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. benim black (ı)m purple yes my senin black (ı)n purple yes your onun black (s)ı purple yes his/her bizim black (ı)mız purple yes our sizin black (ı)nız purple yes your onların black (lar)ı purple yes theirLike 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: benim black ev house blackim purple no my house senin black ev house blackin purple no your house onun black ev house blacki purple no his/her house bizim black ev house blackimiz purple no our house sizin black ev house blackiniz purple no your house onların black ev house black(ler)i purple no their house benim black oda room blackm purple no my room senin black oda room blackn purple no your room onun black oda room blacksı purple no his/her room bizim black oda room blackmız purple no our room sizin black oda room blacknız purple no your room onların black oda room black(lar)ı purple no their room benim black göz eye blacküm purple no my eye senin black göz eye blackün purple no your eye onun black göz eye blackü purple no his/her eye bizim black göz eye blackümüz purple no our eye sizin black göz eye blackünüz purple no your eye onların black göz eye black(ler)i purple no 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: benim black çocuğ child blackum purple no my child senin black çocuğ child blackun purple no your child onun black çocuğ child blacku purple no his/her child bizim black çocuğ child blackumuz purple no our child sizin black çocuğ child blackunuz purple no your child onların black çocuk child black(lar)ı purple no their child benim black oğl son blackum purple no my son senin black oğl son blackun purple no your son onun black oğl son blacku purple no his/her son bizim black oğl son blackumuz purple no our son sizin black oğl son blackunuz purple no your son onların black oğul son black(lar)ı purple no their son Finally, there are two irregular nouns, su meaning water and ne? meaning what?. benim black su water blackyum purple no my water senin black su water blackyun purple no your water onun black su water blackyu purple no his/her water bizim black su water blackyumuz purple no our water sizin black su water blackyunuz purple no your water onların black su water black(lar)ı purple no their water benim black ne what blackyim purple no my what? senin black ne what blackyin purple no your what? onun black ne what blackyi purple no his/her what? bizim black ne what blackyimiz purple no our what? sizin black ne what blackyiniz purple no your what? onların black ne what black(ler)i purple no 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 green yes green - the possessive endings purple - the case endings blue ödev homework blackler green noimiz purple noden blue no 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 yes purple becomes (s)ın- yes purple when a case ending is added. +NominativeAccusativePossessivePossessive + Accusativearabaarabayıarabasıarabasınıevevievievini 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 black + appropriate possessive ending purpleA 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 black + appropriate form of -(s)ı purple 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: Specifying the gender of a human erkek çocuk kadın doktor kız öğrenci Specifying the material of an object demir kapı tahta kutu 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