direct translation of 'Bugün günlerden ne?' would be 'Today among the days
what?'. Funny? That's the way you ask the day of the week. After these explanations and translations, the answer
sentence should be clear.
-14 Temmuz 2004. tarih --> date bugünün tarihi --> today's date
Using these, the direct translation of the question sentence would be: 'Today's date what? '. Actually, this is how you
form a regular question sentence in Turkish. You shouldn't worry about this yet, we'll cover it later in another lesson.
The answer doesn't need much explanation. The day number, followed by month's name, and finally the year. The day
number and the year are both read as a regular numbers. For reading years, it is always read as a whole as a single
number. Years are never read as two parts like it is done in English in the case of 1996 (nineteen ninety six). The way
you read this year in Turkish would be 'bin dokuz yüz doksan altı' (one thousand nine hundred ninety six).
Love
Now, let's see some common love phrases in Turkish and their meanings:
Turkish English
I love you.
Seni seviyorum.
Benimle dans eder misin? Would you like to dance with me?
Nişanlı Fiancee
Seni bir daha ne zaman göreceğim? When will I see you next?
Antonyms
slim-fat zayıf-şişman
Quantity Words
Colors
However, note the difference in word ordering when you want to add a color (or any adjective) to an indefinite noun.
Now, try to understand the following sentences. Hold the mouse pointer on a sentence to see its English translation.
English Turkish
father baba
mother anne
brother (erkek) kardeş
sister (kız) kardeş
elder brother abi
elder sister abla
English Turkish
apricot kayısı
kiwi kivi
mulberry dut
raspberry ahududu
blackberry böğürtlen
plum erik
Weight is measured with kilograms in Turkey like in Europe, unlike pounds used in America. Some sentences useful
for buying fruits and vegetables would be:
A. Bir kilo domates alabilir miyim? (Can I get one kilogram tomatoes?)
A. İki kilo elma verir misiniz? (Can you give me two kilograms of apple?)
A. Yarım kilo çilek alacaktım. (Something like "I would like to buy half a kilogram of strawberries.")
B. Hemen. (Immediately)
Another point worth noting if you are in Turkey is that bargaining is very common :) You can buy many things under
the display price with some bargaining. However, this is not true if you are shopping from a supermarket where you
buy things and pay to the cashier.
Body parts
eyebrow kaş
forehead alın
temple şakak
wrist bilek - kol bileği
ankle ayak bileği
heel topuk head kafa - baş
Animals
Illness-Sicknesses
If somebody tells you that he is sick or somebody close to him is sick, you say:
Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words
generally obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More
important than the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to
words. A good understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct
and meaningful sentences.
The 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet are separated into two groups called hard vowels and soft vowels. There are 4
hard vowels and 4 soft vowels.
Hard vowels: a, ı, o, u
Soft vowels: e, i, ö, ü
Words of Turkish origin generally (not always) have all hard or all soft vowels. This is just a generalization that you
won't use for constructing Turkish words and sentences. Words that have hard and soft vowels together are said to
violate the major vowel harmony. A word that violates the major vowel harmony probably has been adopted from
another language or has been changed in the lifetime of the Turkish language.
Each of the hard vowels are the hard counterparts of one soft vowel (and vice versa). Following this rule, vowels can
be paired with their counterparts as follows:
Hard Soft
a e
ı i
o ö
u ü
A Turkish word is either a hard word or a soft word depending on its last vowel.
ev[home] is a soft word since its last and only vowel, e, is a soft vowel.
Now, try to guess if the following words are hard or soft. Move the mouse over the right table cell of the word to see
the answer.
As an example to this rule let's consider the suffix -de. When added to a noun, this suffix gives the meaning of "at/in
the location expressed by that noun". When added to a soft word like ev[home], this suffix is -de. However, when
added to a hard word like okul[school], the soft vowels in this suffix are replaced by their hard counterparts and the
suffix becomes -da. Hence:
Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words generally
obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More important than
the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good
understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful
sentences.
We saw that the 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet are divided into two groups as hard and soft vowels. Besides this
grouping, the 8 vowels are divided into two groups as round vowels and flat vowels. There are 4 flat and 4 round
vowels. A vowel's being round or flat is actually determined from the shape of the mouth when pronouncing that
vowel, but it can also be seen in the shape of the capital characters.
Flat vowels: A, E, I, İ
Round vowels: O, Ö, U, Ü
A Turkish word is either a round word or a flat word depending on its last vowel.
ev[home] is a flat word since its last and only vowel, e, is a flat vowel.
Now, try to guess if the following words are round or flat. Move the mouse over the right table cell of the word to see
the answer.
If a suffix starting with -i is appended to a round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -u or -ü. This depends on whether
the word is hard or soft. The major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony apply to words simultaneously. This
means:
• If a suffix starting with -i is added to a hard and round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -u.
