anne: mother, my mother, to her mother

The idea

Anne ends in a vowel, so its endings need a joining letter. The accusative and the dative take y: anneyi, anneye. The genitive takes n: annenin. The locative and the ablative need none: annede, anneden. The possessives are annem, annen and annesi, and after annesi every case ending takes n: annesini, annesine, annesinden.

Examples

• Annem bugün bize geliyor.My mother is coming to our place today.
• Annemi her gün arıyorum.I call my mother every day.The verb ara- (to call) takes a direct object, so annem gets the accusative: annemi. Turkish does not say 'call to'.
• Ayşe annesine çiçek aldı.Ayşe bought flowers for her mother.After the possessive ending -si the dative adds a joining n: annesine. A plain anneye would not say whose mother it is.
• annemdenfrom my motheranne·m-im / -ım / -um / -üm / -m: my·den-den / -dan / -ten / -tan: from, out of
• annelerimizour mothersanne·ler-ler / -lar: the plural suffix·imiz-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: ourThe plural -ler comes first, then the possessive -imiz: anne·ler·imiz.
• anneyeto the motheranne·ye-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towardsAnne ends in a vowel, so the dative -e needs a joining y: anneye.
• Annenin telefonu masada.Your mother's phone is on the table.Annenin can also mean 'the mother's', because anne+nin and annen+in come out the same. The context decides.
• Annen nerede?Where is your mother?Annen is the informal 'your'. With someone you address formally, or with several people, say Anneniz nerede?
• Bu hafta sonu annemde kalıyorum.This weekend I am staying at my mother's.The locative of a person means 'at that person's place': annemde needs no word for house.

Watch out

After -si the joining letter is n, not y: annesine, never annesiye. And anne is a common noun, so it takes no apostrophe: anneye, not anne'ye.

Try it yourself

1. Add the accusative to anne (mother): I see the mother.

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   anneyi

   anneyi: anne ends in a vowel, so the accusative inserts a y, and the front vowel e gives -i.

2. Say 'my mother' in the dative: At the weekend I go to my mother.

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   anneme

   anneme: annem ends in the consonant m, so the dative needs no joining letter; the front vowel e gives -e.

3. Say 'your mother' in the ablative: This letter came from your mother.

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   annenden

   annenden: annen ends in the voiced consonant n, so the ending starts with d, and the front vowel e gives -den.

4. Say 'his mother' in the dative: Ali helps his mother.

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   annesine

   annesine: after the possessive -si the dative adds a joining n: annesi + n + e.

Use it today

Write four sentences about a mother, yours or an invented one: one with the accusative, one with the dative, one with the locative and one with the ablative. Circle each joining letter.