Basics 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Hoş geldiniz! Welcome!

Turkish, unlike many Indo-European languages, contains no articles at all! Surprisingly simple, right? Turkish does have its own little quirks that will make it a challenge.

Word Order

Turkish is a Subject-Object-Verb language, meaning that sentences take on a different word order than that of English, French, German, or most other languages that English speakers most commonly study. That being said, a background in Japanese, Korean, or Hungarian will prove very useful. The verb always comes at the end of the sentence in written Turkish (spoken Turkish allows for some flexibility).

For example: Ben gazete okurum. Literally “I newspaper read.”, meaning, “I read newspapers.”

Verb Tenses

The Turkish language does distinguish between a “present continuous” and a “simple present” tense. In this lesson, we have included the “simple present” form of a few verbs, but this will be taught later in greater detail. This means that there is a difference in the sentences:

I eat a sandwich. (present simple) I am eating a sandwich. (present continuous)

Be careful while you are translating, because this does make a difference, just like in English!

Pronouns

The Turkish pronouns are as follows:

Siz behaves just like vous in French, serving both as you (plural) and you (formal).

Articles

There are no articles in Turkish! The number one (bir) is sometimes used to distinguish between the/a(n). However, if a noun is in the subject position, there is no way to tell! Cool, right? This being said, if the noun is in the object position, Turkish does distinguish between the/a(n). In this lesson, we will only use a(n) in the object position, but we will teach you in the Accusative skill how to do it the other way.

Commands

Forming the informal imperative form in Turkish is extremely simple. All you have to do is use the root form of the verb. More information about the formal imperative can be found in the skill “to be.” Here are the two verbs in this lesson in their dictionary (infinitive) and informal imperative forms:

Adjectives - 1 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Adjectives and all modifiers in Turkish must always come before the nouns that they modify when they operate as modifiers. This does not stand true if it is used as a predicate adjective with the verb “to be” in English (e.g. The dog is happy). If you use the number bir as an article, this will come directly before the noun. For example:

soğuk elma --The cold apple

soğuk bir elma -- A cold apple

Elma soğuk -- The apple is cold.

Adjectives are also not declined according to gender and number, unlike in many European languages. This means that adjectives behave pretty closely to their English counterparts and shouldn’t pose too big of a challenge.

Food 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

General Direct Objects

Selam!

In Turkish, if you have a general direct object, there is no need to put any case or suffix on the object itself. A general direct object is one that uses “a/an” or the plural without “the.” If you want to be extra specific, you can add the numeral bir to make sure that the meaning “a/an” is given. For example:

Just keep in mind, "O portakallar yer" is simply wrong in Turkish.

Happy Learning!

Accusative 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Welcome to your second of the 7 cases in Turkish. You have already been using the nominative case to describe subjects and some objects.

The accusative case in Turkish is used to mark specific direct objects. What does this mean exactly? A specific direct object is one that uses the article the. For example:

As you can see above, the accusative is only used when referring to the newspaper. Now, how do we form the accusative case? This will bring you to one of the most fun aspects of the Turkish language, vowel harmony.

Vowel Harmony

In Turkish, vowels within a (native) word and any suffixes that are attached to said word must obey vowel harmony rules. This means that vowels tend to either be the same or similar, making words easier to pronounce than they may look.

There are two types of vowel harmony in Turkish: 4-way and 2-way. The accusative case uses 4-way vowel harmony. In order to figure out what may go on the end, you will have to look at the final vowel in the word.

If the noun ends in a vowel, you have to insert the buffer letter y. Here are some examples:

Consonant Mutations

There is one final thing to talk about in terms of the accusative case. That would be your first taste of consonant mutations, often called consonant harmony. Consonants often change at the end of words depending on if it is followed by a vowel or a consonant. If they are followed by a vowel, they will generally change into voiced consonants. For example:

This means:

• p → b
• t → d
• k → ğ
• ç → c

This rule in general does not affect single syllable words, but there are exceptions of course. You will even come across exceptions to vowel harmony in loanwords from Arabic, Farsi, and French. These must be learned as you encounter them. In the meantime, happy learning and kolay gelsin.

Plurals 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Plural Suffix

Forming the plural in Turkish is simple compared to the Accusative case. It is formed using the suffix -lAr. Now you might be thinking, “what is that capital A doing there?” to which we respond with 2-way vowel harmony.

This is the other form of vowel harmony found in Turkey suffixes. Basically if the final vowel is front (i, e, ü, ö) use -ler. If it is back (a, ı, o, u), use the suffix -lar. This rule along with the rule for 4-way vowel harmony will be used in several suffixes across Turkish grammar, so try to get used to it now.

Here are some examples:

To be 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Copula

There are a few ways to say “to be” in Turkish depending on what you are saying. This is shocking since there is not an actual verb “to be.” A suffix is used to form “to be” in the present tense. The suffixes are as follows:

There are a few points to talk about in the above chart.

1) All except the 3rd person pl. suffix follow 4-way vowel harmony.

2) In the 1st person, you will see a buffer “-y-” be used if the adjective or noun ends in a vowel.

