TURKISH AND ENGLISH VERB PHRASES AND TURKISH SYLLABICATION

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TURKISH AND ENGLISH VERB PHRASES

TURKISH AND ENGLISH VERB PHRASES There are two definitions of verb phrases. One of them is a group of words including a verb and its complements, such as objects and modifiers. The other one is a phrase consisting of a main verb and any auxiliaries but not including modifiers, objects or complements. We prefer the second one in our article. All verb phrases end with compulsory subject allomorphs in Turkish, However, in English, there is only a pronoun or a noun in an English sentence, but no subject allomorphs are added to verb phrases. If a Turkish speaker or writer wants to emphasize the subject, he can use both an optional pronoun in the beginning of a verb phrase and a compulsory subject allomorph at the end. If one of the question allomorphs “mi”, “mı”, “mü”, “mu” is used in a verb phrase, one of these allomorphs is attached to the subject allo-morph separately. In Turkish, a verb phrase starts with a root verb, and the following allomorphs line up with “me” or “ma“ negation allomorphs followed by modal allomorphs, time allomorphs and finally a verb phrase ends with a chosen subject allomorph. There are three kinds of verbs in Turkish and English; intransitive verbs, transitive verbs and linking verbs. Transitive verbs need objects, intransitive verbs are used without objects, but linking verbs are followed by subject complements, which may be nouns, adjectives or prepositional phrases.

In the verb phrases that we use in this article are all the verb phrases without objects and adverbials to show the difference between Turkish and English verb phrases. In the following example sentences objects and adverbials are not used. The vowel sequences given after the Turkish sentences show how these vowels are sequenced following the Turkish vowel harmony sequence so that you can check them from the vowel sequence diagrams in the following pages. Gel-ebil-ir-di-im. “e-e-i-i-i-i” (One word) (ge*le*bi*lir*dim) I could have come. (Four words)

Kaç-ama-/y/acak-lar. “a-a-a-a-a” (One word) (ka*ça*ma*ya*cak*lar) They will not be able to escape. (Seven words)

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There are single underlines under the consonants that must detach from the verb roots and allomorphs and attach to the vowels following them. Additionally, there are two underlined successive vowels that must be verbalized as a single vowel: “i-i” → “i”. When you succeed, you will see the syllabicated sentence in parenthesis under it. The Turkish sentence above is both a word and a sentence. However, the English equivalent of the same Turkish sentence contains four or more words to form a sentence. In the Turkish sentence above, “Gel” is a root verb, “ebil” is a modal allomorph, “ir” is a simple present time allomorph, “di” is a simple past tense time allomorph and the “im” is a subject allomorph attached to the end of the sentence. The English sentence starts with the subject “I” and the predicate part follows it to complete the sentence. In order to learn how words and allomorphs attach to one another in a sequence, one should learn the rules of the vowel harmony sequences of the Turkish language.

VOWEL HARMONY SEQUENCES IN TURKISH

Before we begin learning subject allomorphs of the Turkish language and Turkish syllabication, we have to learn how Turkish vowels follow each other harmoniously by the Turkish sound system. Turkish is said to be an agglutinative language, which means that words and suffixes are attached to words or suffixes one following the other harmoniously in Turkish sentences. To understand how these syllable and suffix sequences are arranged, one should learn the vowel and consonant harmony rules of the Turkish language before one begins to attach suffixes to roots or stems, and to the suffixes following them. A Turkish speaker follows two certain harmony sequences (chains) to produce a vowel harmony sequence:

1. The hard vowel harmony chain. 2. The thin vowel harmony chain.

1. The hard (back) vowel harmony chain is “o ⟶ u ⟶ a ⇄ ı”

2. The thin (front) vowel harmony chain is “ö ⟶ ü ⟶ e ⇄ i”

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In both sequences, the first vowels /o/ and /ö/ never repeat them-selves. The other vowels can be repeated as many times as necessary. The arrow (→) points to the vowel that should follow the previous one. The arrows ( ), pointing to both directions, show that /⇄ i/ may follow /e/, or /e/ may follow /i/. In the hard vowel harmony chain, /a/ and /ı/ do the same. Furthermore, besides the arrows, the “r” letters are put under repeat-able vowels to complete our diagrams: 1. The hard (back) vowel harmony chain: “o ⟶ ur ⟶ ar ⇄ ır” 2. The thin (front) vowel harmony chain: “ö ⟶ ür ⟶ er ⇄ ir”

As one could see, the two diagrams look exactly like one another. All the vowels in the Turkish language follow either the first or the se-cond harmony sequences. The words borrowed from other languages do not follow these sequences as expected, but the suffixes that at-tach to them follow the vowels of the last syllables of such words and suffixes. Consequently, one could build up meaningless vowel sequences made up of only vowels following the two vowel sequen-ces, such as: “o*u*u*a*ı*a*ı”, “o*a*ı*a”, “ü*ü*e*e*i”, “ö*e*i*e”, "ö*ü*ü*ü", For instance: “kom*şu*ya” (o*u*a); “kom*şu*lar*dan” (o*u*a*a); “ge*le*cek*ler”

(e*e*e*e); “o*luş*tur*duk*la*rı*mız*dan” (o*u*u*u*a*ı*ı*a); “o*ku*la” (o*u*a); “ten*ce*re*ye” (e*e*e*e);

“u*nu*ta*lım” (u*u*a*ı); “ka*ça*ma*ya*cak” (a*a*a*a*a)

One could make up Turkish meaningless vowel chains as many as one wishes using the vowel chains above. I advise those who are inte-rested in learning Turkish to make up meaningless vowel chains like the chains above. If they repeat them loudly again and again, they could memorize the Turkish vowel harmony sequences easily and soundly as if they were learning a piece of music. When they repeat them, they may even feel and sound as if they were speaking Turkish. As it has already been stated, borrowed words do not follow the vowel harmony sequences, but the last syllables of such words attach to suffixes in accordance with the vowel and consonant harmony rules:

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patates-ler-i (pa*ta*tes*le*ri) “the potatoes”; televizyon-u (te*le*viz*yo*nu) “the television”; mandalina-/y/ı (man*da*li* na*yı) “the tangerine”; sigara-/y/ı (si*ga*ra*yı) “the cigarette”. The /y/, /n/, /s/ and /ş/ phonemes used above and below are glides (semivowels) (consonants) inserted between two vowels to help them pass the voice from one vowel to the following one smoothly and harmoniously. They do not carry meaning. One more thing to add to the explanation above is that the words that are formed of two separate words do not follow the above vowel harmony sequences, for instance: kahverengi (kahve + rengi) “brown”; buzdolabı (buz + dolabı) “refrigerator”; bilgisayar (bilgi + sayar) “computer”; tavanarası (tavan + arası) “attic”.

