Ultimate Turkish Grammar Guide: Learn The Basic Rules, Suffixes, And Tips (Plus Exercises & Examples)

Assuming you are familiar with the basic elements of the language, it is now time to begin the daunting process of learning Turkish grammar rules. These basic rules include but are not limited to sentence structure (subject-object-verb), learning tons of suffixes (agglutination), learning verb tenses, knowing grammatical cases, and using buffer letters and vowel harmony to keep the language flowing. As you can tell, unlike the simplicity of its alphabet, grammar in Turkish can be a confusing topic, especially for native English speakers.

However, since I already went through the struggle of learning these and decoding them into my English grammar brain, I think my explanations will simplify things and provide a solid framework to understand how grammar rules in Turkish work. Your first reading of this post will be the toughest. However, as you click through each lesson and then return to this overview, I think the rules and patterns will begin making more sense.

Lastly, I designed this post to be an organized overview of the entire Turkish language grammar system. So, you should not try to absorb it all in one day but rather work through it at your own pace. As I explained in this Turkish learning guide, I believe natural learning dictates that when possible, we should build skills implicitly as children do before overwhelming ourselves with a long list of explicit rules. So, in my opinion, you should absorb grammar little by little, focusing most of your time on listening and basic speaking skills.

6 Must-Know Basic Turkish Grammar Rules

Compared to our introduction to Turkish post, this post will get into much more detail about the nuances and unique features of the Turkish grammar rules. Feel free to start with that introduction and save this post for when you’re ready for a deeper dive into each grammar rule. While I believe it is best to learn through natural listening and implicit pattern recognition, the hard truth is that you will eventually have to do some detailed study of the grammar.

However, when it comes to grammar study, I recommend keeping this common engineering saying in mind: don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. So, as certain grammar content in Turkish gets more complex, it is okay to be confused and stick with a basic understanding. Our brains often need more time to absorb the language patterns that grammar rules teach us. So be patient and try to learn with examples.

Speaking of patience, let’s first look at the basic grammar rules in Turkish before tackling the more complex stuff!

1. The Alphabet

As you can see from the image, Turkish uses a Latin alphabet, which means learning the language from an English perspective is much easier than it would be with the old Ottoman script. Plus, the pronunciation of these letters is completely phonetic. Unlike the complicated letter combinations in English that make new sounds, you read every letter in a Turkish word. So, for the most part, you can trust in a system of sounding out Turkish words letter by letter.

Turkish alphabet: Aa Bb Cc Çç Dd Ee Ff Gg Ğğ Hh Iı İi Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Öö Pp Rr Ss Şş Tt Uu Üü Vv Yy Zz

People will understand you when you speak like that, however, there are some subtle pronunciation features that you might want to learn, all of which I cover in this alphabet pronunciation guide. The audio files will also help you to get the hang of where stresses tend to occur in Turkish words.

2. Turkish Pronouns

Before advancing further into grammar concepts, here is a quick chart you can reference with Turkish pronouns in their base forms. Later in the post, I will show you how they change with the different grammatical cases.

Ben (I)	O (He/She/It)
Sen (You)	Biz (We)
Siz (plural/formal you)	Onlar (They)

3. Infinitive Verbs

You’ll see some content about verb conjugations later in the post, but for now, I wanted to point out the basic infinitive form of Turkish verbs. The giveaway in Turkish is the suffix -mek/-mak, which tells you that the word is a verb in its base infinitive form. If the ending has an additional me/ma before that -mek/-mak ending—like almamak or gitmemek—the verb is in its negative form. Here are a few popular Turkish verbs:

Turkish	English
almak	to take
yemek	to eat
içmek	to drink
içmemek	to not drink
konuşmak	to talk
gitmek	to go
gitmemek	to not go

Occasionally, the infinitive verb is the same as a related noun. For example, yemek can also be a noun for food. It’s not a big deal, but something to be aware of as you read examples!

Lastly, take off the -mek/-mak suffix from an infinitive verb and you have the imperative or command conjugation of the verb. Just be careful as it is informal and can come across as rude!

4. Basic Sentence Structure in Turkish

Once you understand how spelling and pronunciation work, the next basic grammar rule you should cover is sentence structure. English sentences use the order of subject—verb—object. For example, a simple sentence looks like:

• You (subject) are drinking (verb) the water (object).

Turkish word order, however, follows a subject–object–verb order. The same sentence from above would be:

• You–the water–you are drinking.
• Sen suyu içiyorsun.

Notice how the verb in Turkish (içiyorsun) already contains the information of the subject. So, Turkish subjects are usually optional since leaving them out does not fundamentally change the meaning. However, you can still use them to be particularly clear or to give extra emphasis.

Other basic word order rules in Turkish include adverbs going before verbs (I went slowly becomes I –slowly –I went). Adjectives go before the noun they modify, just like in English (for example, the red pepper). Lastly, something different from English is that the indirect object goes before the direct object. For example:

• I gave the apple to him becomes I–to him–the apple–I gave.
• Ben ona elmayı verdim.

