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The Definite and Indefinite Articles in Turkish.. and an explanation about the lack of Gender in Turkish and how it is circumnavigated.

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About the Articles and Gender

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The Definite Article

There is no Turkish word for the Subject Definite Article - only the context tells us when to insert THE in English.

1. çay pahalı - Tea is expensive
2. çay soğuk - The tea is cold
3. araba caddede - The car is in the road

However when the noun is an object of a verb as in - Mehmet mended THE radio - then Turkish uses an Objective Suffix - the.. - called the Accusative Case in grammar - so let us content ourselves to say that the Subject Definite Article - the.. - does exist in Turkish, but it does exist as an Objective Suffix.
This Objective - THE - is disussed below..

About the Direct Object Suffix - THE..

This has the form of a suffix as below:

1. -i/-ı/-u/-ü - used with bare nouns which end in a consonant.
2. -yi/-yı/-yu/-yü - used with bare nouns which end in a vowel.
3. -ni/-nı/-nu/-nü - used with extended [already suffixed] nouns ending in a vowel.

Note: This suffix is called the Accusative case in Classical Grammar - But we should also note that Turkish Grammar itself does not use Classical Grammar nomenclature

We have to realise that in English we make both the Subject and Object of a sentence substantive by the use of the same Definite Article - THE - as an example:

Adam kapıyı (kapı-yı) kapattı - THE man closed THE door

We have learnt elsewhere that the Subject is already understood as substantive in Turkish - so it does not need a Definite Article.

In fact the Subject Definite Article - THE - does not exist in Turkish - there is no "THE man.." as the Subject Definite Article - "THE" - is already understood in context.

However there is an Object Definite Article - THE in Turkish which appears as the suffix:
-i - is used when added to a bare noun stem or used with extended [already suffixed] nouns which in a in a consonant -
or
-(y)i - (buffer letter -y is used when added to a bare noun stem ending in a vowel) -
or
-(n)i - (buffer letter -n is used when added to an already extended [suffixed] noun)
- according to Vowel harmony Rules.

Some Examples

Nouns both bare and extended ending in a consonant

Adam kilidi (kilid-i) kapattı - THE man locked THE lock
(The -i suffix makes the bare noun - THE LOCK - substantive as a Direct Object

Adam kilidimi (kilid-im-i) kapattı - THE man locked MY lock
(The -i suffix makes the extended noun - MY LOCK - substantive as a Direct Object

Nouns both bare and extended ending in a vowel

Adam kapıyı (kapı-yı) kapattı - THE man closed THE door
(The -yı suffix makes the bare noun - THE DOOR - substantive as a Direct Object

Adam kapısını (kapı-sı-nı) kapattı - THE man closed HIS door
(The -nı suffix makes the extended [already suffixed] noun- HIS DOOR - substantive as a Direct Object

This Direct Object Suffix which makes the Object substantive is one of the most difficult hurdles for English Speakers to surmount when speaking, reading and understanding the Turkish Language.

The Indefinite Article

The Singular Indefinite Article is: bir - a.. an.. one..

1. bir kapı - a gate
2. bir elma - an apple
3. bir bardak - one glass
4. caddede bir araba var - there is a car in the road

The Positive Plural Indefinite Article is: birkaç - some..

Note that in English that the Article - some.. - is only used in Positive Statements wheras - any.. - is used in Negative Statements and also both in Positive and Negative Questions. All these are translated as - bazı - (with the plural) - in Turkish.

1. Positive Statements use - some.. - in English

2. Bahçede birkaç kapı var. - There are some gates in the garden.
3. Bahçede birkaç kedi var. - There are some cats inthe garden.
4. Caddede birkaç araba var - There are some cars in the road.

The Negative Singular Indefinite Article is: hiçbir - not one..