3) The suffix -DIr is used to clarify any ambiguity, emphasize, or state facts. This both follows 4-way vowel harmony and has consonant harmony; ‘d’ changes to ‘t’ after the following consonants (p ç t k s ş h f).

4) The suffix -lAr is optional in the 3rd person pl. However, it is only optional when referring to people. This suffix may not be used for items and animals. Only humans!

Be as a Command

To form “be” as a command in Turkish, use the stem of the verb olmak, which means “to become.” All you have to do is take off the -mak and you have the command “ol.” To make it formal, add the ending -In, which according to 4-way vowel harmony, comes out as “olun.” This same suffix gets added to all verbs to make formal commands.

Possessives 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Possessive Suffixes

Possessive Determiners ( my, your, his, her, its, our, and their) are represented by a set of suffixes, all of which follow 4-way vowel harmony, where applicable. These suffixes are as follows:

Some of the suffixes have buffer vowels (or in the case of the 3rd person, a buffer consonant). These means that the suffixes gain the buffer vowel when the root ends in consonant and do not have it when the root ends in a vowel. For the 3rd person suffix, the buffer s will be added when the root ends in a vowel and will be omitted when it ends in a consonant. This may seem a little confusing, but it is extremely simple with practice. The same consonant harmony that we talked about in the accusative skill will occur with the possessive suffixes as well Now let’s see these in real use. This chart will give an example of a word that ends in a vowel:

This chart gives an example of a word that ends in a consonant:

When you own multiples of the same thing, you will use the plural suffix. The plural suffix comes before the possessive suffixes. For example:

If you attach any other case suffix to a noun with a possessive suffix, it will always come after the possessive suffix. They will also obey vowel harmony according to the last vowel in the whole word. If you add a case to a noun with the 3rd person possessive suffix, it will always have a buffer -n-. This buffer -n- can lead to ambiguities with the second person possessive suffix. Here are some examples of nouns in the accusative case with a possessive suffix:

Genitive Case

The genitive case is expressed with the suffix -(n)In in Turkish. This case is used to show possession. The buffer -n- must be added to roots that end in a vowel. For example:

• Selcen’s dog: Selcen’in köpeği
• Özge’s cats: Özge’nin kedileri

Notice: Possessors get the genitive case ending. Possesees get the possessive suffixes. Pay attention to this! Look at the above tables to get a full list of the pronouns in the genitive case.

If you want to say something like “your cats’ food,” this would have both the personal suffix and the genitive case. The translation to this is “kedilerinin yemeği.” This is ambiguous (remember, it can be your cats or his/her/its cats.

To Have

Turkish has a verb for "to have" (sahip olmak) but that's rarely used and will be taught in a future skill. We mostly use just possessive + var to say "X has Y" and possessive + yok to say "X does not have Y". For example:

• Selcen has a dog: Selcen’in köpeği var
• Özge has cats: Özge’nin kedileri var
• I do not have water: Benim suyum yok
• You do not have milk: Senin sütün yok

Dative Pronouns 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

The dative case in Turkish is normally used to describe indirect objects and motions towards a place. The dative pronouns in Turkish are as follows:

They generally have the meaning of “to me,” “to you,” etc. If you “are reading to me,” “speaking to me,” or “coming to me” Turkish would use the dative pronoun.

For example: O bize gazeteyi okur. “He/She/It reads the newspaper to us” OR “He/She/It reads us the newspaper.”

These pronouns and this case are used for more things in Turkish, but we will cover that when we get to the Dative skill. Until then, kolay gelsin!

Questions 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Questions

Turkish question words do not undergo the same movement that they do in English (notice...questions words almost always are at the beginning of questions in English). Instead, they keep put in the place that naturally occur in the sentence-form of the question. For example, imagine that you are surprised while asking the question “Where did you buy the present?” You might exclaim, “You bought the present WHERE?!” Turkish maintains this position in sentences.

Do not forget Turkish is a SOV language. This means that verbs are always at the end if the sentence contains a verb.

Good luck and happy learning!

Locative 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

The locative case in Turkish is used to describe location in, at, or on a place. It is formed with the suffix -DA. Now, you may be asking, what is that capital D doing there…

...to which we respond with the answer “consonant harmony.” Turkish employs both vowel and consonant harmony in its grammar. What does consonant harmony mean exactly? Basically, unvoiced consonants like to be next to unvoiced consonants and voiced consonants like to be next to voiced consonants. For example, things about how we pronounce the plural marker -s in “cats” and “dogs” (one should sound like an ‘s’ and the other should sound like a ‘z’). With the locative (and later the ablative), you will see a similar phenomenon. The suffix -DA will become -TA after the letters ‘p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, and ş’ (We use “Fıstıkçı Şahap” or "Efe Paşa çok hasta" as mnemonics to remember these). These are unsurprisingly all of the unvoiced consonants in Turkish. The suffix remains as -DA in all other instances (after following any other consonant or a vowel). Remember, this suffix will also employ 2-way vowel harmony.

Here are some examples:

Numbers 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Forming numbers in Turkish is very simple after you know the core vocabulary. The numbers are as follows:

When you use a digit with a noun, you should NEVER use the plural suffix on the end of the noun. This is redundant and grammatically incorrect in Turkish. That means you should say “iki kedi” and not “iki kediler.” The larger numbers are as follows:

Now, have fun!

