Turkish has six main case forms, and the first one is the easiest: the nominative case, called yalın hal (“bare case”) in Turkish. A noun in the nominative carries no case suffix at all. It is the dictionary form: ev (house), kedi (cat), öğrenci (student). What makes the nominative worth a page of its own is that it does several jobs English learners do not expect, especially for direct objects. For the full system, see the Turkish noun cases overview.
How to recognise the nominative
A noun is nominative when it has no case ending. It can still carry plural and possessive suffixes, because those are not case markers.
| Form | Meaning | Case |
|---|---|---|
| ev | house | nominative |
| evler | houses | nominative |
| evim | my house | nominative |
| evlerimiz | our houses | nominative |
| evi | the house (object) / his house | accusative / nominative |
| eve | to the house | dative |
| evde | in the house | locative |
| evden | from the house | ablative |
| evin | of the house | genitive |
The evi row is a trap worth noticing: evi can be the accusative (“the house”, as an object) or the possessive “his/her house” in the nominative. Context tells you which. Evi büyük (His house is big) is nominative; Evi gördüm (I saw the house) is accusative.
1. The subject of a sentence
The person or thing doing the action, or being described, is in the nominative.
- Kedi uyuyor. (The cat is sleeping.)
- Öğretmen geldi. (The teacher came.)
- Annem Ankara’da yaşıyor. (My mother lives in Ankara.)
- Otobüs geç kaldı. (The bus was late.)
Personal pronouns work the same way: ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar are their nominative forms. They are often dropped because the verb ending already shows the person: (Ben) geliyorum (I am coming).
2. Indefinite and general direct objects
This is the use that surprises learners most. In Turkish, a direct object stays in the nominative when it is not specific. Only a specific, known object takes the accusative suffix -(y)ı/i/u/ü.
| Nominative (indefinite) | Accusative (definite) |
|---|---|
| Ekmek aldım. I bought (some) bread. | Ekmeği aldım. I bought the bread. |
| Kitap okuyorum. I’m reading (a book / books). | Kitabı okuyorum. I’m reading the book. |
| Bir elma yedim. I ate an apple. | Elmayı yedim. I ate the apple. |
| Çay içer misin? Do you drink tea? / Would you like tea? | Çayı içtin mi? Did you drink the tea? |
Two details:
- A bare object (without bir) must sit directly before the verb. Her sabah gazete okurum (I read a newspaper every morning) is natural; moving gazete away from the verb sounds wrong. See Turkish word order.
- A bare object is number-neutral. Kitap okuyorum does not say whether you are reading one book or several. It describes the activity.
3. The predicate after “to be”
When a noun or adjective describes or identifies the subject, it is also nominative. The “to be” endings attach directly to it, as explained in personal pronouns and the verb “to be”.
- Bu bir masa. (This is a table.)
- Ben öğrenciyim. (I am a student.)
- Ayşe doktor. (Ayşe is a doctor.)
- Hava güzel. (The weather is nice.)
4. The subject of var and yok
In “there is / there isn’t” sentences, the thing that exists stays in the nominative. Read more in existential sentences with var and yok.
- Buzdolabında süt var. (There is milk in the fridge.)
- Bugün toplantı yok. (There’s no meeting today.)
- Benim arabam var. (I have a car.)
5. The first noun in many compounds
In indefinite compounds, the first noun stays bare and only the second takes a suffix: okul müdürü (school principal), Türk kahvesi (Turkish coffee), doğum günü (birthday). The full rules are in Turkish compound nouns.
6. Before many postpositions
Postpositions such as gibi (like), için (for), ile (with) and kadar (as … as) follow a noun in the nominative:
- Aslan gibi güçlü. (Strong like a lion.)
- Bu hediye annem için. (This present is for my mother.)
- Ahmet kadar uzun. (As tall as Ahmet.)
Singular personal pronouns and bu/şu/o take the genitive instead: benim için (for me), senin gibi (like you), onun kadar (as much as him). The postpositions guide covers which form each postposition needs.
7. Addressing someone and naming time
When you call out to someone, the noun is bare: Hocam, bir sorum var. (Teacher, I have a question.) Many time expressions are also used without a suffix: Pazartesi görüşürüz (See you on Monday), Bu akşam evdeyim (I’m home this evening), Her gün yürüyorum (I walk every day).
Nominative or accusative? A quick test
Ask yourself whether the listener knows exactly which object you mean.
- Is it a name, a pronoun, or modified by bu/şu/o? → accusative: Ayşe’yi gördüm, bu filmi izledim.
- Was it mentioned before, or is it the only one in the situation? → accusative: Kapıyı kapat. (Close the door.)
- Is it new, general, or “some/a”? → nominative: Su içtim. (I drank water.)
The nominative in a real conversation
Here is a short exchange at a neighbourhood grocery (bakkal). Watch which nouns stay bare.
Müşteri: Merhaba, ekmek var mı? (Hello, is there any bread?)
Bakkal: Var. Kaç tane istersiniz? (There is. How many would you like?)
Müşteri: İki ekmek, lütfen. Bir de peynir alayım. (Two loaves, please. And I’ll take some cheese.)
Bakkal: Hangi peyniri istersiniz? Beyaz peynir mi, kaşar mı? (Which cheese would you like? White cheese or kaşar?)
Müşteri: Beyaz peyniri alayım. Bir de su lazım. (I’ll take the white cheese. I also need water.)
- ekmek var mı: subject of var, so nominative.
- iki ekmek: an indefinite object after a number, so nominative and singular.
- bir de peynir alayım: “some cheese”, not a specific one, so nominative.
- hangi peyniri: hangi (which) asks the listener to pick a specific item, so the object takes the accusative.
- beyaz peyniri alayım: now a specific cheese from the counter, so accusative.
- su lazım: subject of lazım (needed), so nominative.
The same noun, peynir, appears in both cases within a few lines. The choice depends only on whether a particular cheese is meant.
Common mistakes
- Adding -ı to every object. Su içtim means “I drank (some) water”; Suyu içtim means “I drank the water”, a particular glass the listener knows about. Use the accusative only when the object is specific.
- Using the nominative for a specific object. Bu kitap okudum is wrong; with bu the object is specific: Bu kitabı okudum.
- Thinking plural means accusative. Kitaplar (books) is nominative. Kitapları (the books, as object) is accusative.
- Separating a bare object from its verb. Say Ben her gün çay içerim, not Çay ben her gün içerim.
Mini-exercise
Choose nominative or accusative.
- Markete gittim ve (süt / sütü) aldım. (I went to the shop and bought some milk.)
- (Kedi / Kediyi) bahçede uyuyor. (The cat is sleeping in the garden.)
- Bu (film / filmi) izledin mi? (Have you seen this film?)
- Akşamları (kitap / kitabı) okurum. (I read in the evenings.)
- Annem için bir (hediye / hediyeyi) aldım. (I bought a present for my mother.)
- (Kapı / Kapıyı) açar mısın? (Could you open the door?)
Answers: 1. süt · 2. Kedi (subject) · 3. filmi (specific: “this”) · 4. kitap (general activity) · 5. hediye (indefinite with bir) · 6. Kapıyı (the door in the room)
Next steps
Now contrast the bare noun with its definite partner on the accusative case page. To check which suffixes a word carries, paste it into the suffix deconstructor.
