I can say whose thing or whose relative it is — Zeynep'in çantası, babamın arabası — and ask “Whose photo is this?” — Bu kimin fotoğrafı?
Whose? — Zeynep'in: the genitive
Whose? — Zeynep'in: the genitive
Why: to say whose thing it is and whose relative — “Zeynep's mother”, “the car key”.
You need two endings: the owner takes -ın (after a vowel -nın), the thing takes the “his / her” ending (-ı / -sı). The owner comes first:
• Zeynep'in annesi “Zeynep's mother”;
• öğretmenin çantası “the teacher's bag”;
• arabanın anahtarı “the car key”;
• komşunun kedisi “the neighbor's cat”.
This is the genitive. The order is the order of English 's, but Turkish puts an ending on both words, and the owner never comes second, as it does with English “of”.
The vowel follows the last vowel of the word (see the table): Hasan'ın, öğretmenin, doktorun, müdürün.
A name takes an apostrophe and doesn't change: Zeynep'in, Burak'ın (but kitap → kitabın, çocuk → çocuğun).
After “my, our” it works the same way: annem → annemin çantası.
The question is kimin? “whose?”: Bu kimin çantası? or Bu çanta kimin? — Zeynep'in. / Benim.
“Zeynep has …” is built the same way: Zeynep'in iki kedisi var.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Zeynep'in anne” → Zeynep'in annesi;
• NOT “Zeynep annesi” → Zeynep'in annesi;
• NOT “anahtar arabanın” → arabanın anahtarı.
Whose — what: two endings
After a vowel — -nın / -nin / -nun / -nün.
| Owner | Whose | What (the “his / her / its” ending) |
|---|---|---|
| Hasan | Hasan'ın | evi |
| öğretmen | öğretmenin | kalemi |
| doktor | doktorun | telefonu |
| müdür | müdürün | odası |
| Fatma | Fatma'nın | kızı |
| komşu | komşunun | bahçesi |
Lesson notes
Whose? — Zeynep'in: the genitive
Why: to say whose thing it is and whose relative — “Zeynep's mother”, “the car key”.
You need two endings: the owner takes -ın (after a vowel -nın), the thing takes the “his / her” ending (-ı / -sı). The owner comes first:
• Zeynep'in annesi “Zeynep's mother”;
• öğretmenin çantası “the teacher's bag”;
• arabanın anahtarı “the car key”;
• komşunun kedisi “the neighbor's cat”.
This is the genitive. The order is the order of English 's, but Turkish puts an ending on both words, and the owner never comes second, as it does with English “of”.
The vowel follows the last vowel of the word (see the table): Hasan'ın, öğretmenin, doktorun, müdürün.
A name takes an apostrophe and doesn't change: Zeynep'in, Burak'ın (but kitap → kitabın, çocuk → çocuğun).
After “my, our” it works the same way: annem → annemin çantası.
The question is kimin? “whose?”: Bu kimin çantası? or Bu çanta kimin? — Zeynep'in. / Benim.
“Zeynep has …” is built the same way: Zeynep'in iki kedisi var.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Zeynep'in anne” → Zeynep'in annesi;
• NOT “Zeynep annesi” → Zeynep'in annesi;
• NOT “anahtar arabanın” → arabanın anahtarı.