Verbs: Present continuous 1 3 · 2021-02-15 ^

The tense sign of the present continuous tense in Turkish is -iyor, -ıyor, -üyor, -uyor, which is added to the verb root. These suffixes are added according to 4-way Vowel Harmony.

Just how does one find the verb root in Turkish? Infinitives in Turkish end in -mAk, for example: istemek.

You must simply remove the -mek off of "istemek" to get the root "iste-"

The tense endings are completed by adding the following personal suffixes:

*If the nominative pronoun "onlar," is used in the sentence, you are not required to include '-lAr’ as a suffix, since it is already clear that the verb is plural from context. You can only use -lAr if the subject is human. Sorry cats, trees, and cars!

When the verb root itself ends in a vowel, as in bekle-mek (to wait, expect), then this vowel is also dropped as the head vowel of the "-iyor" tense sign replaces it, becoming bekl-iyor.

The first letter "-i" of "-iyor" is subject to 4-way vowel harmony with the verb stem's final vowel. The tense sign "-iyor" can be likened to the English Tense sign "-ing".

Some examples:

• geliyorum [geliyor-um] (I am coming)
• alıyorsun [alıyor-sun] (you are taking)
• ödüyorlar [ödüyor-lar] (they are paying)

Dates and Time 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Noun Compounds

In this skill, you will encounter your first Turkish noun compounds. A noun compound is when you combine two nouns to create something with a new meaning (i.e. birth+day=birthday). Forming these in Turkish will be easy using the knowledge that you already have up to this point.

All you have to do is put two nouns next to each other and add the possessive suffix on the second noun. There is no suffix on the first word. For example:

Ablative 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Ablative Case

You have learned 4 of the 7 Turkish cases so far (Nominative, Accusative, Genitive/Possessive, Locative). Tebrikler! In this lesson you will get closer to learning all of them. In this lesson we will cover the Ablative case, which is used in Turkish to convey motion from a place. After learning the Locative case, the Ablative will be extremely easy. In fact, it is almost the exact same! The suffix that you will have to use is -DAn. This suffix follows the exact same consonant and vowel harmony rules as the Locative. In fact the only difference is the letter “n” at the end of the suffix. Here are some examples:

Dative 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Dative Case

It is time for case 6 out of 7. How are you feeling? Overwhelmed? Don’t be! You are doing great so far! Just remember that Turkish isn’t as complicated as you think, and it will be easy. It is different from English, but it much more regular and isn’t too complicated. The Dative case in Turkish is used to describe movement towards something and for indirect objects. An indirect object tells “to whom or for whom” an action is being done. It always tells the recipient of the direct object.

I gave her a hug.

I told him about the event.

We showed them the cake.

Forming the Dative case is very simple, considering the amount of knowledge you have under your belt now. The suffix is “-(y)A.” The suffix obeys 2-way vowel harmony and uses a buffer -y- when attached to a word that ends in a vowel. Consonant harmony will often happen at the end of words that end with /p t k ç/. Simple, right? It is a great way to review concepts while still learning something new. Here are some examples:

Good job and see you in the next lesson!

What time is it? 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

This skill, unlike the last Time skill is only dedicated to telling time in Turkish. There will be a lot of information below, so read carefully.

Saat kaç?

1) The phrase “Saat kaç?” is used to ask “What time is it?” in Turkish. The response is Saat… followed by the number of the hour. This is really simple when you are at the full hour. When at the full hour, saat is optional.

2) The word buçuk is used to describe time at the half hour.

3) For telling time before the half hour, you will use the word geçiyor and the accusative case. The word denoting the hour gets the accusative case ending which is then followed by the minute number. Then you add geçiyor to the end.

4) For telling time after the half hour, you will use the word var and the dative case. The word denoting the next hour gets the dative and the remaining minutes until the next hour follows. Then add var to the end.

5) When you are unsure, you can just say “saat+ the hour number + the minute number”. This construction is used for trains, buses, and television.

6) To describe things at the quarter hour, use the word çeyrek using the same grammar from above.

Saat kaçta?

Now that you have taken in how to tell the time, we have to explain how to explain “At what time?”. This uses a similar, but not identical system.

7) If it is the full or half hour, you will use the described system above along with the locative case (-DA).

8) If it is before the half hour, you will use the same construction as above, but will use geçe instead of geçiyor.

9) If it is after the half hour, you will use the same construction above, but with kala instead of var.

Ok...I know this was a lot to take in, but with some practice, it will be very easy! Good luck in the skill and please feel free to repeat it several times until you have the hang of it. Until then, kolay gelsin!

Postpositions 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

In Turkish, there are no such things as prepositions. Before you feel really relieved, I must give you some bad news. Turkish uses postpositions. All English prepositions are represented in Turkish either by a case or by postpositions. There are two types of postpositions in Turkish, Type 1 and Type 2.

Type 1 Postpositions

Type 1 postpositions are formed by using a genitive construction with a main noun and a location noun. Rather than saying “outside of the house,” Turkish says “at the outside of the house.” It isn’t too bad, right? We will include several of these in this lesson. Here are some examples.

