Turkish Definite Articles

Turkish Definite Articles

Turkish does not have a subject definite article “the”.

The object of a verb does have a objective suffix “the” in Turkish.

This is one of the difficulties for those learning Turkish.

English does not distinguish between subject “the” and object “the”

English uses the definite article “the” to make both the subject and the object specific.

The Six Turkish Noun Conditions

These six conditions are suffixed to the root word according to Vowel Harmony Rules.

The vowels of the suffix match the final vowel of the root word.

Title Condition (Nominative)

The root word which carries no suffix.

The subject is considered as being specific.
el hand, the hand.

Ownership Condition (Genitive)

-in -ın -un -ün
The condition of “belonging to” of, ‘s in English
elin [el-in] the hand’s, of the hand.

Specific Object Condition (Accusative)

-i/-ı/-u/-ü
The Direct Object specific “the”
eli [el-i] the hand

Movement Towards Condition (Dative)

-a/-e
The Condition of Movement Towards to, towards
ele [el-e] to / towards the hand.

Static Position Condition (Locative)

-da/-de or -ta/-te
The Condition of Place and Position in, on, at
elde [el-de] in / on / at the hand.

Movement Away Condition (Ablative)

-dan/-den or -tan/-ten
The Condition of Movement Away from, by, via
elden [el-den] from / by / via the hand.

Turkish Lack of Gender.

There is no gender distinction in Turkish

Turkish does not have gender pronouns “he / she / it.”

There are no “le” and “la” problems as in French, Italian

Turkish only has one word for he, she and it, namely o.