Attitude in the voice: doubt, irony and courtesy
A compliment can carry a complaint: explore Turkish doubt, irony, courtesy and surprise through paired readings of the same words, with no recording attached.
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Syllable meter: counting a Turkish verse line
Seven syllables can carry several stresses. Count original Turkish verse lines, find a pause between words, and distinguish syllable meter from a rigid beat.
Read and practise-ler / -lar: the plural suffix
Two shapes, one slot: -ler and -lar differ by a single vowel, and the plural always sits right after the noun, before our, your and case endings, as in evlerimizde.
Read and practise-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on
Learn the Turkish locative suffix in all four shapes, -de, -da, -te and -ta, how the last vowel and last sound choose one, and why it is Ankara'da with an apostrophe.
Read and practise-den / -dan / -ten / -tan: from, out of
Say where you come from in Turkish. The ablative suffix has four shapes, and after his, her or its it adds an n: evinden, not evden.
Read and practise-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
Where does -e or -a go, when does a y appear, and why does kitap become kitaba? A guide to the Turkish dative for goals and receivers.
Read and practise-i / -ı / -u / -ü: marking the definite object
Turkish marks a known, specific object with -i, -ı, -u or -ü. See which of the four fits, when a y or a softened k, p or ç steps in, and when no ending is needed.
Read and practise-in / -ın / -un / -ün: of, ’s (the genitive)
Say whose something is with the genitive: Ali'nin, çocuğun, kapının. Four shapes, the buffer n after a vowel, and why the thing owned needs an ending of its own.
Read and practise-im / -ım / -um / -üm / -m: my
Turn ev into evim and araba into arabam: which of five endings follows the last vowel, why vowel-final nouns take only -m, and how kitap becomes kitabım.
Read and practise-in / -ın / -un / -ün: your (evin, araban)
Say your house, your car, your mother in Turkish: the four -in/-ın/-un/-ün shapes after a consonant, the short -n after a vowel, and kitap becoming kitabın.
Read and practise-i / -si: his, her, its
Why is it evi but arabası? Learn the third-person possessive in all eight shapes, when a final consonant softens (kitap, kitabı), and why his and her are the same.
Read and practise-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: our
Learn how Turkish says our: the suffix -imiz and its seven other shapes, chosen by the last vowel and by whether the noun ends in a vowel, as in evimiz and arabamız.
Read and practise-ınız / -iniz / -unuz / -ünüz: your (plural, polite)
Say eviniz, arabanız, kitaplarınız: the ending for your when you address several people or one person politely, with its eight shapes and the vowel it drops after a vowel.
Read and practise-leri / -ları: their house, their car
Evleri, arabaları, kitapları: how the Turkish ending for “their” chooses -leri or -ları, why p, ç, t, k stay hard, and why evleri can also mean one person's houses.
Read and practiseBuffer -n-: evinde, evinden, evine
Learn why Turkish inserts n between the his/her possessive and a case suffix (evi + de = evinde), and why it never appears after my, our or your.
Read and practiseBuffer -y-: the y that joins vowels
Arabaya and kapıyı, not arabaa or kapıı: see where Turkish puts a linking y between a vowel-ending word and -e/-a or -i, and where it never does.
Read and practisebana, sana, ona: pronouns with case endings
How ben, sen and o change before case endings: bana, senden, onu, ona, and why biz and siz stay regular. Includes the full pronoun table.
Read and practiseApostrophes with names: Ankara'da, Ali'nin
Why Turkish writes an apostrophe between a name and its suffix, how the ending is picked, and why Ahmet and Zeynep keep their last letter.
Read and practisemi / mı / mu / mü: the yes-or-no question word
Turn any Turkish statement into a yes-or-no question with mi, mı, mu or mü: which vowel to choose, why it is written apart, and where the person ending goes.
Read and practise-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
Say who or how you are in Turkish with the person endings -im, -sin, -iz and -siniz, with vowel harmony and the buffer y that follows a vowel.
Read and practise-iyor / -ıyor / -uyor / -üyor: happening now
Make the Turkish present continuous: how the vowel before -yor follows the stem, what happens to bekle- and başla-, and why git- turns into gidiyorum.
Read and practise-miyor / -mıyor / -muyor / -müyor: not doing now
Gelmiyorum and never gelmeyorum: see how the negative -me/-ma narrows before -yor, how the stem's last vowel picks it, and where the person ending goes.
Read and practise-di, -dı, -du, -dü, -ti: the past (geldi, yaptı)
Eight shapes of the Turkish past ending: -di, -dı, -du, -dü and their t forms. See how the stem's last vowel and last sound pick one, as in geldi, yaptı and gördü.
Read and practisePast person endings: -m, -n, -k, -niz, -ler
Geldim, geldin, geldi, geldik, geldiniz, geldiler: how the Turkish past tense marks who did it, why he and she get no ending, and where harmony changes -niz and -ler.
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