1At a glance
Ask what you’re doing with the place. Being there: -da. Going there: -(y)a. Leaving it: -dan.
Where? -da
- It answers
- nerede? — where? kimde? — who has it?
- The ending
- -da / -de; after a voiceless consonant -ta / -te
- Example
- evde, sokakta — at home, in the street
- Its quirk
- d turns into t after Fıstıkçı Şahap
- Pronouns
- bende, sende, onda
- Verbs that take it
- being somewhere; var and yok: Masada çay var
Where to? -(y)a
- It answers
- nereye? — where to? kime? — to whom?
- The ending
- -a / -e; after a vowel -ya / -ye
- Example
- eve, arabaya — home, into the car
- Its quirk
- p ç t k at the end of a longer word go soft: sokağa, kitaba
- Pronouns
- bana, sana, ona: ben and sen change their vowel
- Verbs that take it
- gitmek, gelmek, bakmak, binmek
Where from? -dan
- It answers
- nereden? — where from? kimden? — from whom?
- The ending
- -dan / -den; after a voiceless consonant -tan / -ten
- Example
- evden, sokaktan — from home, off the street
- Its quirk
- it’s -da plus an n
- Pronouns
- benden, senden, ondan
- Verbs that take it
- çıkmak, inmek, almak, korkmak, hoşlanmak
2The key points
- There are no prepositions. “In”, “to” and “from” are endings, written right onto the word.
- All three share one harmony: a after a ı o u, e after e i ö ü. Okulda, okula, okuldan — but evde, eve, evden.
- O picks up an n before any of the three: onda, ona, ondan.
- With names the ending goes after an apostrophe, but you say it as one word: İstanbul’da, Ankara’ya, İzmir’den.
- The verb picks the case, and not always the way English does: you look TO something (denize bakmak), you’re scared FROM it (köpekten korkmak).
- Put “from” and “to” together and there’s your route: Karaköy’den Kadıköy’e.
3How it works
| where? | where to? | where from? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| okulback vowel | okulda | okula | okuldan |
| evfront vowel | evde | eve | evden |
| sokakvoiceless ending | sokakta | sokağa | sokaktan |
| ofisvoiceless ending | ofiste | ofise | ofisten |
| arabaends in a vowel | arabada | arabaya | arabadan |
| opronoun | onda | ona | ondan |
4In real life
— Neredesin? — Evdeyim.— Where are you? — At home.
— Anahtar kimde? — Bende!— Who’s got the key? — Me!
Karaköy’den Kadıköy’e vapur var.There’s a ferry from Karaköy to Kadıköy.
Pazardan domates alıyorum.I get my tomatoes at the market.
— Çocuklar okulda mı? — Hayır, parktalar.— Are the kids at school? — No, they’re in the park.
— Nereden geliyorsun? — İzmir’den.— Where are you from? — Izmir.
Akşam denize bakıyoruz.In the evening we look out at the sea.
5Where it’s easy to slip
| Not like this | Like this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Evde gidiyorum. | Eve gidiyorum. | Going takes “where to”: -(y)a, not -da. |
| sokağta | sokakta | The softening only happens before a vowel. |
| arabaa | arabaya | Two vowels won’t sit together: it needs the y. |
| Kadıköy’dan | Kadıköy’den | The name’s last vowel decides, and ö is a front one. |
| İstanbulda | İstanbul’da | A name keeps its apostrophe. |
- “I like you” is senden hoşlanıyorum, “from you” — and it’s the romantic kind, not “you’re nice”.
6Check yourself
Four questions, and not one of them is about a single rule. Check every word before you choose: the slip can hide anywhere.
1A quick look at the piece of paper, kağıt. Put it in the right form.
Can ? bakıyor.
2The key could be in one of two places. Which question has no mistakes?
3How do you say “The gull’s looking at me, but I’m not scared of it”?
4It’s Saturday, and we’re crossing to the Asian side. Which sentence is right from start to finish?