Purpose in Turkish: cases and possession

The idea

With amaç, a vowel directly after the stem changes ç to c: amacı, amaca, amacım. A consonant leaves ç in place: amaçlar, amaçta, amaçtan. The table gives this noun’s case and possessive forms. In projenin amacı, the final -ı marks possession; as an object this becomes projenin amacını. With an action, yeniden kullanmak amacıyla means “with the aim of reusing”.

Examples

• Ekip ortak amacı tartışıyor.The team is discussing the shared goal.
• Bu amaca birlikte ulaşabiliriz.We can achieve this goal together.
• Bu amaçtan asla vazgeçmeyeceğiz.We will never give up this goal.
• Projenin amacı, eski eşyaları yeniden kullanmak.The purpose of the project is to reuse old items.
• Toplantıda projenin amacını ayrıntılı biçimde açıkladık.At the meeting, we explained the purpose of the project in detail.
• Amaçlarımız aynı, fakat yöntemlerimiz farklı.Our goals are the same, but our methods are different.
• Bu atölyeyi çocukların merakını artırmak amacıyla düzenledik.We organised this workshop to stimulate children’s curiosity.

Watch out

Do not treat every amacı as an accusative. In Amacı açıkladık, it is the purpose we explained; in Projenin amacı açık, it means the project’s purpose. To explain that project’s purpose, keep the possessive ending and add the object marking: Projenin amacını açıkladık.

Try it yourself

1. Complete with the correct form of amaç: reaching this goal will take time. Bu ___ ulaşmak zaman alacak. (amaç)

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   amaca

   amaca: ulaşmak takes the dative for the goal reached. Here the ending begins with a vowel, so the stem ends in c.

2. Complete with the correct form of amaç: we do not want to give up this goal. Bu ___ vazgeçmek istemiyoruz. (amaç)

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   amaçtan

   amaçtan: vazgeçmek marks what is given up with the ablative. After ç, the ending begins with t; the stem keeps ç.

3. Complete with the correct form of amaç: the author explains the book’s purpose in the preface. Yazar, kitabının ___ ön sözde açıklıyor. (amaç)

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   amacını

   amacını: kitabının supplies the owner. The book’s purpose needs both possession and accusative marking because the author explains it: amacı + n + ı.

4. Write “our purposes”: make amaç plural and add the possessive ending for “our”.

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   amaçlarımız

   amaçlarımız: the requested form names several purposes belonging to us. Add the plural before the possessive: amaç + lar + ımız; no case ending is needed here.

Use it today

Invent a small community project. State its purpose, say how you could achieve it, and report how you explained it to someone. Use amacı, amaca and amacını in separate sentences.