You will say who you do something with and how you travel or work, using ile or its attached form, and you will join two names with ile.
The idea
ile means “together with” or “by means of”: arkadaşımla, otobüsle, kalemle. It is usually attached as -le or -la, following the last vowel of the word (e after e i ö ü, a after a ı o u), and after a vowel it takes a y: arabayla, kediyle. Written apart, ile is the same word, and between two nouns it means “and”: Ayşe ile Ali. With pronouns the stem changes: benimle, seninle, onunla, bizimle, sizinle, onlarla.
| Use | Turkish | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| with a person | arkadaşımla | with my friend |
| by vehicle | otobüsle | by bus |
| with a tool | kalemle | with a pen |
| and between nouns | Ayşe ile Ali | Ayşe and Ali |
| with a pronoun | benimle | with me |
| having, wearing (not ile) | şapkalı | with a hat, wearing a hat |
Examples
- Ben arkadaşımla sinemaya gidiyorum.I am going to the cinema with my friend.The ending -la is attached to arkadaşım (my friend). The pronoun ben may be dropped: Arkadaşımla sinemaya gidiyorum.
- Her gün otobüsle okula gidiyorum.I go to school by bus every day.
- Ayşe ile Ali bahçede oynuyorlar.Ayşe and Ali are playing in the garden.Here ile stands apart and joins two names like 'and'. The verb takes the plural -lar because two people act.
- Annem benimle konuşuyor.My mother is talking with me.The pronoun changes before the ending: ben becomes benimle, not benle. The same happens with seninle, onunla, bizimle, sizinle and onlarla.
- Şapkalı adam geliyor.The man with the hat is coming.Here 'with' means wearing, so Turkish uses -lı (having), not ile. Şapkayla adam would be a man 'by means of' a hat.
- arabaylaby cararabayla-le / -la: with, by means of
- uçaklaby planeuçakla-le / -la: with, by means of
- kalemlewith a penkalemle-le / -la: with, by means of
- kediylewith the catkediyle-le / -la: with, by means of
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Watch out
English “with” also means “having” or “wearing”, but ile never does. “The man with the hat” is şapkalı adam, with -lı; şapkayla adam would mean a man who uses a hat as a tool. Also, ile joins nouns and pronouns, not adjectives: “big and new” is büyük ve yeni.
Try it yourself
Attach ile to tren (train): by train.
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trenle / tren ile
trenle: tren ends in a consonant and its last vowel e is a front vowel, so -le follows and no y is needed.
Attach ile to araba (car): by car.
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arabayla / araba ile
arabayla: araba ends in a vowel, so a y separates the two vowels, and the back vowel a gives -yla.
Say 'with me': ben + ile.
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benimle
benimle: with ben the ending sits on the longer stem benim, which is why benle is not the standard form.
Attach ile to çocuk (child): with the child.
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çocukla / çocuk ile
çocukla: the last vowel u is a back vowel, so the ending is -la, and the final k does not soften to ğ, because that happens only before a vowel and -la begins with l.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Attach ile to tren (train): by train.
trenle / tren ile
Attach ile to araba (car): by car.
arabayla / araba ile
Say 'with me': ben + ile.
Attach ile to çocuk (child): with the child.
çocukla / çocuk ile
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: by car
Tap the parts in order to build this word: by plane
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Write three sentences: who you go somewhere with, how you travel there, and what two people do together. Underline each ile and check the vowel of the ending.