A staircase has several steps, but merdiven can name the whole structure in the singular. It can also mean a ladder; here the examples concern stairs in buildings.
The idea
The stem stays intact: merdivene, merdivende, merdivenler. Its final vowel gives front-vowel endings. Compare Merdiveni temizliyoruz (we clean the staircase) with binanın merdiveni (the building’s staircase): the first -i marks the object, the second possession. A case after this possessive form takes n: binanın merdiveninde.
| Form | Use / meaning |
|---|---|
| merdiven | Staircase; bare form |
| merdiveni | The staircase; definite object |
| merdivene | To the staircase |
| merdivende | On the stairs; location |
| merdivenden | From / down the stairs; ablative |
| merdivenin | Of the staircase; genitive |
| merdivenler | Staircases; plural |
| merdivenim | My staircase |
| merdivenin | Your staircase; singular informal |
| merdiveni | His/her/its staircase |
| merdivenimiz | Our staircase |
| merdiveniniz | Your staircase; plural or polite |
| onların merdiveni / onların merdivenleri | Their staircase(s); number depends on context |
| merdiveninde | On his/her/its staircase |
| merdivenlerimizden | From our staircases |
Examples
- Biz merdiveni birlikte temizliyoruz.We are cleaning the staircase together.
- Çocuklar merdivende sessizce bekliyor.The children are waiting quietly on the stairs.
- Bu merdivenden her gün iniyoruz.We go down these stairs every day.
- Binanın merdiveni oldukça dar.The building’s staircase is quite narrow.
- Bizim merdivenimiz on iki basamaklı.Our staircase has twelve steps.
- Merdivenin son basamağı kırık.The last step of the staircase is broken.
- merdivenindeon his/her/its staircasemerdiveni-i / -si: his, her, itsnBuffer -n-: evinde, evinden, evinede-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on
- merdivenlerimizdenfrom our staircasesmerdivenler-ler / -lar: the plural suffiximiz-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: ourden-den / -dan / -ten / -tan: from, out of
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Watch out
Do not count individual steps with merdiven: use basamak, as in on iki basamak. Merdivenler is a real plural and can also refer to the stairs collectively, so do not treat every occurrence as several separate staircases. Context decides.
Try it yourself
Write the whole word: We clean this staircase every morning.
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merdiveni
merdiveni: the staircase pointed out by bu is the specific thing being cleaned. The final -i marks a definite object here; it does not mean “his/her”.
Complete with the ablative: We are going down the stairs slowly.
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merdivenden
merdivenden: with inmek, the ablative identifies the route down. Merdivende would only locate the action on the stairs, without marking that route.
Keep the possessive ending: A cat is waiting on the building’s staircase.
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merdiveninde
merdiveninde: binanın names the possessor, so keep the possessive -i, add linking n, then -de for the cat’s location.
Write “our staircases” as one word.
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merdivenlerimiz
merdivenlerimiz: more than one staircase requires -ler, and ownership by us adds -imiz. Bizim makes the possessor explicit but does not replace the ending.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Write the whole word: We clean this staircase every morning.
Complete with the ablative: We are going down the stairs slowly.
Keep the possessive ending: A cat is waiting on the building’s staircase.
Write “our staircases” as one word.
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: on his/her/its staircase
Tap the parts in order to build this word: from our staircases
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Describe a staircase in three sentences: where someone waits, whose staircase it is, and how many steps it has. Then make one phrase with “our staircases”.