Besides the vowel harmony rules above, there are two more essen-tial vowel rules to consider:

1. The verbs ending with vowels drop these vowels when they attach to the allomorphs of [İYOR]. These vowels are double under-lined. Besides the double underlined vowels, there are some con-sonants that are single underlined, which show that they detach from Their syllables and attach to the first vowels of the following allomorphs to produce new syllables: Bekle-iyor → (bek*li*yor); başla-ıyor → (baş*lı*yor); anla-ıyor → (an*lı*yor); gizle-iyor → (giz*li*yor); oku-uyor → (o*ku*yor); atla-ıyor → (at*lı*yor) ye-i.yor → (yi*yor); gözle-üyor → (göz*lü*yor); gizle-iyor → (giz*li*yor) 2. When the last syllables of the nouns (including the infinitives), the verbs and the inflectional morphemes end with vowels, and the first vowels of the following allomorphs start with the same vowels, these two identical vowels combine and verbalize as single vowels. For example, when the last vowel of the word “anne” and the first vowel of the allomorph “em” happen to be articulated together, these two com-bine and verbalize as a single vowel: “anne-em” → (an*nem ) . For instance: anne-en (an*nen); tarla-am (tar*lam); araba-anız (a*ra*-ba*nız); kafa-an (ka*fan); git-ti-in (git*tin); bekle-di-ik (bek*le*dik); gül-dü-ük (gül*dük); yakala-dı-ım (ya*ka*la*dım); git-me-em

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(git*mem); çalış-ma-am (ça*lış*mam); temizle-en-mek (te*miz*len*mek); Dinle-er mi-sin? (din*ler / mi*sin); ol-sa-am (ol*sam), bil-se-em (bil*sem) If the last vowel of a word and the first vowel of an allomorph happen to be different, these two vowels are generally linked by the /y/ glides:

oku-ma-/y/ız (o*ku*ma*yız); gel-me-/y/iz (gel*me*yiz); tava-/y/ı → (ta*va*yı); salata-/y/ı (sa*la*ta*yı); uyku-/y/a → (uy*ku*ya)

VERB PHRASES IN TURKISHA verb phrase sequence in Turkish starts with the last vowel of a verb root that determines the vowel that should follow it. After the verb root, one of the negative allomorphs “me” or “ma”, and time allomorphs attach to them, which is followed by one of the subject allomorphs. For instance, in the simple present tense, if a verb root is “gel”, its vowel is “e”, which should be followed by one of the time allomorphs “ir, ır, ür, ur, er or ar”. According to the vowel harmony rules, the “ir” time allomorph attaches to the verb root, which you can check from the vowel harmony sequence diagrams given before. The subject allomorphs that attach to the “ir” allomorph depend on the subjects or the subject allomorphs that the speaker or writer chooses. These are the “im, ım, üm, um, em, am” subject allomorphs for the first person singular “ben”. However, for the second person singular “sen” one of the “/s/in, /s/ın, /s/ün, /s/un” subject allomorphs is chosen. For the third person singular “o” no subject allomorphs are attached to time allomorphs.

For the first person plural “biz”, one of the “iz, ız, üz or uz” subject allomorphs is used. The subject allomorphs that attach to the second person plural “siz” are “/s/iniz, /s/ınız, /s/ünüz or /s/unuz”, and for the third person plural “onlar” either “ler” or “lar” subject allomorphs are used.

All Turkish verb phrases are words that may/must contain verb roots, negative making allomorphs, modal allomorphs, time allomorphs, sub-ject allomorphs. However, question allomorphs are used separately.

These allomorphs are as follows:

Negative making allomorphs are “me(z)” and “ma(z)”.Modal allomorphs are “meli, malı”, “ebil, abil” Simple present time allomorphs are “ir, ır, ür, ur, er, ar” Simple past time allomorphs are “di, dı, dü, du, ti, tı, tü, tu” Present continuous time allomorphs are “iyor, ıyor, üyor, uyor”

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Past continuous time allomorphs:“iyor-du, ıyor-du, üyor-du, uyor-du” Simple future tense time allomorphs are “ecek, acak” Used to time allomorphs are “ir-di, ır-dı, ür-dü, ur-du, er-di, ar-dı” Rumor allomorphs are “miş, mış, müş, muş” Past perfect allomorphs are “miş-ti, mış-tı, müş-tü, muş-tu” Future continuous allomorphs are “iyor, ıyor, üyor, uyor” + “ol-acak” Question allomorphs are “mi”, “mı”, mü”, “mu The Turkish glides are /s/, /ş/, /n/ and /y/ meaningless consonants that are used to pass a vowel smoothly to the following wordl or allo-morph. In Turkish, the successive identical vowels “u-u”, “a-a”, “ı-ı” and “ü-ü”, “e-e”, “i-i” combine and verbalize as single vowels, such as “u”, “a”, “ı” and “ü”, “e”, “i”. There are no successive “ö” and “ü” vowels in Turkish. The other successive vowels may not be underlined as it is difficult to underline them all..

SUBJECT ALLOMORPHS Subject allomorphs are far more important than subject pronouns in Turkish sentences because using subject allomorphs is compulsory but using subject pronouns are only used when someone wants to emphasize them. Therefore, there may be two subjects in a Turkish sentence. One of them is a compulsory subject allomorph, the other one is an optional pronoun.