1. Negative Statements use - any.. - in English

2. Bahçede hiçbir kapı yok. - There is not a gate in the garden at all.
3. Bahçede hiçbir kedi yok. - There is not a (single) cat in the garden.
4. Caddede hiçbir araba yok. - There is not a car in the road (at all).

1. Both Positive and Negative Questions use - a (single)... at all...? - in English

2. Bahçede hiçbir kapı yok mu?. - Isn't there a (single) gate in the garden?
3. Bahçede bir kedi var mı?. - Is there there a cat in the garden?
4. Caddede hiçbir araba yok mu?. - Isn't there a car in the road at all?
5. Caddede bir araba var mı?. - Is there a car in the road?

The Negative Plural Indefinite Article is: hiç - any.., none at all..

1. Negative Statements use - any.. - in English

2. Bahçede hiç kapı yok. - There are not any gates in the garden.
3. Bahçede hiç kedi yok. - There are not any cats in the garden.
4. Caddede hiç araba yok. - There are not any cars in the road.

1. Both Positive and Negative Questions use - any.. - in English

2. Bahçede hiç kapı yok mu?. - Aren't there any gates in the garden?
3. Bahçede birkaç kedi var mı?. - Are there any cats in the garden?
4. Caddede hiç araba yok mu?. - Aren't there any cars in the road?
5. Caddede birkaç araba var mı?. - Are there any cars in the road?

NOTE: birkaÇ - SOME and hiÇ - not any - ALWAYS TAKES A SINGULAR NOUN IN TURKISH - BUT THE MEANING IS PLURAL IN BOTH TURKISH and ENGLISH
birkaÇ KADIN - SOME LADIES
hiÇ EV - not any HOUSES

NOTE: From the previous section we can see that hiçbir - not a single one - is used for the singular both in Turkish and English -
Caddede hiçbir araba yok. - There is not a car in the road?

Hiç - meaning ever.. or never...

In normal verbal positive questions - hiç - translates as - ever..
Hiç Alanya'ya gittiniz mi? - Have you ever been to Alanya?

In normal verbal negative questions - hiç - translates as - never..
Hiç Alanya'ya gitmediniz mi? - Have you never been to Alanya?

Other Indefinites are:

1. bazı - some
2. caddedeki bazı arabalar artık yok - there were some cars in the road (now there are none).

NOTE: BAZI - SOME - ALWAYS TAKES THE PLURAL
BAZI KADINLAR - SOME LADIES
      BAZI EVLER - SOME HOUSES

1. birçok - a lot of or many
   
2. caddede birçok araba var - there are a lot of cars on the road
3. caddede birçok araba var - there are many cars on the road

1. biraz - a little, a small amount
   
2. biraz şeker, lütfen - a little sugar, please

Gender - Masculine of Feminine?..

Generally Turkish has no gender.

There is only one form of the noun, no masculine as - actor - and feminine as - actress - as in English, which has two forms of these nouns.However when gender distinction is necessary within the context, then Turkish uses simple locutions:

kız - girl or kadın - lady - can be placed in front of the noun to show human femininity.

1. terzi - tailor - becomes - kadın terzi - tailoress
2. arkadaş - friend - becomes - kız arkadaş - girl friend

dişi - female - can be used before nouns to show a female animal

1. köpek - dog - becomes - dişi köpek - bitch

erkek - male/man - can be used to show maleness

1. kardeş - sister/brother - becomes - erkek kardeş - brother

kız - girl/maiden - can be used to show femininity

1. kardeş - sister/brother - becomes - kız kardeş - sister

This method is used whenever it is necessary to differentiate between the sexes of your brother/sisters.

The Exceptions of Family Relationships

We stated above that generally there is no Gender Distinction in Turkish, unhappily this does not apply to close family relationships as, for instance many relations on the mother's side will have a different word than the father's side:

Just two examples here - but they are myriad!

amca - uncle - father's brother - and dayı - uncle - mother's brother
teyze - aunt - mother's sister and hala - aunt - father's sister

A word list of Turkish Family Relations

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