I can say whose something is — evim, anahtarın, arabası — and ask “Is this your key?” — Bu senin anahtarın mı?
My, your, his: possessive endings
My, your, his: possessive endings
Why: to say whose something is — “my key”, “your umbrella”, “our house”.
English says “my, your, his” with a separate word. Turkish puts a possessive ending on the noun itself: ev → evim “my house”, araba → arabam “my car”. The words benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların (“my, your, his / her, our, your, their”) can be left out: evim = benim evim. Use them to stress whose it is.
The ending depends on the person and on the last letter of the word (see the table):
• after a consonant: evim, evin, evi, evimiz, eviniz, evleri;
• after a vowel: arabam, araban, arabası, arabamız, arabanız, arabaları.
The vowel of the ending follows the last vowel of the word: anahtarım, evim, telefonum, müdürüm (the second table).
“Their house” is onların evleri; after onların people also say it shorter: onların evi.
Now the phrase Benim adım … makes sense: it is ad “name” + ım, “my name”.
Watch out: doktorum means both “I'm a doctor” and “my doctor”. The meaning tells you which: Ben doktorum “I'm a doctor”, Doktorum çok iyi “My doctor is very good”.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “benim ev” → benim evim;
• NOT “onun arabaı” → onun arabası.
My, your, his, our, your, their
The ending goes on the word itself; you can leave out benim, senin…
| Whose | After a consonant | After a vowel |
|---|---|---|
| benim | evim | arabam |
| senin | evin | araban |
| onun | evi | arabası |
| bizim | evimiz | arabamız |
| sizin | eviniz | arabanız |
| onların | evleri | arabaları |
Which vowel goes in the “my” ending
The vowel is chosen the same way in all the endings in the table: evin, telefonun, anahtarı.
| The last vowel of the word | Lips not rounded | Lips rounded |
|---|---|---|
| a, ı / o, u | anahtarım | telefonum |
| e, i / ö, ü | evim | müdürüm |
Lesson notes
My, your, his: possessive endings
Why: to say whose something is — “my key”, “your umbrella”, “our house”.
English says “my, your, his” with a separate word. Turkish puts a possessive ending on the noun itself: ev → evim “my house”, araba → arabam “my car”. The words benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların (“my, your, his / her, our, your, their”) can be left out: evim = benim evim. Use them to stress whose it is.
The ending depends on the person and on the last letter of the word (see the table):
• after a consonant: evim, evin, evi, evimiz, eviniz, evleri;
• after a vowel: arabam, araban, arabası, arabamız, arabanız, arabaları.
The vowel of the ending follows the last vowel of the word: anahtarım, evim, telefonum, müdürüm (the second table).
“Their house” is onların evleri; after onların people also say it shorter: onların evi.
Now the phrase Benim adım … makes sense: it is ad “name” + ım, “my name”.
Watch out: doktorum means both “I'm a doctor” and “my doctor”. The meaning tells you which: Ben doktorum “I'm a doctor”, Doktorum çok iyi “My doctor is very good”.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “benim ev” → benim evim;
• NOT “onun arabaı” → onun arabası.