1. “im, ım, üm, um, em, am” mean “ben”. (I) 2. “/s/in, /s/ın, /s/ün, /s/un”; “in, ın, ün, un” mean “sen” (you) 3. The third person singular “o” and singular noun subjects do not have any subject allomorphs attached to main verbs. 4.“iz, ız, üz, uz”; “ik, ık, ük,uk” mean “biz”. (we) 5. “/s/iniz, /s/ınız, /s/ünüz, /s/unuz”; “iniz, ınız, ünüz, unuz” mean “siz”. (you) 6. “ler, lar” mean “onlar”. (they) All subject allomorphs given above follow the last vowels of the pre-ceding main verbs. In the following examples, the red parts are verbs, the green parts are question allomorphs, the purple parts are adjectives or property allomorphs and the blue parts are sub-ject allomorphs.

TURKISH TENSES Every one of the Turkish tenses and their corresponding English

equivalents are given in my article titled

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“TURKISH TENSES, MODALS, LINKING VERBS AND THEIR ENGLISH EQUIVALANTS” on the internet.

MODAL ALLOMORPHS English modal verbs and their Turkish equivalent allomorphs are as follows. With action verbs: can = [ebil-ir, abil-ir], can not = [eme, ama] [emez, amaz] could = [ebil-iyor-du, abil-iyor-du] could not [eme-di, ama-dı] must = [meli, malı] must not = [me-meli, ma-malı] may = [ebil-ir, abil-ir] may not = [me-/y/ebil-ir, ma-/y/abil-ir] might = [ebil-ir-di, abil-ir-di] will = [ecek, acak] will not = [me-/y/ecek, ma-/y/acak] would = [ecek-ti, acak-tı], [er-di, ar-dı], have to = [meli, malı] [zorunda] had to = [zorunda idi (kaldı)] should = [meli, malı] should not = [me-meli, ma-malı] Positive sentences: Başar-abil-ir-im. I can succeed. Gel-ebil-ir-im. I can come. Kal-abil-ir-/s/in. You can stay. Yürü-/y/ebil-ir-/s/in. You can walk. Al-abil-ir. He can buy. Bekle-/y/ebil-ir. He can wait. Sor-abil-ir-iz. We can ask. Bitir-ebil-ir-iz. We can finish. Gel-ebil-ir-/s/iniz. You can come. Kaç-abil-ir-/s/iniz. You can escape. Gel-ebil-ir-ler. They can (may) come. Uç-abil-ir-ler. They can (may) fly. The allomorphs given above are the allomorphs without syllabication. When we syllabicate them, the single underlined consonants above detach from their root verbs or allomorphs and attach to the vowels of the following allomorphs. For instance, when we syllabicate the Turkish sentences above, we produce the following syllabicated lines. (ba*şa*ra*bi*li*rim) (ge*le*bi*li*rim) (Stressed syllables are red.) (ka*la*bi*lir*sin) (yü*rü*ye*bi*lir*sin) (a*la*bi*lir) (bek*le*ye*bi*lir)

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(so*ra*bi*li*riz) (bi*ti*re*bi*li*riz) (ge*le*bi*lir*si*niz) (ka*ça*bi*lir*si*niz) (ge*le*bi*lir*ler) (u*ça*bi*lir*ler) Negative sentences: In negative forms, with the first person singular “ben” and with the first person plural “biz” the [eme, ama] negation allomorphs are used. However, with the rest of the subjects and in interrogative forms [emez, amaz] negation allomorphs are used. For instance: Gel-eme-em. I can’t come. Al-ama-am. I can’t buy. Gel-emez-/s/in. You can’t come. Al-amaz-/s/ın. You can’t buy. Gel-emez. He can’t come. Al-amaz. He can’t buy. Gel-eme-/y/iz. We can’t come. Çalış-ama-/y/ız. We can’t work. Gel-emez-/s/iniz. You can’t come. Çalış-amaz-/s/ınız. You can’t work. Gel-emez-ler. They can’t come. Çalış-amaz-lar. They can’t work..As a general harmony rule, successive identical single underlined vowels above combine and verbalize as single vowels, such as “e-e” → “e”, “a-a” → “a”.

The syllabicated forms of the Turkish sentences above are as follows:

(ge*le*mem) (a*la*mam) (ge*le*mez*sin) (a*la*maz*sın) (ge*le*mez) (a*la*maz) (ge*le*me*yiz) (a*la*ma*yız) (ge*le*mez*si*niz) (ça*lı*şa*maz*sı*nız) (ge*le*mez*ler) (ça*lı*şa*maz*lar)

The red syllables above are accented.

Positive interrogative sentences

Gir-ebil-ir mi-/y/im? May I come in? Aç-abil-ir mi-/y/im? May I open? Gör-ebil-ir mi-/s/in? Can you see? Başla-/y/abil-ir mi-/s/in? Can you start? Patla-/y/abil-ir mi? Can it burst? Dur-abil-ir mi? Can it stop? Sat-abil-ir mi-/y/iz? Can we sell? Anlaş-abil-ir mi-/y/iz? Can we agree? Dön-ebil-ir mi-/s/iniz? Can you return? Aç-abil-ir mi-/s/iniz? Can you open? Kaç-abil-ir-ler mi? Can they escape? İç-ebil-ir-ler mi? Can they drink?

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Now try to syllabicate the Turkish sentences above yourself. What you will do is to detach the single underlined consonants and attach them to the following vowels to syllabicate the Turkish sentences.

Negative interrogative sentences Gir-emez mi-/y/im? Can’t I enter? Sor-amaz mı-/y/ım? Can’t I ask? Dur-amaz mı-/s/ın? Can’t you stop? İt-emez mi-/s/in? Can’t you push? Anla-/y/amaz mı? Can’t he understand? Sor-amaz mı? Can’t he ask? Gel-emez mi-/y/iz? Can’t we come? Al-amaz mı-/y/ız? Can’t we buy? Sil-emez mi-/s/iniz? Can’t you delete? Bul-amaz mı-/s/ınız? Can’t you find? Uç-amaz-lar mı? Can’t they fly? İn-emez-ler mi? Can’t they land?

