You will say where something goes or who gets it: choose the vowel, add y after a vowel and soften the final consonant when needed.
The idea
The dative marks the goal or the receiver: eve, okula, Ankara'ya. The vowel is e after e i ö ü and a after a ı o u. After a word that ends in a vowel a buffer y is inserted, so the ending is -ye or -ya: kediye, arabaya. After a consonant there is no y: okula, eve.
| Last vowel | Suffix after a consonant | Example | Suffix after a vowel | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | -a | pazara | -ya | masaya |
| ı | -a | sınıfa | -ya | kapıya |
| o | -a | yola | -ya | radyoya |
| u | -a | okula | -ya | suya |
| e | -e | eve | -ye | perdeye |
| i | -e | dişe | -ye | kediye |
| ö, ü | -e | göze, güne | -ye | ütüye |
Examples
- Yarın İstanbul'a gidiyoruz.We are going to Istanbul tomorrow.İstanbul ends in a consonant, so the plain -a is enough and no y is inserted. The pronoun biz can be left out, because the ending of gidiyoruz already says 'we'.
- Babam kediye süt veriyor.Dad is giving the cat some milk.Kedi ends in a vowel, so the buffer y comes first: kediye. The dative also marks who receives something, not only where you go.
- Çocuklar okula koşuyor.The children are running to school.
- evlerimizeto our housesevler-ler / -lar: the plural suffiximiz-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: oure-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
- kitaplarınato his or her bookskitaplar-ler / -lar: the plural suffixı-i / -si: his, her, itsnBuffer -n-: evinde, evinden, evinea-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
- çantamato my bagçantam-im / -ım / -um / -üm / -m: mya-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
- Ankara'yato AnkaraAnkara'ya-e / -a / -ye / -ya: to, towards
- kitabato the bookThe final p of kitap softens to b before a vowel: kitaba, never kitapa.
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Watch out
Two things usually go wrong. After a vowel the y cannot be left out: arabaya, not arabaa. And a final consonant often softens before the vowel: kitap becomes kitaba, ağaç becomes ağaca, çocuk becomes çocuğa; one-syllable words such as at usually stay hard: ata.
Try it yourself
Add the dative to araba (car): to the car.
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arabaya
arabaya: araba ends in the vowel a, so a y is inserted, and the back vowel a gives -ya.
Add the dative to kitap (book): to the book.
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kitaba
kitaba: the last vowel a gives -a, and the p now stands between vowels, so it softens to b.
Add the dative to İstanbul (city): to Istanbul.
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İstanbul'a
İstanbul'a: the proper name takes an apostrophe; the word ends in the consonant l, so there is no y, and the back vowel u gives -a.
Add the dative to çocuk (child): to the child.
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çocuğa
çocuğa: the final k of a longer word turns into ğ before a vowel, and the back vowel u gives -a.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Add the dative to araba (car): to the car.
Add the dative to kitap (book): to the book.
Add the dative to İstanbul (city): to Istanbul.
Add the dative to çocuk (child): to the child.
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: to our houses
Tap the parts in order to build this word: to his or her books
Keep your progress
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Write three sentences about places you go this week. Underline each dative and check whether the word ends in a vowel (y needed) or in p, ç, t or k (softening).