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LPT Symbol Personal Endings (PEs) whats new

"Türkçeyi ögrenmek ekleri ögrenmektir."
"In order to learn Turkish, you have to learn the suffixes."
Jean Deny


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In the minority?
Personal Endings (PEs), Definitions
'Personal Verbal Ending' (PVE) definition
'Personal Possessive Ending' (PPE) definition
Side-by-side Comparison Chart
Confusions that may arise
Oddball uses

The Personal Endings (PEs) --
How to use'm, not abuse'm...
In the Minority?

We may be in an inconsequential minority here,
but we've muddled up our personal endings...
(Not those personal endings!
We mean the ones attached as suffixes
to Turkish verb stems, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs...)
...more than once, so we've decided to discuss the two varieties that have given us the most trouble, together on a single page -- the better for us to observe and compare them during (recurrent) lapses of memory.

That's right, we too use these pages for reference.
And with our private Web Page Search Engine,
we can find just the right information, pretty fast -- and easily.
Now, if we could only convince our Internet Service Providers to supply an Online Search Engine for you gentle readers...
Well, wouldn' tha' be nice...
Until that happens,
try finding what you need on the
LPT Site Contents and Index page

But we're not as mad as we may first appear -- because in many ways the personal endings for the verb stems, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs are very similar.

Have a look for yourself, in the following paragraphs.

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Personal Endings (PEs) --
Definitions

  1. The Personal Verbal Endings/suffixes:
    are those PEs that you attach to verb stems, nouns, and adjectives -- to form verb-related constructions.
    [For Example: When you attach the Personal Verbal Ending, '-ler', to the Wide-tense (Aorist) verb stem of görmek (which is görür), you get görürler; they see].
    For more info, see the
    Side-by-side Comparison Chart
    .

  2. The Personal Possessive Endings/suffixes:
    are those PEs that you generally attach to nouns and pronouns and that are meant to show possession -- and that usually have nothing to do with verb-related constructions.
    [For Example: When you attach the Personal Possessive Ending '-leri' to 'anne', you get anneleri; their mother]
    For more info, see the
    Side-by-side Comparison Chart    .
    or
    If you're really determined to see these endings used for verb-related constructions,
    then go ahead and click here.
    Or jump below to see
    all the oddball uses of the PPE.
    But, remember how we tried to keep it nice n' easy for ya'...

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Side by Side Comparison
of the Personal Verbal
and the Personal Possessive Endings/suffixes
Special Note !!!
All endings in the following chart are subject to
the Rule of Vowel Harmony...
Personal Verbal Endings (PVE) Personal Possessive Endings (PPE)
Type I
[attach to nouns, adjectives, and verb stems (except the definite past tense, -di stem)]		 Type II
[only attach after the
definite past tense, -di stem] 		After Consonants After Vowels
-(y)im
  • ögretmenim
    I am a teacher
  • gidiyorum
    They say I go
-m
  • ögretmendim I was a teacher
  • gitmistim
    I had gone
-im
  • kitabIm
    my book
  • örümcegim my spider
-m
  • kapIm
    my door
  • sapkam
    my hat
-sin
  • gidiyorsun
    you are going
  • delisin
    you're crazy
-n
  • gidiyordun
    you were going
  • delidin
    you were crazy
-in
  • kalemin
    your pen
  • fIncanIn
    your coffee cup
-n
  • kedin
    your cat
  • araban
    your car
(-dir)
[doesn't have to
be present always ...]
  • avukattIr
    she's a lawyer
  • uçacak-
    he will fly
--
(no personal ending)
  • avukattI
    she was a lawyer-
  • uçtu-
    he flew
-i
  • bisikleti
    his bicycle
  • gözlügü
    her eyeglasses

-si
  • masasI
    his table
  • havlusu
    her towel
  • çerçevisi
    its frame
  • kaynamasI
    its boiling (action)
    [Note that the noun in the preceding example (kaynama) is a verbal noun (not a negative verbal command) -- and is subject to the same PPE endings as any other Turkish noun...]
-(y)iz
  • iyiyiz
    we are well
  • evlenecegiz
    we will marry
  • güleriz
    we laugh
 -k
  • iyidik
    we were well
  • evlendik
    we married
  • güldük
    we laughed
-imiz
  • makbuzumuz our
    receipt
  • sekerimiz
    our candy
-miz
  • ölçümüz
    our measurement
  • içkimiz
    our drink
-siniz
  • kötüsünüz
    you are bad
  • misafirimizsiniz you are
    our guests
  • geliyor musunuz? are you all
    coming?
-niz
  • kötüdünüz
    you were bad
  • misafirimizdiniz you were
    our guests
  • geliyor muydunuz? were you all
    coming?
-iniz
  • makasInIz
    your scissors
  • feneriniz
    your flashlight
-niz
  • ayakkabInIz your shoes
  • klavyeniz
    your keyboard
-(dir)(ler)
[these endings can also
appear in reverse order,
but they are not
always present...]
  • tembeldirler
    they are lazy
  • açIyorlar
    they are opening
  • gitmeyecekler mi?
    aren't they going to go?
  • görürler
    they see
  • (Example where no verbal ending required)
    domuzlar kokar-
    pigs stink
-ler
  • tembeldiler
    they were lazy
  • açtIlar
    they opened
  • gitmediler mi?
    didn't they go?
-leri
  • koltuklarI
    their easy chair
  • günleri
    their days
-leri
  • anneleri
    their mother(s)
  • babalarI
    their father(s)