Be careful to detach the single underlined consonants and attach them to the following vowels to syllabicate the sentences above.

ALLOMORPHS

All the allomorphs used in the Turkish verb phrases have been given in this article. If you wish to find more example sentences you could find them all in my article titled “TURKISH TENSES, MODALS, LINKING VERBS AND THEIR ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS” on the internet. I recommend you to download it to learn more.

LINKING VERBS IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Linking verbs are the verbs that carry information about a subject describing who, what, how, and where the subject is, was, can be, etc. The following are all linking verbs: is, are, was, were, has been, have been, will be, had been, must be, may be, etc. The information that the linking verbs carry to the subjects are called “subject complements”.

Simple present positive:

The compulsory subject allomorphs used with present “linking verbs” are as follows: (ben): [/y/im, /y/ım, /y/üm, /y/um]; (sen): [/s/in, /s/ın, /s/ün, /s/un]; (o): [ø]; (biz): [/y/iz, /y/ız, /y/üz, /y/uz]; (siz): [/s/iniz, /s/ınız, /s/ünüz, /s/unuz]; (onlar): [(ø) (ler, lar)]

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Although the subject complements that give information about subjects may be “nouns” “pronouns”, “adjectives” or “preposi-tional phrases”, they are all brown underlined to show that they are all subject complements: 1. Nouns: Öğretmen-im (öğ*ret*me*nim) I am a teacher .

Doktor-/s/un. (dok*tor*sun) You are a doctor . O bir doctor. (dok*tor). She is a doctor . Doktor-uz (dok*to*ruz) We are doctors. Öğretmen-/s/iniz (öğ*ret*men*si*niz) You are a teacher , or teachers. Onlar asker. (on*lar / as*ker) They are soldiers. (No time allomorphs are used when the linking verbs are present in Turkish.)

2. Adjectives: Tembel-im. (tem*be*lim) I am lazy. Çalışkan-/s/ın (ça*lış*kan*sın) You are hardworking. O mutlu(dur) (o / mut*lu). She is happy. İyi-/y/iz (i*yi*yiz) We are all right. Yorgun-/s/unuz. (yor*gun*su*nuz) You are tired. İsteksiz-ler. (is*tek*siz*ler) They are unwilling.

3. Postpositional adverbial phrases: The Turkish place allo-morphs [de, da, te, ta] are expressed in English in the prepo-sitions of “in”, “at”, “on”, “behind”, “in front of” such as, “ev-de”, “okul-da”, “sokak-ta”, “örnek-te”, “bura-da”, “alt-ın-da”, “yan-ın-da”, “ön-ün-de”, “ar-ka-/s/ın-da”, “üst-ün-de” “yakın-ın-da”. These Turkish adverbials are used as subject com-plements when they are used with linking verbs. If they are used with action verbs, they become adverbials.

ev-de (at home); okul-da (at school, in school); masa-da (on the table, at the table); kapı-da (at the door); kutu-da (in the box); bahçe-de (in the garden); hastane-de (in hospital, in the hospital); uçak-ta (on the plane), kapı-/n/ın ön-ü/n/-de (in front of the door).

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The other [e, a] and [den, dan, ten, tan] allomorphs, which turn nouns into adverbials, are not used with linking verbs; they are used together with action verbs like “go”, “come”, “wait“, “sleep”, “jump”, etc. When the subject complements above end with vowels, they are linked to the personal subject allomorphs by the /y/ glides:

Postacı kapı - da . The postman is at the door . Uçak - ta -lar. They are on the plane . Kapı - da -/y/ım. I am at the door . Okul - da -/s/ın. You are at school . Mutfak - ta . She is in the kitchen . Haklı-/y/ız. We are right. Çiçek-ler vazo - da . The flowers are in the vase .

The [E], [DE] and [DEN] morphemes are also used attached to “ön”, “arka”, “yan”, “üst”, “karşı”, “sol”, “sağ”, “alt”, “bitişik” nouns, such as “ön-e”, “arka-/y/a”, “yan-a”, “üst-e”, “karşı-/y/a”, “yukarı-/y/a”, “ön - de ”, “arka - da ”, “yan - da ”, “alt - ta ”, “üst - te ”, “karşı - da ”, “sağ - da ”, “sol - da ”, “bitişik - te ”, “ön-den”, “arka-dan”, “yan-dan”, “üst-ten”, “karşı-dan”, “sağ-dan”, “yakın-dan”. The subject complements above are underlined brown; the others are adverbs.

These words are all nouns when they are without suffixes; if they were not, the [E], [DE] and [DEN] morphemes would not be attached to them. When they are together with these suffixes, they function either as adverbials, or when the [de, da, te, ta] allomorphs are used with linking verbs they are used as subject complements in sen-tences. Consequently, as these words are all nouns, they are also used in noun compounds like the simple noun compounds, such as “oda-/n/ın kapı-/s/ı”; “perde-/n/in arka-/s/ı”; “ayna-/n/ın ön-ü”; “vazo-/n/un yan-ı”; “yatak-ın alt-ı” (ya*ta*ğın / al*tı); “bakkal-ın bitişik-i” (bak*ka*-lın / bi*ti*şi*ği); “koltuk-un sağ-ı” (kol*tu*ğun / sa*ğı); “bakkal-ın karşı-/s/ı”; “ev-in arka-/s/ı”.

