Tarih names history as a subject or a past, but also a calendar date. You will use the surrounding words to choose the meaning and keep possession visible when adding a case ending.
The idea
The stem keeps its h: tarihi, tarihe, tarihim. Its final vowel gives front-vowel endings; the voiceless h gives tarihte and tarihten. History as a field is normally singular; tarihler often means calendar dates. In kasabanın tarihi (the town’s history), the final -i marks possession. A following case gives kasabanın tarihini or kasabanın tarihinden.
| Form | Use |
|---|---|
| tarih | base: history / date |
| tarihi | accusative: specified object |
| tarihe | dative |
| tarihte | locative |
| tarihten | ablative |
| tarihin | genitive |
| tarihler | plural: histories / dates |
| tarihim | my history / date |
| tarihin | your history / date (singular) |
| tarihi | his / her / its history or date |
| tarihimiz | our history / date |
| tarihiniz | your history / date (plural or polite) |
| tarihleri | their history / date (possessive reading) |
| tarihini | its history as object (e.g. a town’s) |
| tarihinden | from its history (e.g. a town’s) |
| tarihimizi | our history as object |
Examples
- Ben tarihe ilgi duyuyorum.I am interested in history.
- Bugün tarihleri yeniden kontrol edelim.Let’s check the dates again today.
- Bu sergi tarihimizi anlatıyor.This exhibition tells our history.
- Kasabanın tarihini eski mektuplardan öğreniyoruz.We are learning the town’s history from old letters.
- Kasabanın tarihinden ilginç bir olay seçtik.We chose an interesting event from the town’s history.
- Tarihte bazı sorular cevapsız kalır.Some questions in history remain unanswered.
- Toplantı için iki tarih önerdiler.They suggested two dates for the meeting.
- Toplantının tarihi henüz belli değil.The date of the meeting is not yet clear.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Turkish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No Turkish device voice is available. You can still read the text.
Watch out
Do not treat every tarihi as an accusative. In Toplantının tarihi değişti, it belongs to the subject: the meeting’s date changed. In Toplantının tarihini değiştirdik, the date is the object, so the possessive form needs -n-i. Without context, tarihleri can also be ambiguous: dates as an object, or their history.
Try it yourself
Write the locative of tarih: in history.
Show answer or example answer
tarihte
tarihte: “in history” needs the locative; the final h requires t, and the last vowel i selects e.
Complete with tarih: We are researching the town’s history.
Show answer or example answer
tarihini
tarihini: kasabanın establishes the owner, so keep the possessive -i and add -n-i for the thing being researched.
Use the plural of tarih: Let’s compare the proposed dates.
Show answer or example answer
tarihleri
tarihleri: several proposed dates are being compared; -ler makes the plural and -i marks those specified dates as the object.
Complete with tarih: These documents tell our history.
Show answer or example answer
tarihimizi
tarihimizi: bizim identifies us as the possessors. The documents describe our history, so tarihimiz also needs the object ending -i.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Write the locative of tarih: in history.
Complete with tarih: We are researching the town’s history.
Use the plural of tarih: Let’s compare the proposed dates.
Complete with tarih: These documents tell our history.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
Sign up for free to save your practice results in your account.
Sign up to saveI already have an accountUse it today
Write one sentence about a town’s history and one about proposed meeting dates. Then make “our history” the object of a sentence. Mark the possessive and case endings separately.