To summarize, the standard order is: Subject – Time – Place – Indirect Object – Direct Object – Verb. However, you will hear nuances and changes from this construction, especially in spoken Turkish. Usually, a different order helps put emphasis on certain words or convey a more intense meaning—this lesson on Turkish word order goes into those nuances.

Don’t get too caught up on the exceptions, you will develop an instinct for them as you advance and hear more Turkish. Generally, I think the most crucial detail is to get used to listening for the verbs at the ends of sentences.

5. The Question Particle (-mi )

English switches a statement into a question by switching the order of words, along with a proper vocal inflection. For example, the statement He is going to work becomes Is he going to work? Turkish has a more interesting and useful way to convert a statement into a question, one that I think makes it much easier to quickly realize when someone is asking something.

Turkish places a question article, -mi, at the end of the sentence, along with the expected inflection change. In written Turkish, the article is separate from the word it is asking about, and it usually attaches to the personal suffix at the end (with some exceptions). Here are a few examples, including how the question particle can change with four-part vowel harmony (more on vowel harmony below):

Bunu istersiniz. (You want this.)	Bunu ister misiniz? (Do you want this?)
Yapacaklar. (They will do it.)	Yapacaklar mı? (Will they do it?)
Biz yapıyoruz. (We are doing it.)	Yapıyor muyuz? (Are we doing it?)
Onu öptün. (You kissed him.)	Onu öptün mü? (Did you kiss him?)

6. Formal vs. Informal Turkish

Turkish, like many languages that have formal and informal conjugations, utilizes the plural second person as the more formal and polite way of speaking. To be formal, you use the siz pronoun and corresponding conjugations instead of the sen pronoun. This change includes possessive pronouns and their endings on whatever they possess. For example, senin araban (your car) is informal while sizin arabanız is formal.

However, since English does not have this, new Turkish learners often struggle over when to use -musun vs. -musunuz, especially when asking questions to strangers. When in doubt, use the formal when talking to new people. Even close relationships can remain in formal language if the person is older than you. For example, I still use formal language with my wife’s parents.

However, with people the same age as you, especially if the situation is more relaxed, using informal Turkish will probably be more natural.

More Complex Grammar Rules of Turkish

Think of these as your cheat sheet for the most crucial Turkish language grammar rules. Again, start with a basic understanding of them so you have enough information to begin tackling more complex sentences. Knowing this overview of the grammar should help your brain understand the structure of Turkish and some of the weird spelling or verb conjugations you will encounter.

As your Turkish skills advance, you can dive deeper into each category to get a full understanding of how they work. For now, if you see something that seems to break a rule or pattern, assume there is a reason that you will learn later. Again, when learning a language, don’t lose the forest for the trees! Study grammar, but remember that when possible, learning naturally like a child is the best way to fluency!

Turkish Grammar Cases, Agglutination, and Suffixes

A distinctive feature of Turkish, one that it shares with other languages in the Turkic family, is that it uses agglutination to change word meanings. This process involves adding suffixes to words, either to signal their function within a sentence or to build more and more complexity. Agglutination is why Turkish words can be astonishingly long! When I began learning Turkish, it seemed crazy to me that Turkish people could parse out the details in these long words. However, as I spent time with the language, it was remarkable how fast I got used to listening for the relevant bits that give you the gist of the meaning.

Suffixes are quite simple at first, like the ones in the image above. However, as sentences require more detail and meaning, you can attach more suffixes. You will learn them all as you advance, including the proper order to attach them. But first, let’s start with the six basic grammatical cases in Turkish and their corresponding suffixes:

Grammar Case & Suffix	Example
Accusative (direct object): -i, -ı, -u, -ü	Ben arabayı aldım. (I bought the house.)
Dative (indirect object): -e, -a	Istanbul’a gidiyorum. (I am going to Istanbul.)
Locative (in or at): –de, –da	Arabada kal. (Stay in the car.)
Ablative (from): –den, –dan	Ondan aldım. (I took it from him.)
Instrumental (with): –le, –la	Uçakla geliyorum. (I am coming by airplane.)
Genitive (Possessive): –in, -ın, -un, -ün	Evin pecereleri (The house’s windows)

There is one last general agglutination point I want to make. There are a few cases where the same ending could have different meanings. For example, the -im ending can be the personal-to-be suffix or the first-person possessive suffix. Or, more commonly, the genitive suffix -in can look the same as the second-person possessive suffix:

• (Ben) güzelim. (I am beautiful.)
• (Benim) güzelim (My beautiful)
• (Senin) arkadaşın (Your friend)
• arkadaşın (friend’s) (possessive)

Don’t worry about these types of cases since context will almost always make the intended meaning clear.

Apostrophe on Proper Nouns

To avoid any confusion in the written examples you may encounter, note this quick rule about adding suffixes to proper nouns. Use an apostrophe before the suffix. You will most commonly see this when writing about cities or people’s names. For example:

• Evden geldim. (I came from home.)
• Istanbul’dan geldim. (I came from Istanbul.)