Type 2 Postpositions

Type 2 postpositions resemble English prepositions more. They are single words that follow a noun, sometimes requiring certain cases. You have already seen an example of this in the course in the Dative Skill (doğru). We have included 4 here.

hariç and sırasında These are two postpositions that require the nominative case. Hariç has the meaning except. Sırasında has the meaning during.

hakkında and gibi

These two postpositions also require the nominative case. There is one exception however. If they are used in combination with pronouns, you must use the genitive case. For example:

With practice, the idea of prepositions coming post the word will be simple! Until then, kolay gelsin!

With or without? (Instrumental) 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Adjective Formation

In order to form adjectives from nouns in Turkish that describe “with” or “without,” you must use the suffixes -lI and -sIz, respectively. For example:

Instrumental Case

Are you ready for this? This is the last case in Turkish! Calm down from all of your excitement. Everything is going to be alright! The name of the seventh case in Turkish is the Instrumental. This is actually a hotly debated topic in the Turkic linguistic community...is this a case or is it not a case? It is a shortened version of the postposition ile (which also means with) -- ile kind of acts strange to be considered a case proper. You are able to decide for yourself.

The Instrumental, like most other cases in Turkish, is surprisingly simple to form. All you have to do is add the suffix -(y)lA. Use the buffer -y- if the noun ends in a vowel. The Instrumental denotes the meaning “with “ or “by means of.” Here are some examples:

And now that you have learned every case in Turkish, we will put three chart below showing the full declensions of two nouns.

Instrumental Pronouns

• benimle
• seninle
• onunla
• bizimle
• sizinle
• onlarla (why this is not ONLARINLA is a big mystery)

Questions - 2 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Yes/No Questions

Forming Yes/No questions in Turkish is done by using a particle attached to the end of sentences. This particle is mI-. It obeys 4-way vowel harmony. The personal endings for the to be copula are always attached to this particle. They are never kept on the end of the verb or noun that they would normally attach to in declarative sentences. For example:

If this particle is attached to a verb in the present continuous, you will never have to worry about vowel harmony. Since the suffix for the present continuous is -(I)yor, the question particle will always be mu- followed by the appropriate personal suffixes.

Yoksa or Veya

Veya is used when you have multiple options that may exist outside of the two things you are asking.

Nur Türkçe veya İngilizce biliyor.

Nur knows Turkish or English. (she may know other languages)

Yoksa is used when where are only two options. It is normally optional and is always accompanied with the question particle following both possible options in question.

• Evim büyük mü yoksa küçük mü?
• Evim büyük mü, küçük mü?
• Is my house big or small?

Family 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Kinship Terms

Turkish divides kinship terms in a slightly different way than English. A lot of terms on the maternal and paternal side are different. Turks occasionally get confused by the more obscure ones, but this skill teaches all of the ones used on a daily basis by all Turkish people. The extra ones are in a bonus skill.

Negation 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

We are starting to finally get to the more fun parts of Turkish. Negation is formed by (you guessed it) another suffix. This suffix will work in very mysterious ways however. This suffix is -mA. Now we know what you are thinking...this looks similar to the question particle! In fact in the present continuous tense, they will almost always look identical (remember, you have to throw out the final vowel on the end of stems, so it will appear to actually be -mI). I will guarantee that you will never confuse the two for soon to be obvious reasons. The negation suffix always comes before the tense information on the verb. The question particle 95% of the time comes after the tense information. Seeing as we only know the present continuous at this point in time, we will only use that tense in this lesson. We have more negation lessons later on in the tree to explain negation in the other tenses. Now here are some examples of negation and the question particle in action!

Here is also a break-down of three verbs with all the grammatical information that we know so far:

Nations&Countries&Languages 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Consonant Harmony, Part Deux

Turkish has a very useful suffix for forming languages. This suffix is -CA. This suffix has striking similarities to the locative case (in case you don’t remember -DA). After the consonants ‘p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, and ş,’ this suffix will take the form -çA. In all other cases, it will have the form of -cA. Here are some examples:

####Nationality vs. Language vs. Adjective####

Turkish, unlike English (normally), distinguishes between nationalities and languages. That means that Türk refers to things and people who are from Turkey. Türkçe refers to the language spoken by most ethnically Turkish people. These are not interchangeable.

This being said, there are some cases that differentiate between the nationality and adjective form. Amerikan refers to things from America. Amerikalı refers to people from America. If there were a such thing as an American language, it would be referred to Amerikanca (however, there is no such thing)!

Ok...have fun! Kolay gelsin!

Infinitive 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Infinitives

The infinitive in Turkish equates to the “to verb” form in English. It can also sometimes (not always) be interpreted as the -ing form (gerund) in English. This is the form that you will always find in a Turkish dictionary. The suffix for this form is -mAk and obeys two way vowel harmony.

The most common place where this is used is before the verb istemek, which means “to want”. For example: Ben gitmek istiyorum. I want to go.

Here are some examples of words in the infinitive form:

This can also be used as a gerund in some cases, for example:

Türkçe konuşmak çok kolay. Speaking Turkish is very easy.