SUBJECT COMPLEMENTS

The brown underlined parts are all subject complements whether they are adjectives, nouns or prepositional phrases. As it has already been explained, Turkish sentences may start with an optional subject pronoun and ends with a compulsory subject allo-morph. Subject pronouns in Turkish are only used when a speaker

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or writer wants to concentrate the sentence on the subject pronoun; if not, the usual subject in a sentence is always a subject allomorph in Turkish. Simple present positive: Ev- de -/y/im. (ev*de*yim) (All stressed syllables are bold face.) I am at home . Haklı-/s/ın. (hak*lı*sın) You are right. Kıskanç. (kıs*kanç) She is envious. İstekli-/y/iz. (is*tek*li*yiz) We are willing. Suçlu-/s/unuz. (suç*lu*su*nuz) You are guilty. İstanbul- da -lar. (is*tan*bul*da*lar) They are in İstanbul . Simple present negative: To change the positive linking verbs into negative forms, the nega-tive making adverb “değil” is used after a subject complement, such as: Mutlu değil-im. (The “im, ım, üm, um” subject allomorphs mean “ben” (I). (mut*lu / de*ği*lim) I am not happy. Yakışıklı değil-/s/in. (The “/s/in, /s/ın, /s/ün, /s/un” subject allo-morphs all mean singular “sen” (you) (ya*kı*şık*lı / de*ğil*sin) You are not handsome.

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İstekli değil. (No subject allomorphs are used for the third persons singular) (is*tek*li / de*gil) He is not willing. Öfkeli değil-iz. (The “iz, ız, üz, uz” subject allomorphs mean “biz” (we) (öf*ke*li / de*ği*liz) We are not angry. İstekli değil-/s/iniz. (The “/s/iniz, /s/ınız, /s/ünüz, /s/unuz” personal subject allomorphs all mean “siz”: “you”.) (is*tek*li / de*ğil*si*niz) You are not willing. Ev - de değil-ler. (The “ler, lar” subject allomorphs mean “onlar”: “they”.) (ev*de / de*ğil*ler) They are not at home . Present positive question: To turn the positive linking verbs into the positive question forms, the [mi, mı] interrogative allomorphs are attached to the personal sub-ject allomorphs separately. Deli mi-/y/im? (de*li / mi*yim) Am I crazy? Ev - de mi-/s/in? (ev*de / mi*sin) Are you at home ? Fatma-/n/ın göz-ler-i mavi mi? (fat*ma*nın / göz*le*ri / ma*vi / mi) Are Fatma’s eyes blue? Dikkatsiz mi-/y/iz? (The “iz, ız, üz, uz” subject allomorphs mean “biz”: “we”.) (dik*kat*siz / mi*yiz) Are we careless?

Hazır mı-/s/ınız? (ha*zır / mı*sı*nız) Are you ready?

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İyi-ler mi? (i*yi*ler / mi) Are they all right?

Present Negative Question:

To turn a positive linking verb form into a negative linking verb form, the negative making adverb “değil” is used after the subject complement:

Çalışkan değil mi-/y/im? (ça*lış*kan / de*ğil / mi*yim) Am I not hardworking?

Sorumlu değil mi-/s/iniz? (so*rum*lu / de*ğil / mi*si*niz) Aren’t you responsible? Anne-en ev - de değil mi? (an*nen / ev*de / de*ğil / mi) Isn’t your mother at home ? İsteksiz degil-ler mi? (is*tek*siz / de*ğil*ler / mi) Aren’t they unwilling? Hazır değil mi-/y/iz? (ha*zır / de*ğil / mi*yiz) Aren’t we ready? Güzel değil mi-/y/im? (gü*zel / de*ğil / mi*yim) Am I not beautiful?

Question words used with linking verbs: Nere -de -/s/iniz? Ev - de -/y/im. (One word) (ne*re*de*si*niz) Where are you? I am at home . (Four words) Nasıl-/s/ınız? İyi-/y/im. (One word) (na*sıl*sı*nız) How are you? I am quite well. (Four words)

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Niçin hazır değil-/s/in? (ni*çin / ha*zır / de*ğil*sin) Why aren’t you ready? Kim-/s/in? (Ben) Ahmet-im. (kim*sin) Who are you? I am Ahmet. Nerede-/y/iz? İstanbul - da -/y/ız. (ne*re*de*yiz) (is*tan*bul*da*yız) Where are we? We are in İstanbul . English does not have enough suffıxes or prefixes to turn all adjec-tives into verbs. Therefore, this deficiency is fulfilled by some linking verbs such as get, grow, look, turn, smell, sound, become, which are followed by nouns or adjectives (subject complements). As some Turkish adjectives can be turned into verbs by attaching some suffixes to adjectives, some English linking verbs are not used in Turkish. Therefore, verbs are used instead. In the following examples, you can see how Turkish adjectives or nouns turn into verbs by attaching some suffixes to them: Güzel → güzel-leş, yaşlı → yaş-lan, soguk → soğu, uzun → uza, kısa → kısal, yorgun → yorul, hazır → hazır-lan, sarı → sarar, sinirli → sinir-len, sıcak → ısın, şüphe → şüphe-len, sakin → sakin-leş, kırmızı → kızar, güç → güç-leş, koku → kok, sarı → sarar.

LINKING VERBS Simple Past

Simple past tense allomorphs of the linking verbs are [di, dı, dü, du, ti, tı, tü, tu], which are attached to the subject allomorphs below: (ben) [im, ım, üm, um], (sen) [in, ın, ün, un], (o) [ ], (∅ biz) [ik, ık, ük, uk], (siz) [iniz, ınız, ünüz, unuz], (onlar) [ler, lar]

Positive: Ev - de/y /-di-im. (One word) (ev*dey*dim) I was at home . (Four words)

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Hazır-dı-ınız. (One word) (ha*zır*dı*nız) You were ready. (Three words). Mutlu/y/-du-uk. (mut*luy*duk) We were happy. Sarhoş-tu-lar. (sar*hoş*tu*lar) They were drunk.