Vowel Harmony

As a musician, vowel harmony is one of my favorite aspects of the Turkish language, and it is why Turkish sounds so smooth and flowing. As you now know, Turkish is built on agglutination, using suffixes for nearly every grammar situation. Vowel harmony rules cause these suffixes to change based on the vowel sound at the end of the word to which they are attaching. While this makes learning Turkish suffixes more frustrating, it is also why the language is easier to pronounce and sounds so melodic.

The reason vowel harmony works is that it keeps your vocalizations either rounded or unrounded and from either the front or back of the mouth. In short, following vowel harmony means your mouth’s muscles do less work to get the sounds out. Here are the categories for Turkish vowels, although you can also determine these by noticing your mouth shape as you say the letters:

• Round: u, ü, o, ö 
• Unrounded: i, ı, a, e 
• Back: ı, a, o, u 
• Front: e, i, ö, ü 

When learning a new Turkish suffix, you just have to know whether it follows two-fold harmony rules or four-fold harmony rules. Two-fold or E-type harmony has two options: -e or -a. You use the -e version with other front vowels and the -a version with other back vowels. Here is an example of the locative grammar case you just learned above:

• Araba + da = arabada = in the car
• Şehir + de = şehirde = in the city

Four-fold or I-type harmony has four options since it combines both vowel categories: -i, -ı, -u, -ü. Here is how the present continuous verb conjugation (-iyor) changes based on four-fold vowel harmony rules to match with the last vowel in the verb stem:

Gelmek = to come	Geliyor (gel + iyor) = he is coming
Yapmak = to do	Yapıyor (yap + ıyor) = he is doing (undotted i vowel)
Durmak = to stop	Duruyor (dur + uyor) = he is stopping
Gülmek = to laugh	Gülüyor (gül + üyor) = he is laughing

Every time you learn a new suffix, take note of which type of vowel harmony it follows (two vs four-fold). Lastly, if this seems overly intellectual, trust me that with time these vowel harmony rules will become instinct. I recommend slowly speaking these sounds to feel how the rules make sense to your muscles, which will give the rounded/unrounded and front/back categories implicit logic.

Buffer Letters Between Vowels

Similar to vowel harmony, Turkish uses buffer letters to keep a smooth flow to the language. The majority of the time, these buffer letters go in between two vowels to prevent them from appearing next to each other, something that rarely happens in Turkish. However, you will sometimes see a buffer letter used in situations without vowel collision.

The three buffer letters are y, n, s, and there are specific Turkish grammar rules that tell you when and how to use them. Instead of listing every possible situation, let’s just get familiar with the basic rules and some example sentences:

Rule	Turkish Example (Buffer Letters in Bold)	English Translation
Prevent vowel collision on an unsuffixed word with y buffer.	Arabaya git! (araba + a (dative))	Go to the car!
Prevent vowel collision on a possessed word with s buffer.	Onun masası (masa + ı (possession))	His table
Prevent vowel collision on an already suffixed word with n buffer.	Masasını aldım. (masa + ı (possession) + ı (accusative))	I bought his table.
If an already suffixed word ends with a vowel, use n buffer before -de, -den, or -e suffixes.	Onu masasından aldım. (masa + ı (possession) + dan (ablative)	I took it from his table.

These buffer letters can be tricky initially, especially when they look the same as other suffixes. However, a basic understanding is fine for now. You will also see more buffer letter rules come up in the following sections as you learn more suffixes.

To Be Verb and Personal Suffixes

In Turkish, there are two forms of the verb to be that you need to know about. One exists as a standard verb, which is olmak. You will often see olmak in various conjugations, especially if there is not a separate verb to describe the situation. For example, you could use the past tense of olmak to say:

• Mutlu oldum. (I became happy.)

Or, to use olmak in the participle form that you will learn later in this post, you could say:

• Mutlu olduğunu fark ettim. (I noticed that you were happy.)

The most common form you will see is olsun, which is technically the third-person imperative tense. Meaning let it be, it’s common in phrases like afiyet olsun (enjoy your meal) or geçmiş olsun (get well soon).

I Am/I Am Not

Turkish uses personal suffixes at the ends of sentences to add a “to be” meaning to adjectives and verbs. If a sentence looks like it has no verb, there is likely a personal suffix standing in for the verb meaning. The personal suffix uses a y buffer letter when attaching to words that end in a vowel (first example below). Here are these suffixes with example sentences:

Personal Suffix	Example
-im (I am)	Ben güzelim. (I am beautiful.) OR Ben anneyim. (I am a mother.)
-sin (You are) (informal)	Sen güzelsin. = (You are beautiful.)
-dir (third personal is usually blank)	O güzel. (She/He/It is beautiful.)
-siniz (You are) (formal)	Siz güzelsiniz (You are beautiful.)
-iz (We are)	Biz üzgünüz (We are sad.)
-ler	Mutlular (They are happy.)

