Turkish Suffixes: How They Work

Turkish grammar heavily relies on suffixes. They often replace what English expresses through separate words, such as auxiliary verbs (to show tense, person, or mood) and prepositions (to show place, time, or direction).

 Look at the example below to see how Turkish suffixes correspond to English words, and vice versa:

• Karıma çiçek alacağım.

→ I will buy flowers for my wife.

A single Turkish word with one or more suffixes can sometimes correspond to a whole phrase, clause, or even a sentence in English.

Look at the words in bold in these sentences:

• Sağdakini beğendim.

→ I like the one on the right.

• Bu duyduğum en kötü espri.

→ This is the worst joke I have ever heard.

• Saçımı kestireceğim.

→ I’m going to have my hair cut.

• Ona güvenmemeliydin.

→ You shouldn't have trusted him/her.

Why This Matters

Understanding suffixes is the key to mastering Turkish. Once you start noticing how they attach to words and change their meanings, you’ll recognize patterns everywhere — in verbs, nouns, and adjectives. It’s like uncovering the logic behind the entire language.

At first, suffixes may seem confusing — they even sound like a tongue twister, as one of my students once said. She was actually right, since tongue twisters with lots of suffixes are often used in diction lessons.

Want to see an example? Try saying this:

Siz bizim Çekoslovakyalılaştırdıklarımızdan mısınız, yoksa Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdan mısınız?

Once you get used to how Turkish suffixes work, you’ll find them fascinating, and you’ll be amazed at how easily words with long strings of suffixes can roll off your tongue. Don’t worry — you’ll get the hang of it with practice.

My books, easy Turkish grammar with answers 1 & 2 (from A1 to B2), use a unique colour-coded system to help you understand how Turkish suffixes function and in what order they appear.

Each set of suffixes is consistently colour-coded throughout the book, making it easier to recognize and remember them — as in the example above — with a clear colour legend on every page. See it below!

👉 Check out the books here.

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