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.
Personal Endings (PEs) -- Definitions
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
.
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'...
Side by Side Comparisonof 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
-(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)
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'll talk more about Case Endings on another page. (sometime...)
Does any of this make sense to you, Marvin? Uh... Can I get back to you on that one, Mabel?
Click here for more about "Ambiguities" like the ones above
'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?
When attached to verb stems, the PPEs help form 'Past Personal' or 'Future Personal' Participles in Turkish...
...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...
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.
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?
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...
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'll talk more about Case Endings on another page. (sometime...)
Does any of this make sense to you, Marvin? Uh... Can I get back to you on that one, Mabel?
Click here for more about "Ambiguities" like the ones above