Turkish Grammar › Sentence Structure
İsim Cümleleri
Nominal Sentences
Level A1Sentence Structure
Learn to build sentences whose predicate is a noun or an adjective.
Nominal sentences are sentences whose predicate is a noun, an adjective or a postpositional phrase. They do not report an action but a state, a quality or an existence.
In Turkish nominal sentences are formed with personal endings. These endings follow vowel harmony according to the last vowel of the word (-ım/-im/-um/-üm, -sın/-sin/-sun/-sün and so on). If a 1st person singular or plural ending follows a noun ending in a vowel, the buffer letter «y» comes in between (öğrenci-y-im).
In affirmative sentences the personal ending is added straight after the noun. In negative sentences the word «değil» follows the noun and the personal endings attach to «değil» (öğrenci değilim). In questions the particle (mı / mi / mu / mü) follows the noun and the personal ending attaches to the particle (öğrenci misin?).
Examples
- Sen çok çalışkansın.You are very hard-working.
- Biz öğretmeniz.We are teachers.
- Onlar doktor değiller.They are not doctors.
- Yorgun değilim.I am not tired.
- Siz evde misiniz?Are you at home?
- Ben yakışıklı mıyım?Am I handsome?