Ordinal Numbers 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Ordinal Numbers

One might ask, what are ordinal numbers? One might respond with examples such as “first, tenth, umpteenth, etc.” Turkish also has this same grammatical structure, and it uses the suffix -(I)ncI. If the numeral ends in a vowel, there is no need to add the buffer vowel. This suffix does follow 4-way vowel harmony. Here are some examples:

Kaçıncı

Turkish has a word that is pretty hard to translate into English. This word kaçıncı would be “which” in English, but only in reference to “which (number)th.” Hangi is used in all other situations. For example:

Kaçıncı kedi? “Which cat?” (the first, second, or third?)

Hangi kedi? “Which cat?” (the brown, white, or tan one?)

Past Tense 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Past Tense

The concept of past tense is a little bit different than English and many other European languages in Turkish. When talking about past in Turkish, you can understand if the story teller saw the events by his / her own eyes or heard from someone else. If you want to talk about things that you have witnessed, this is the tense you are looking for.

The Positive Form

The conjugation formula for the positive form of the Simple Past Tense (SPT) is given below:

VERB ROOT + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX

The Tense Suffix for Simple Past is -DI (-dı, -di, -du, -dü, -tı, -ti, -tu and -tü). Selecting the right suffix is determined by the 4-way vowel harmony and consonant harmony rules, which should be very simple by now.

The Question Form

The conjugation formula is below:

VERB ROOT + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX + SPACE + QUESTION SUFFIX + ?

As seen from the formula above, the only difference from the positive form is the question suffix at the end: -mI. Some examples are provided below:

O yedi mi? - Did he/she/it eat? Biz geldik mi? - Did we come / arrive? Siz içtiniz mi? - Did you drink?

Past Tense Copula

Positive Form

In older Turkish, the simple past version of the verb to be was idi. Since you don’t see a dash in front, this should be considered as a separate word that comes after the noun. Example:

This was a house. → Bu bir ev idi. Those were red cars. → Şunlar kırmızı arabalar idi.

But, to sound it separately was quite hard in the spoken language and almost no one prefered it to use it this way. That’s why, idi is attached to the end of the noun now. The attachment obeys the rules of vowel and consonant harmony in Turkish. Yet, if the noun ends with a vowel, an interesting thing happens which we will explain in the example:

This was a big castle. → Bu büyük bir kaleydi.

Let’s investigate kaleydi in pieces: kale-y-idi. → here kale is “castle”, idi is the past tense copula. To be able attach two vowels, you need a buffer letter (-y). But the interesting thing is, the first i disappears and the second one should change according to the last vowel of the noun before it. In this case it stays as i. After this conjugation, you should add the personal suffix. Investigating the table below, you will understand it better.

Question Form

The Tense suffix is added to the Question Suffix in this form. Since question suffixes always end with a vowel, the buffer letter -y- is always in between. The question suffix follows the rules for vowel harmony.

NOUN + SPACE + QUESTION SUFFIX + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX +?

Examples: Ben genç miydim? (Was I young?) Sen yaşlı mıydın? (Were you old?) Siz güzel miydiniz? (Were you beautiful?)

Future Tense 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Future Tense

Talking about future is really easy in Turkish because you won’t have the “will / be going to” dilemma like in English. There is only one Future Tense. And all you need to remember is a suffix: -(y)AcAk.

The Positive Form

The conjugation formula for the positive form of the future tense is: VERB ROOT + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX

If the verb root ends with a consonant, the rule above is straightforward. Otherwise, the buffer letter -y- is used between the root and the suffix. For example; Bekle-y-ecek (He/she/it will wait.) Söyle-y-ecek (He/she/it will say.)

The only thing you need to be careful about is the personal suffixes starting with a vowel. They transform the letter “k” at the end of the tense suffix into “ğ“. You will see the examples in the table below:

EXCEPTIONS###:

The following verbs do not obey the rules above: gitmek → gidecek yemek → yiyecek demek → diyecek

The Question Form

The conjugation formula for the question form is given below: VERB ROOT + TENSE SUFFIX + SPACE + QUESTION SUFFIX +PERSONAL SUFFIX

Examples are given in the table below:

Negation 2 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Past Negative for Verbs

The conjugation formula for the negative form is shown below:

VERB ROOT + NEGATION SUFFIX + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX

Since this the negation always ends with a vowel, either -e or -a, the selection of the Tense Suffix is narrowed down to -dı or -di in the negative form. Since this is very straightforward, we will give you only a couple of examples.

Yağmur yağmadı. (It didn’t rain) Beklemedik. (We didn’t wait) Yaşamadım. (I didn’t live)

Past Negative Copula

For the negation of the noun sentences, the word değil is used. The Tense Suffix is always -di in this case.

NOUN / ADJECTIVE + SPACE + DEĞİL + “-Dİ” + PERSONAL SUFFIX.

For example: Ben genç değildim. (I wasn’t young) Sen yaşlı değildin. (You weren’t old) O dün değildi. (It wasn’t yesterday)

Future Negative

The conjugation formula for the future tense is given below: VERB ROOT + NEGATION SUFFIX + TENSE SUFFIX + PERSONAL SUFFIX.

