Lesson 2. Kitabım, çocuğum, şehrim: consonant changes and the dropped vowel

I can spell and say kitabım, çocuğum, şehrim correctly and understand why the dictionary shows yatak (yatağı); I can say “in my room” — odamda.

Kitap → kitabım: what changes before an ending

Why: some words change their last consonant before an ending: you need it for “my book” and “to the street”. Before an ending that starts with a vowel, p → b, ç → c, t → d, k → ğ: • kitap → kitabım “my book”, kitaba “to the book”; • yatak → yatağım, çocuk → çocuğu, sokak → sokağa; • the same with the personal ending: erkek → erkeğim “I'm a man”. You've already seen t → d in verbs: gitmek → gidiyor, yardım etmek → yardım ediyor. Before a consonant nothing changes: kitapta, sokaktan, çocuklar. Short words and some borrowed words don't change: kat → katı, park → parkı, market → marketi, aç → açım. After n, k changes differently: k → g, renk “color” → rengi. You can't guess it, so word lists show the “his / her” form in parentheses: yatak (yatağı), park (parkı). A word with ç → c comes in the next lesson. Some words drop a vowel; this lesson has two: şehir → şehri, isim → ismi (but şehirde, isimler). The word saat has a special ending: saati, saatim. After a possessive ending, the endings -da, -a, and -dan are added as usual: evim → evimde “in my house”, arkadaşın → arkadaşına “to your friend”. Watch out: sandalye is a chair, not a sandal. Common mistakes: • NOT “kitapım” → kitabım; • NOT “şehirim” → şehrim; • NOT “sokaka” → sokağa.

What happens to the stem

Before a vowel the stem changes; before a consonant it doesn't.

Word	Before a vowel	Before a consonant	What happens
kitap	kitabı, kitaba	kitapta	p → b
yatak	yatağı, yatağa	yatakta	k → ğ
park	parkı, parka	parkta	doesn't change
şehir	şehri, şehre	şehirde	the vowel drops out
isim	ismi	isimler	the vowel drops out
saat	saati	—	a special ending

Lesson notes

Kitap → kitabım: what changes before an ending

Why: some words change their last consonant before an ending: you need it for “my book” and “to the street”. Before an ending that starts with a vowel, p → b, ç → c, t → d, k → ğ: • kitap → kitabım “my book”, kitaba “to the book”; • yatak → yatağım, çocuk → çocuğu, sokak → sokağa; • the same with the personal ending: erkek → erkeğim “I'm a man”. You've already seen t → d in verbs: gitmek → gidiyor, yardım etmek → yardım ediyor. Before a consonant nothing changes: kitapta, sokaktan, çocuklar. Short words and some borrowed words don't change: kat → katı, park → parkı, market → marketi, aç → açım. After n, k changes differently: k → g, renk “color” → rengi. You can't guess it, so word lists show the “his / her” form in parentheses: yatak (yatağı), park (parkı). A word with ç → c comes in the next lesson. Some words drop a vowel; this lesson has two: şehir → şehri, isim → ismi (but şehirde, isimler). The word saat has a special ending: saati, saatim. After a possessive ending, the endings -da, -a, and -dan are added as usual: evim → evimde “in my house”, arkadaşın → arkadaşına “to your friend”. Watch out: sandalye is a chair, not a sandal. Common mistakes: • NOT “kitapım” → kitabım; • NOT “şehirim” → şehrim; • NOT “sokaka” → sokağa.