• okul --> school [a hard vowel]
• suffix we will add is -im (gives the meaning my)
• my school --> okulum [the suffix -im changes according to vowel harmonies and becomes -um]
• If a suffix starting with -i is added to a soft and round word, the -i in the suffix becomes -ü.
• gül --> rose
• suffix we will add is -im (gives the meaning my)
• my rose --> gülüm [the suffix -im changes according to vowel harmonies and becomes -üm]
Vowel harmony is one of the most fundamental and important aspects of Turkish grammar. Turkish words generally
obey two vowel harmony rules, called the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. More important than
the words obeying these rules, there are ways these rules change the vowels in the suffixes added to words. A good
understanding of these rules is necessary to be able to use suffixes, hence to be able to make correct and meaningful
sentences.
As far as vowel harmony is concerned, we can separate all the suffixes in Turkish into two main groups. Thinking in
terms of these two cases simplifies these seemingly complicated rules. These are:
1. The suffixes with first vowel -i (the suffixes -i, -di, -iyor, -im, -in ...)
2. suffixes with first vowel -e (the suffixes -e, -de, -den, -erek, ...)
All suffixes you see used in words with first vowel -i, -ı, -u, -ü fall into the first group, and they are different forms of
this case modified according to vowel harmony rules.
All suffixes you see in words with first vowel -e, -a fall into the second group, and they are different forms of this case
modified according to vowel harmony rules.
No suffixes have -o or -ö as the first vowel. Actually, no suffix has the letter -ö in it and there is only one suffix that
has the vowel -o (this is the suffix for present continuous tense, -iyor and this -o does not change according to any
vowel harmony rules).
The suffixes in the first case are affected from both the major vowel harmony and the minor vowel harmony. For
example, the suffix -di can become -di, -dı, -du or -dü depending on the word at which it is appended.
The suffixes in the second case are affected by only the major vowel harmony rule. For example, the suffix -erek can
become -erek or -arak depending on the word at which it is appended.
Vowel Rules
Besides the vowel harmony rules, there are other basic rules that affect the way suffixes are used. A vowel following
another is never allowed in Turkish, and there are rules to avoid these situations when they occur as a result of other
rules. There are also rules about consonant harmony, that make some consonants change in certain cases.
In Turkish, two vowels can never come together. So, what do we do when we need to add a suffix that starts with a
vowel at the end of a word that ends with a vowel? There are two cases here:
To say my house, you append the suffix meaning my (-im) to the word meaning house (ev). Simple enough, 'my
house' --> evim.
You are asked where you are going. You want to say "(to) home". Note that for home, the direction proposition is
omitted in English but not in Turkish. Hence, you append the suffix giving the direction meaning (-e) to the word
meaning home (ev) and your reply becomes "eve".
However, if you are going to the car and you want to tell this to your friend, life is not that simple for you:
• First, change the suffix -e according to vowel harmony rules according to araba and it becomes -a.
• Now, add this suffix -a at the end of our word araba, and get arabaa.
In this case, we need to add a fusion consonant between the two vowels. There is not a simple rule to tell why.
Sometimes one of the two vowels is dropped, sometimes one fusion consonant is added in between.
However, what you do is consistent for a given suffix. If you are adding the suffix -e to a word that ends with a vowel
(like araba), you always add the fusion consonant 'y' in between. Saying 'to the car' then becomes arabaya.
Too much effort spent to say a very simple word? More to come. Let's practice on a few other words:
This may take some time to get used to, but you can sure do that. But unfortunately, that's not everything. The fusion
consonant is not 'y' every time. 'y' is the most common one, so you can put 'y' whenever you don't remember which
one to put, chances are high you'll be right. The other consonants that are sometimes used as fusion consonants are
's' and 'n'.
Let's see different cases where these fusion consonants are used:
- The suffix -i
If the suffix -i is used as the -i form of a noun, making it a direct object (like the in English), then the fusion consonant
y is used.
araba-i sat -> araba-y-ı sat -> arabayı sat (sell the car)
yazı-i oku -> yazı-y-ı oku -> yazıyı oku (read the text)
If the suffix -i is used as the third person posessive (his-her-its), then the fusion consonant s is used.
When the direction suffix -e is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant y is added in between.
When the suffix -in is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant n is added in between.
araba-in -> araba-n-ın -> arabanın (of the car, the car's)
konu-in -> konu-n-un -> konunun (of the topic)
pencere-in -> pencere-n-in -> pencerenin (of the window)
ÖbrÇ * Note that the suffix -in is also used with the second person posessive meaning.
