Turkish Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Turkish grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Turkish and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Turkish and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Turkish.

Prepositions - Turkish
and ve
above yukarısında
under altında
before önce, önünde
after sonra
in front of önünde
behind arkasında
far from uzak
near yakın, yakınında
in içinde
inside içinde
outside dışında, dışarısında
with ile
without olmadan
about hakkında
between arasında
but ama
for için
from itibaren
to ... (y)a

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Turkish
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] Ben bıçak kullanmadan yerim
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] O kilisenin yakınında yaşıyor
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] O, ondan daha uzun
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] O küçük köpeği ile geldi
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] Benimle gelebilirmisiniz?

Negation in Turkish

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Turkish
I understand you [affirmative form] Sizi anlıyorum
I don't understand you [negation + verb] Sizi anlamıyorum
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] bu doğru kelime değil
don't leave me [imperative negation] beni bırakmayın
no problem [negation + noun] sorun yok

Negative Sentences - Turkish
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] Ben Fransızca bilmiyorum
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] O Almanya'ya gitmedi
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] bizi göremez
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] o satranç oynayamıyor mu?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] Biz geç gelmeyeceğiz

Questions in Turkish

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Turkish
how? nasıl?
what? ne?
who? kim?
why? neden?
where? Nerede? Nereye? Nereden? Neresi?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Turkish
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] Siz nerede yaşıyorsunuz?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] O Çince konuşuyor mu?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] Bu ne kadar?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] Size yardım edebilirim?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] Adınız nedir?

Adverbs in Turkish

It's time to learn the adverbs in Turkish. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Turkish
now şimdi
yesterday dün
today bugün
tonight bu gece
tomorrow yarın
soon yakında
quickly hızlı, hızlıca
slowly yavaşça
together birlikte
very çok
almost neredeyse
always her zaman
usually genellikle
sometimes bazen
rarely nadiren
never asla

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Turkish
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] Şimdi beni anlıyor musunuz?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] Hemen yardıma ihtiyacım var
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] o çok zeki
I will always love you [verb + adverb] Seni her zaman seveceğim
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] Birlikte Almanca öğrenebilir miyiz?

Pronouns in Turkish

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Turkish. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Turkish
I ben
you sen, siz
he o
she o
we biz
they onlar

Object Pronouns - Turkish
me beni, bana
you seni, sana / sizi,size
him onu, ona
her onu, ona
us biz, bizi, bize
them onları, onlara

Possessive Pronouns - Turkish
my benim
your senin
his onun
her onun
our bizim
their onların

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Turkish
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] Ben sizin dostunuzum
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] Çok hızlı konuşuyorsunuz
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] onun üç köpeği var
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] o Almanca konuşabilir
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] Geç gelmeyeceğiz
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] Süt ve ekmek aldılar

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Turkish
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] Bana adınızı söyleyebilir misiniz?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] Size para vereceğim
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ona bir mektup yazdı
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] Onlar dün onu ziyaret etti
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] o bize yardımcı olabilir mi?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] O, onlara yiyecek verdi

Possessive Pronouns - Turkish
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] benim adım Maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] Kardeşiniz burada yaşıyor
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] Onun annesi bizim için yemek yapıyor
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] Onun hobisi kitap okumak
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] Bizim hayalimiz Paris'i ziyaret etmek
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] Onların evi uzak değil

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Turkish
this is my house Bu benim evim
that restaurant is far Bu restoran uzakta
these apples are delicious Bu elmalar lezzetli
those stars are shiny Şu yıldızlar parlak

I hope you learned a lot about the Turkish grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!