Turkish cases: evi, eve, evde, evden

In any language, the role of a noun in a sentence, such as who does what, where something goes or where it is, is shown either with prepositions or with suffixes. Turkish does it with case suffixes: ev-e (to the house), ev-de (in the house), ev-den (from the house). In this article I cover the four case suffixes used at A1 level, how to find the right suffix with the help of a question word, and the mistakes learners make most often.

1. Five cases, five questions

Case	Question	Suffix	Example	Example sentence
Nominative	kim? ne? (who? what?)	(no suffix)	kahve	Ben kahve içtim. (I drank coffee.)
Accusative	kimi? neyi? (whom? what?)	-(y)ı / -(y)i / -(y)u / -(y)ü	evi	Ben evi temizledim. (I cleaned the house.)
Dative	kime? nereye? (to whom? where to?)	-(y)a / -(y)e	eve	Ben eve gidiyorum. (I am going home.)
Locative	kimde? nerede? (on whom? where?)	-da / -de / -ta / -te	evde	Ben evde televizyon seyrediyorum. (I am watching TV at home.)
Ablative	kimden? nereden? (from whom? where from?)	-dan / -den / -tan / -ten	evden	Ben evden çıktım. (I left the house.)

2. The logic: the question word gives you the suffix

To find the right case, ask the question. The question word already carries the suffix the noun will take:

• Nereye gidiyorsun? Eve. (Where are you going? Home.)
• Nerede oturuyorsun? Evde. (Where are you sitting? At home.)
• Nereden geliyorsun? Evden. (Where are you coming from? From home.)
• Neyi temizledin? Evi. (What did you clean? The house.)

If you are not sure which suffix to use, first build the question; the answer takes the same suffix as the question.

3. Vowel harmony and the y

The dative, locative and ablative suffixes have two forms (major vowel harmony): if the last vowel is a, ı, o, u, the suffix has a; if it is e, i, ö, ü, it has e: okula, okulda, okuldan (school); eve, evde, evden (house).

The accusative suffix has four forms (minor vowel harmony): kızı, evi, okulu, gözü (the girl, the house, the school, the eye).

If the word ends in a vowel, a y comes before the dative and accusative suffixes: araba-y-a, araba-y-ı (car). The locative and ablative suffixes begin with a consonant, so there is no y: arabada, arabadan.

4. d or t?

The d in the locative and ablative suffixes becomes t after a word ending in a hard consonant. Turkish learners remember the hard consonants with the phrase “Fıstıkçı Şahap”: f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p.

• kitap-ta, kitap-tan (in / from the book)
• sokak-ta, sokak-tan (in / from the street)
• ağaç-ta, ağaç-tan (in / from the tree)

5. The consonant change: kitabı, sokağa

If a word of more than one syllable ends in p, ç, t, k, these consonants soften before the accusative and dative suffixes, which begin with a vowel: kitap, kitabı; ağaç, ağaca; sokak, sokağa. The same rule applies to the possessive suffixes. The locative and ablative suffixes begin with a consonant, so this change does not happen: kitapta, sokaktan.

In most one-syllable words there is no change: top, topu (the ball); saç, saça (to the hair).

6. The logic of the accusative

The accusative suffix shows that the object is definite:

• Film izledim. (I watched a film, any film.)
• Filmi izledim. (I watched the film we talked about.)

If the object is indefinite, there is no suffix; if it is definite, the suffix is added. I explain this rule with examples in the Ketchup Rule lesson.

7. Cases and verbs

Some verbs are always used with the same case. It is easiest to learn them together with the verb:

Verb	Case	Example
gitmek (to go)	dative	Okula gidiyorum. (I am going to school.)
binmek (to get on)	dative	Otobüse biniyorum. (I am getting on the bus.)
inmek (to get off)	ablative	Otobüsten iniyorum. (I am getting off the bus.)
çıkmak (to go out)	ablative	Evden çıkıyorum. (I am leaving the house.)
korkmak (to be afraid)	ablative	Köpekten korkuyorum. (I am afraid of the dog.)
beklemek (to wait)	accusative	Otobüsü bekliyorum. (I am waiting for the bus.)
açmak (to open)	accusative	Kapıyı açıyorum. (I am opening the door.)
oturmak (to live)	locative	İstanbul’da oturuyorum. (I live in Istanbul.)

With proper names, the suffix is written after an apostrophe: İstanbul’da, Ayşe’ye, Ankara’dan.

8. Common mistakes

Wrong	Right	Why
Evde gidiyorum.	Eve gidiyorum.	“Nereye?” needs the dative.
arabaa, arabaı	arabaya, arabayı	After a vowel, a y comes in.
kitapda	kitapta	p is a hard consonant, so d becomes t.
Otobüsü biniyorum.	Otobüse biniyorum.	“Binmek” is used with the dative.
Köpeği korkuyorum.	Köpekten korkuyorum.	“Korkmak” is used with the ablative.

Test yourself

5 questions

1. 01"Yarın ___ gidiyorum." (okul, school)

   okuldaokulaokulu

   Answer:okula. "Nereye?" needs the dative.

2. 02"Kitap ___." (çanta, bag; inside)

   çantayaçantadançantada

   Answer:çantada. "Nerede?" needs the locative.

3. 03Which one is spelled correctly?

   sokakdasokaktasokağda

   Answer:sokakta. k is a hard consonant; -da becomes -ta.

4. 04"___ bekliyorum." (otobüs, a specific bus)

   OtobüseOtobüsüOtobüste

   Answer:Otobüsü. "Beklemek" takes the accusative; the bus is definite.

5. 05"Saat kaçta ___ çıkıyorsun?" (iş, work)

   işeişteişten

   Answer:işten. "Çıkmak" takes the ablative: işten çıkmak (to leave work).

Next step

I explain each case separately in the channel lessons: locative, accusative, dative, ablative. For the locative with var and yok, see the var and yok article; for all A1 topics, see the grammar guide. If you have a question, ask me.