If the suffix -in used as second person possessive is added to a word that ends with a vowel, than the letter i of the
suffix is dropped. The same is true for the first person possessive suffix, -im, first person plural possessive suffix,
-imiz and second person plural possessive suffix, -iniz.
There are also other uses of fusion consonants besides separating two vowels.
When the suffix -le is added to a word that ends with a vowel, the fusion consonant y is added in between. araba-le git
-> araba-y-la git -> arabayla git (go by car)
kedi-le oyna -> kedi-y-le oyna -> kediyle oyna (play with the cat)
gemi-le gel -> gemi-y-le gel -> gemiyle gel (come by ship)
- The suffix -de (location, like propositions at, in, on) and the suffix -den (proposition from)
When the suffix -de or -den is added to a word as the first suffix, no fusion consonant is used. But when one of -de or
-den/ is added to a word that already has a suffix or a series of suffixes that end with a vowel, the fusion consonant n
is added in between.
Consonant Harmony
Besides the vowel harmony rules, there are other basic rules that affect the way suffixes are used. A vowel following
another is never allowed in Turkish, and there are rules to avoid these situations when they occur as a result of other
rules. There are also rules about consonant harmony, that make some consonants change in certain cases.
2. Consonant Harmony
Vowel harmony rules cause the vowels of suffixes to be modified when they are added to some words. There are
similar rules about consonants. However, you may feel that all these rules are too many just for a simple start. Then, I
advice you to omit the consonant harmony rules when you want to say or write something, just for the start. You will
still be understood. Consonant harmony is mainly for making speech more fluent, it does not have a major effect on
understandability. You will eventually learn these if you decide to continue learning Turkish, as you read sentences or
listen to Turkish speakers.
The trouble making consonants in this case are 'p', 'ç', 't' and 'k'. Whenever a word ends with one of these consonants
and you want to add some suffix to that word, stop there and think twice. Try to find a different way of expressing
your thoughts. If you can't do that, if you really need to use that word and add a suffix to it, then follow the guidelines
I will present now:
Let's call the words that end with one of 'p', 'ç', 't' or 'k' the trouble words. But be careful, this is not an officially used
term.
• c becomes ç
• d becomes t
yap --> do
1. Infinitives
Verbs in Turkish, when used alone, have the imperative meaning as in English.
2. Plurals
To make plurals of nouns, the suffix -ler is used. Below are some examples, note how the suffix -ler becomes
'sometimes -ler, sometimes -lar' obeying the rules of vowel harmony.
tree(s) --> ağaç --> ağaçlar room(s) --> oda --> odalar
rose(s) --> gül --> güller job(s) --> meslek --> meslekler
Negatives
To make a noun or adjective negative, add the word değil at the end of the adjective or noun.
Positive Negative
Bu bir araba. [This is a car.] Bu bir araba değil. [This is not a car]
O çok güzel. [She is very beautiful.] O çok güzel değil. [She is not very beautiful.]
Bu araba beyaz. [This car is white.] Bu araba beyaz değil. [This car is not white]
2. Negatives of verbs
To make a verb negative, add the suffix -me at the root of the verb.
not to come --> gel-me-mek (the negating suffix is always added at the verb root)
Note how the suffix is added at the root. This is always the case. A verb may have many suffixes, but the negating
suffix is always immediately after the verb root. All the other suffixes follow as if they are being added to the positive
of the verb.
In Turkish, there are special words for there is and there is not. In particular:
There isn't a table in this room. --> Bu odada (bir) masa yok.
The words 'var' and 'yok' are more important than this, since they are used when you want to say "I have" or "I don't
have" as well. In Turkish, to say "I have something", you say "There is my something". Let's give examples:
This woman has seven cats. --> Bu kadının yedi kedisi var. (Like saying "There is this woman's seven
cats")
Noun states
In Turkish, a noun has 5 fundamental states, produced using suffixes, that correspond to meanings of some
prepositions in English. It is not necessary to learn these as the states of nouns, but learning these suffixes is
important since they are very commonly used.
State Meaning
Bir kedi gördüm. --> I saw a cat. (Note that although cat is the object of the action here, the -i form of
kedi is not used since it is not known, i.e. it is a cat, not the cat)
Kediyi gördüm. --> I saw the cat. (Note that kedi has the suffix -i, but the two -i's are separated by the
fusion consonant 'y'.)
• Nothing state:
• -i state:
• -e state:
• Go home. --> Eve git. (House and home are the same word in Turkish, 'ev'.)
• -de state:
• -den state:
To be
The verb to be (for the ´is´ in English) is handled in a special way, it is different from the other verbs. This is also the
case in Turkish, the use of the verb to be is very unique. Unlike all the other verbs, to be is expressed with suffixes. It
can be in one of present tense or past tense. Let´s see it in present tense and past tense for different cases of
personal pronouns.