Öğrenci-ler neşeli/y/-di. (öğ*ren*ci*ler / ne*şe*liy*di) The students were cheerful. Araba-am kapı -/n/ın ön - ü/n/- de/y /-di. (a*ra*bam / ka*pı*nın / ö*nün*dey*di) My car was in front of the door . Negative: To turn a positive linking verb into a negative statement, the negative making adverb “değil” is used after the subject complement, which is attached to past time and personal subject allomorphs: Yorgun değil-di-im. (yor*gun / de*ğil*dim) I was not tired. (I wasn’t tired.) Sorumlu değil-di-iniz. (so*rum*lu / de*ğil*di*niz) You were not responsible. (You weren’t responsible.) Ev- de değil-ler-di. (ev*de / de*ğil*ler*di) They were not at home . (They weren’t at home.) Meşgul değil-di-ik. (meş*gul / de*ğil*dik) We were not busy. (We weren’t busy.) Positive question:

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To turn a positive linking verb into a positive question form, one of the [mi, mı, mü, mu] question allomorphs is attached to time and perso-nal allomorphs separately: Dün okul - da mı/y/-dı-ın? (dün / o*kul*da / mıy*dın) Were you at school yesterday? Miting kalabalık mı/y/-dı? (mi*ting / ka*la*ba*lık / mıy*dı) Was the meeting crowded? Yorgun mu/y/-du-unuz? (yor*gun / muy*du*nuz) Were you tired? Sorular zor mu/y/-du? (so*ru*lar / zor / muy*du) Were the questions difficult? Negative question: In negative question forms, the negative making adverb “değil” follows the subject complement as they are in the following examples:

Dün okul - da değil mi/y/-di-in? (dün / o*kul*da / de*ğil / miy*din) Were you not at school yesterday? (Weren’t you at school?) Masal ilginç değil mi/y/-di? (ma*sal / il*ginç / de*ğil / miy*di) Wasn’t the story interesting? Öğrenci-ler öğren - mek için istekli değil mi/y/-di-ler? (öğ*ren*ci*ler / öğ*ren*mek / i*çin / is*tek*li / de*ğil / miy*di*ler) Weren’t the students eager to learn ? Hazır değil mi/y/-di-iniz? (ha*zır / de*ğil / miy*di*niz) Were’t you ready?

Have been, has been, had been, will be

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Kız kardeş-im on yıl-dır öğretmen. (“im” is a property allomorph = “my”) (kız / kar*de*şim / on / yıl*dır / öğ*ret*men) My sister has been a teacher for ten years. Hava üç gün -dür çok soğuk . (ha*va / üç / gün*dür / çok / so*ğuk) It has been very cold for three days .

Oğul-um yakında doctor ol-acak. (“um” means “my”) (oğ*lum / ya*kın*da / dok*tor / o*la*cak) My son will be a doctor soon.

Modal verbs with liking verbs

Modal verbs can be used both with action verbs and liking verbs in English and Turkish. We will show only the modal verbs that are used with linking verbs in the following example sentences.

Present modals Positive:

ol-[abil-ir]-[personal subject allomorph] = “can be” or “may be” Turkish modal verbs are used followed by subject complements at-tached by one of the subject allomorphs: (ben) [im], (sen) [/s/in], (o) [∅], (biz) [iz], (siz) [/s/iniz], (onlar) [ler]: Yorgun ol-abil-ir-im. (Possibility) (yor*gun / o*la*bi*li*rim) I may be tired. Sorumlu ol-abil-ir-/s/in. (so*rum*lu / o*la*bi*lir*sin) You may be responsible. Jack bahçe - de ol-abil-ir. (jack / bah*çe*de / o*la*bi*lir) Jack may be in the garden . Meşgul ol-abil-ir-iz. (meş*gul / o*la*bi*li*riz) We may be busy.

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İsteksiz ol-abil-ir-/s/iniz. (is*tek*siz / o*la*bi*lir*si*niz) You may be unwilling. Turist ol-abil-ir-ler. (tu*rist / o*la*bi*lir*ler) They may be tourists.

Negative:

ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-[subject allomorph] = may not be

Ev - de ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-im. (ev*de / ol*ma*ya*bi*li*rim) I may not be at home .

Mutlu ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-/s/in. (mut*lu / ol*ma*ya*bi*lir*sin) You may not be happy. Ankara-da hava güneşli ol-ma-/y/abil-ir. (an*ka*ra*da / ha*va / gü*neş*li / ol*ma*ya*bi*lir) The weather may not be sunny in Ankara. Okul - un ön - ü/n/- de ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-iz. (o*ku*lun / ö*nün*de / ol*ma*ya*bi*li*riz) We may not be in front of the school . Haklı ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-/s/iniz. (hak*lı / ol*ma*ya*bi*lir*si*niz) You may not be right. Hoşlan - mış ol-ma-/y/abil-ir-ler. (hoş*lan*mış / ol*ma*ya*bi*lir*ler) They may not be pleased. Positive question: “Can” is used in question forms in English in place of “may”: Başarılı ol-abil-ir mi-/y/im? (ba*şa*rı*lı / o*la*bi*lir / mi*yim) Can I be successful?

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Yarın büro m- da ol-abil-ir mi-/s/in? (ya*rın / bü*rom*da / o*la*bi*lir / mi*sin) Can you be in my office tomorrow? Anne-en öfkeli ol-abil-ir mi? (an*nen / öf*ke*li / o*la*bi*lir / mi) Can your mother be angry? Saat beş-te hazır ol-abil-ir mi-/y/iz? (sa*at / beş*te / ha*zır / o*la*bi*lir / mi*yiz) Can we be ready at five? Dikkatli ol-abil-ir mi-/s/iniz? (dik*kat*li / o*la*bi*lir / mi*si*niz) Can you be careful? Birazdan hazır ol-abil-ir-ler mi? (bi*raz*dan / ha*zır / o*la*bi*lir*ler / mi) Can they be ready soon?

Negative question:

To turn the “ol-abil-r” modal form into negative, “ol-amaz” modal form is used: Haklı ol-amaz mı-/y/ım? (hak*lı / o*la*maz / mı*yım) Can’t I be right? Dürüst ol-amaz mı-/s/ın? (dü*rust / o*la*maz / mı*sın) Can’t you be honest?

Jack futbol oynuyor ol-amaz mı? (jack / fut*bol / oy*nu*yor / o*la*maz / mı) Can’t Jack be playing football ? Suçsuz ol-amaz mı-/y/ız? (suç*suz / o*la*maz / mı*yız) Can’t we be innocent? Dikkatli ol-amaz mı-/s/ınız? (dik*kat*li / o*la*maz / mı*sı*nız) Can’t you be careful?