Since the subject is clear from the suffix, putting a pronoun in the subject of the sentence is optional. For third-person sentences, do not be surprised if you don’t see a verb. “O güzel.” is a complete sentence. The -dir ending for these sentences is usually only added when speaking about something factual or official:

• Kahve ülkemizin kültüründe önemlidir. (Coffee is very important in our country’s culture.)

If you want to use the personal suffix for a negative meaning, attach it to the word değil (not):

• Güzel değilim. (I am not beautiful.)
• Mutlu değilsin. (You are not happy.)
• Etc.

Lastly, remember that those endings can change with vowel harmony, so don’t be confused if you see them with different spellings (-im, -ım, -um, -üm). If these examples left you confused, try reading my lesson dedicated to Turkish to be sentences.

Plurals

Plurals in Turkish are one of the easiest suffixes to learn since they feel similar to the way English adds an -s to words. In Turkish, you add -ler or -lar, following a two-part vowel harmony rule. Here are a few examples:

Singular	Plural
araba (car)	Arabalar (cars)
bisiklet (bicycle)	bisikletler (bicycles)
tabak (plate)	üç tabak (three plates)

Did you notice the crucial difference compared to English? When using a number before a noun, you do not use the plural suffix in Turkish. This rule is the only tough habit to break when translating plural constructions in your head from English to Turkish.

Possession

You already got a sneak peek at the possession suffix in the grammar cases above. Possession uses the genitive case, which in Turkish is one of the following: -in, -ın, -un, -ün (choose based on four-part vowel harmony rules). In this simple form, the -in is equivalent to the ‘s in English. For words that end in a vowel, use the n buffer letter:

• Ev (house)
• Ev + in = Evin (house’s)
• Araba (car)
• Arabanın (car’s)

Unlike English, however, the possession grammar rules in Turkish require you to put a suffix on the possessed word as well. Use one of these four: -i, -ı, -u, -ü. To avoid the collision of two vowels, this suffix requires the s buffer letter:

• Cocuğun topu (The child’s ball)
• Evin kapısı (The house’s door)

The table below shows the possessive determiners (my, yours, theirs, etc.) that you use to convert the standard pronouns into the genitive case. Some just take the standard -in suffix, however, two take irregular forms. As with normal pronouns in Turkish, these are usually optional, used mostly to signal more emphasis on who is possessing.

Lastly, the suffix on the possessed word from the above examples (-i ) only works for third-person situations, so the last two columns show which suffix to use in the other possession forms. Instead of a buffer letter, you drop the vowel from the suffix on words that end in a vowel.

Turkish	English	Possessed Word Suffix	Example
Benim (Ben + -im)	My	-im, -ım, -um, üm	Benim arabam (My car)
Senin (Sen + -in)	Your	-in, -ın, um, ün	Senin evin (Your house)
Onun (O + buffer n + un)	His/Hers/Its	-i, -ı, -u, -ü	Onun arabası (His car)
Sizin (Siz + -in)	Your (plural/formal)	-iniz, -ınız, umuz, ünüz	Sizin eviniz (Your house)
Bizim (Biz + -im)	Our	-imiz, -ımız, -umuz, ümüz	Bizim evimiz (Our house)
Onların (Onlar + -in)	Their	-i, -ı, -u, -ü (or -leri, -ları without pronoun)	Onların evi (Their house)

Question Words

You already learned how a question article (-mi ) at the end of a sentence can create a question. However, Turkish also has the usual question words that can begin a sentence. Sometimes these words do not start the sentence, but their placement is more a matter of instinct than strict rules.

Lastly, do not follow your instinct from English, which keeps a sentence in question form even with a question word. For example:

• Are you coming?

• When are you coming?

However, in Turkish, If you use one of these words below, do not also use the question article at the end:

• Geliyor musun? (Are you coming?)
• Ne zaman geliyorsun? (When are you coming?)
• Never: Ne zaman geliyor musun?

Turkish	English	Example
Kim	Who	O kim? (Who is that?)
Ne	What	Bu ne? (What is this?)
Nerede	Where	Restoran nerede? (Where is the restaurant?)
Ne zaman	When	Ne zaman vardın? (When did you arrive?)
Neden	Why	Neden ağlıyorsun? (Why are you crying?)
Ne kadar?	How much	Bu ne kadar? (How much is this?)
Niye	Why (alternate)	Niye gelmedi? (Why didn’t he come?)

Consonant Mutation

While buffer letters make Turkish sound smooth by keeping two vowels apart, consonant mutation maintains smoothness by changing certain whispered consonants into voiced consonants when followed by a vowel. This rule sounds confusing written out, so let’s see the four consonants that mutate in Turkish, followed by a few examples:

• p → b
• ç → c
• t → d
• k → ğ

If you feel your throat when saying the letter combinations above, you should notice that the letters on the left are whispered, meaning there is no inherent sound to the letter. The letters on the right, however, are the voiced counterparts to each whispered consonant, and you should notice that your throat makes a sound when saying them.