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Confusions that may arise

Since the Personal Endings are so similar to each other and because they are identical in looks to other types of endings, it's not surprising that confusion may arise in their use and interpretation.

For example, depending on the sentence it's found in...

  1. çocuklarI can mean his/her/its children -- that's because 'çocuklar' can represent the plural of 'child' and, when you attach the 3rd personal singular, Personal Possessive Ending 'I' it means 'his/her/its'. Thus, his/her/its children...

  2. çocuklarI can mean their child -- that's because 'çocuk' can represent the singular of 'child' and, when you attach the 3rd person plural, Personal Possessive Ending 'larI' it means 'their'. Thus, their child...

  3. çocuklarI can mean their children -- that's because 'çocuklar' can represent the plural of child and, when you attach the 3rd person, Plural Personal Possessive Ending 'larI' it means 'their'. Thus, their children... (Note: You only see one 'lar' in this construction because 'larlar' can't occur in Turkish. So, one 'lar' must be dropped.)

  4. çocuklarI can mean the children -- that's because 'çocuklar' can represent the plural of 'child' and when you attach the 'direct object' Case Ending 'I' (which is identical in appearance to the 3rd person singular, Personal Possessive Ending), it means 'the'. Thus, the children...

In another confusing instance, çocuklarIn can mean...
  1. your children -- that's because 'çocuklar' can represent the plural of 'child' and, when you attach the Personal Possessive Ending 'In' it means 'your' which results in
    your children...

  2. of the children -- that's because 'çocuklar'
    can represent the plural of 'child' and
    when you attach
    the Case Ending 'In' (which is identical in appearance to the Personal Possessive Ending that
    we just used in the previous paragraph)
    it means 'of' which results in
    of the children...

No worry, mate.
We talk more about
all Case Endings on another page.

Does any of this make sense to you, Marvin?
Umm... Can I get back to you on that one, Mabel?

Click here
for more about "Ambiguities"
like the ones above


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'Oddball' Uses of the 'Personal Possessive Endings' (PPEs)

It's probably too strong to call these uses 'Oddball'.

Or is it?

Well, we call'em 'oddball' if they are addressed by any of the following list items. What do you think?

  1. When attached to verb stems, the PPEs help form 'Past Personal' or 'Future Personal' Participles in Turkish...

  2. ...but sometimes not. And when not, they may simply be 'faux-participles'. The best way to quickly understand 'faux-participles' is to observe an example of one. Click the following hyper-link to see a 'faux-participle' in action. And click this next hyper-link to see another...

  3. When PPEs get involved with saying "when", we often dive for cover...Do you remember our heavy duty charts on this interesting Turkish language construction? Actually, no, I don't. Remind me, please.

  4. When PPEs are attached to interrogatives they can raise serious questions...For example, when you attach the 1st person singular PPE, '-im' to the interrogative 'ne' you get an oddball pronoun, nem or neyim meaning what of mine? And, it doesn't end there -- as the chart reveals...
    say what?
    Singular
    Plural
    nem? or neyim? what of mine? nen? or neyimiz? what of ours?
    nen? or neyin? what of yours? neniz? or neyiniz? what of yours (pl.)?
    nesi? or neyi? what of his/hers/its? neleri? what of theirs?

  5. And when PPEs are attached to certain adjectives and even adverbs, in oddball ways, we get extremely nervous...For example, when you start adding PPEs to oddball adjectives, like hangi (which) then you start getting oddball pronouns, like...
    which of...?
    Singular
    Plural
    --- --- hangimiz? which of us?
    --- --- hanginiz? which of you (all)?
    hangisi? which one of them? hangileri? which (ones) of them?

    Or when you anoint good ole ordinary adverbs, like çok; much, very, many with PPEs, they turn into oddball pronouns (or even adjectives) -- right before your very eyes...

    most...
    Singular
    Plural
    --- --- çogumuz most of us
    --- --- çogunuz most of you
    çogu
    (as pronoun)    		 most of it, most of them çoklarI, as in bir çoklarI a good many of them
    çogu
    (as adjective),
    e.g. çogu zaman    		 most times, most often --- ---

More to Come !

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