Turkish Grammar › Derivational Suffixes
Aitlik Eki ve İlgi Zamiri (-ki)
The Pronominal Suffix -ki
Level A1Derivational Suffixes
The ending «-ki» can stand in for a noun as a relative pronoun, or turn a word into an adjective of time or place.
In Turkish the ending «-ki» has two main functions: as a relative pronoun it stands in for a noun, and as an adjective-forming ending it states the time or place of something. As a relative pronoun, «-ki» comes after a possessive or genitive ending and saves us from repeating a noun already mentioned. In «Benim arabam kırmızı, seninki ne renk?» (My car is red — what colour is yours?) the word «seninki» means «senin araban» and expresses possession without repeating the noun. Forms such as «benimki, seninki, onunki, bizimki, sizinki, onlarınki» are very common in this use.
The adjective-forming «-ki», on the other hand, usually comes after the locative ending «-da/-de» or after a word expressing time. It describes a noun by saying where or when it is: «masadaki kitap» tells us where the book is, «yarınki toplantı» tells us when the meeting is. «-ki» generally stays unchanged and does not follow vowel harmony; in a few time words, however, such as «dünkü» and «günkü», it appears as «-kü».
Examples
- Masadaki telefon kimin?Whose is the phone on the table?
- Sokaktaki çocuklar oyun oynuyor.The children in the street are playing.
- Yarınki ders saat dokuzda.Tomorrow’s lesson is at nine.
- Dünkü film çok güzeldi.Yesterday’s film was very good.
- Sizin arabanız var, peki onlarınki nerede?You have a car — so where is theirs?