Noun possession (benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların)

Prerequisites for this Turkish Grammar Lesson

Vowel harmony

-lar
I-type vowel harmony
E-type vowel harmony
Exceptions

Pronouns

ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar
bu, şu, o

How to show ownership in Turkish

Grammar form:

(Owner) + (n) + ın/in/un/ün (noun) + (s) + i/ı/u/ü

In Turkish, possession is marked with a word ending on both the owner and the object that is owned.

The ending that marks the owner is ‑nın/nin/nun/nün (according to i-type vowel harmony). But if the owner is a word that ends with a consonant, the first “n” in the ending is dropped: ‑ın/in/un/ün.

The ending that marks the thing that is owned is the same as the compound noun ending. So the ending is ‑sı/si/su/sü on words ending with a vowel and ‑ı/i/u/ü on words ending with a consonant.

Possessive pronouns: his, her, my, your…

Benim	(noun) + (ı/i/u/ü) + m
Senin	(noun) + (ı/i/u/ü) + n
Bizim	(noun) + (ı/i/u/ü) + mız/miz/muz/müz
Sizin	(noun) + (ı/i/u/ü) + nız/niz/nuz/nüz
Onun	(noun) + (s) + ı/i/u/ü
Onların	(noun) + (s)/(lar/ler) + ı/i/u/ü
Bunun	(noun) + (s) + ı/i/u/ü
Bunların	(noun) + (s)/(lar/ler) + ı/i/u/ü
Şunun	(noun) + (s) + ı/i/u/ü
Şunların	(noun) + (s)/(lar/ler) + ı/i/u/ü

If you are using a pronoun such as sen (“you”) or ben (“me”) to talk about the owner of something, you still mark that pronoun with the “owner” ending ‑nın. But the first person pronouns “ben” and “biz” get a slightly different “owner” ending: ‑im.

The object that is owned is marked with a different ending that matches the pronoun for the person who owns it.

Let’s take a look at some examples of possession using different pronouns, both on a word that ends in a vowel (baba) and a word that ends in a consonant (çay):

Examples with a word ending in a vowel: “baba” (father)

Possessive Pronoun	Personal Ending	English Meaning
Benim	babam	My father
Senin	baban	Your father
Onun	babası	His/her father
Bizim	babamız	Our father
Sizin	babanız	Your (plural) father
Onların	babaları or babası	Their father

Examples with a word ending in a consonant: “çay” (tea)

Possessive Pronoun	Personal Ending	English Meaning
Benim	çayım	My tea
Senin	çayın	Your tea
Onun	çayı	His/her tea
Bizim	çayımız	Our tea
Sizin	çayınız	Your (plural) tea
Onların	çayları or çayı	Their tea

Now let’s take a look at some simple sentences that use noun possession.

Examples

Benim annem bir çiçek.
My mother is a flower.
(Title of a children’s book)

Bu benim öyküm.
This is my story.
(Title of a song)

Pizza sizin mi?
Is [the] pizza yours?
(Quote from a comic strip)

Ben onların yalancısıyım.
I’m their liar.
(Common expression meaning, “I’m just saying what I’ve heard.”)

Mahallenin gururu, ülkenin enerjisi
The pride of the neighborhood, the country‘s energy source
(From an İpragaz propane delivery truck)

Exceptions to the rules

Here are the exceptions you should know when you are using the ownership endings in Turkish.

Adding an apostrophe after names of people and places

When adding an ownership (either ‑nın or ‑sı) to the name of a person or place, you need to first add an apostrophe (‘).

Examples

’nin

Turkey’s cities

Mehmet’in babası
Mehmet’s dad

Exception words ending with Ç, K, P, T

As with the compound noun ending, there is another rule for words that end with ç, k, p or t. The last letter is often replaced with another letter, as follows:

ç gets replaced with c
k gets replaced with ğ
p gets replaced with b
t gets replaced with d

Examples

Araç (vehicle)	Benim aracım (My vehicle)
Yemek (meal)	Senin yemeğin (your meal)
Kitap (owner)	Öğretmenin kitabı (the teacher’s book)
Kâğıt (paper)	Çocuğun kâğıdı (the child’s paper)

Dropping vowels

There are a few Turkish words that drop the last vowel in the word when adding the endings that mark ownership (or any other ending starting with a vowel).

Examples

İzin (permission/permit)	Benim iznim (my permit)
Vakit (time)	Senin vaktin (your time)
Karın (stomach)	Sizin karnınız (your stomach)
Oğul (son)	Ahmet’in oğlu (Ahmet’s son)
Vakıf (foundation/institution)	Onların vakfı (their foundation)
Şehir (city)	Bizim şehrimiz (our city)

Objects with no ending

In some Turkish sentences, the object that is owned does not have any ending. This is most common with the first person plural pronoun, “bizim.”

Examples

Our house

Bizim mahalle
Our neighborhood

Bizim Mehmet
Our Mehmet (the one that we know, not some other Mehmet)

Ownership endings with repeated consonants

For a handful of words in Turkish, you repeat the last consonant in the word before adding an ending either ‑ın (for the owner) or ‑ı (for the thing that is owned).

Examples

tım

My (phone) line

Senin hakkın
Your (legal or moral) right

Onların sırrı
Their secret

Üssün komutanı
The base’s commander

Ownership endings with no “s” buffer

There are a few Turkish words that end in a vowel but that normally do not take an “s” before the ownership ending in formal writing.

Examples

nin

The neighborhood’s mosque

Ahmet’in bayii
Ahmet’s store

Kavganın mevzuu
The topic of the fight

Words ending in ‑nk

Also, there are a few words in Turkish that end in “nk.” For these words, the “k” at the end of the word turns into a hard “g.” The only common word like this is “renk” (color).

Examples

ın

The mountains’ color

Benim dengim
My balance

Ayşe’nin fiyongu
Ayşe’s bow

Sizin çelenginiz
Your (plural or formal) wreath

Ownership with short words

In Turkish, if the owner or the object that is owned is a two-letter word, it sometimes gets a “y” buffer letter instead of the normal “n” or “s.” This mainly happens with the Turkish word for water (“su”). But it also shows up in some idiomatic expressions with other two-letter words ending with vowels.

Examples

’in

The Mediterranean’s water

Neyin nesi?
What is it (literally, what’s what is it?)

Onların şuyu buyu…
Their this-or-that…