more turkish adjectives, diminutives -- Learn Turkish

More Adjective Heaven Overflowing Nouns-helpers...

Ordinary adjective usage
Adjectives in comparative situations
Intensive adjectives
Diminutive adjectives...
...ending in -ca (-ce)
...ending in -cik (-cIk, -cük, -cuk)
...ending in -msI (-ImsI, -imsi, -umsu)
...ending in -mtIrak (-ImtIrak, -imtIrak, -umtIrak)
Are prefixes only used to intensify adjectives?
Participles used as adjectives
Word order and Turkish adjectives…
What else?

Diminutive Adjectives

If you want to tone down an adjective so that it's meaning is less intense, then you'll revert to appending a suffix to it.
(Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted, wasn't it?)

For example, if you want to diminish the intensity of meaning expressed by the adjective pahalI (expensive), then you add the suffix -ca to make pahalIca (somewhat expensive).

Diminutive Adjectives with -ca (-ce) suffixes

*Ordinary adjective*	*Diminished*	*Example*	*English meaning*
güzel (pretty)	güzelce	güzelce bir resim	a fairly pretty picture
temiz (clean)	temizce	temizce bir gömlek	a rather clean shirt
yesil (green)	yesilce	yesilce bir gölcük	a greenish pond

Sample sentences...
Meryl Streep güzelce bir kadIndIr.
Meryl Streep is a fairly good looking woman.

Dün gece gittigimiz striptiz pahalIca, degil mi?
The striptease show we went to last night was somewhat expensive,
wasn't it?

Benjamin temizce sakalar söyler -- annesinin önünde!
Benjamin tells rather clean jokes -- in front of his mother!

Ekmekte yesilce noktalar hos degildir.
The greenish mold on the bread is unappetizing.

Diminutive Adjectives
with -cik (-cIk, cük, cuk) suffixes

Ordinary adjective Diminished Example English meaning

ufak
(small) ufacIk ufacIk bungalov
a rather small bungalow

bir
(one) biricik biricik firsat
a one-of-a-kind opportunity

küçük
(little) küçücük küçücük böcek
a tiny insect

yavru
(young animal, child) yavrucuk yavrucuk
(You're not seeing things. By adding the suffix -cuk, we've constructed a diminutive noun -- which stands alone.)
a sweet little thing, a sweet little darling

Sample sentences...
UfacIk bir kanyagI
siddetli bir bas agrIsIna tercih ederim.
I'd rather have a very small cognac than a very strong headache.

Sen benim biricik yaslI enayimsin.
You are my one and only old fool.
(An old fool is unique.)

O küçücük çocuk at gibi yer!
That wee child eats like a horse!

HypatianIn buruncugu en iyi özelligi.
Hypatia's cute little nose is her best feature.

Diminutive Adjectives with
-msI (-ImsI, -imsi, -umsu) suffixes Note: Diminutive adjective suffixes shown in this panel and the
next panel are used sparingly in Turkish.
Furthermore, they are mostly used for adjectives of
color and taste...

*Ordinary adjective*	*Diminished*	*Example*	*English meaning*
sarI (yellow, blond)	sarImsI	sarImsI yazma	a yellowed manuscript
agIr (heavy)	agIrImsI	agIrImsI karar	a rather heavy decision
yesil (green)	yesilimsi	yesilimsi gecelik	a greenish nightgown
mor (purple)	morumsu	morumsu çiçekler	purplish flowers

Sample sentences...

SarImsI saçlI bomba sova ilk cIkIsta üstün basarI sagladI.
The blondish bombshell made a big hit at the show's opening.

O agIrImsI bir yük degil, o benim kardesim.
That's not a heavyish load, that's my brother.

Smith'ler Jones'larI kIskanmaktan yesilimsi oldu.
The Smiths are a little green with envy of the Joneses.

Holyfieldin dövüsden dolayI hala bir morumsu gözü var.
He still has a purplish eye because of the beating he took from Holyfield.

G.L. Lewis points out an interesting variation that belongs to this categorey of diminutive adjective suffixes. He indicates that for some nouns and adjectives (ending in consonants), you may attach the shortened suffix '-si' (-sI, -sü, -su)
to form the diminutive adjective.
So, for example, you can attach the shortened suffix for,
erkek male, erkeksi mannish; çocuk child, çocuksu childish.
That last bit of info isn't much help, Marvin...How'm I supposed to
know which words do take the 'shortened' suffix -- and which don't?
I dunno, Mabel.
Well... Maybe it doesn't matter that much..? Whaddya think?
Problee mebbe. Mebbe problee.
You've had better days, Marvin...
mebbe...
problee.

Diminutive Adjectives with
-mtIrak (-ImtIrak, -imtIrak, -umtIrak) suffixes Note: Diminutive adjective suffixes shown in this panel and the
former panel are used sparingly in Turkish.
Furthermore, they are mostly used for adjectives of
color and taste...

*Ordinary adjective*	*Diminished*	*Example*	*English meaning*
eksi (sour, tart, acidic)	eksimtIrak	eksimtIrak çilek	a sourish strawberry
beyaz (white)	beyazImtIrak	beyazImtIrak plastik	a whitish plastic
acayip (strange, peculiar)	acayibimtIrak	acayibimtIrak öneri	a rather strange suggestion
burusuk (wrinkled, rumpled)	burusumtIrak	burusumtIrak giysiler	somewhat wrinkled clothing

Sample sentences...

O sütü içmeyin! EksimtIrak.
Don't drink that milk! It's a bit sour.

YaslI adamIn beyazImtIrak saçI güzide görünüyor.
The old man's whitish hair looks distinguished.

Barnaby'nin olaylarIn gülünç yönünü görme yetenegi acayibimtIrak[tIr].
Barnaby has a rather peculiar sense of humor.

Kevin sudan çIktIgInda, cildi burusumtIraktI.
When Kevin got out of the water, his skin was a bit wrinkled.

Note:
Adjectives related to colors or tastes can take the diminutive endings either from this panel or the former panel. So, either yesilimsi kumas or yesilimtIrak kumas is correct. And they both mean greenish material.

More to come!
Honorific Adjectives (Titles)

More to come!
Determinative Adjectives:
for Identification purposes...
for Interrogative purposes...
for Indefinite size/amount...

More to come!
Numerical Adjectives:
Real numbers
Cardinal numbers
Portionate numbers
Fractional numbers/Percentages

And even more!!!

Thanks to Mehmet Hengirmen
for some of the ideas that appear on this page...

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