Since the negation suffix (-mA) always ends with a vowel, there always is the buffer letter “-y-” between that and the tense suffix. The rest is the same as the positive form.

Examples:

Suggestion 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Suggestions, Declaratıve

Turkish once again uses a special suffix for what is called the optative. This suffix is -(y)AlIm. This literally translates as let’s or shall. Hopefully at this point in time, you can read the suffixes, but just to be safe, there is a buffer -y- used when the root ends in a vowel, the first vowel will follow 2-way vowel harmony, and the second vowel follows 4-way vowel harmony. This means that this suffix only takes on two forms. -(y)alım/-(y)elim

Here are some examples:

Suggestions, Questions

When using the optative in a question, the question particle mI always comes after the verb. For example:

ki 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Ki

ki is one of the most interesting things in the Turkish language. It is originally a Farsi conjunction that has remained in the language from the Ottoman times. It is however used in very interesting ways.

Possessive ki

ki can attach onto the ends of some pronouns to show possession. These are equivalent to words like mine in English.

Relative Clause ki

Notice in Turkish, you can say:

Kurbağa hasta. -- The frog is sick. Hasta kurbağa -- The sick frog

--BUT--

Kurbağa sokakta. -- The frog is on the street. Sokakta kurbağa -- incorrect

This is because nouns in Turkish cannot really function as adjectives (sokakta is the noun street with the locative case). To fix this problem, you can attach the suffix -ki. There is no vowel harmony on this suffix.

Sokaktaki kurbağa -- The frog (which is/that is) on the street Şişedeki su -- The water (which is/that is) in the bottle Parktaki kadın -- The woman (who is/that is) in the park

ki as a Conjunction

This will be a sight for your sore Indo-European eyes. Since this suffix was originally borrowed from Farsi (an Indo-European language related to English), it bears some resemblance to English grammar in one way. It can be used as a subordinate conjunction to combine two clauses with the meaning that (as in “I said that you were happy). Remember that is optional in English, but it is not in Turkish.

Remember There is a grammatically different way to say these that is natively Turkish instead of being borrowed from Farsi. The other way is more common for most verbs. This will be covered later in the skill -(i)dik.

ki in Special Phrases

ki is also used in a large array of special phrases. Here we teach: İyi ki which means fortunately

Irregular Forms

The -ki suffix is irregular in only two instances in the entire Turkish language. This is when it attaches to dün and bugün. It becomes dünkü and bugünkü respectively. These mean “yesterday’s” and “today’s.”

Reflexive Pronouns 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS: (KENDİ)

The reflexive pronouns in Turkish is formed by the word “kendi”. You can think that this word is close to “self” in English, but the usage is a little bit more different. Just like myself, yourself, etc, this word is adapted to the pronouns as shown in the table below:

Reflexive pronouns are generally placed just before the verb in the sentence.

Example#:

Bunu kendin mi yaptın? (Did you make this yourself?) Ahmet arabayı kendisi sürer. (Ahmet drives the car himself.)

When you want to say “by myself”, “by yourself”, etc. then you need to use the word “kendi” in front of the conjugated reflexive pronoun such as:

Türkçe’yi kendi kendime öğreniyorum. (I am learning Turkish by myself).

Gerunds 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES: (İSİM FİİLLER)

This is unfortunately one of the hardest topics in Turkish: Gerunds and Infinitives.

In Turkish, each phrase has only one conjugated verb. That’s why, the other words must be turned into nominal words (nouns, adjectives, etc). Gerund & infinitive suffixes are used for this purpose.

In English, you can make a gerund from a verb adding “-ing” to the root and an infinitive by putting “to” in front of the verb root. However, in Turkish, there are three set of suffixes for this purpose:

1. -ış, -iş, -uş, -üş
2. -me, -ma
3. -mek, -mak

The first groups are mostly gerunds and the last one is mostly infinitives. But the one in the middle can be used as both gerunds and infinitives depending on the sentence. Unfortunately there are no distinct rules to select the correct suffix for making a gerund or infinitive, it all depends on experience.

NOTE##:

The suffix “-me”, ”-ma” is not the same as the negations suffixes you have used earlier. After the gerund / infinitive suffixes, there usually comes a personal suffix. For example:

gel-me-m (my coming) yap-ma-n (your doing) [not you’re doing]

On the other hand, after the negation suffix, there should be a tense suffix.

gel-me-di-m (I didn’t come) yap-ma-(y)acak (he / she / it will not do).

Since the verbs are transformed into actions and states, now they can be possessed by the pronouns by using the possessive suffixes. This feature allows you to assess that action or state to the pronoun with a single suffix:

Benim bekle-me-m (my waiting) Senin yazman (your writing) Onun eğlenmesi (his / her / its having fun)

Although this does not sound correct in English, when you try to place it in a sentence, you will understand how Turkish people construct their rather complex sentences:

Bizim çalışmamız lazım (lit. Our studying is necessary) [corr. We need to study]

Ben senin sevmeni istiyorum. (lit. I want your loving / liking) [corr. I want you to like / love]

Onların içmeleri önemli. (lit. Their drinking is important) [corr. It is important for them to drink]

Verbs: Aorist 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Aorist / Simple Present Tense (Geniş Zaman)

In Turkish, the aorist tense is used for talking about habits, hobbies, near future plans and even for requests. In this sense, for many cases the aorist tense can be thought as equivalent to the simple present tense.

