Turkish Lesson 10

Lesson 10

Personal adjectives and personal suffixes

(iyelik sıfatları ve iyelik ekleri)

To talk about things which belong to us or someone else, we use personal adjectives and personal suffixes. Unfortunately it is not as easy as English. In English you just put ‘s to indicate the possession for example;

Selma’s pen, Kerry’s hair.

 

In Turkish after the person’s name you bring ‘ın, ‘in, ‘un, ‘ün. It does not stop there you also need to put the possessive suffix after the word which is possessed. Examples will make it more clear;

 

Ahmet’in kalemi

Susan’ın defteri

John’un evi

Sultan’ın makası

Darren’ın saçı

*Efe’nin kız arkadaşı

*Ayla’nın arabası

* The letters in blue are the buffer letters which we mentioned before. They are there to help us to pronounce the words easily. In Turkish it is very unlikely to have 2 wovels one after another in the same syllable. When this happens we need to put a buffer letter between 2 vowels. Just to remind you again; the buffer letters are Y,Ş,S,N.

 

Let’s have a look at the possessive adjectives (iyelik sıfatları)

 

Benim my

Senin your

Onun his/her/its

Bizim our

Sizin your

Onların their

After these personal pronouns there should be a word.

My car, your house……

 

– If the last syllable of the word has (e or i), the suffixes will be im, in, i, imiz, iniz, i. Let’s use “ev” with our personal adjectives.

 

Benim evim          Bizim evimiz

Senin evin            Sizin eviniz

Onun evi              Onların evi           or evleri

 

– If the last syllable of the word has (a or ı), the suffixes will be ım, ın, ı, ımız, ınız, ı.

Benim kızım         Bizim kızımız

Senin kızın           Sizin kızınız

Onun kızı             Onların kızı          or  kızları

 

– If the last syllable of the word has (o or u), the suffixes will be um, un, u, umuz, unuz, u.

 

Benim kolum        Bizim kolumuz

Senin kolun          Sizin kolunuz

Onun kolu            Onların kolu          or kolları

 

– If the last syllable of the word has (ö or ü), the suffixes will be üm, ün, ü, ümüz, ünüz, ü.

Benim yüzüm       Bizim yüzümüz

Senin yüzün                   Sizin yüzünüz

Onun yüzü           Onların yüzü        or yüzleri

 

– Let’s try “çanta” this time. Please note that çanta ends with a vowel so we will not need the first vowel in the suffix.

 

Benim çantam      Bizim çantamız

Senin çantan                  Sizin çantanız

Onun çanta+s+ı    Onların çanta+s+ı      s is the buffer letter.

 

I know it all looks so confusing a comlicated. But once you get used to the rules it will all come naturally and you will not think about the letters, vowels, buffers…. This is why Turkish is best learn by hearing it. Obviously it is always an advantage how to write and spell correctly.

 

More examples;

 

Kızın saçı                       (The girl’s hair)

Hande’nin elbisesi          (Hande’s dress)

Müdürün odası              (The manager’s room)

Firmanın müdürü           (The company’s manager)

Senin annenin parfümü  (Your mother’s perfume)

Christina’nın parası       (Christina’s money)

Oğlumun okulu              (My son’s school)

Doktorun muayenesi      (The doctor’s office)

Mimarın babası              (The architech’s father)

Evin camı                       (The window of the house)

Benim karım                  (My wife)

Senin eşin                      (Your partner)

Onların arabası              (Their car)