Present tense to be
i am xxx
ben xxx-im -im
i was xxx
ben xxx-dim -dim
(-y)-diler
they were xxx Onlar xxx(-y)-diler
NOTE 1
For the third person of the present tense to be, there are two cases. One with no suffix and one with -dir. If you are
making a personal statement or you are talking in a casual way, you use the no suffix case. However, if you want to
make a definitive or informative statement like one in an encyclopedia, you use the suffix -dir. Both have the same
meaning, and sometimes can be used interchangeably. Let´s see examples to this.
Spider is an animal. --> Örümcek bir hayvandır. (The -dir case is used since this is an informative
statement)
Sun is larger than earth. --> Güneş dünyadan daha büyüktür. (Again, this is an informative statement)
NOTE 2
When constructing the third person plural past tense form of to be, the suffix -ler can be ommitted in some cases.
These are explained below:
a. Humans or objects that have no individuality take singular conjugation for third person plural. But if the speaker
wants to give objects individuality then he can use plural. This would be a poetic sentence.
b. Humans and other things that have individuality (for instance animals that have names) can take either singular or
plural conjugation. Usually if the subject is defined (if we known them) then we use plural conjugation. If the subject
is undefined then we use singular conjugation.
NOTE 3
Since the verb to be is different for each personal pronoun, personal pronouns can be omitted in speech or writing.
The meaning of person is given with this verb. To say "I am beautiful." you can use one of:
"Ben güzelim."
"Güzelim.".
Using the personal pronoun adds the meaning of stressing person. We will use the personal pronoun in parenthesis to
indicate that it is optional.
1. To construct a sentence with a noun or adjective instead of a verb, like in English. The verb to be is the implicit
verb here.
• You are beautiful. --> (Sen) güzelsin.
To construct verbs in different tenses, the suffix for each tense is used with either present tense of to be or
past tense of to be. Actually, it is present tense of to be in all cases except the regular past tense.
In this lesson, we will learn how adjective clauses (for describing a noun using an adjective, like beautiful girl) and
noun clauses (for describing ownership relationships between nouns, like car's door) are formed in Turkish. First, let's
start with the adjective clauses which is simpler and then we'll look at noun clause construction.
Adjective clauses
Constructing adjective clauses in Turkish is very simple and straightforward, almost the same as in English. The only
thing you need to do is to put the correct adjective before the noun.
beautiful girl ==> güzel kız slow train ==> yavaş tren thick book ==> kalın kitap
fast car ==> hızlı araba hard lesson ==> zor ders
If you don't add the adjective before the noun but use it as the main expression in the sentence, the word order
changes in English and it changes the same way in Turkish.
I am tall. --> Ben uzunum. (Note the use of verb to be with the adjective)
However, note that when you want to say a beautiful girl, the word for a (bir) is placed between the adjective and the
noun.
Let's now apply what we've learned in the construction of a few sentences.
Joe is a very quiet kid. ==> Joe çok sessiz bir çocuk.
Noun clauses
Case1:
The first noun tells what the second noun is made of (i.e. metal box, plastic plate...). In this case, you just write these
nouns in the same order as you do in English without adding any suffixes.
Case2:
The first noun describes the second noun, wıth any relationship except for the made-of relationship we saw above and
the specific ownership relationship. Examples to this case can be car key, book shelf, garden door, window glass... In
this case, you write the nouns in the same order as English, but add the suffix -i at the end of the second noun. If the
noun to which you append suffix -i already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant -s between these vowels
to separate the two vowels. The third example below demonstrates this case.
garden door ==> bahçe kapısı (note the fusion consonant s here)
Case 3:
There is a specific ownership relationship between the two nouns (the key of the car, the door of the garden, Kemal's
daughter, the door of the car). In this case, you write the describing noun first and the described noun second as it
was done in the preceding two cases. However, you add the suffix -in to the first noun and the suffix -i to the second
noun. If the noun to which you append the suffix -in already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant n
between the two vowels to separate them. For the suffix -i, the fusion consonant is same as told in the previous case.
You add the consonant s to separate the word ending with a vowel from the suffix -i.
the key of the car ==> arabanın anahtarı (note the use of fusion consonant n here for the first noun, araba)
the door of the car ==> arabanın kapısı (note the use of fusion consonant n for the first noun and the fusion
consonant s for the second noun)
exception: The word for water, su, is an exception for the fusion consonants in noun clauses. The fusion consonant for
water (su) is always 'y'.
color of water --> su-in renk-i --> suyun rengi (not sunun rengi)
water of Kemal --> Kemal-in su-i --> Kemal'in suyu. (not Kemal'in susu)
(Note that ' is used in Turkish to separate the suffixes from private words that need to be always capitalized, like
Kemal in this case)
Intermediate Level Lessons
Tenses
4. Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tense
5. Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) --> Also called the story past tense
In the basic grammar lessons, we will cover the present continuous tense and the future tense. Rest will be covered in
the intermediate level lessons.
