Relational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki

The idea

The suffix -ki never changes with vowel harmony. It follows the locative (evdeki, Ankara'daki), a time word (yarınki, akşamki) or a genitive (benimki, Ali'ninki). The only variants are dünkü and bugünkü, written with -kü. Before a noun it describes: evdeki çocuklar. Without a noun it stands for one: evdekiler. After a genitive the word means 'the one that belongs to': benimki, and a case ending then needs the buffer n: benimkini.

Examples

• Ben dünkü filmi beğenmedim.I did not like yesterday's film.
• Senin telefonun masada, benimki çantada.Your phone is on the table, mine is in the bag.Benimki stands for benim telefonum, so the noun is not repeated.
• Annem bugünkü toplantıya gelmiyor.My mother is not coming to today's meeting.Only dün and bugün take -kü instead of -ki: dünkü, bugünkü.
• evdekilerthe ones at homeev·de-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on·kiRelational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki·ler-ler / -lar: the plural suffix
• Ankara'dakiwhat is in AnkaraAnkara·'da-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on·kiRelational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki
• masamızdakiwhat is on our tablemasa·mız-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: our·da-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on·kiRelational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki
• Ayşe'ninkiniAyşe's one (as object)Ayşe·'nin-in / -ın / -un / -ün: of, ’s (the genitive)·kiRelational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki·ni-i / -ı / -u / -ü: marking the definite objectAfter -ki a case ending needs the buffer n: -ki + n + i. Here -ni marks the object.
• yanındakiwhat is beside ityan·ı-i / -si: his, her, its·nBuffer -n-: evinde, evinden, evine·da-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on·kiRelational -ki: evdeki, bugünkü, benimki
• Yukarıdaki odada kimse yok.There is nobody in the room upstairs.Yukarıda already means 'upstairs'; -ki makes it a describing word before the noun.

Watch out

A word with -ki describes a noun, so it cannot replace the locative as the predicate: say Annem evde, not Annem evdeki. And -ki never goes on a bare place: evdeki, not evki. It is also not the separate word ki of Biliyorum ki o gelecek.

Try it yourself

1. Add the locative and -ki to mutfak (kitchen): The water in the kitchen is cold.

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   mutfaktaki

   mutfaktaki: mutfak ends in the voiceless k, so the locative is -ta, and -ki follows unchanged.

2. Add -ki to bugün (today): Today's newspaper is on the table.

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   bugünkü

   bugünkü: this one word takes -kü, not -ki.

3. Say 'mine' with -ki: This bag is mine.

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   benimki

   benimki: -ki joins the genitive benim and already means 'the one that is mine', so the noun is not repeated.

4. Say 'Ali's' with -ki: This phone is Ali's.

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   Ali'ninki

   Ali'ninki: the apostrophe follows the name, Ali ends in a vowel so the genitive is -nin, and then comes -ki.

Use it today

Write three sentences: one about something in your room, one about today or yesterday, and one saying whose something is. Use -ki in each.