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Sabırlı ol-amaz-lar mı? (sa*bır*lı / o*la*maz*lar / mı) Can’t they be patient?

Ol-malı = must be Positive: To arrange a “must be” model form in Turkish, a “subject complement + ol-malı-[subject allomorph]” verb phrase should be used, which expresses either certainty or necessity or both. Here are some example sentences: Hazır ol-malı-/s/ın. (Certainty or necessity) (ha*zır / ol*ma*lı*sın) You must be ready. (Certainty or necessity)

The Turkish and English sentences above are ambiguous because they may both mean “I am certain that you are ready” or “It is neces-sary for you to be ready”.

O-/n/a inan-dık-ım için aptal ol-malı-/y/ım. (Certainty) (o*na / i*nan*dı*ğım / i*çin / ap*tal / ol*ma*lı*yım) I must be stupid to believe him. (I am sure that I am stupid.)

Sinirli ol-malı-/s/ın. (Certainty) (si*nir*li / ol*ma*lı*sın) You must be nervous. (I am sure that you are nervous.) Baba-an dahi ol-malı. (Certainty) (ba*ban / da*hi / ol*ma*lı) Your father must be genius. (I am sure your father is genius.) Dikkatli ol-malı-/y/ız. (Necessity) (dik*kat*li / ol*ma*lı*yız) We must be careful. (It is necessary for us to be careful.) Cesur ol-malı-/s/ınız. (ce*sur / ol*ma*lı*sı*nız) You must be brave. (I am sure you are brave, or I want you to be brave.)

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Sabırsız ol-malı-lar. (Certainty) (sa*bır*sız / ol*ma*lı*lar) They must be impatient. (I am sure that they are impatient.) Negative: In the negative form, the negative making allomorph [me or ma] attaches to the verb “ol”: Sabırsız ol-ma-malı-/y/ım. (Necessity) (sa*bır*sız / ol*ma*ma*lı*yım) I mustn’t be i mpatient .

Üzül-me-meli-/s/in. (I don’t want you to be sorry.) (Action verb) (Necessity) (ü*zül*me*me*li*sin) You mustn’t be sorry. Üzül-me-meli-/s/in. (I advise you not to be sorry.) (Action verb) (Necessity) (ü*zül*me*me*li*sin) You mustn’t feel sad. Tertipsiz ol-ma-malı. (Necessity) (ter*tip*siz / ol*ma*ma*lı) He mustn’t be untidy. Dikkatsiz ol-ma-malı-/y/ız. (Necessity) (dik*kat*siz / ol*ma*ma*lı*yız) We mustn’t be careless. Kayıtsız ol-ma-malı-/s/ınız. (Necessity) (ka*yıt*sız / ol*ma*ma*lı*sı*nız) You mustn’t be indifferent. Geç kal-ma-malı-lar. (Action verb) (Necessity) (geç / kal*ma*ma*lı*lar) They mustn’t be late. Positive question: In question forms, the [mı] interrogative allomorph attaches to the subject allomorphs, and they follow the [ol-malı] verb together as a separate word:

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Hazır ol-malı mı-/y/ım? (Is it necessary?) (ha*zır / ol*ma*lı / mı*yım) Must I be ready? Sabah-leyin okul - da ol-malı mı-/s/ın? (Is it necessary?) (sa*bah*le*yin / o*kul*da / ol*ma*lı / mı*sın) Must you be at school in the morning? Balıklar kızar - mış mı ol-malı? (Is it necessary?) (ba*lık*lar / kı*zar*mış / mı / ol*ma*lı) Must the fish be fried? Sabırlı mı ol-malı-/y/ız? (Is it necessary?) (sa*bır*lı / mı / ol*ma*lı*yız) Must we be patient? Kuşkulu ol-malı mı-/s/ınız? (Is it necessary?) (kuş*ku*lu / ol*ma*lı / mı*sı*nız) Must you be doubtful? Uçak - ta ol-malı-lar mı? (Is it necessary?) (u*çak*ta / ol*ma*lı*lar / mı) Must they be on the plane ?

Interrogative words used with linking verbs: Question words can be put in the beginning of all interrogative sent-ences using linking verbs in Turkish and English. Additionally, the modal verbs change their places and they are put before the subjects in English. In Turkish, the rest of the sentences are either in positive or negative form as they are in the example sentences below: Ne zaman hazır ol-malı-/y/ız? (ne / za*man / ha*zır / ol*ma*lı*yız) When must we be ready? Nere -de ol-malı-lar? (ne*re*de / ol*ma*lı*lar) Where must they be?

ol-ama(z) = can’t be (Impossibility)

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When the subject allomorphs attach to the “ol-ama(z)” modal verbs, they change as follows: Ol-ama-am (o*la*mam), Ol-amaz-/s/ın (o*la*maz*sın), Ol-amaz (o*la*-maz), Ol-ama-/y/ız (o*la*ma*yız), Ol-amaz-/s/ınız (o*la*maz*sı*nız), Ol-amaz-lar (o*la*maz*lar). Sen - siz ol-ama-am. (sen*siz / o*la*mam) I can’t be without you . Ciddi ol-amaz-/s/ın; şaka yap-ıyor ol-malı-/s/ın. (cid*di / o*la*maz*sın / şa*ka / ya*pı*yor / ol*ma*lı*sın) You can’t be serious; you must be joking. Jack ders çalış-ıyor ol-amaz; futbol oyna-uyor ol-malı. (jack / ders / ça*li*şi*yor / o*la*maz / fut*bol / oy*nu*yor / ol*ma*lı) Jack can’t be studying; he must be playing football . Hatalı ol-ama-/y/ız. (ha*ta*lı / o*la*ma*yız) We can’t be wrong.

Sabırlı ol-amaz-/s/ınız. (sa*bır*lı / o*la*maz*sı*nız) You can’t be patient. İsteksiz ol-amaz-lar. (is*tek*siz / o*la*maz*lar) They can’t be unwilling. Question: İyi bir yüzücü ol-amaz mı-/y/ım? (i*yi / bir / yü*zü*cü / o*la*maz / mı*yım) Can’t I be a good swimmer ? Yardımcı ol-amaz mı-/s/ınız? (yar*dım*cı / o*la*maz / mı*sı*nız) Can’t you be helpful? Söyle-dik-i doğru ol-amaz mı? (söy*le*di*ği / doğ*ru / o*la*maz / mı) Can’t what he said be true?

