Turkish Language - List of Suffixes

Some of this information is taken from the web. We thank the anonymous authors, as this information is re-published for the interest of Turkish language learners only. These lists are not comprehensive.

Root Words

There are Word Roots, Extended Words and Suffixes.
Word root: After removing both Constructive and Inflectional suffixes from any word we are left with an understandable Word Root. There are two types of Wood roots.
1. Nominal Roots: Consist of Nouns, Names and Subjects.
2. Verbal Roots: Consist of the verbal movement parts of speech of doing and making etc.
In Turkish some Word roots can fulfill both Noun and Verbal Roots.
güreş (wrestler) = güreş- (to wrestle)
boya (paint) = boya- (to paint)
göç (migration)= göç- (to migrate)

Word Roots:

Generally are single syllable, but some are multi-syllable.
Centuries ago all Word Roots in Turkish were reduced to single-syllables: düğün, düğme, düğüm, ile, ilgi, ilik, iliş- (wedding, buttons, knot, with interest, warm, to relate -). There have bee Woor Roots in the Turkish language for uncounted centuries.
All words derived from the Word Root are related.

Suffixes

Suffix: New Word roots or Extended words are created by suffixation.
Suffixes are generally single-syllable additions. Multi syllable suffixes are usually made up by adding a further single syllable suffix to an existing suffix.,and a new basic suffix is so formed:
dikçe: (dik + equalizing suffix çe).
Differing suffixes may have the same form and pronunciation:
Gel - ecek yıl (next year) - adjectival -ecek
Babam Ankara'dan gel - ecek - Mt father will come from Ankara - verbal - ecek

There are two types of Suffix

1. Constructive Suffixes (which make new words from word roots - ie beauty - beautiful)
2. Inflexional Suffixes (which modify the meaning of a word root - ie write - writing, house - houses)

Suffix Spelling Rules in English

Thanks to Paul Shoebottom - Frankfurt International School

Derivation

Derivation is concerned with the formation of new words from base elements, particularly by the process of affixation. Friend, for example, is the base element for the affixation of un-, -ly, -ness, -less, -ship etc. to produce the words friendly, friendliness, unfriendliness, friendless, friendlessness, friendship, and so on. Derivation is one of the two major aspects of morphology. The other is inflection.

Inflection

Inflection is the name for the extra letter or letters added to nouns, verbs and adjectives in their different grammatical forms. Nouns are inflected in the plural, verbs are inflected in the various tenses, and adjectives are inflected in the comparative/superlative. Here are some of the most important inflection rules:

English Inflection Rules
Original word typeInflection Rule
Words ending with a sibilant:-s/-ss/-sh/-ch/x.

Words ending with the letter -o.
Add -es in the plural noun or 3rd person singular verb.
bus → buses (n) / busses (v), miss → misses, wish → wishes, watch → watches, fox → foxes, potato → potatoes, do → does

Words ending consonant - y.
Change the -y to ie before the ending -s.
party → parties, study → studies, cry → cries

Words ending consonant - y.
Change the -y to i before the endings -ed/-er/-est/-ly.
try → tried, happy → happier, easy → easiest

Words ending consonant - y.
Do NOT change the -y before the ending -ing.
carry → carrying, try → trying

Words ending vowel - y.
Do NOT change the -y.
buy → buys, play → played

Words ending with the letters -ie.
Change the -ie to a - y before the ending -ing.
die → dying, lie → lying

Verbs ending consonant -e.
Omit the -e before the ending -ing.
ride → riding, love → loving, write → writing, provide → providing

One-syllable words ending consonant-vowel-consonant.
(Two or more syllable words ending consonant-vowel-consonant that are stressed on the last syllable.)
Double the last consonant before the endings -ing/-ed/-er/-est.
hit → hitting, stop → stopped, wet → wetter, fat → fattest, begin → beginning, prefer → preferred
Two or more syllable words ending consonant-vowel-consonant that are stressed on the first syllable. Do NOT double the last consonant before the endings -ing/-ed/-er/-est.
happen → happening visit → visited

Inflectional suffixes are used to change the properties of a word to express a different tense, mood, voice, or other grammatical category. This is known as conjugation for verbs and declension for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns.

Lexical suffixes, on the other hand, are used to create new words entirely, e.g., nouns from verbs or adverbs from adjectives. These are called Constructive suffixes

Independently of whether or not word class changes and how significantly meaning is affected, derivation always creates (derives) new words from existing ones, while inflection is limited to changing word form.

