1At a glance
Ask “what kind?” or “which one?”. If the answer describes a thing, it’s one of these three: sütlü kahve, sütsüz kahve, masadaki kahve. “With whom? with what?” is -la (annemle kahve), and “where?” is plain -da (Kahve masada).
With something -lı
- It answers
- what kind? with what?
- It goes on
- a thing: süt → sütlü; a town: İzmir → İzmirli
- The ending
- -lı / -li / -lu / -lü, four teams
- Example
- altyazılı film — a film with subtitles
- Its quirk
- on a town it’s where you’re from: Nerelisin? — Ankaralıyım
Without something -sız
- It answers
- what kind? without what?
- It goes on
- a thing: süt → sütsüz
- The ending
- -sız / -siz / -suz / -süz, the same four
- Example
- sütsüz kahve — coffee with no milk
- Its quirk
- not always -lı’s mirror: evli is married, but evsiz is homeless
Which one? -ki
- It answers
- which one? whose?
- It goes on
- -da, a time word, “whose”: masadaki, akşamki, benimki
- The ending
- one form, -ki; dün and bugün take -kü: dünkü, bugünkü
- Example
- sonraki vapur — the next ferry
- Its quirk
- masadaki çay says which tea; Çay masada says where it is
2The key points
- You get a describing word, and it goes before the noun like any adjective: sütlü kahve, dünkü ekmek.
- And it behaves like one: it takes mı and the personal endings. Halsizim, Evli misin?, Bu bilet seninki mi?
- All three start with a consonant, and it never changes: no y after a vowel, no softening before it. Arabalı, cepsiz, yarınki. When two of the same letter meet, both stay: ballı, sessiz.
- It’s a new word, not a case ending, so a name takes no apostrophe: İstanbullu, Ankaralı. The apostrophe goes only before a case: Ankara’daki, Can’ınki.
3How it works
| with | without | the one in… | |
|---|---|---|---|
| evfront vowel | evli | evsiz | evdeki |
| arabaends in a vowel | arabalı | arabasız | arabadaki |
| suback, rounded | sulu | susuz | sudaki |
| sütfront, rounded | sütlü | sütsüz | sütteki |
| cepvoiceless end | cepli | cepsiz | cepteki |
-ki after “whose” is “mine”, “yours”, “his” with the thing itself left out: it’s been named already, or everyone can see it. Benimki, seninki, onunki, bizimki, sizinki, onlarınki, and with any name: Can’ınki.
A word with -ki takes the plural too, like any noun: masadakiler, “the ones on the table”. And bizimkiler, “ours”, is how people talk about their own: family, the people close to them.
On a pronoun, -sız goes straight onto it, with no “whose”: bensiz, sensiz, and o picks up its n here too: onsuz. Not the way -la does it: benimle, but bensiz.
4In real life
5Where it’s easy to slip
| Not like this | Like this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Annemli kahve içiyorum. | Annemle kahve içiyorum. | “With whom” is -la; -lı describes a thing. |
| sütlı kahve | sütlü kahve | The last vowel is ü, so it’s -lü. |
| İstanbul’lu | İstanbullu | It’s a new word, not a case: no apostrophe. |
| masaki kitap | masadaki kitap | “The one on” is -ki after -da. |
| yarınkı | yarınki | -ki doesn’t change; dünkü and bugünkü are the odd ones. |
| seninsiz | sensiz | -sız goes on the pronoun itself. |
6Check yourself
Four questions, each with two or three rules at once: which suffix, which team, whether there’s an apostrophe. Every wrong answer slips on exactly one.
1You want to know if your new acquaintance is from Bursa. How do you ask?
2“Bread with honey and coffee with no milk, please.” Which is right throughout?
3“My aunt in Ankara is coming to us tomorrow”: the one who lives there. Fill the gap.
? teyzem yarın bize geliyor.
4“My tea’s got no sugar, and Can’s has lemon.” Which is right throughout?