Lesson 5-Section 1(arabamda=in my car)

Let’s learn step-by-step how to form some expressions and suffixes in Turkish, using the word “car” (araba) as an example. In Turkish, possessive and locative (location-related) suffixes are attached directly to the noun to indicate possession and location.

Step 1: Basic Noun
araba — car

This is the base form of the noun, with no suffixes.

Step 2: Adding the Possessive Suffix
To say “my car” in Turkish, we add the first-person possessive suffix -m or -ım (following vowel harmony) to the noun.

arabam — my car
araba — car
-m — first-person possessive suffix for “my”

Note: Vowel harmony in Turkish determines whether the suffix will take the form of “-ım,” “-im,” “-um,” or “-üm” depending on the vowels in the noun. Here, araba uses -m directly because it follows an open vowel.

Step 3: Adding the Locative Suffix
To say “in my car,” we add the locative suffix -da (or -de, depending on vowel harmony) to indicate location.

arabamda — in my car
arabam — my car
-da — locative suffix meaning “in/on/at”

Summary:
1. araba — car
2. arabam — my car (adding “-m” for “my”)
3. arabamda — in my car (adding “-da” for location, meaning “in/on/at”)

In Turkish, the structure for these types of expressions is to start with the noun, add the possessive suffix for ownership, and then add the locative suffix if describing a location.

çanta = bag

çantan = your bag

çantan nerede? (where is your bag)

çantam arabamda (my bag in my car)

çantam arabanda ( my bag in your car)