Suffixes in Turkish

Constructive Suffixes

1. From Nouns - Noun Constructive Suffixes
2. From Nouns - Verb Constructive Suffixes
3. From Verbs - Noun Constructive Suffixes
4. From Verbs - Verb Constructive Suffixes

Inflexional Suffixes

It should be noted that all the following suffixes can be subject to Vowel Harmony and Consonant Change rules. For instance the Equivalent suffix shown as -CA can also have the forms -ce, ça or -çe. All the suffixes which may undergo these changes are written in Capital Letters in the list below.

1. Noun Inflexional Suffixes

Question Suffix - Suffixes which form questions from Verbs, who/, what?, why?, when, etc.
Plural Suffix - (Suffix which forms the Plural from the Singular form)
Owner (Genitive) Suffix - (Suffixes of Ownership - of, the genitive 's suffix in English)
Personal Suffixes - (Suffixes of person - number - I, you, he, we, you, they)
Suffixes Of Condition - (Suffixes of Condition - Dative, Ablative, Accusative, Locative - To, for, from, through)

2. Verb Inflectional Suffix Types

Question Suffixes (Suffixes which form questions from Verbs, who/, what?, why?, when, etc.)
Suffixes of Tense and Mood - (past, present, future, causative, abilitative, subjunctive etc.)
Personal number Suffixes - (I, you, he etc.)
Verbal Adjective Suffixation - (Adjectival Participle)
Adverbial Suffixation - (Adverbial Participle)

Constructive Suffixes

From Nouns - Noun Constructive Suffixes

-A : komuta, gece
-Aç : kıraç, topaç, bakraç
-Ak :başak, yanak, solak
-Al : genel, yerel, özel
-AlAk :kozalak, topalak
-An : eren, köken, kızan
-At : özet, gölet
-Ç : anaç, ataç, ortaç
-CA : karaca, akçe, Türkçe
-cAk : büyücek, yavrucak
-cağız: çocukcağız, kızcağız
-Ci : evci, savcı, gözcü, avcı
-CIk : kısacık, ufacık, minicik
-CIl : insancıl, evcil, otçul
-DAş : arkadaş, yoldaş, evdeş
-DA : elde, sözde, gözde, durakta
-Dam : erdem, gündem, yordam
-DAn : toptan, neden, içten

From Nouns - Verb Constructive Suffixes

-A- : boşa-, kana-, türe-, oyna-
-Al- : azal-, çoğal-, düzel-
-An- : gücen-, utan-
-Ar- : suvar-, onar-, basar- kızar-, morar-
-k- : gecik-, acık-, gözük-
-kIr- : hıçkır-, fışkır-, püskür-
-l- : kısal-, küçül-, sivril-
-lA- : anla-, gizle-, yolla-
-msA- : azımsa-, küçümse-, önemse-
-DA- : alda(t)-, iste- ( izde-)
-I- : ağrı- (ağırı-), tası-
-r- : delir-, belir-
-rgA- : yadırga-, esirge-
-sA- : susa-, boğasa-

From Verbs - Noun Constructive Suffixes

-Av : görev, ödev, sınav, işlev
-Iş : bakış, geçiş, atış, bitiş
-Ik : bölük, açık, yanık, atik
-ntI : görüntü, akıntı, döküntü
-A : sapa, öte, erte(le-)
-Aç : tıkaç, sayaç, kaldıraç
-AGAn: olağan, gezegen, durağan
-ACAk: gelecek, yakacak, giyecek
-Ak : uçak, binek, sapak, dönek
-AlAk : yatalak, asalak, çökelek
-AlgA : çizelge, bitelge, konalga
-Am : tutam, dönem, kuram
-AmAK: tutamak, basamak
-An : düzen, bakan, kapan
-AnAk : görenek, olanak, değ(e)nek
-ArI : uçarı, göçeri
-AsI : olası, veresi (ye)
-Ay : olay, yapay, düşey

From Verbs - Verb Constructive Suffixes

Negative Structure

-mA- : yazma-, sevme-, görme-

Causative Structure

-Ir- : içir-, kaçır-, batır-, yatır-
-Ar- : çıkar-, gider-, kopar-, yakar-
-Dar- : döndür- (ağızlarda) , aktar-
-Dir- : bildir-, kestir-, koştur-, saptır-
-t- : azıt-, akit-, taşıt-, sapıt-, üşüt-
-z- (+-ir-): emzir- ( em-i-z-ir-), damız-

