Turkish Postpositions: İle, İçin, Kadar, Göre, Sonra & Önce
What are Postpositions? (İlgeçler)
In English, words like with, for, like, until, after are called prepositions because they sit before nouns (with me, for you, after school).
In Turkish, these words are postpositions because they sit AFTER the noun, and they often require the noun to wear a specific noun case ending.
1. Postpositions Taking the Nominative / Genitive
A. İçin (For / In order to)
- Regular nouns take no ending:
çocuklar için= for childrensağlık için= for health
- Personal pronouns take the Genitive case:
benim için= for mesenin için= for youbizim için= for us
B. İle / -(y)le (With / By means of)
Often shortens into a suffix:
annem ile→ annemle (with my mother)otobüs ile→ otobüsle (by bus)araba ile→ arabayla (by car - buffer ‘y’)
2. Postpositions Requiring the Dative Case (-e / -a)
These postpositions demand that the noun takes the directional dative suffix:
| Postposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kadar | As … as / Until | akşama kadar | until evening |
| bana kadar | as far as me | ||
| Göre | According to / Compared to | bana göre | in my opinion (according to me) |
| düne göre | compared to yesterday | ||
| Doğru | Toward | eve doğru | toward home |
3. Postpositions Requiring the Ablative Case (-den / -dan)
These postpositions require the origin/departure ablative suffix:
| Postposition | Meaning | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonra | After | dersten sonra | after class |
| Önce | Before | yemekten önce | before the meal |
| Beri | Since | sabahtan beri | since morning |
| Başka | Apart from / Other than | senden başka | other than you |