To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings:
The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these
suffixes denoting tense:
• The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the
verb is negative.
• The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.
• Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense + present tense to be
• This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.
The suffix for present continuous tense is -iyor. Present continuous tense is used, very much like the one in English:
Present continuous tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.
If the verb you want to add the suffix -iyor ends with a vowel, drop the last vowel and add -iyor. Otherwise, just
simply add -iyor. Be careful about the vowel harmony rules for the 'i' of -iyor. Let's see how a verb is put into present
continuous tense on the following examples:
gel-iyor --> geliyor --> he is coming ye-me-iyor --> yemiyor --> he is not eating
git-iyor-im --> gidiyorum --> i am going ver-me-iyor --> vermiyor --> he is not giving
oku-iyor --> okuyor --> he is reading konuş-iyor --> konuşuyor --> he is talking
kapat-iyor-iz --> kapatıyoruz --> we are closing koş-iyor --> koşuyor --> he is running
gel-me-iyor-siniz --> gelmiyorsunuz --> you are not coming (plural you)
And let's see how present continuous tense is used with different cases of person.
English Turkish
he \ she \it is
coming (o) geliyor
Future Tense
To start with, let's review some verbs we'll use in the following lessons and their meanings:
The meaning of tenses are given using some suffixes. There are some important properties common to all these
suffixes denoting tense:
• The suffix for tenses is added right after the verb root if the verb is positive, or after the negating suffix if the
verb is negative.
• The present tense for of 'to be' comes after the suffix for tense.
• Therefore, the order becomes: verb root + (negative) + tense + present tense to be
• This is different only for the regular past tense, where past tense form of to be is used.
2. Future tense (Gelecek zaman)
The suffix for future tense in Turkish is -ecek. There are not two different cases like in English will and is going to.
Future tense is always constructed using the suffix -ecek. The uses of the Turkish future tense is just like a union of
the uses of will and going to in English.
Future tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.
When you want to append the suffix -ecek to a verb that ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant 'y' between
the verb and the suffix to separate the two vowels. Otherwise, just simply add the suffix -ecek. Be careful about the
harmony rules though, as always. Let's see how future tense is obtained using some example verbs:
To see the use of future tense with different cases of person, check the following table:
English Turkish
Questions
Question Sentences
Question sentences in Turkish can be classified into two groups like in English:
1. Yes-no questions
2. Regular questions
There are also question tags, i.e. questions of the form "You are coming, aren't you?".
In this lesson, we will see how these different types of questions can be asked in Turkish.
Before looking at how questions are constructed, let's see the question words in Turkish.
Now, let's see how different types of question sentences can be constructed.
1. Yes-no questions
In Turkish, yes-no questions are constructed with the question suffix '-mi'. It is important to note, however, the
question suffix -mi is written separate from the word it is appended to. You can ask at this point: "Why is it a suffix
instead of a separate word if it is written separately?". The reason question suffix -mi is regarded as a suffix is that it
has to satisfy the major and minor vowel harmony rules for the word it is appended to. Let's see some example
sentences demonstrating the use of the question suffix -mi.
B. Is this a book? --> Bu bir kitap mı? (Note how the regular sentence is turned into a yes-no question
sentence by the addition of the question suffix -mi)
A2. No, this is not a book. This is a notebook. --> Hayır, bu bir kitap değil. Bu bir defter.
A2. No, his name is not Ahmet. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır, onun adı Ahmet değil. Onun adı Mehmet.
A3. No. His name is Mehmet. --> Hayır. Onun adı Mehmet.
A2. No, this is not my house. This is my mother's house. --> Hayır, bu benim evim değil. Bu annemin evi.
2. Regular questions
Regular questions are the ones constructed using the question words listed above and the answers to these questions
are not simply yes or no. In English, there is a certain word order for regular question sentences. The question word
comes first, and the rest of the sentence elements follow it. In Turkish, however, questions are constructed in a quite
different way. To learn how to construct a question, a simple way is to follow the following steps. This will work in
most cases:
1. The answer sentence will be something like "This is my brother. --> Bu benim kardeşim."
2. The answer to the question is the phrase "my brother --> benim kardeşim".
3. Replace this phrase with the question word "who --> kim" and the question sentence becomes "Bu kim?".
To summarize, a question sentence has the same word order as a regular sentence. The difference is that the part of
the sentence that is asked is replaced by the appropriate question word. The question word takes all the suffixes of
the word it is replaced for.
Consider the sentence "Ahmet eve gidiyor. --> Ahmet is going home."
