İsim Tamlaması (Noun Complemets/Completion)

We use Noun Complements to express a situation of possesion. There are two types of Noun
Complements in Turkish: Definite (Belirtili) and indefinite (Belirtisiz) completions.
DEFINITE Completions
In this situation two types of suffixes are used: the genitive case ending (nIn/In, depending on the
Vowel Harmony) and the third person possesive suffix (I/sI, depending on the Vowel Harmony). The
noun that takes the genitive case ending is called “Tamlayan” (the one which completes- because it
completes the second noun) and the noun that takes the possesive suffix is called “Tamlanan” (the one
that is being completed-because it is completed by the first).
Note: The completed noun has to answer the following questions: Neyin? (Whose? - object), Kimin?
(Whose? - person)
E.g.

 Ev- house Çatı- roof Neyin çatısı? – “Whose”/what roof? Evin çatısı – the roof of
the house.
Note: The letter “s” is used because in Turkish two vowels can’t be situated one next to another.
Helper letter “n” of the genitive case follows the same rule.

 Ofis- office Kapı- door Neyin kapısı? – What door? Ofisin kapısı – the door of the
offıce
 Ali- boy name Top – ball Kimin topu? – Whose ball? Ali’nin topu – Ali’s ball
Note: the apostrophe (’) is used between proper nouns (like “Ali”) and the new suffix. This rule is
general and is used in every case.

 Pencere – window Cam – glass Neyin camı? – What glass? Pencerenin camı – the glass
of the window.
After the completed suffix we can add suffixes of other tenses: -A (Dative)\ -DA (Locative)\ -Dan
(Ablative)\ -I (Accusative).
E.g.

 Evin çatısı- the roof of the house (Evim- my house) Evin çatısında – on the roof of the
house

Evimin çatısında bir kuş var. There is a bird on the roof of my house.
Evimin çatısını değiştirdim. I changed the roof of my house.
Evimin çatısına çıktım. I climbed the roof of my house.
(O) Evimin çatısından düştü. (He/She) Fell off the roof of my house.
INDEFINITE Completions
In this case, the first noun doesn’t take any suffix (we use it in bare form) but the second noun still
takes the same suffixes (I\sI, depending on the Vowel Harmony). This situation shows that the first
noun is indefinite given that the second noun doesn’t show what noun does it belong to. This type of
completion is used to emphasize a compound noun.
Note: For Indefinite Completions we can’t ask the question “ Whose?” to the completed noun because
we won’t receive a clear answer. The questions “Ne?-What?/ Hangi?-Which?” (asked in order to find
out the type of the noun) is still suitable.
E.g.

 Güneş – Sun Gözlük – Glasses Ne gözlüğü?/What glasses? Güneş gözlüğü -

Sunglasses
Note: The letters “ k, t, ç, p” change into “g/ğ, d, c, b” (become softer) before a suffix that starts
with a vowel.
k-g/ğ, t-d , ç-c, p-b. This rule is called KeTÇaP (the ketchup rule), the capital letters being the
letters that have to become softer.

 Ankara- the capital city of Türkiye; Üniversite – University; Hangi üniversite? – What
(Which) university? = Ankara Üniversitesi - The University of Ankara.
 Çalışma – Working ; Masa – table; Ne masası? – What table? = Çalışma masası -
Desk
 Türkçe – Turkish language; Sınıf – class; Ne sınıfı? – What class? = Türkçe sınıfı –
Turkish class.

After completed suffix we can add suffixes of other tenses: -A (Dative)\ -DA (Locative)\ -Dan
(Ablative)\ -I (Accusative).
E.g.

 Sınıf kapısını açtım. - I opened the door of the class.

Note: (In Turkish we can’t notice the “of” in this situation because the first noun is
undefinite.)

 Üniversite sınavına girdim. – I [entered- literally] had the university exam.

 Okul kantininde çok öğrenci var. – There are a lot of students in the cafeteria (of the
school).
 Kimya dersinden nefret ediyorum. – I hate [the lesson of] chemistry.
Note: the verb “nefret etmek” (to hate) takes the ablative case ending -Dan
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