Turkish Prepositions: with Examples [STEP-BY-STEP]

If you want to learn Turkish prepositions, first you must be sure that what is a preposition in your native language. Let’s review what prepositions are with a couple of sentences:

First, it’s called preposition, it must be placed in front of nouns or pronouns.

What do prepositions do?

They show the relation between both sides in a sentence. For instance:

The computer is on the table.

Right, computer is on the table, shows a relation between these two thing. Let’s translate it into Turkish:

Bilgisayar masanın üstünde

The Turkish preposition is at the end of the sentence. Would you still call it a preposition? Or What would you call it?

Most people still call it preposition. In Turkish, preposition is called ‘edat’.

Many Turkish grammar books categorize them like prepositions of direction, preposition of place etc. But I think you can guess which one indicates place or direction if you know what the word means. So, I don’t want make it more complicated with these categories and go on with the basics.

Prepositions also have close relatives: Postpositions. No need to say, they never get along well with each other. Prepositions go in front of words and pronouns but postpositions go after. Let me show you a postposition:

6 months ago

6 ay önce

Postposition goes after a noun or pronoun. Very similar to Turkish prepositions. Oh, maybe you should call them Turkish postpositions instead of Turkish prepositions.

Yeah maybe. But let’s leave these boring terms and dive into the real Turkish:

Turkish prepositions and English prepositions

Turkish case suffixes can perform the function of some English prepositions to some degree. For example, the ablative case (-den & -dan) indicate the point of deperture and also comparison when attechted to the point of reference. However, most of the prepositions are single words.

What should you get from this  paragraph?

Some Turkish case suffixes give the same meaning of English preposition. Instead of using a new word (preposition/postposition), you add a suffix in Turkish. No big surprise! Remember Turkish is an agglutinative language?

Let me show you how:

Evde
At home

Mahallede
In the vicinity

These two examples show how locative case suffix gives the same meaning of a preposition.

Evden
From home

Mahalleden
From vicinity

And these examples show how ablative suffixes gives the same meaning of a preposition.

But, suffixes don’t work all the time.

You need some Turkish prepositions or Turkish postpositions, whatever you call.

Turkish Prepositions Examples:

In
içinde, içerisinde

At
üzere, nezdinde, içerisinde

On
üstünde

These are the most popular ones.

The pen is on the table
Kalem masanın üzerinde

The cat is in the box
Kedi kutunun içinde OR Kedi kutunun içerisinde

We are at the Kampus
Kampüsdeyiz OR Kampüs içerisindeyiz.

The location in the word “kampüsteyiz” is given by locative case.

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Common Turkish Prepositions

Yan
Side

Yanında
Beside, next to, nearby

Yanımda kal.
Stay next to me. OR stay with me.

Alt
Bottom

Arabaların altına bile baktılar.
They even checked the bottom of the cars.

Dış
Exterior, out

Ülke sınırlarının dışında
Outside the country boundries

Ara
Interval

Arası
Between

The rest of the article will cover prepositions having the same kind of patterns and use them in example sentences.

e.g. Dicle ile Fırat nehirlerinin arasında kalan bölgeye Mezopotamya denir.
The area between the Tigris & Euphrates is called Mesopotamia.

Superstition using prepositions!

e.g. Aynı isimli iki kişinin arasında dilek tutarsan kabul olur.

It is a common supersition that if you make a wish between two people with the same name, your wish comes true. I could find a similar superstition In Ukraine, but couldn’t find anything about the origins

Üst
top

Üstünde
on

Masanın üstündeki vazo kırıldı.
the vase on the table has broken

Orta
middle

Ortasında
in the middle

Ortadaki şişeyi al.
take the bottle in the middle

Bu yana
since

Oturma odasındaki eşyalar çocukluğumdan bu yana aynılar.
The furnishes in the living have been the same since my childhood.

Sonra
after

Türkler akşam yemeğinden sonra genellikle çay içerler.
the Turkish generally drink tea after dinner

Attention: ‘sonra’ and ‘bu yana’ are used following the ablative case. (yemeğin-den sonra; çocukluğum-dan bu yana)
daha önce OR önce (before)

Daha önce bahsi geçmişti ancak hiç umursamadım.
It has been mentioned before but i didnt care any.

Dolayı, ötürü*, yüzünden
because of OR due to.

*’ötürü’ might be considered as provincialism.

Kötü hava nedeniyle bütün uçuşlar iptal edildi.
all flights are cancelled because of bad weather

Bütün umudunu kontrol edilemeyen endişeleri ve anksiyetesi yüzünden kaybetti.
He has lost all his hope due to his uncontrollable concerns and severe anxiety.)

Attention: uç-mak => to fly; uçak => plane, uç-uş =>flight, uç-uş-lar => flights

Sayesinde
thanks to he/she/it

Sayende
thanks to you

Sayenizde
thanks to you**

Sayemizde
thanks to us

**plural or formal

Senin sayende bu sınavı geçebildim.
I could pass this exam thanks to you.

Sayemizde bu güzel şartlarda yaşıyorsun.
You are living in this nice conditions thanks to us.

Nanoteknoloji sayesinde hızlı gelişmeler gözlenmektedir.
Rapid developments are observed thanks to nanotechnology.

Zarfında
during & while

Bu süre zarfında, siz de evrak işlerini halledin lütfen.
During this time, you deal with the paper work please.

Esnasında
in the course of

Amerika Birleşik Devletlerindeki birçok kişi 2007 ekonomik krizi esnasında, bankalara borçlu oldukları parayı ödeyemediler.
In the course of the 2007 financial crisis, many people in the US couldn’t pay what they owe to the banks

List of Turkish Prepositions: