The Turkish Genitive Case (Tamlayan Hali)
The genitive case marks possession, belonging, or a close relationship between two things. If the answer to “whose?” or “of what?” describes what you mean, you need the genitive case.
In English, possession is expressed with the ‘s suffix or possessive pronouns — my, your, her, and so on. Turkish uses a dedicated set of suffixes for the same job: one attaches to the owner, and another attaches to the thing owned.
Structure of the Genitive Case
Possessor + genitive suffix + Possessed + possessive suffix
Benim evim
Ben + im (genitive suffix) | ev + im (possessive suffix)
What if you want to say the big square of the city?
Note I — When you want to describe the second noun with an adjective, place the adjective directly before it. The suffix structure stays exactly the same.
Personal Pronouns with the Genitive Case
| Pronoun | Genitive Form | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ben | Benim | my / mine |
| Sen | Senin | your / yours |
| O | Onun | his / her / its |
| Biz | Bizim | our / ours |
| Siz | Sizin | your / yours |
| Onlar | Onların | their / theirs |
In English, pronouns change form depending on their role in a sentence — I / me / my / mine, he / him / his, and so on. Turkish works differently: the genitive form (benim, senin, onun…) covers what English splits into two separate roles.
Role 1 — Possessive modifier (like English my, your, his)
The genitive pronoun comes before a noun to show ownership, and that noun also takes a possessive suffix.
* -im is the possessive suffix, which we’ll cover in detail below.
Role 2 — Predicate pronoun (like English mine, yours, his)
The same genitive pronoun stands alone after bu / şu / o or any noun to express ownership — the equivalent of “this is mine” or “that is yours.”
Now that we’ve seen both roles in action, let’s look at the full genitive-possessive structure.
Turkish Genitive Suffixes
The table below shows the genitive suffix for each pronoun and the possessive suffix that attaches to the possessed noun.
| Possessor | Genitive Suffix | Possessive Suffix | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben | -Im | -Im | Benim evim |
| Sen | -(n)In | -In | Senin evin |
| O | -(n)In | -(s)I | Onun evi |
| Biz | -Im | -(I)mIz | Bizim evimiz |
| Siz | -In | -(I)nIz | Sizin eviniz |
| Onlar | -In | -lArI | Onların evleri |
Capital letters in the suffixes indicate that the vowel changes according to vowel harmony — it will be ı, i, u, or ü depending on the last vowel of the root word.
Because the possessive suffix already conveys ownership, the pronouns benim, senin, etc. are often dropped in natural speech and writing.
Possessive Suffixes at a Glance
| ev (house) | araba (car) | |
|---|---|---|
| Ben | evim | arabam |
| Sen | evin | araban |
| O | evi | arabası |
| Biz | evimiz | arabamız |
| Siz | eviniz | arabanız |
| Onlar | evleri | arabaları |
Note II — Vowel Drop Rule
When a noun has a narrow vowel (ı, i, u, ü) in its second syllable, that vowel drops when a vowel-initial suffix is added.
omuz (shoulder) → omzu
boyun (neck) → boynu
alın (forehead) → alnı
Note III — The “N” Buffer Rule
When the third-person possessive suffixes — (s)I and lArI — are followed by a case suffix (-A, -dA, -dAn, -I), the letter n is inserted between them.
Now that we’ve covered how suffixes interact with nouns, let’s move on to a structure that relies heavily on them: the noun compound.
Definite Noun Compound (Belirtili İsim Tamlaması)
Indefinite Noun Compound (Belirtisiz İsim Tamlaması)
Definite vs. Indefinite: What’s the Difference?
Both compound types link two nouns. In the definite form, the first noun takes a genitive suffix and the second takes a possessive suffix. In the indefinite form, the first noun carries no suffix at all — only the second noun takes a possessive suffix.
| Definite (Specific) | Indefinite (General) |
|---|---|
| Apartmanın girişi kapalı, arka kapıdan gir. (The entrance of the apartment is closed, use the back door.) |
Apartman girişi genelde dar olur. (Apartment entrances are usually narrow.) |
| Sokağın adı neydi? (What was the name of the street?) |
Birçok şehirde sokak adları ünlü kişilerden gelir. (In many cities, street names come from famous people.) |
| Türkiye’de toplumun yapısı son yıllarda değişti. (The structure of society in Turkey has changed in recent years.) |
Toplum yapısı zamanla değişir. (Social structure changes over time.) |
Note IV — Pronouns with the Instrumental Case
To say “with me,” “with you,” and so on in Turkish, you use the instrumental suffix -le / -la. With personal pronouns, this suffix attaches to the genitive form of the pronoun.
- benimle / benle — with me
- seninle / senle — with you
- onunla / onla — with him / her / it
- bizimle — with us
- sizinle — with you
- onlarla — with them