Like vowel harmony and buffer letters, the logic is that mutating these consonants makes Turkish easier to speak, maintaining its melodious sound. Here are a few examples:

Base Word	Mutated Consonant
Kitap (book)	Kitabım (My book)
Ağaç (tree)	Ağacı aldım. (I bought the tree.)
Umut (hope)	Umudum (My hope)
Köpek (dog)	Köpeğin (Your dog)

There are a few exceptions to this rule that you’ll notice, a popular one being the verb içmek (to drink). Even when followed by a vowel, you maintain the whispered ç consonant:

• içiyorum (I am drinking)
• Never: iciyorum

Saying “I Have” With Var & Yok

Var and yok are two of the most useful words in Turkish, considering how many sentence constructions you can make with them. Var means there is while yok means there is not. A few basic constructions are:

• Masada süt var. (There is milk on the table.) (Literally: On the table, milk, it exists.)
• Evde süt yok. (There is no milk at home.) (Literally: At home, milk, it does not exist.)
• Evde süt var mı? (Is there milk at home?)
• Evde süt yok mu? (Is there no milk at home?)

To answer questions with var mı/yok mu, you can simply say var or yok. However, besides these useful constructions, you can also use these two words to form “have” sentences by putting a possessive construction before it:

• Köpeğim var. (I have a dog.) (Literally: My dog, it exists.)
• Köpeğim yok. (I do not have a dog.) (Literally: My dog, it does not exist.)
• Köpeğin var mı? (Do you have a dog?) (Literally: Your dog, does it exist?)

You can also attach the past tense suffix (-di ) to these two words to form these types of sentences:

• Köpeğimiz vardı. (We had a dog.) (Literally: Our dog, it existed.)
• Köpekleri yoktu. (They did not have a dog.) (Literally: Their dog, it did not exist.)
• Köpeğin var mıydı? (Did you have a dog?) (Literally: Your dog, did it exist?) (Notice the y buffer between the question particle and past tense suffix.)

Expressing Need With Lazım

As a beginner Turkish learner, the word lazım is the easiest way to express a need. It literally means needed, and, as an adjective, you can attach it to a possessed verb to create a sentence like My going is needed. Don’t worry, in Turkish, that construction (Gitmem lazım) sounds as natural as saying I need to go in English.

The key is to use the short infinitive form of a verb (take away the k from the -mek/-mak suffix) with a possessed personal suffix attached. Remember that, except the third-person form which uses an s buffer, these possessed word suffixes drop the suffix’s first vowel instead of using a buffer. Once you form that, simply put lazım after it, or phrase it as a question by placing -mı at the end:

Turkish	Construction	English
Gitmen lazım.	Gitme + in + lazım	You need to go. (Lit: Your going is needed.)
Uyumaları lazım.	Uyuma + ları + lazım	They need to sleep. (Lit: Their sleeping is needed.)
Gitmen lazım mı?	Gitme + in + lazım + mı	Do you have to go? (Lit: Your going, is it needed?)
Su içmesi lazım.	içme + s (buffer) + i + lazım	He needs to drink water. (Lit: Water, his drinking, is needed.)

You may hear other sentence constructions that express need (mecbur, zorunda, gerekiyor, etc.), however, the grammar rules for using them are a bit more complex. So as a beginner, I recommend getting used to lazım first!

Conjunctions

Using a conjunction is the language tool that connects words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. There are three main categories of conjunctions (coordinating, paired, and subordinating), and there are tons of specific words and constructions you will have to learn with them. For now, however, let’s stick to the four most common Turkish conjunctions that a beginner can make easy use of. These will help you sound more natural as you connect ideas:

Turkish	English	Example Sentence
ve	and	Erhan ve Can gidiyorlar. (Erhan and Can are going.)
ama	but	Kalmak istiyorum ama gitmem lazım. (I want to stay but I have to go.)
cünkü	because	Çok yorgunum çünkü geç oldu. (I am very tired because it is late.)
de/da	also/too	Ben de gitmek istiyorum. (I also want to go.)

Prepositions & Postposition Words

If you’re an adult Turkish learner, it may have been a while since you even considered what a preposition is. In short, prepositions are language elements (words, groups of words, or suffixes in Turkish) that modify a noun or pronoun with information about direction, place, location, or timing. Some common examples in English would be in, at, on, to, etc. Since these go before the word they modify, it makes sense that we call them “pre-positions” in English.

However, many languages place these modifying words after a noun or pronoun, what you would call a postposition. Even though English is primarily a prepositional language, there are a few postpositions you’ve probably seen like ago and notwithstanding:

• Ten years ago…
• Your bad luck notwithstanding…

In Turkish, they use the same word for both of these categories: edat. And, as you might be able to guess by now, Turkish primarily uses suffixes to perform these grammar functions. Many situations that use a preposition in English can simply use the locative or ablative grammar cases in Turkish. For example, you can express from in English with the ablative case (-den /-dan). Similarly, you can usually express at with the locative case (-de / -da):

• Evden geldim. (I came from home.)
• Otelde buluştuk. (We met at the hotel.)

