Vehicles in Turkish: getting around town

The idea

To say how you travel, add -le or -la to the vehicle name: otobüsle, trenle, uçakla. After a vowel a y comes first: taksiyle, arabayla, metroyla. To board, binmek wants the dative -e/-a (otobüse biniyorum); to get off, inmek wants the ablative -den/-dan (otobüsten iniyorum). Written apart, otobüs ile means the same.

Examples

• Ben okula otobüsle gidiyorum.I go to school by bus.The suffix -le/-la means by or with: otobüs + le = otobüsle, by bus.
• Her sabah vapura biniyorum.Every morning I take the ferry.Boarding takes the dative: vapur + a = vapura, not vapuru.
• Babam işe arabayla gidiyor.My father goes to work by car.araba ends in a vowel, so a y comes before the suffix: arabayla.
• Tren Ankara'dan saat beşte kalkıyor.The train leaves Ankara at five o'clock.A train leaves from a place, so kalkmak takes the ablative: Ankara'dan. The time takes the locative: beşte.
• Bu durakta otobüsten iniyoruz.We get off the bus at this stop.Leaving takes the ablative: otobüs + ten = otobüsten, because s is voiceless.
• taksiyleby taxi
• bisikletleby bicycle
• Metro çok hızlı ama kalabalık.The metro is very fast but crowded.

Watch out

Do not carry the travel ending into a boarding sentence: otobüsle gidiyorum means I go by bus, but I board the bus is otobüse biniyorum. Also, softening is not automatic: uçak becomes uçağa, while bisiklete and motosiklete keep their t.

Try it yourself

1. Write the complete vehicle word or phrase: My mother goes to work by metro.

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   metroyla / metro ile

   metroyla: metro ends in the vowel o, so a y comes first, and the back vowel gives -la. metro ile is also correct: writing ile separately expresses the same means of transport.

2. Write the complete vehicle word or phrase: I take the bus every day (I board it).

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   otobüse

   otobüse: boarding takes the dative; the last vowel ü is front, so -e.

3. Write the complete vehicle word or phrase: Tomorrow we board the plane.

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   uçağa

   uçağa: the final k softens to ğ before the vowel, and the back vowel a gives -a.

4. Write the complete vehicle word or phrase: Ali gets off the tram.

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   tramvaydan

   tramvaydan: getting off takes the ablative; y is voiced, so d, and the back vowel a gives -dan.

Use it today

Write four sentences about how you get to school or work: two with -le/-la, one with binmek and one with inmek.