English can add “that” before a complete statement. Turkish often reshapes that statement instead: compare “You are drinking tea” with Ben senin çay içtiğini biliyorum. The person drinking and the person who knows have separate markers. This B1 comparison practises present and past statements with -dik; future clauses are outside its scope.
The idea
Keep the embedded message together: senin çay içtiğini is what I know. Its subject is genitive (senin), and its verb has a nominalizing suffix, a possessive ending for that subject, then the case required by the main verb. The possessive marks a person here, not ownership of tea. Compare içtiğini for you with içtiğimi for me; biliyorum still means I know. Bilmek takes the accusative here, while inanmak takes the dative: uyuduğunu biliyorum versus uyuduğuna inanıyorum. The -dik construction can refer to the present or past; dün makes the sleeping example past. Follow the linked suffix pages for the forms.
| Separate statement | Embedded clause | Complete sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Sen çay içiyorsun. | senin çay içtiğini | Ben senin çay içtiğini biliyorum. |
| Ben kahve içiyorum. | benim kahve içtiğimi | Sen benim kahve içtiğimi biliyorsun. |
| Çocuk dün erken uyudu. | çocuğun dün erken uyuduğuna | Çocuğun dün erken uyuduğuna inanıyorum. |
Examples
- Ben senin çay içtiğini biliyorum.I know that you are drinking tea.
- Sen benim kahve içtiğimi biliyorsun.You know that I am drinking coffee.
- Biz onun burada çalıştığını biliyoruz.We know that they work here.
- Çocuğun dün erken uyuduğunu biliyorum.I know that the child went to sleep early yesterday.
- Çocuğun dün erken uyuduğuna inanıyorum.I believe that the child went to sleep early yesterday.
- Senin her gün yürüdüğünü biliyorum.I know that you walk every day.
- Onun her gün yürüdüğünü biliyorum.I know that they walk every day.
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Watch out
Do not choose the embedded possessive from the person who knows: in Ben senin çay içtiğini biliyorum, you drink, so içtiğimi would change the drinker to me. Also, yürüdüğünü alone can refer to you or to a third person; senin and onun resolve that ambiguity. Turkish also uses clauses with ki, but inserting it mechanically is not how this noun-like construction works.
Try it yourself
Complete: I know that you are drinking tea.
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içtiğini
içtiğini: senin identifies you as the drinker. In iç-tiğ-in-i, -in agrees with you and the final -i makes the clause the object of knowing; ç gives t, and k softens to ğ before the vowel.
Complete: You know that I am drinking coffee.
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içtiğimi
içtiğimi: the coffee drinker is me, even though you are the one who knows. The -im in iç-tiğ-im-i preserves that first-person subject; the last -i marks the object.
Complete: I believe that the child went to sleep early yesterday.
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uyuduğuna
uyuduğuna: inanıyorum requires the dative, so use uyuduğu-n-a. The n links the third-person possessive form to the case ending; uyuduğunu would fit biliyorum instead.
Replace o with the form needed for: We know that they work here.
Show answer or example answer
onun
onun: the worker is the subject inside the embedded clause, so o becomes genitive onun. The main subject remains we, expressed by biliyoruz; onun does not specify gender.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Complete: I know that you are drinking tea.
Complete: You know that I am drinking coffee.
Complete: I believe that the child went to sleep early yesterday.
Replace o with the form needed for: We know that they work here.
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 two sentences about who drinks tea or coffee: first say that you know, then make someone else the knower. Underline the drinker and the matching possessive ending. Finally change the sleeping example from knowing to believing and check its case on the linked suffix pages.