Who is going home? --> Kim eve gidiyor? (Ahmet in the regular sentence is replaced by who. The rest of
the sentence is the same.)
Where did Ahmet go? --> Ahmet nereye gitti? (ev in the regular sentence is replaced by nere. Note that
the question word nere also takes the suffix -e of the word ev and becomes nereye, meaning 'to where')
What is Ahmet doing? --? Ahmet ne yapıyor? (The phrase 'eve gidiyor' in the original sentence is replaced
by "ne yapıyor --> what's he doing")
"What + to be (in the appropriate tense) + object + to do (in the appropriate tense)"
This is simply the regular sentence where the action is replaced by "ne + yapmak", which is consistent with our rule
for constructing question sentences.
3. Question tags
Constructing question phrases in Turkish is very simple and straightforward. You just add "değil mi" at the end
regardless of the sentence. The translations for the question tags above are then:
Imperatives - Let
Making a verb imperative for the second singular person (sen), is the same as it is done in English. Just use the plain
verb without any suffix or change. When you want to order something to a single person listening to you, you just say
the plain verb. Examples:
Come! --> Gel! Stand up! --> Kalk! Sit down! --> Otur! Go! --> Git! Read! --> Oku!
However, different from English, there is an imperative form for different cases of person. Let´s see now how these
are constructed:
Personal Pronoun
Suffix
- (no suffix)
Sen
O -sin
Siz -in
Onlar -sinler
Now, let´s see the meaning of each case using the verb to go (gitmek).
Case
Meaning
let him go (not like "allow him to go", this has the meaning that you want
(o) git-sin --> gitsin him to go in an imperative way)
let them go (again, the meaning is not like "allow them to go", gitsinler
(onlar) git-sinler --> gitsinler means that you want them to go and you are expressing this in an imperative
way)
As you can see, a commonly used clause, "let´s", is included in the imperative definition. If you want to say "Let´s go
to the movie", it becomes "Sinemaya gidelim" in Turkish. Now, let´s see how the example verbs we used above are
made imperative with respect to different cases of person.
Personal
Pronoun gelmek - to okumak - to oturmak - to sit kalkmak - to stand
gitmek - to go
come read down up
gel
sen git oku otur kalk
There is no first person singular or first person plural form of the imperatives, but there is another form called wish
clause that gives a similar meaning for the first person singular and plural. Note that only the first person singular and
first person plural forms of the wish clause are used in practice. Here is how the wish clause is constructed:
Ben -eyim
Biz -elim
Case Meanıng
(ben)git-eyim--gideyim Let me go
(biz)git-elim--gidelim Let's go
Personal Pronoun Gelmek-to come Gitmek-to come Okumak-to read Oturmak-to sıt Kalkmak-to stand
down up
Degrees of Adjectives
Comparatives and superlatives are constructed in a very straightforward way in Turkish. Besides these, there is a
special way of making adjectives stronger in Turkish and this is not very trivial. I this lesson, we will cover all these
topics.
1. Comparatives
If you want to say less beautiful or less hardworking, then replace the word 'daha' with 'daha az'.
less fast --> daha az hızlı less hardworking --> daha az çalışkan
less intelligent --> daha az zeki less beautiful --> daha az güzel
Now, let's see how the comparative form of an adjective is used in sentences.
I am beautiful. --> (Ben) güzelim. This is a fast car. --> Bu hızlı bir araba.
I am more beautiful. --> (Ben) daha güzelim. This is a faster car. --> Bu daha hızlı bir araba.
You are more beautiful. --> (Sen) daha güzelsin. This car is faster. --> Bu araba daha hızlı.
If you want to compare two nouns with respect to an adjective, the structure used in English is as follows:
Ex1: Ahmet Mehmet'ten daha çalışkan. (Note that the ' sign is used to separate private names from their
suffixes)
- Gökçe is more beautiful than Beril. --> Gökçe Beril'den daha güzel.
- My car is faster than your car. --> Benim arabam senin arabandan daha hızlı.
1.3. As ... as
If you want to say that two nouns are equal with respect to an adjective, the strıctıre used in English is:
or
Both of these expressions have the same meaning, you will understand the very slight difference as you
see them used. One point to note here is that if noun2 is a simple pronoun (like ben, sen, bu, şu) then it is
used in possessive form (like benim, senin, bunun, şunun).
- Gökçe is also beautiful. --> Gökçe de güzel. (de means 'also', 'as well')
- My car is as fast as your car. --> Benim arabam da senin araban kadar hızlı.
- US is almost as large as China. --> Amerika neredeyse Çin kadar büyük. (neredeyse means almost)
2. Superlatives
Superlatives are also straightforward in Turkish, like it is in English. Instead of 'the most', you use 'en', and all
superlatives are constructed using this word.
