Turkish Possessive Suffixes (İyelik Ekleri) & Noun Compounds

English marks possession with separate words (my, your, his) or with ’s. Turkish attaches a possessive suffix (iyelik eki) to the thing that is owned: ev (house) → evim (my house), evin (your house), evi (his/her house). These endings are among the most frequent in the language: you need them for “my name is”, “I have”, family words and almost every compound noun. This guide focuses on the suffixes themselves; compounds such as Ahmet’in evi and Türk kahvesi have their own pages, linked below.

The six possessive suffixes

The suffixes follow 4-way vowel harmony and have a short form after vowels. The 3rd person plural ending -ları/-leri is 2-way for the plural part.

All four harmony vowels

The s in arabası, kedisi is a buffer letter used only with the 3rd person possessive after a vowel.

The pronouns are optional

The suffix already says who the owner is, so benim, senin, onun… are normally dropped: Evim büyük. (My house is big.) Use the pronoun for contrast: Benim evim büyük, seninki küçük. (My house is big; yours is small.) Note that the pronoun and the suffix must agree: ❌ benim evin.

Changes to the stem

Because most possessive suffixes start with a vowel, three stem changes can happen.

1. Consonant softening

Final p, ç, t, k usually become b, c, d, ğ (the consonant mutation rule); nk becomes ng:

Most one-syllable words (top, saç, at) keep their consonant; renk, kalp → kalbim, dert → derdim are common exceptions.

2. Dropped vowels

Some two-syllable nouns lose their second vowel: ağız → ağzım (my mouth), burun → burnum (my nose), oğul → oğlum (my son), isim → ismim (my name), şehir → şehrim (my city), akıl → aklım (my mind), fikir → fikrim (my idea), resim → resmim (my picture).

3. Doubled consonants and special words

Some Arabic loanwords double their last consonant: hak → hakkım (my right), sır → sırrım (my secret), his → hissim (my feeling). Su (water) and ne (what) take y: suyum, suyu; Neyin var? (What’s wrong with you?).

Possessive + plural + case: the suffix order

The order is always noun + plural + possessive + case:

The extra n after the 3rd person

After a 3rd person possessive (-ı, -sı, -ları), a pronominal n is inserted before the case endings:

This n also appears in compounds: otobüs durağında (at the bus stop), Türk kahvesini (the Turkish coffee, as object). For more on the cases themselves, see the noun cases guide.

Ambiguities to be aware of

• evleri = their house / his houses / their houses. Turkish never doubles -lar, so onların evi or onların evleri clarifies.
• evin = your house or of the house (genitive). Evin kapısı = the door of the house; Evin çok güzel = Your house is very nice.
• evinde = in your house or in his/her house (ev-in-de vs ev-i-n-de).

Context almost always settles these, and the suffix deconstructor shows the possible readings of any word.

Possessives in compounds (overview)

Possessive suffixes are the second half of Turkish noun compounds:

• Owner + thing: Ahmet’in evi (Ahmet’s house), öğretmenin kitabı (the teacher’s book). The owner takes the genitive -(n)ın; see the genitive case.
• Type + thing: Türk kahvesi (Turkish coffee), otobüs bileti (bus ticket), güneş gözlüğü (sunglasses). Only the second noun takes -(s)ı; the full rules are in compound nouns (isim tamlamaları).

“I have”: possessive + var / yok

Turkish has no verb “to have”. You say “my X exists”: Arabam var. (I have a car.) Vaktim yok. (I don’t have time.) This pattern is covered in detail in existential sentences with var and yok.

Example sentences

1. Adım Emma. — My name is Emma.
2. Senin adın ne? — What’s your name?
3. Annemin adı Ayşe. — My mother’s name is Ayşe.
4. Evimiz merkeze yakın. — Our house is close to the centre.
5. Arabanız nerede? — Where is your car?
6. Kardeşim üniversitede okuyor. — My brother/sister is at university.
7. Çocukları çok tatlı. — Their children are very sweet.
8. Kitabımı unuttum. — I forgot my book.
9. Telefonumun şarjı bitti. — My phone’s battery has run out.
10. Oğlum yedi yaşında. — My son is seven years old.
11. Ağzım kurudu, biraz su alabilir miyim? — My mouth is dry; may I have some water?
12. Bu senin fikrin mi? — Is this your idea?
13. Anahtarlarım çantamda. — My keys are in my bag.
14. Arkadaşı arabasında bekliyor. — His/Her friend is waiting in his/her car.
15. İki kardeşim var. — I have two siblings.
16. Neyin var? — What’s wrong with you?
17. Hocam, bir sorum var. — Teacher, I have a question.

Note the everyday address forms built with -(ı)m: hocam (my teacher, also used for any educated person), canım (my dear), abim / ablam (my older brother/sister, also said affectionately to friends; strangers are addressed as plain abi / abla).

Common mistakes

• Pronoun without suffix: ❌ benim ev / ✅ benim evim or just evim.
• Missing buffer s: ❌ arabaı / ✅ arabası.
• Forgetting consonant softening: ❌ kitapım, çocukum / ✅ kitabım, çocuğum.
• Keeping the dropped vowel: ❌ ağızım, isimim / ✅ ağzım, ismim.
• Missing pronominal n: ❌ arabasıda, evie / ✅ arabasında, evine.
• Double plural: ❌ evlerleri / ✅ evleri.
• Wrong order: ❌ evimler / ✅ evlerim.

Mini-exercise

Add the possessive (and case, where given).

1. kalem + my → ?
2. okul + our → ?
3. kedi + his/her → ?
4. burun + my → ?
5. çanta + your (sg.) + in → ?
6. ev + his/her + to → ?
7. araba + plural + my → ?
8. ağaç + their → ?

Answers: 1. kalemim 2. okulumuz 3. kedisi 4. burnum 5. çantanda 6. evine 7. arabalarım 8. ağaçları

Next steps

Continue with the genitive case to say “Ahmet’s” and “the teacher’s”, then practice saying what you own with var and yok.