However, there are some separate Turkish phrases that you will have to use for other prepositional functions. Here are the most common examples:

English Preposition	Turkish Equivalent	Example Usage
In	içinde	kutunun içinde (in the box)
On / on top	üzerinde / üstünde	masanın üstünde (on top of the table)
Under	altında	masanın altında (under the table)
Between	arasında	Istanbul ile İzmir’in arasında yeni bir yol var. (There is a new road between Istanbul and Izmir.)
Before	önce	üç yıl önce (three years ago)
After	sonra	partiden sonra (after the party) (Note: use ablative case with sonra.)

If you look closely at the examples, you might notice that these postpositions are built from other grammar concepts. For example, you can understand why the phrase masanın üstünde has to use the genitive grammar case on the word masa when you break it down and literally translate it to English:

• Masa (table) + n (buffer letter) + -ın (possessive case) | üst (top) + -ü (possessed suffix) + n (buffer letter) + -de (locative case)
• Literally: The table’s-its top-at
• How Turks hear it: On top of the table

When first learning, I recommend simply memorizing these before you try to break them down like that. With time, following the rules will become habitual.

The “Can” -Ebil Suffix

The -ebil suffix in Turkish is the best way to communicate ability in sentences such as I can go. It follows two-fold vowel harmony, meaning you should use -abil when attaching to verbs that end with a back vowel. If the verb stem ends in a vowel, use a y buffer letter before the suffix. Place this suffix directly after the verb stems with a present tense verb conjugation to express the ability to do something right now:

Turkish	English
Gelebilirim. (gel (verb stem) + ebil + –ir (present tense) + -im (I personal suffix)	I can come.
Yapabilirsin (yap (verb stem) + abil + -ir (present tense) + -sin (you personal suffix)	You can do
Söyleyebilirim (söyle (verb stem) + y (buffer) + ebil + -ir (present tense) + -im (I personal suffix)	I can say
Alabilir miyim? (al (verb stem) + abil + -ir (present tense) + mi (question particle) + y (buffer) + -im (I personal suffix)	Can I have?

I recommend getting familiar with that last example using the verb almak (to take) because you will use it all the time in restaurants while ordering:

• Can we have two teas?
• İki çay alabilir miyiz?

The “With” Suffixes (-Le vs. -Li )

There are two ways to say with in Turkish, and it is easy for English speakers to get confused about their usage. The first way uses a two-fold vowel harmony suffix of -le/-la, and it means doing something together with something else. This suffix is a shortened form of ile, which is a separate Turkish word you can also use to express together with. Since ile is the origin word, you have to use a y buffer letter when attaching to words that end in a vowel:

• Cocuklarla geldik. (We came with children.)
• Cocuklar ile geldik. (We came with children.)
• Arabayla gidiyoruz. (We are going by car.)
• Tatlıyla kahve alabilir miyim? (Can I have some dessert and coffee?)

The second way (-li, -lı, -lu, -lü ) follows four-fold vowel harmony and it means with in the sense of containing something. Besides hearing the different vowel harmony, notice that this suffix does not require a buffer letter. Lastly, these constructions often form entirely new words when you translate them into English:

• Şekerli (with sugar, or sweet)
• Tuzlu (with salt, or salty)
• Acılı (with spice, or spicy)

The “While” and “When” Suffixes

Turkish has two useful suffixes that you can use to express while (-ken) or when (-ince) sentences. Neither contains complex conjugation or information about the person, so these are relatively easy for a beginner to learn. There are some nuances and unexpected rules with these, however, since this is a high-level grammar introduction, let’s skip those details and give a few examples of basic usage:

Turkish	Construction	English
koşarken	koşmak (to run) − mak + -ar (present tense) + -ken (while)	while running
Ben koşarken düştüm.	koş (verb stem) + -ar (present tense) + -ken (while)	I fell while running.
Koşarken mi düştün?	koş (verb stem) + -ar (present tense) + -ken (while) + mi (question particle)	Did you fall while running?
Sen hastayken dışarı çıkma.	hasta (sick) + y (buffer) + -ken (while)	While you are sick, don’t go out.
gelince	gelmek (to come) − mek + -ince (when)	when it comes
Ben gelince	gel (verb stem) + -ince (when)	When I come
Sen başlayınca	başlamak (to start) − mak + y (buffer) + -ınca (when)	When you start

Turkish Verb Tenses

Consider this section a basic introduction to Turkish verb tenses, where I’ll give the conjugations for the four main tenses (simple present, present continuous, past, and future) using some common verbs. As with any language, irregular situations or unexpected rules will eventually arise. However, I think you’ll find Turkish is much more regular than English once you connect to the patterns.

