Turkish Language - The Articles

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The Definite Article in Turkish

There is no Turkish word for the Subject Definite Article - only the context tells us when to insert "The.." in English:
çay pahalı - Tea is expensive
çay soğuk - The tea is cold
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 does use an Objective Suffix - "the.." - (called the Accusative Case in grammar). So let us content ourselves to say that the Subject Definite Article - "The.." - does not (as a word) exist in Turkish, but it does exist as an Objective Suffix. This Objective - "The.." - is discussed below..

The Direct Object Suffix - "the.."

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.
This has the form of a suffix: See full discussion on the Direct Object

-i/-ı/-u/-ü - used with bare nouns which end in a consonant.
-yi/-yı/-yu/-yü - used with bare nouns which end in a vowel.
-ni/-nı/-nu/-nü - used with extended [already suffixed] nouns ending in a vowel.
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 realize 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 (subject substantive) man closed THE (object substantive) 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 (governed by vowel harmony) - 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.

Nouns both bare and extended ending in a consonant:
(1) Adam kilidi(kilid-i)kapattı - THE man locked THE lock
(The -i suffix makes the bare noun - THE LOCK - substantive as a Direct Object
(2) 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

To sum up:
The use of verbs needs an object pointer (grammatically called the Accusative Case) in Turkish which is suffix -i -ı -ü -u or -yi -yı -yü -yu using buffer letter -y- after vowels. However if the object pointer follows another suffix then the buffer letter becomes -n- and thus the object pointer suffix is -ni -nı -nü -nu when attached to possessed objects.

Some examples of Object Pointers (Accusative Case)

Direct Object pointer -i for Simple Noun: evi boyuyorum - [ev-i] - I am painting the house.
Direct Object pointer -n-i for Extended Noun: evini boyuyorum - [ev-i-n-i] - I am painting his house. [the his house..]
Direct Object pointer -y-i for Simple Noun: arabayı boyuyorum - [araba-y-ı] - I am painting the car.
Possessive Pronoun -s-ı plus Direct object pointer -n-ı for Extended Noun.: arabasını boyuyorum - [araba-s-ı-n-ı] - I am painting his car [the his car..]
Possessive pronoun -ları plus Object Pointer -nı for Extended Noun.: arabalarını boyuyoruz. - [araba-ları-n-ı] - we are painting their car. [the their car..]
Possessive Pronoun -sı plus Direct object pointer -nı for Extended Noun: arabasını boyuyor musunuz? - [araba-s-ı-n-ı] - are you painting his car?
Possessive Pronoun -ınız plus Direct object pointer -ı for Extended Noun.: Mehmet, arabanızı boyamıyor mu? - [araba-nız-ı] - Isn't Mehmet painting your car?
Possessive Pronoun -si plus Direct object pointer -ni for Extended Noun.: kedisini aramıyor muyum? - [kedi-s-i-n-i] - Aren't I looking for his cat?
Direct Object Pointer -i for Personal Pronoun: Beni istiyor musun? - [ben -i] - Do you want me?
Direct Object Pointer -i for Personal Pronoun: Seni istemiyor muyum? - [sen -i] - Don't I want you?

The Indefinite Article

The Singular Indefinite Article is: bir - a.. an.. one..
bir kapı - a gate
bir elma - an apple
bir bardak - one glass
caddede bir araba var - there is a car in the road

The Positive Plural Indefinite Article is: birkaç - some..
In English the Article - some.. - is only used in Positive Statements whereas - 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.

Positive Statements use - some.. - in English:
Bahçede birkaç kapı var. - There are some gates in the garden.
Bahçede birkaç kedi var. - There are some cats in the garden.
Caddede birkaç araba var - There are some cars in the road.

The Negative Singular Indefinite Article is - hiçbir - not one..
Negative Statements use - any.. (usually with the plural) - in English.
Bahçede hiçbir kapı yok. - There is not a gate in the garden at all./There aren't any gates in the garden
Bahçede hiçbir kedi yok. - There is not a (single) cat in the garden./There aren't any cats in the garden.
Caddede hiçbir araba yok. - There is not a car in the road (at all)./There aren't any cars in the road.

Both Positive and Negative Questions use - a (single)... at all...? - in English:
Bahçede hiçbir kapı yok mu?. - Isn't there a (single) gate in the garden?
Bahçede bir kedi var mı?. - Is there there a cat in the garden?
Caddede hiçbir araba yok mu?. - Isn't there a car in the road at all?
Caddede bir araba var mı?. - Is there a car in the road?

The Negative Plural Indefinite Article is - hiç - any.., none at all..
Negative Statements use - any.. - in English:
Bahçede hiç kapı yok. - There are not any gates in the garden.
Bahçede hiç kedi yok. - There are not any cats in the garden.
Caddede hiç araba yok. - There are not any cars in the road.

Both Positive and Negative Questions use - any.. - in English:
Bahçede hiç kapı yok mu?. - Aren't there any gates in the garden?
Bahçede birkaç kedi var mı?. - Are there any cats in the garden?
Caddede hiç araba yok mu?. - Aren't there any cars in the road?
Caddede birkaç araba var mı?. - Are there any cars in the road?

birkaç - some.. and hiç - not any - always take a singular noun in Turkish - but the meaning is plural in both Turkish and English. - birkaç kadın - some ladies, hiç ev - not any houses
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:
bazı - some
caddedeki bazı arabalar artık yok - there were some cars in the road (now there are none).
NOTE: bazı - some - always takes the plural - bazı kadınlar - some ladies, bazı evler - some houses

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

biraz - a little, a small amount
biraz şeker, lütfen - a little sugar, please

Thanks to Kadir bey for suggestions to this section - JG Nov. 2006

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:
terzi - tailor - becomes - kadın terzi - tailoress
arkadaş - friend - becomes - kız arkadaş - girl friend
dişi - female - can be used before nouns to show a female animal
köpek - dog - becomes - dişi köpek - bitch
erkek - male/man - can be used to show maleness
kardeş - sister/brother - becomes - erkek kardeş - brother
kız - girl/maiden - can be used to show femininity
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