The Positive Form

For the positive case the suffix depends on the root of the verb. The root of a verb in Turkish is the part left when you subtract -mek/-mak from the infinitive state.

Reminder Infinitive: istemek Root of the Verb: iste

Case 1

If the root of the verb ends with a vowel;

you just need to add -r to the end of the root.

Case 2

If the root of the verb ends with a consonant and is one syllable;

In harmony with the last vowel of the root, the tense suffix may be -ar or -er.

Case 3

if the root of the verb ends with a consonant and it more than one syllable;

Using 4-way vowel harmony, the suffix -Ir is attached.

Irregularities

1. 13 single syllable verbs take the tense sign as -ir -ır -ür -ur. Yes, there are only 13 irregular verbs, and only in this tense :) These verbs are: almak, bilmek, bulmak, durmak, gelmek, görmek, kalmak, olmak, ölmek, sanmak, vermek, vurmak

2. There are 3 verbs ending in -t where -t is mutated into -d when the aorist suffix is added. These are gitmek (to go), etmek (to do) and tatmak (to taste).

Example:

• Ben giderim. (I go)
• Sen gidersin. (You go)
• O gider. (He / she / it goes)

The Question Form

The question form of verb in the aorist tense has the structure below:

Root + Tense Suffix + SPACE + Question Suffix + Personal Suffix

Note:

The Tense Suffix in the question form follows the same rules in the positive form. In other words, the tense suffix may be -r, -ar, -er, -ir, -ır, -ur or -ür depending on how the root of the verb ends.

Let’s take the verb gitmek (to go) as an example.

There are a few points that needs to be stressed on for this example.

The extra letter -y- in the conjugation for “Ben” and “Biz” is called the buffer letter which is a topic of another subject. But in the question form, they will always be there. If you have no information on buffer letters, you can try to learn it as this way.

There is an alternative way of conjugating the verbs for “Onlar” such as:

Root + Tense Suffix + Plural Suffix (-ler / -lar) + SPACE + Question Suffix.

Both conjugations are correct.

Negation 3 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Negative Form of the Aorist

To make the verb negative in the aorist tense, you can follow the structure below:

Root + Negation Suffix (-mA) + Personal Suffix

The table below gives some examples on how this is done:

Would&Used to (-rdi) 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

TALKING ABOUT OLD HABITS: (GENİŞ ZAMANIN HİKAYESİ)

If you want to talk about old habits, i.e. thing used to be done regularly but not any more, you need to combine the aorist tense and the simple past tense. It makes perfect sense because the aorist tense is the tense you need to use current habits and you carry this information to the past by combining it with the simple past tense.

Positive Form

The structure for talking about old habits is given below:

Verb Root + Aorist Suffix + Past Tense Suffix + Personal Suffix

Some examples are given in the table.

Negative Form

When you want to talk about something that you did not used to do but started doing lately, this is the structure you need to set.

Verb Root + Negation Suffix + Aorist Suffix + Past Tense Suffix + Personal Suffix

How to apply this form is provided in the table below:

Question Form

The question form for this combined tense is given below:

Verb Root + Aorist Suffix + SPACE + Question Suffix + Past Tense Suffix + Personal Suffix + ?

Please note that, in case of “Onlar” the structure is a little bit inverted.

While&When (-iken) 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

The adverbial suffix for "when/while" is historically known as "iken" and is still referred as that today. Using it though has completely fallen out of use and sounds completely old fashioned. Today, people rather used a shortened version of it pronounced as -(y)ken.

We use iken (-(y)ken) for "while"; for an action happening in a period or interval of time. So verb+aorist+-(y)ken should be translated using while, but not using when (short action or consequence, check the forthcoming -ince skill). Be careful, there are no personal endings on a verb with -(y)ken.

There is no obvious difference between using "iken," which is separate from the verb and does not use any sort of sound shift and -(y)ken, which attached directly to the verb and has a buffer -y- for word roots ending in a vowel.

e.g.:

• I'll cook while you are sleeping: Sen uyurken ben yemek yapacağım. (the cooking takes place at the same time as the sleeping)
• I'll cook when you sleep: Sen uyuyunca ben yemek yapacağım. (the cooking starts after the other person falls asleep)

However, when we indicate the period of time without a verb, we also use -(y)ken and this should be translated using when:

e.g.: I used to eat chocolate when I was a child: Çocukken çikolata yerdim.

Can 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Can

In order to express ability in Turkish, you must use the suffix -(y)Abil along with the aorist tense. This is actually a compound of a verb, -(y)A, and bilmek in the aorist. Here are some examples:

Can’t

Remember how the can used bilmek? To negate this, you will instead have to use the negative suffix -mA. This means you will use the verb, -(y)A, the negative suffix -mA, and the negative aorist personal endings. Here are some examples:

Must/Should/Have to 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Meli/Malı

In Turkish there is one suffix that means all of the the above words. This is -mAlI. It obeys 2-way and 4-way vowel harmony, as expected. It will only ever have two forms -malı and -meli. This suffix attaches to verb roots and is followed by the personal endings. The negatıve suffix may also be added before the personal endings. Here are some examples:

Keep in mind: in the negative, this implies something that must not be done.