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Başarılı ol-amaz mı-/y/ız? (ba*şa*rı*lı / o*la*maz / mı*yız) Can’t we be successful? Büro - da ol-amaz mı-/s/ınız? (bü*ro* da / o*la*maz / mı*sı*nız) Can’t you be in the office ? Sorumsuz ol-amaz-lar mı? (so*rum*suz / o*la*maz*lar / mı) Can’t they be irresponsible?

Perfect modals: should have been Although past modals are used with action verbs, they are not much used with linking verbs. However, perfect modals may be used with linking verbs as follows: Positive: Sabırlı ol-malı/y/-dı-ım. (sa*bır*lı / ol*ma*lıy*dım) I should have been patient. Daha dikkatli ol-malı/y/-dı-ın. (da*ha / dik*kat*li / ol*ma*lıy*dın) You should have been more careful . Saat sekiz-de okul - da ol-malı/y/-dı. (sa*at / se*kiz*de / o*kul*da / ol*ma*lıy*dı) He should have been at school at eight. Hazır ol-malı/y/-dı-ık. (ha*zır / ol*ma*lıy*dık) We should have been ready. Nazik ol-malı/y/-dı-ınız. (na*zik / ol*ma*lıy*dı*nız) You should have been polite. İstekli ol-malı/y/-dı-lar. (is*tek*li / o*ma*lıy*dı*lar) They should have been willing.

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Geç kal-abil-ir-di-ik. (Action verb) (geç / ka*la*bi*lir*dik) We might have been late. (Subject complement)

NOUN COMPOUNDS

One should use two nominals (nouns or pronouns) to build up a noun compound in English and Turkish.

English and Turkish noun compounds

1. school garden = okul bahçe-/s/i 2. the garden of the school = okul-un bahçe-/s/i 3. Mary’s school = Mary-/n/in okul-u 4. her school = o-/n/un okul-u The allomorphs of “i” are “i, ı, ü, u”, which are used following the usual vowel harmony sequences. Additionally, the glide /s/ is put between vowels, and the single underlined consonants detach from their nouns and attach to one of the “i” allomorphs. okul bahçe-/s/i (o*kul / bah*çe*si) = school garden duvar halı-/s/ı (du*var / ha*lı*sı) = tapestry sınav gün-ü (sı*nav / gü*nü) = examination day yaz son-u (yaz / so*nu) = end of summer

2. In this noun compound, the “in, ın, ün, un” possession allomorphs attach to nouns, and the allomorphs of “i” attach to the owner part of the noun compound. ev-in bahçe-/s/i (e*vin / bah*çe*si) = the garden of the house. kitap-ın kapak-ı (ki*ta*bın / ka*pa*ğı) = the cover of the book öküz-ün boynuz-u (ö*kü*zün / boy*nu*zu) = the horn of the ox okul-un bahçe-/s/i (o*ku*lun / bah*çe*si) = the garden of the school 3. In this Turkish noun compound, one of the “in, ın, ün, un” posses-sion allomorphs attaches to a proper or a common noun followed by a common noun attaced to one of the “i, ı, ü, u” allomorphs: Ahmet-in araba-/s/ı (ah*me*tin / a*ra*ba*sı) Ahmet’s car Araba-/n/ın motor-u (a*ra*ba*nın / mo*to*ru) the engine of the car Öküz-ün boynuzlar-ı (ö*kü*zün / boy*nuz*la*rı) the horns of the ox Okul-un boya-/s/ı (o*ku*lun / bo*ya*sı) the paint of the school 4.Turkish and English possessive pronouns are quite different from each other. Turkish possessive pronouns are rule governed but

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English possessive pronouns are irregular. Turkish possessive pro-nouns start with pronouns “ben”, “sen”, “o”, “biz”, “siz” and “onlar”, which are attached to possessive allomorphs as follows: For the first persn “ben” and its plural form “biz”, the “im” possessive allomorph is used. “ben-im” (be*nim), “biz-im” (bi*zim) For the second person “sen” and its plural form “siz” the “in” posses-sive allomorph is used. “sen-in” (se*nin) “siz-in” (si*zin) For the third person singular “o” the “/n/un” possessive allomorph, and for the third person plural “onlar” the “ın” possessive allomorph is used. All the “ben-im”, “sen-in”, “o-/n/un”, “biz-im” , “siz-in”, “onlar-ın” words are possessive adjectives, whose English equivalents are “my”, “your”, “his, her, its”, ”our”, “your”, “their” respectively. All possessive adjectives are noun modifiers; therefore, they are fol-lowed by nouns to be modified. The nouns followed by modifiers do not have any suffixes attached to them in English. In Turkish, how-ever, it is different. The modified nouns need some possessive allo-morphs attached to them. Follow the example sentences below to understand: ben-im okul-um (“Um” means “ben-im”, therefore, you can use only “okul-um” instead of “ben-im okul-um”.) My school. Sen-in okul-un (“Un” means “sen-in”, therefore you can use only “okul-un” instead of “sen-in okul-un”.) Your school. O-/n/un okul-u (“u” means “o-nun”, therefore, you can use only “okul-u” instead of “o-nun okul-u”.) His, her, its school.) Okul-umuz (“Umuz” means “biz-im”, therefore, you can use only “okul-umuz” instead of “biz-im okul-umuz”.) Our school.) Okul-unuz (“Unuz” means “siz-in”, therefore, you can use only “okul-unuz” instead of “siz-in okul-unuz”.) Your school Okul-u may both mean “o-/n/un okul-u” (his, her” school) and “onlar-ın okul-u” (their school). Therefore, it is better to say “onlar-ın okul-u”.

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Education

TURKISH AND ENGLISH VERB PHRASES AND TURKISH SYLLABICATION