Compound Nouns in Turkish Language
Learn how to form compound nouns in Turkish language in this short Turkish grammar lesson!
This Turkish lesson is ideal for early beginner (A1) and beginner (A2) Turkish language learners. Please feel free to use the comment form below if you have questions about this Turkish grammar point.
What is a compound noun?
In grammar, a compound refers to a word that is made up of two or more existing words words. For example, credit card, football match, Turkish language, etc.
How to form compound nouns in Turkish
You need to use the suffix "- (s) i / ü / ı / u" to form the compound nouns in Turkish. This suffix is also used for "Onun (his, her, it) and the definite object (The) in Turkish. For example:
- Onun okulu His school
- Okulu The school
- Dil okulu Language school
Download Turkish worksheets: Basic Noun Forms in Turkish!
The suffix is always added to the last word. For example:
- Dil okulu Language school
- Türk dili Turkish language
- Kredi kartı Credit card
- Türk kahvesi Turkish coffee
Remember the vowel harmony:
- If the last vowel of the word is a, ı, the suffix is ı
- If the last vowel of the word is o, u, the suffix is u
- If the last vowel of the word is e, i, the suffix is i
- If the last vowel of the word is ö, ü, the suffix is ü
If the last letter of the (last) word is a vowel, then you need to add the buffer "s" between the word and suffix. For example:
- Türk kahvesi Turkish coffee
- Polis arabası Police car
Practice. Rewrite the the words. futbol / maç, Garanti / Banka, İtalyan / pizza, cep / telefon, okul / çanta, Amerika / Birleşik / Devlet ...
We hope you have found this lesson useful for your Turkish studies. Please use the comment form below if you have questions about this Turkish grammar point.