A nominal sentence is one where the predicate is a noun or an adjective (e.g., "I am a teacher," "You are tired"). In Turkish, we create these sentences by adding personal suffixes to the word.
💡 The Golden Rule: 4-Way Vowel Harmony
All suffixes follow the last vowel of the word:
a, ı → use ı
e, i → use i
o, u → use u
ö, ü → use ü
Affirmative State (Olumlu)
Suffixes are added directly. If a word ends in a vowel and the suffix starts with one (for "I" and "We"), we use the buffer letter (y).
Pronoun | Suffix | Example (Öğretmen - Teacher) | Example (Yorgun - Tired) |
Ben (I) | -(y)Im | Öğretmenim | Yorgunum |
Sen (You) | -sIn | Öğretmensin | Yorgunsun |
O (S/He) | --- | Öğretmen | Yorgun |
Biz (We) | -(y)Iz | Öğretmeniz | Yorgunuz |
Siz (You pl.) | -sInIz | Öğretmensiniz | Yorgunsunuz |
Onlar (They) | -lAr | Öğretmenler | Yorgunlar |
Negative State (Olumsuz)
To say "not," we use the word Değil. The personal suffixes are always attached to Değil. Since Değil ends in "i", the suffixes never change their vowels.
Example: Ben öğretmen değilim (I am not a teacher).
Example: Biz yorgun değiliz (We are not tired).
Question State (Soru)
We use the question particle mI (Am/Is/Are). The personal suffixes are attached to the particle, not the noun.
Pronoun | Form (Yabancı - Stranger) | English Translation |
Ben | Yabancı mıyım? | Am I a stranger? |
Sen | Yabancı mısın? | Are you a stranger? |
O | Yabancı mı? | Is s/he a stranger? |
Biz | Yabancı mıyız? | Are we strangers? |
Siz | Yabancı mısınız? | Are you (pl.) strangers? |
Onlar | Yabancılar mı? | Are they strangers? |
Nominal sentences are the backbone of daily conversation. Once you master the suffixes, you can express your feelings and professions with ease!