When you want to use the superlative form in a sentence, there are two different cases:
I am the most beautiful. --> (Ben) en güzelim. (This has the meaning of describing yourself, like an answer to the
question "What are your traits?")
I am the most beautiful. --> En güzel benim. (This has the meaning of the answer to the question "Who is the most
beautiful?")
I am the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız benim.
You are the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız sensin.
She is the most beautiful girl in this class. --> Bu sınıftaki en güzel kız o.
3.1. Very
In English, when you want to make an adjective stronger, you use the word 'very'. Saying very fast is a stronger
statement than just saying fast. The same method is applied also in Turkish, and the word for very is 'çok'. Hence:
She is a very beautiful girl. --> (O) çok güzel bir kız.
3.2. Too
Another way of making an adjective stronger, but this time giving the meaning extreme, is to use the word too. Saying
something is too fast gives the meaning that it is extremely fast and should be slower. The word for too in Turkish is
'fazla'.
too fast --> fazla hızlı We are too fast. --> (Biz) fazla hızlıyız. too beautiful --> fazla güzel
too slow --> fazla yavaş too hardworking --> fazla çalışkan
too intelligent --> fazla zeki This car is too fast. --> Bu araba fazla hızlı.
A third way commonly used in Turkish (which is not seen in English) to make an adjective stronger is adding a
modified form of the first syllable before the adjective. Important points to note here are:
• There is not a rule for how this first syllable should be modified, which makes this rule hard to learn.
• This gives the same meaning as using the word 'very' and makes the adjective stronger.
• All adjectives can't be made stronger using this method, and there is not a rule to understand for which
adjectives this method can be used. A group of adjectives you can always use this method is colors, to express
that the color is strong. However, there is no rule to exactly say which adjectives can be made stronger like
this.
• Because there is not a well-defined rule, it will be very difficult to go over adjectives and see what the
stronger form of each adjective is. I think you should not try to learn this for each adjective at this step. The
best strategy here would be to note that there is a rule like this and when you see it used, you will understand
what it means. In your sentences, you simply can use 'çok + adjective' instead and you will be clearly
understood.
sapsarı --> very yellow, strong yellow çarçabuk --> very quick
masmavi --> very blue, strong blue bembeyaz --> very white, strong white
Another way to make an adjective stressed and stronger is to repeat it twice. Again, this is not done with all
adjectives and the best way to learn for which adjectives this rule is applicable is to note when you hear an adjective
used like this. Don't be afraid by these rules, you will learn how to use them if you start reading Turkish texts or if you
speak to native speakers. You can still express yourself without using these methods for making adjectives stronger.
Simply use the word 'çok' before the adjective. I am giving these rules now so that you know the meaning when you
see such a usage somewhere.
büyük büyük evler --> big houses, the property big is stressed
sarı sarı elmalar --> yellow apples, the property yellow is stressed
There is also another way to stress an adjective and make it stronger. That is, adding a modified form of the adjective
after the original form. This is again an irregular rule and you don't need to know this completely, just understand it
when you see this usage. Sometimes, an adjective followed by the modified form of that adjective may have a slightly
different meaning.
The present simple tense is used, very much ike the one in English:
Present simple tense is used only for verbs, it is not meaningful for nouns and adjectives.
The suffix for constructing the present simple tense of a verb is not always the same. The suffix is sometimes -ir,
sometimes -er. This is the only tense with this irregularity, but there are certain rules that will tell you which one to
choose most of the time. The rules that will help you choose which one of -ir or -er to use as suffix are as follows:
1. If the verb ends with a vowel, the vowel of the suffix falls and you add only -r.
• If the vowel of this syllable is 'a' or 'e' and if the verb ends with 'l', 'n' or 'r' then use -ir
Now, let's look at how the present simple tense is used with different personal pronouns:
English Turkish
he \she\it comes
(o) gelir
English Turkish
The negative of present simple tense is a little different than just adding the negative-making suffix -me. Construction
of negatives of present simple tense is given in the table below. The negative-making suffix becomes -mez except for
I and we. Moreover, when negative suffix is used, the present simple tense suffix is not used.
English Turkish
Present simple tense is the most irregular tense in Turkish, it's not simple as the name implies.
Past Tense
Past tense with -di (-di'li geçmiş zaman) --> Regular past tense
There is no suffix for the regular past tense. The only point is that you must use the past tense form of to be. Be
careful about the harmony rules though, as always. The use of the past tense with -di is almost the same as the
English past tense.
The same way regular past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives using the past
tense form of to be. The meaning in this case is the same as the meaning of 'was' in English.