If you keep the grammar rules you read above in mind—consonant mutation, vowel harmony, etc.—most of these should make sense. Lastly, when you add certain verb suffixes to verbs that end in a vowel (for example, the present continuous), they may drop their last vowel. Others, however, use a buffer letter.

Simple Present Tense (Geniş Zaman)

You use the simple present tense (literally the “wide time” in Turkish) to describe habitual action, as opposed to something that is happening at the moment. It is the difference between I am running vs. I run, the latter being a more general statement about your behavior. There are other uses of this tense in Turkish, sometimes to express the future and other times to complete conditional clauses. However, let’s save those for another time!

For now, just know that the simple present suffix is either -r, -er, -ir plus the personal suffix when needed. The rules for these are tricky, some following two-part harmony and others four-part. However, you can always spot this tense with the r in the suffix.

Person	Conjugation	English
Ben	konuşurum	I speak.
Sen	konuşursun	You speak.
O	konuşur	He/She/It speaks.
Biz	konuşuruz	We speak.
Siz	konuşursunuz	You speak. (plural/formal)
Onlar	konuşurlar	They speak.

Present Continuous Tense (Şimdiki Zaman)

You saw a hint of the present continuous tense in the vowel harmony section above, so, you already know that the ending follows four-part harmony rules and is -iyor plus the personal suffix. You usually use this tense to describe events happening right in the moment, and it is equivalent to the -ing ending in English.

Person	Conjugation	English
Ben	geliyorum	I am coming
Sen	geliyorsun	You are coming.
O	geliyor	He/She/It is coming
Biz	geliyoruz	We are coming.
Siz	geliyorsunuz	You are coming. (plural/formal)
Onlar	geliyorlar	They are coming.

Definite Past Tense (Görülen Geçmiş Zaman)

Often called the simple past tense, you use this conjugation to describe past actions that occurred at a specific time. The suffix for this in Turkish is -di or -ti followed by a personal ending. It follows a four-fold vowel harmony. Choose the -ti ending if the last letter of the verb root is a whispered consonant (ç/f/h/k/s/ş/t/p). For example, use geldim for I came but yaptım for I did.

Read these carefully as the pattern might not be what you expect.

Person	Conjugation	English
Ben	yaptım	I did.
Sen	yaptın	You did.
O	yaptı	He/She/It did.
Biz	yaptık	We did.
Siz	yaptınız	You did. (plural/formal)
Onlar	yaptılar	They did.

Future Tense (Gelecek Zaman)

The suffix for the future tense is either -ecek or -acak, following two-part vowel harmony rules. Use a y buffer to prevent back-to-back vowels, and remember to mutate the k to a yumuşak ğ where necessary to follow consonant mutation rules.

Person	Conjugation	English
Ben	gideceğim	I will go.
Sen	gideceksin	You will go.
O	gidecek	He/She/It will go.
Biz	gideceğiz	We will go.
Siz	gideceksiniz	You will go. (plural/formal)
Onlar	gidecekler	They will go.

Some Advanced Grammar in Turkish

For the first few years of learning Turkish, I was regularly humbled when my confident brain encountered the speed of Turkish in real conversations. No matter how confident you feel about grammar rules, they become irrelevant if you are lost in the conversation. For those reasons, I recommend avoiding advanced grammar study until you feel confident with basic conversation skills. For me, learning Turkish was primarily about being able to have conversations anyway.

Plus, as a music performer and teacher, I am convinced that the way we musicians learn complex music is a similar process of building complexity from basic elements. I think the best path for language learning is to similarly focus your time on grammar fundamentals in the beginning, repeating basic patterns until they feel natural.

However, it is definitely fun to be able to express more complex thoughts in a new language, and the reality is that you need more advanced grammar to do that. So, I am including a few advanced grammar concepts in Turkish so that you can at least get a sense of more complex sentence structures.

Conditional Sentences

Can you guess how Turkish forms conditional sentences? That’s right, with a suffix! This suffix is either -se or -sa, following two-part vowel harmony. You may sometimes see the Turkish word Eğer (if) at the beginning of a conditional sentence, however, it is redundant since the suffix already communicates an if meaning.

The easiest way to form a conditional meaning is to put this suffix at the end of your verb conjugation, something called an open conditional or first conditional. After the -se/-sa suffix, you attach a personal suffix according to the following pattern:

Turkish	Construction	English
geliyorsam	gel (verb stem) + -iyor (present continuous) + -sa (if) + -im (I personal ending)	If I am coming
gelirsen	gel (verb stem) + -ir (simple present) + -se (if) + -in (You personal ending)	If you come
alacaksa	al (verb stem) + -acak (future) + sa (if)	If he will take
alabilirsek	al (verb stem) + -abil (can) + -ir (simple present) + -se (if) + -k (We personal ending)	If we can take
gelecekseniz	gel (verb stem) + -ecek (future) + -se (if) + -iniz (You plural/formal personal ending)	If you will come
alırsalar	al (verb stem) + -ır (simple present) + sa (if) + -lar (they personal ending)	If they take

Lastly, like attaching a personal suffix to adjectives in the present tense (for example, hastayım = I am sick), you can attach the se/-sa suffix to any adjective to form a conditional. Just make sure to use a y buffer if the adjective ends in a vowel:

• hastaysam = If I am sick
• üzgünsem = If I am sad
• mutluysan = If you are happy

Subject & Object Participles

If you’re like most people, you speak your home language (probably English) without explicitly knowing the names of the grammar rules you’re following. And, when I began learning Turkish, subject and object participles fit into that category. So, before we explore how to construct these in Turkish, let’s just define what they are.

