Kavaklıdere (Poplar Brook) in Muğla Province in the South Agean Region.

The Possessive Relationship describes who owns what.
"What.."? belongs to "Who.."?
This special Turkish construction is fully explained below.

All about Possession

There is a special construction in Turkish which means - belonging to....

In English generally only the Possessor is marked as in - Janet's house - where the 's tells us that - the house belongs to Janet.

However, possession can also be marked by both the Possessor and the Possessed in English as in - the hair of the dog ....

In this case both words - hair - and - dog - are marked THE hair and OF THE dog.

This then is the way that Turkish uses, for both words - the Possessor and the Possessed - are always marked viz:
köpeğin tüyü (Köpeğ-in tüy-ü) - The hair of the dog (Dog-the-of hair-the)

The Possessor

In Turkish the possessor is suffixed with -in, -ın, -un, -ün, or -nin -etc. when suffixed to a word which ends in a vowel.

The -in suffix means - of, belonging to.. - in English, and of course is subject to vowel harmony.

In grammar this is called the Genitive Case

Formation of the Possessor - (the Genitive Case in grammar)

Some Examples

For words ending in a consonant we add -in.

Example: adamın - (adam-ın) - the man's

1. adam - man
2. adamın - of the man, the man's

1. göz - eye
2. gözün - of the eye, the eye's

Nouns ending in vowels use buffer letter -n to form -nin.

Example: banyonun - (banyo-nun) - of the bath.

1. banyo - bath
2. banyonun - of the bath, the bath's

1. köprü - bridge
2. köprünün - of the bridge, the bridge's

For the plural forms, we add -in.

Example: adamların - (adam-lar-ın) - of the men.

1. adamlar - the men
2. adamların - of the men, the men's

1. fareler - the mice
2. farelerin - of the mice, the mice's

1. lastikler - the tyres
2. lastiklerin - of the tyres, the tyres'

The Possessed

The possessed item in Turkish is suffixed with -i, -ı, -u, -ü - his, hers, its.

If the word being suffixed already ends in a vowel then the buffer letter -s- is used after this final vowel, thus the forms -si, -sı, -su, -sü are used.

This suffix is also is subject to vowel harmony as shown above.

Formation of the Possessive Relationship

Both the Possessor and Possessed are suffixed in Turkish as follows.

The Possessor - adam - man with the Possessed - el - hand becomes:
adamın eli - (adam-ın el-i) - the man's hand,   the hand of the man - Lit: man-of hand-his.

The Possessor - Mehmet - Mehmet with the Possessed - palto - overcoat - becomes:
Mehmet 'in paltosu - (Mehmet-'in palto-su) - Mehmet's overcoat - Lit: Mehmet-of overcoat-his

Note: - When adding suffixes to Proper names that the suffix is separated by an apostrophe. The easy way to remember is that any noun beginning with a capital letter should be separated from its suffix. i.e. Londra - London - becomes - Londra'nın - London's, of London.

The Plurals of the Possessive Relationship

The plurals are formed by the addition of -ler or -lar to either the possessor or the possessed or to both according to context. The following examples should make this clear:

Both Possessor and Possessed Singular

1. adamın arabası - adam-ın araba-sı - the man's car
2. evin damı - ev-in dam-ı - the roof of the house

The Possessor Plural and Possessed Singular

1. yıldızların ışığı - yıldız -lar-ın ışığ-ı - the light of the stars
2. adamların arabası - adam-lar-ın araba-sı - the men's car

The Possessor Singular and Possessed Plural

1. adamın arabaları - adam-ın araba-lar-ı - the man's cars
2. odanın duvarları - oda-nı duvar-lar-ı - the walls of the room

Both Possessor Plural and Possessed Plural

1. adamların arabaları - adam-lar-ın araba-lar-ı - the men's cars
2. çocukların oyunları - çocouk-lar-ın oyun-lar-ı - the children's games

The Possessive Relationship in Use

The Possessive Relationship is Compound Noun in its own right and as such can have further suffixes such as -dan, -den - from, -da -de - in, on at , -a , -e - to, towards etc. - added to the Possessed item(s) to modify the meaning according to context.

Examples with Explanation

1. Adamın arkadaşına kitabı verdim - I gave the book to the man's friend
2. Adam-ın arkadaş-ı-na kitabı verdim
3. Lit: Man-of friend-his-to book-the gave-I
4. Adamın arkadaşından kitabı aldım - I took the book from the man's friend
5. Adam-ın arkadaş-ı-ndan kitabı aldım
6. Lit: Man-of friend-his-from book-the took-I

Some Models for Study

Models using - adam - man - as the Possessor and - araba - car - as the Possessed

Both the Possessor and the Possessed Singular

1. adamın arabası - the man's car
2. adamın arabasının - of the man's car, the man's car's
3. adamın arabasına - to the man's car
4. adamın arabasını - the man's car (object)
5. adamın arabasında - in the man's car
6. adamın arabasından - from the man's car
7. adamın arabasıyla - with the man's car

The Possessor Singular and the Possessed Plural

1. adamın arabaları - the man's cars
2. adamın arabalarının - of the man's cars, the man's car's
3. adamın arabalarına - to the man's cars
4. adamın arabalarını - the man's cars (object)
5. adamın arabalarında - in the man's cars
6. adamın arabalarından - from the man's cars
7. adamın arabalarıyla - with the man's cars

The Possessor Plural and the Possessed Singular

1. adamların arabası - the men's car
2. adamların arabasının - of the men's car, the men's car's
3. adamların arabasına - to the men's car
4. adamların arabasını - the men's car (object)
5. adamların arabasında - in the men's car
6. adamların arabasından - from the men's car
7. adamların arabasıyla - with the men's car

Both Possessor and Possessed Plural

1. adamların arabaları - the men's cars
2. adamların arabalarının - of the men's cars, the men's cars'
3. adamların arabalarına - to the men's cars
4. adamların arabalarını - the men's cars (object)
5. adamların arabalarında - in the men's cars
6. adamların arabalarından - from the men's cars
7. adamların arabalarıyla - with the men's cars

A Note on Separation of Possessor and Possessed

The Possessive Relationship may be separated by other words such as an adjective or an adjectival phrase:

1. Adamın eski arkadaşından
2. From the man's old friend
3. Adamın büyük ve pahalı arabasında
4. In the man's large and expensive car

Chaining of Possessions

The chaining of Possessors is quite easy in Turkish, as follows:

1. the house's door's window - evin kapısının penceresi
2. And with various plural forms
3. the house's door's windows - evin kapısının pencereleri
4. the houses' door's window - evlerin kapısının penceresi

As you can see each "chained" Possessor takes both the Possessed Suffix in -i and the Possessor Suffix in -in [hence - kapı-sı -nın - door-the-of] , while the item Possessed takes the Possessed Suffix in -i (hence pencere-si - window-the (Sing.) or pencere-ler-i - windows-the (Plural.}]

Some more examples

1. Ali's notebook's pages are torn - Ali'nin derfterinin sayfları yırtılmıştır
2. The garden's walls' bricks are broken - Bahçenin duvarlarının tuğlaları kırılmıştır.
3. Mehmet's bicycle's tyres are worn down - Mehmet'in bisikletinin lastikleri aşınılmıştır
4. Our car's engine's petrol tank's filler cap is missing - Arabamımızın motorunun benzin deposunun doldurma kapağı eksiktir

Note: that in English we would say something like:
Ali's notebook pages are torn
The garden walls' bricks are broken
Mehmet's bicycle tyres are worn down
But in Turkish these first nouns have to be made definite.