Turkish grammar · A1 · Lesson 26 of 29
Turkish Possessive Suffixes: -im, -in, -i
İyelik Ekleri
Whose it is: evim, evin, evi
Whose something is goes on the noun as an ending: ev → evim (my house), evin (your house), evi (his or her house). The owner pronoun (benim, senin, onun) may come first, but the ending is what carries the meaning: Evim küçük.
Six endings, one per person: -im, -in, -i, -imiz, -iniz, -leri. Their vowel follows four-way harmony: evim, kızım, okulum, gözüm.
After a vowel the endings for ben, sen, biz and siz lose their own vowel (araba → arabam, araban, arabamız, arabanız) and the third person takes the s bridge (arabası). A case ending after the third person needs the n bridge: arabasında.
The rule
The six endings
- ben-(i)m
evim, arabam
- sen-(i)n
evin, araban
- o-(s)i
evi, arabası
- biz-(i)miz
evimiz, arabamız
- siz-(i)niz
eviniz, arabanız
- onlar-leri
evleri, arabaları
Form
The six persons
Person
my house
your house
his or her house
our house
your house (plural)
their house
Harmony of the "my" ending (-im)
Last vowel
my daughter
my house
my school
my eye
After a vowel
Person
my car
your car
his or her car
our car
your car (plural)
their car
Watch out
The s bridge after a vowel in the third person
When the noun ends in a vowel, an s comes in before the third-person -i: araba + ı → arabası, not arabaı. Compare okul → okulu (no vowel before, so no s) with araba → arabası. The full rule is in Kaynaştırma Harfleri.
Watch out
An n between the third-person ending and a case ending
After the third-person ending, an n comes in before a case ending: evi → evinde ("in his house"), evine ("to his house"); arabası → arabasında. Never evide or arabasıda.
Good to know
evleri: "their house" or "his houses"
-leri does double duty: onlar’s possession ("their house") or the plural of o’s possession ("his houses"). Only context tells them apart.
Watch out
Some nouns lose their last vowel
Before an ending that starts with a vowel, some nouns drop their last vowel: ağız → ağzım ("my mouth"), burun → burnum ("my nose"), şehir → şehrim ("my city"), oğul → oğlum ("my son"). It stays before an ending that starts with a consonant: şehirler.
Examples
Benim adım Ayşe.
My name is Ayşe.
Onun arabası kırmızı.
His car is red.
Evimiz okula yakın.
Our house is near the school.
Anneniz nerede?
Where is your mother?
Kedim uyuyor.
My cat is sleeping.
Öğretmenimiz çok iyi.
Our teacher is very good.
First speaker:Telefonun nerede?
Second speaker:Çantamda.
Where is your phone? In my bag.
Cheat sheet
- benim-(i)m
- senin-(i)n
- onun-(s)i
- bizim-(i)miz
- sizin-(i)niz
- onların-leri