In short, a participle is when you use a verb to describe a state of being. Said differently, you construct a verb so that it acts like an adjective. As an adjective, this new word will modify a noun to add more detail to a sentence. Here are a few examples, with the italicized words being the participle:

• The laughing baby
• The man who is talking
• The book that I wrote
• The girl who you love

Subject participles (the first two) act as adjectives to the subject of a sentence, in other words, the person doing the action. In the first two examples, the baby was laughing and the man was talking. Object participles, however, put the action onto the word it modifies. In the last two examples, the book received the action of writing, and the girl received the love.

As usual, Turkish uses a suffix to form participles. The subject participle suffix is -en and the object is -dik. Follow two-part harmony rules for subject participles (-en/-an) and four part rules for object participles (-dik, -dık, -duk, -dük). With the -dik suffix, you also need a personal suffix on the end to signify who is doing the action. Don’t worry if you’re confused, let’s translate the English examples above into Turkish to explain it:

English	Turkish	Suffixes	Explanation
The laughing baby	Gülen bebek	-en /-an	The suffix -en made the verb gülmek (to laugh) into an adjective that modifies the baby.
The man who is talking	Konuşan adam	-en /-an	Konuşmak (to talk) + -an ending to follow vowel harmony rules. Subject participles follow 2-part vowel harmony
The book that I wrote	Yazdığım kitap	-dık + -ım (personal suffix)	Think of it like The that I wrote book. Remember consonant mutation changes the k to a ğ when you add a vowel.
The girl who you love	Sevdiğin kız	Sev + -dik + –in (personal suffix)	From English, The who you love girl.

Verb Moods/Types of Verbs

In this last section, I wanted to introduce you to some patterns you will eventually start noticing in how Turkish verbs are formed. Once you start getting the hang of these, you will find yourself speaking new formations of a verb that you did not even formally learn. Of course, there are exceptions, meaning you can’t use the pattern for every verb. However, knowing these basic concepts will give you much more nuance when speaking Turkish.

Verb Mood	Suffix	Verb	Example
Subjunctive	Ben: Verb stem + -eyim/-ayım Biz: Verb stem + -elim/-alım	gelmek (to come)	geleyim (let me come) gelelim (let us come)
Passive	Verb stem + -il/-ıl/-ul/-ül + -mek/-mak	satmak (to sell) getirmek (to bring)	satılmak (to be sold) getirilmek (to be taken)
Cooperative	Verb stem + -iş/-ış/-uş/-üş + -mek/-mak	bulmak (to find) anlamak (to understand)	buluşmak (to meet (to find each other)) anlaşmak (to agree (to understand each other))
Causative	Verb stem + -dir/-dır/-dur/-dür + -mek/-mak (Use -tir/-tır/-tur/-tür if attaching to a whispered consonant)	kanmak (to get fooled) gelişmek (to develop)(passive)	kandırmak (to fool) geliştirmek (to develop something)(causative)

I used to practice by building chains of new verbs adding some of these verb mood suffixes. Remember, these do not always follow the expected rules, and you will sometimes see a verb suffix that does not necessarily have the meaning you think. However, as a general rule, they are shortcuts to quickly increasing your Turkish verb vocabulary. Here is an example:

• gerçek (real/true) (adjective)
• gerçeklemek (to authenticate/verify) (verb)
• gerçekleşmek (to come true)
• gerçekleştirmek (to make real) (causative)
• gerçekleştirilmek (to be realized) (passive)

Turkish Grammar Books

In case you prefer more of a typical textbook style of grammar study, here are a few of the most popular grammar books for the Turkish language:

• Turkish Grammar in Practice by Yusuf Buz
• Turkish Grammar by Geoffrey Lewis (Second Edition)
• Elementary Turkish (Dover Language Guides) by Lewis V. Thomas (Author), Norman Itzkowitz (Editor)
• Türk Dili Grameri by Robert Underhill

Conclusion

If you made it this far, congratulations and tebrikler! There’s no doubt that learning grammar is the hardest part of taking on a new language. And, even though Turkish grammar rules are fairly consistent, features new to English speakers such as agglutination, vowel harmony, consonant mutation, and grammatical cases can take a long time to master.

I encourage you to bookmark this page and check in from time to time as I will continually link out to new lessons that go deeper on each grammar concept crucial for Turkish learning. Lastly, if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch with me at: [email protected]

Kolay gelsin!!

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