Zorunda

To express the ideas “must” and “have to” you can also use the construction: infinitive + (zorunda + personal endings). This is negated with değil. If negated, personal endings attach to değil and not zorunda. Here are some examples:

Keep in mind: in the negative, this has the meaning “does not have to.”

Narrative past -miş 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Reported Past Tense

Turkish has a uncommon, but not unique, feature, which is a reported past tense. This past tense is used for things that one did not experience, see, or witness oneself. This concept does not exist in English, and is normally presented in different ways (e.g. apparently, it seems, they say that…). This means, the lesson that you have already learned (-DI) is used for things that the speaker has seen or witnessed. In this lesson, you should translate sentences using the simple past tense or present perfect.

The reported past tense is formed with: the verb root + -mIş + personal endings. It has 4-way vowel harmony.

Here are some examples:

If (Conditional&Subjunctive) 3 · 2021-10-10 ^

The conditional/subjunctive voice is formed by adding the suffix -sA. It can attach to basically any tense, with having two versions in the past. These are optionally introduced with the word eğer. Here is an explanation, tense by tense:

Simple Actual Conditional

This has the meaning of “if X (were to) verb…”. It is formed by adding -(y)sA with the personal endings for the past tense (this means, you should use -k for biz).

Present Continuous

Simple Habitual

Future Intention

Past Reality

Past Unreality

The past reality is often preceded with the word keşke, which means if only.

Non-Future Object Part. 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

-DIk

-DIk or the object participle is one of the most different things from English that you will find in Turkish. This being said, if you are able to master it, Turkish people will normally be quite impressed. It has a non-future tense (meaning that it can be translated as past or present tense). This participle has three main functions in Turkish.

To form this participle, you will use the following formula:

• Verb Root + (I)DIk + Possessive Endings + (the Appropriate Case, if needed)

It follows both consonant harmony and 4-way vowel harmony. Here are some examples of the participle in the nominative case:

The Object Participle as an Adjective

Like the examples seen above, when these participles are used as an adjective, they are translated as relative clauses in English. This participle can be used to describe things as a relative clause when they are not the subject of that relative clause. The participle used for relatives clauses in which the reference noun is the subject will be described later in the tree. Here are some examples in full sentence form:

The Object Participle as a Noun

Similar to other languages, you can sometimes drop nouns and only use adjectives that function as nouns in Turkish. This also stands true in Turkish. Also, do you remember the ki skill, where it was mentioned that Turkish had a more Turkish way to use that as a subordinate conjunction? This is it. You will need to use the appropriate cases depending on the use of the participle in the sentence. For example:

The Object Participle as an Adverb

When you use the object participle with the locative or ablative cases, they take on a special meaning. When used with the locative (-DA), it has the meaning of “when,” similar to the suffix “-IncA.” When used with the ablative, it has the meaning of “because of” or “due to.” Important: These will not always have these meanings. The locative/ablative case can be used for other reasons that we have already discussed in the course (e.g. describing locations or making comparisons). Here are some more examples:

Passive 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Passive Voice

The passive voice is used when you do not want to explicitly state the agent (or the thing/person doing the action of the verb). This is formed with a suffix attached to the verb root. This suffix is attached before tense and personal endings. There are three different suffixes used, depending on the final sound of the verb root.

Verb Roots Ending in Consonants Except for L

Verb roots than end in any consonant except for L will get the suffix -Il. This suffix has 4-way vowel harmony. Here are some examples:

Verb Roots Ending in L

Verb roots that end in L will get the suffix -In. This suffix has 4-way vowel harmony. Here are some examples:

Verb Roots Ending in Vowels

Verb roots than end in vowels get the suffix -n. There is obviously no vowel harmony for the suffix, as there is no vowel. There are some examples:

When (-ince) 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

We use -iken for "while"; for an action happening in a period or interval of time (check while&when skill). So verb+iken should be translated using while, but not using when (short action or consequence).

e.g.:

• I'll cook while you are sleeping: Sen uyurken ben yemek yapacağım. (cooking is at the same time with sleeping)
• I'll cook when you sleep: Sen uyuyunca ben yemek yapacağım. (cooking starts when the other person falls asleep)

However, when we indicate the period of time without a verb, we also use -iken and this should be translated using when:

e.g.: I used to eat chocolate when I was a child: Çocukken çikolata yerdim.

Relative Pronouns -(y)An 2 · 2021-02-15 ^

Relative Pronouns

Turkish itself does not contain relative pronouns in the same way that English has them. A participle is used instead of a pronoun proper. This is called the relative participle or the object participle. The suffix has the form *-(y)An and it is attached to the verb root, unless the verb is negated. In this case, it will have the form “verb root + mA + yAn”. Here are some examples of how to from the relative participle:

When this is used, the same SOV word order is preserved. For example:

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