E-type Vowels a, ı, o, u → a e, i, ö, ü → e I

E-type Vowels
a, ı, o, u → a
e, i, ö, ü → e
I-type Vowels
a, ı → ı
o, u →
e, i → i
ö, ü →
u
ü
Fıstıkçı Şahap
d→t
With
The suffix –li means with. It follows i-type vowel harmony, and goes at the end of a noun
to turn it into an adjective.
süt (milk)
+
lü
→
sütlü (milky / with milk)
şeker (sugar)
+
li
→
şekerli (sugary / with sugar)
-li can also mean from when used with the name of a place to mean somebody from that
place.
İstanbul
→
İstanbullu (Istanbulite)
Londra (London)
→
Londralı (Londoner)
Bolton
→
Boltonlu (Boltonian)
Kanada (Canada)
→
Kanadalı (Canadian)
Çin (China)
→
Çinli (Chinese)
Irak (Iraq)
→
Iraklı (Iraqi)
However, some nationalities don’t follow this pattern as they are words which have been
borrowed from other languages.
İspanya (Spain)
→
İspanyol (Spanish)
Japonya (Japan)
→
Japon (Japanese)
Macaristan (Hungary)
→
Macar (Hungarian)
Rusya (Russia)
→
Rus (Russian)
Almanya (Germany)
→
Alman (German)
İngiltere (England)
→
İngiliz (English)
Again, these can all be used with the to be endings.
Boltonlu
+
yum →
Boltonluyum (I am Boltonian)
İngiliz
+
im
→
İngilizim (I’m English)
Kanadalı
+
yım
→
Kanadalıyım (I’m Canadian)
Turkish For Beginners
Page 1
Lesson 13
E-type Vowels
a, ı, o, u → a
e, i, ö, ü → e
I-type Vowels
a, ı → ı
o, u →
e, i → i
ö, ü →
u
ü
Fıstıkçı Şahap
d→t
A Bit About Yourself
The word nereli means where from (as in what nationality), and is made up as follows:
ne (what)
+
re (place)
+
li (from)
Just as in English, this is used with to be to ask where somebody comes from. Note that
nereli already contains the question ne (what), so you do not add the question word mi.
nereliyim?
where am I from?
nerelisin?
where are you from?
nereli?
where is he/she/it from?
nereliyiz?
where are we from?
nerelisiniz?
where are you from?
onlar nereli? / nereliler?
where are they from?
-li can also be used with ev (house) to give evli. This literally translates as with house, but
it means married, and like any adjective can be used with the to be endings.
evliyim
I am married
evli misin?
are you married?
evli değil
he/she/it is not married
evli miyiz
are we married?
evli değil misiniz?
are you not married
onlar evli
they are married
To ask how old somebody is or to say how old you are you use the word yaşında with the
to be suffixes.
This is made up from the word yaş meaning age, and ı meaning of (we’ll see this suffix
later on), so yaşı means of age. This is similar to the English usage I am 50 years of age,
but in Turkish you also use the locative suffix da because you are at that age.
on beş yaşındayım
I am 15 years old
kırk yaşındasın
you are 40 years old
To ask how old somebody is you use the question word kaç, which means how many. So
you are literally asking how many years are you at.
kaç yaşındayım?
how old am I?
kaç yaşında?
how old is he/she/it?
kaç yaşındasınız?
how old are you?
Turkish For Beginners
Page 2
Lesson 13