Start with familiar Brazilian Portuguese phrases: “na escola”, “para a escola” and “para as crianças”. Turkish expresses these relationships at the end of the noun or with a word after it. First decide what the phrase means.
The idea
In these place phrases, Turkish attaches the relationship to the noun: “na escola” → okulda, “para a escola” → okula, “da escola” → okuldan. For a beneficiary, “para as crianças” becomes çocuklar için: için is a separate postposition after the noun. Keep that pair together when moving it in a sentence. With informal singular “você”, learn the whole phrase senin için (for you). The linked suffix and postposition lessons give the fuller patterns.
Examples
- Öğretmen bugün okulda.The teacher is at school today.
- Bugün okula yürüyorum.I am walking to school today.
- Çocuklar okuldan geliyor.The children are coming from school.
- Bu çorba çocuklar için.This soup is for the children.
- Kediler için su getiriyorum.I am bringing water for the cats.
- Bu kahve senin için.This coffee is for you.
- Ders için defter alıyorum.I am buying a notebook for the lesson.
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Watch out
Portuguese “para” has more than one job. For a walk to school, use okula yürüyorum, not okul için yürüyorum: the latter means walking for the sake of the school, not naming it as the destination. Do not turn “para as crianças” into için çocuklar; the correct order is çocuklar için.
Try it yourself
Write “at school” using okul: the teacher is there today.
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okulda
okulda: the teacher is located at school; no destination is expressed. The last vowel of okul is back and the final consonant is voiced, so this word takes -da.
Write “to school” using okul: school is the destination of the walk.
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okula
okula: the walk has school as its destination. The dative marks that goal; için would instead suggest a purpose or beneficiary.
Write “from school” using okul: the children are coming from there.
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okuldan
okuldan: school is the starting point of the children’s journey. The ending adds the “from” meaning; okulda would place them at school.
Write “for the children” using çocuklar and için: the soup is intended for them.
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çocuklar için
çocuklar için: the children are the intended recipients of the soup. Put için after the whole plural noun and leave a space; it is not a suffix.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Write “at school” using okul: the teacher is there today.
Write “to school” using okul: school is the destination of the walk.
Write “from school” using okul: the children are coming from there.
Write “for the children” using çocuklar and için: the soup is intended for them.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Write one sentence about where you are, one about where you are going, and one about whom a drink is for. Give each a Portuguese translation, then circle the Turkish ending or postposition.