Turkish Locative Case: Rules and Examples

In Turkish, the locative case suffix -de / -da indicates location in place and time. If the word it is attached to ends in a hard consonant (f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p), the d changes to t (-te / -ta).

You can use the mnemonic word fıstıkçı Şahap, which translates as peanut seller Şahap, to remember these hard consonants.

We add the locative case suffix -de / -da (-te / -ta):

1. to the name of a place, area, container etc.

It usually corresponds to the English prepositions of place in, on or at.

Examples:

• Fotoğrafta küçük bir kız vardı. → There was a little girl in the photograph.

• Melis odasında müzik dinliyor. → Melis is listening to music in her room.

• Et derin dondurucuda. → The meat is in the deep freeze.

• Anahtarların masada. → Your keys are on the table.

• Çocuklar plajda top oynuyorlar. → The kids are playing ball on the beach.

• Ben ikinci katta oturuyorum. → I live on the second floor.

• Kapıda bir adam var. → There is a man at the door.

• Biz şimdi istasyonda bekliyoruz. → We are waiting at the (train) station now.

• Bu otobüs Kızılay’da duruyor. → This bus stops at Kızılay [in Ankara].

2. to months, years, centuries and clock times

It usually corresponds to the English prepositions of time in, on or at.

Examples:

• martta, 15 Mart’ta → in March, on 15 March

• 1971’de, 2003’te → in 1971, in 2003

• 20. yüzyılda → in the 20th century

• 5.00’te, 9.00’da → at 5.00, at 9.00

We add -da or -ın to seasons:

• ilkbaharda → in spring

• sonbaharda → in autumn/fall

• yazın → in summer

• kışın → in winter

However, we do not add the locative case suffix:

1. to days

Example:

• Ben cuma (günü) Ankara’ya gidiyorum. → I’m going to Ankara on Friday.

Days may be followed by the word günü (gün ‘day’ + ü), literally translating as the day of Friday, Saturday etc.

2. to parts of the day

Examples:

• Dersler sabah 9.00’da başlıyor. → Classes start at 9.00 in the morning.

• Biz öğleden sonra alışverişe gidiyoruz. → We are going shopping in the afternoon.

• Akşam buluşuyoruz, değil mi? → We are meeting up in the evening, right?

Also, not to hafta içi (weekday) and hafta sonu (weekend):

• Ben hafta içi 7.00’de kalkıyorum. → I get up at 7.00 on weekdays.

• Sen hafta sonu ne yapıyorsun? → What are you doing at the weekend?

See page 170 for clock times, and page 172 for days, months, seasons and years.

This post is just a part of the Turkish Case Suffixes lesson in my book easy Turkish Grammar with answers 1 (A1–A2). Throughout the book, all suffixes are shown in the same colours, with a clear colour legend on every page — see it below! — making it easy to follow and remember each pattern. 👉 Check out the book here.

Suffixes are colour-coded with these colours throughout the book.