Let's see how a verb is used in regular past tense on the following examples:
gel-di --> geldi --> he came ye-diler --> yediler --> they ate
git-me-di --> gitmedi --> he did not go koş-din --> koştun --> you ran
oku-di --> okudu --> he read kapat-dik --> kapattık --> we closed
ara-diniz --> aradınız --> you called (plural you) ver-me-dim --> vermedim --> I did not give
konuş-me-di --> konuşmadı --> he did not talk çalış-ma-dik --> çalışmadık --> we did not
work
Note that making the past tense of a verb and making the past tense of a noun or adjective is the same, but only as
long as they are positive. The negative suffix for verbs is -me, but negatives of nouns and adjectives are constructed
using değil. Değil is not a suffix, it is used as a seperate word. Let's see a few examples to how nouns and adjectives
are expressed in past tense.
She was not beautiful. --> Güzel değildi. (Note what we did is just to replace the suffix -me for verbs with
the word değil in the case of nouns and adjectives. The ordering is still the same. Past tense of to be,
which followed -me for verbs, is now put after değil)
Let's see how these personal suffixes are used on some example verbs:
English Turkish
he \she\it waited
(o) bekle-di --> bekledi
Past tense with -miş (-miş'li geçmiş zaman) ==> Also called the story past tense
To obtain the story past tense of a verb, we append the suffix -miş to the verb. Be careful about the harmony rules.
Past tense with -miş is used:
• To talk about something you learned from somebody else or some other resource, there is some uncertainty in
the statement. If you use the story past tense when talking about something, it implies that you are not the
source of the information and you shouldn't be responsible for the mistakes.
• I talked to his mother. He went to school. --> Annesiyle konuştum. Okula gitmiş. (The part about
talking to the mother is your direct experience, so you tell it using regular past tense. However, the
part about he going to school is information you got from the mother, so you tell it using story past
tense.)
• Is this your daughter? She is very beautiful. --> Bu senin kızın mı? Çok güzelmiş. (You just noticed
that she is beautiful, and you express this using story past tense)
The same way story past tense is applied to verbs, it can also be applied to nouns and adjectives.
I talked to Kemal about her. She is sick. --> Kemal'le onun hakkında konuştum. Hastaymış. (You learned
that she is sick from Kemal)
Prime minister was in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün Fransadaymış. (You use story past
tense because you learned this from somebody else or from the news)
Prime minister was not in France yesterday. --> Başbakan dün Fransada değilmiş. (Remember that
negatives of non-verbs are made with değil)
Let's see the use of story past tense on some example verbs.
Finally, let's see how a verb is used in the story past tense with different personal pronouns.
English Turkish
he \she\it waited
(o) beklemiş
1. Must
The best counterpart in Turkish for the meaning of necessity that is given with 'must' in English is the suffix '-meli'.
The skeleton for using a verb with this suffix is as follows:
verb-meli-to be
I must go --> git-meli-im --> gitmeliyim (note the use of the fusion consonant y)
We must study --> çalışmalıyız (note that the suffix -meli becomes -malı due to the major vowel harmony)
We can show how to express the necessity of a verb the for different cases of person:
Ben -meliyim
Sen -melisin
O -meli
Biz -meliyiz
Siz -melisiniz
Onlar -meliler
2. Have to
The meaning of formal obligation that 'have to' gives in English is best given by the word 'lazım' in Turkish. The
structure for using this construct is as follows:
This might seem confusing, let us explain how this structure works. The suffix -me allows a verb to be used like a
noun, it is similar to a gerund. You might ask at this point, wasn't the suffix -me used for negating verbs? That is right,
but the suffix for negating verbs and the suffix for using a verb like a noun are the same. So, okuma can mean either
don't read or reading according to the context in which it is used. In this case, we are concerned about the second
meaning. So, in the phrase okumam lazım, the part okumam means my reading and the part lazım means required.
When we put these together, it becomes my reading is required and this is what we use for I have to read in Turkish.
Let's look at a few examples to clarify this further:
3. Need to
This is very similar to the use of have to, both in meaning and structure. The word we use to give the meaning of need
to is 'gerekiyor'. It is similar to 'have to' in meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably with have to (lazım). It is
similar in structure, which can be seen in the structural skeleton:This is very similar to the use of have to, both in
meaning and structure. The word we use to give the meaning of need to is 'gerekiyor'. It is similar to 'have to' in
meaning, so that it can be used interchangeably with have to (lazım). It is similar in structure, which can be seen in
the structural skeleton:
4. Want to
The use of want to is logically almost identical to the English counterpart. One important difference is that you use the
verb 'to want' in present continuous tense instead of present simple. The turkish verb for to want is istemek. The
structure goes as follows:
I want to go. --> Gitmek istiyorum. What do you want? --> Ne istiyorsun?
I want to sleep. --> Uyumak istiyorum. Konuşmak istiyor musun? --> Do you want to talk?