Passive Structure

-l- : açıl-, kapıl-, kesil-, görül-, bildiril-
-n- : boyan-, taran-, süslen-, açıklan-
-k- : ayık-, göçük-

Reflexive Structure

-n- : yıkan-, taran-, alin-, süslen-, şalin-, bakin-

From Verbs - Verb Constructive Suffixes

Reciprocal Structure

-ş- : atış-, buluş-, dövüş-, görüş-,

Cyclical Structure

-AlA- : esele-, gezele-, itele-, ovala-, silkele-, ufala-
-lA- : atla-
-IştIr- : karıştır-, koşuştur-, ovuştur-, serpiştir-
-klA- : savsakla-, sayıkla-, sürükle-, tartakla-
-ArlA- : toparla-, yuvarla-
-mAlA-: sarmala-, tırmala-
-IşlA- : dürtüşle-, itişle- (ağızlarda), kakışla-

Strengthening Structure

-A- : tara-, tıka-
-I- : kazı-, sancı-, sürü-
-k- : burk-, kırk-

Inflexional suffixes

Noun Inflexional Suffixes

Nouns of Condition

Plain (Normative) Condition : asker, süngü

Direction Toward (Dative) Condition : -(y)A
asker-e, süngü-y-e

Positional (Locative) Condition: -DA
asker-de, süngü-de, güneş-te, bacak-ta

Movement Away From (Ablative) Condition: -Dan
asker-den, süngü-den, sabah-tan, bilek-ten

Ownership (Genitive) Condition : -In, nIn
asker-in, süngü-nün

Objective (Accusative) Condition) :-I
asker-i, süngü-y-ü

Equivalent Condition :-CA
asker-ce, on-ca, Mehmet-çe

Instrumental (by, with, through, via) Condition :-lA
asker-le, süngü-y-le, arkadaş-la, otobüs-le

Personal (number) Suffixes

-Im : tüfek(ğ)-i-m, kasatura-m
-In : tüfek(ğ)-i-n, kasatura-n
-I, -sI : tüfek(ğ)-i, kasatura-sı
-mIz : tüfek(ğ)-i-miz, kasatura-mız
-Niz : tüfek(ğ)-i-niz, kasatura-nız
-lAr-I : tüfek-leri, kasatura-ları

Verb Inflexional suffixes

Personal Suffixes

1st Group Personal Suffixes (All tenses except past Tenses and Subjunctive Moods)
-Im .......... -Iz
-sIn ......... -sInIz
--- .......... -lAr

2nd Group Personal Suffixes (Past Tenses. Only used with Direct Past -DI and Indirect Past -mIş)
-m .......... -k
-n ..........-nIz
--- .......... -lAr

3rd Group Personal Suffixes (Subjunctive Mood only)
-Im .......... -lIm
-sIn ......... -sInIz
--- .......... -lAr

Verbal Adjective (Participle) Suffixes

-Dik : bil-dik (adam), tanı-dik (insan)
-mIş : bil-miş (çocuk), tanın-miş (sanatçı)
-(y)An: bil-en (öğrenci), tanın-an (kişi)
-r, -Ar: bil-ir (kişi), uç-ar (birlik)
-mAz : utan-maz (kadın), yara-maz (çocuk)
-AsI : kahrol-asi (adam), öpül-esi (el)
-aCaK: gel-ecek (yıl), kiril-acak (eşya)

Adverbial (Participle) Suffixes

-(y)A... -(y)A: koş-a koş-a, yürü-y-e yürü-ye -(y)
-AyAk : koş-arak, yürü-y-erek -(y)
-(y)I : koş-u (ver-), yürü-y-ü (ver-)
-(y)Ip : koş-up, yürü-y-üp
-DiğIndA : git-tiğinde, yaz-dığında
-(i)ken : koş-ar-(i)ken, yürü-r-(i)ken
-(y)AlI : koş-alı, yürü-y-eli
-(y)IncA : koş-unca, yürü-y-ünce
-DI -AlI : gitti gideli, yazdı yazalı
-DI mI gitti mi, yazdı mi
-DikçA : koş-tukça, yürü-dükçe
-DiktA : koş-tukta, yürü-dükte
-mAdAn : koş-madan, yürü-meden
-mAksIzIn: koş-maksızın, yürü-meksizin
-r / -mAz : gider gitmez, yazar yazmaz