Turkish/Noun Constructions

This chapter will be about noun constructions. We will be covering all the ways we can modify a noun with another noun or an adjective.

Possessive endings

While English has words like my, your, his, her; we primarily use suffixes in Turkish for this purpose. While possessive pronouns do exist, they are often dropped, as we will see later.

Possessive Suffixes
benim –(ı)m	my
senin –(ı)n	your
onun –(s)ı	his/her
bizim –(ı)mız	our
sizin –(ı)nız	your
onların –(lar)ı	their

Like most suffixes, these follow vowel harmony. The suffixes have two forms, one form beginning in a vowel and one form beginning in a consonant. The former is used for stems that end in consonants and the latter is used for stems ending in vowels. The lar in the 3rd person plural is dropped based on context, which will be explained shortly afterwards. A few example words are given below:

Examples benim evim my house senin evin your house onun evi his/her house bizim evimiz our house sizin eviniz your house onların ev(ler)i their house

benim odam my room senin odan your room onun odası his/her room bizim odamız our room sizin odanız your room onların oda(lar)ı their room

benim gözüm my eye senin gözün your eye onun gözü his/her eye bizim gözümüz our eye sizin gözünüz your eye onların göz(ler)i their eye

One should also keep the consonant harmony and other alterations in mind, as these suffixes begin with a vowel, such as in the following examples:

Examples benim çocuğum my child senin çocuğun your child onun çocuğu his/her child bizim çocuğumuz our child sizin çocuğunuz your child onların çocuk(lar)ı their child

benim oğlum my son senin oğlun your son onun oğlu his/her son bizim oğlumuz our son sizin oğlunuz your son onların oğul(lar)ı their son

Finally, there are two irregular nouns, su meaning water and ne? meaning what?.

Examples benim suyum my water senin suyun your water onun suyu his/her water bizim suyumuz our water sizin suyunuz your water onların su(lar)ı their water

benim neyim my what? senin neyin your what? onun neyi his/her what? bizim neyimiz our what? sizin neyiniz your what? onların ne(ler)i their what?

Order of suffixiation

Since suffixes are employed very frequently in Turkish, it is important to keep the order of suffixation in mind.

Plural suffix –lar - the possessive endings - the case endings

ödevlerimizden from our homeworks

Another thing to note are the interactions between the possessive endings and the case endings. The third person possessive ending –(s)ı becomes –(s)ın- when a case ending is added.

Nominative	Accusative	Possessive	Possessive + Accusative
araba	arabayı	arabası	arabasını
ev	evi	evi	evini

Genitive Constructions

The Genitive case, the formation of which was explained in its own article, is used to denote possession in Turkish. The formula for such a construction is simple.

Genitive form of the possessor + the noun being possessed + appropriate possessive ending

A few examples could be:

• benim kalemim My pencil
• senin baban Your dad
• bizim öğretmenimiz Our teacher

When the possessor is not a pronoun, the third person possessive ending is always employed.

• Büşra'nın çantası Büşra's bag
• başbakanın arabası Prime minister's car
• kahvenin tadı The taste of the coffee
• okulun kapısı The door of the school

If the posessed is plural, the plural ending always comes before the possessive ending,

• sizin kitaplarınız Your books
• bilgisayarın tuşları The computer's keys

However, case endings always come after the possessive ending. When the 3rd person possessive endings are used, a n is inserted before the case ending, even if the case ending starts in a consonant.

• kahvenin tadına
• bilgisayarın tuşlarını
• okulun kapısından

This also allows us to create chain constructions, where the possesser is another construction.

• bizim kahvemizin tadı The taste of our coffee
• Esra'nın okulunun kapısı The door of Esra's school
• Yunanistan'ın başbakanının arabası The car of the prime minister of Greece

var/yok sentences

A genitive construction in a var/yok sentence is used in Turkish instead of using a verb for have.

• Soğanımız var mı? Do we have any onions?
• Hayır, soğanımız yok. Ama soğan tozumuz var. No, we don't have any onions. But we have onion powder.

Pronoun dropping

Since the possessive endings are inflected for person, a pronoun isn't necessary to show possession. Therefore, they get omitted most of the time.

• zamanımız Our time
• çocuğun Your kid

Remember how the third person plural possessive ending had an optional lar? It is used only when the pronoun is dropped, otherwise the singular ending is preferred.

• anneleri
• onların annesi

Moreover, when the possessor is the same as the subject of the sentence, dropping the pronoun is mandatory.

• Sen kalemini nereye koydun? Where did you put your pencil?
• Fatma ödevini yapıyor. Fatma is doing her homework.

If the pronoun is not omitted, it is understood that the object in question belongs to someone other than the subject.

• Kedi bacağına ne yapıyor? What is the cat doing to its/his/your leg. (the actual owner of the leg is ambiguous)
• Kedi, senin bacağına ne yapıyor? What is the cat doing to your leg. (pronoun used to resolve ambiguity)
• Kedi, onun bacağına ne yapıyor? What is the cat doing to his/her leg. (pronoun used to resolve ambiguity)
• Kedi, kendi bacağına ne yapıyor? What is the cat doing to its leg. (pronoun used to resolve ambiguity)

In other cases, the rules described in Turkish/Pronouns apply to possessive constructions as well.

Indefinite constructions

Another way of combining multiple nouns into one is using an indefinite noun construct. This is done very similarly to the genitive construct, but the first noun is in nominative rather than genitive.

Nominative form of the modifier + the noun being modified + appropriate form of -(s)ı

• okul bahçesi School garden
• kitap kapağı Book cover
• yemek masası Dining table

Bare constructions

In a few cases, constructions without any declensions are preferred. The most common use cases for this are:

1. Specifying the gender of a human
   • erkek çocuk
   • kadın doktor
   • kız öğrenci
2. Specifying the material of an object
   • demir kapı
   • tahta kutu
3. In the name of some dishes, and in street names ending with sokak
   • döner kebap
   • kuzu çevirme
   • Susam Sokak

Adjective constructions

When a noun is being modified by an adjective, no declensions are needed.

• kırmızı kazak
• küçük böcek
• sarhoş adam

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