SOFTENING OF CONSONANT

The softening of the consonant is more detailed than the hardening. The quantity of the exceptions is a bit more than the quantity of the exceptions in the hardening topic. (roughly %10). By the way, as a native speaker, I remember no exceptions in the hardening. A really! There is no exception in the hardening of the consonant. Wow! It is one of the most regular topics of Turkish. In fact, so is the hardening.

Let´s remember the incontinuant hard consonants: Ç, K, P, T.

Let´s remember also the incontinuant soft consonants: C, G, B, D

By the way! I have forgetten to say that the hardening relationships are only "c-->ç", "d-->t", "g-->k" . (((Thou are gonna ask "why not ´b-->p´ ?". Because there is no suffix that starts with "b". But, be sure, "b" would harden to "p" if there would be a suffix that starts with "b".))) Otherwise, there is no hardening like "g-->t", "b-->s", "c--->t" etc.

Imagine a word that ends with incontinuant hard. And we are bringing a suffix that starts with a vowel. The incontinuant hard consonant will soften and become incontinuant soft. The event is this!

The relationships of softening are : p-->b, k-->ğ (usually)/g (rarely), t--->d, ç--->c

I shall explain this event by the example suffixes again. Then I shall explain the exceptional situations too.

a) Yönelme hâli eki (-e/-a) (Dative Case Suffix)

ev (home, house)

ev+e-->eve (to the house, to home)

Eve gidiyorum. (I´m going home) (direct: I´m going to the house)

okul (school)

okul+e-->okula (to the school)

Bugün okula gitmedim. (I didn´t go to the school today)

Hangi okula gidiyorsun? (Which school do you study in?) (direct: To which school are you going?)

müzik (music)

müzik+e-->müziğe (to the music)

Müzik dinliyorum (I´m listening to music) (direct: I´m listening music)

Müziğe ilgi duyuyordu. (He was interested in the music) (direct: He was hearing interest to the music)

sokak (street)

sokak+e--->sokağa (to the street)

Yanlış sokağa girmişiz. (We have come into the false street)

ilaç (drug, medicine)

ihtiyaç (necessity, need, requirement)

ilaç+e--->ilaca (to the drug)

İlaca ihtiyacım yok (I don´t need drug) (direct: I haven´t got necessity to the drug)

çorap (sock)

çorap+e-->çoraba (to the sock)

Portakal suyu hangi çoraba döküldü? (Onto which sock did the orange juice pour?)

kalıp (1pattern, 2mould, mold)

kalıp+e-->kalıba (to the pattern, to the mould)

Çikolataları bu kalıba döktük. (We poured the chocolates into that mould)

Türkçe´de bu kalıba çok rastlarsın. (You run against this pattern in Turkish very much)

kalp (heart)

kalp+e-->kalbe (to the heart) (Remember the word "kalp" is an exception for major vowel harmony. Look at the second lesson)

Sigara kalbe zararlı. (The cigarette is harmful to the heart)

"t" is the letter that the softening happens least.

kilit (lock)

kilit+e-->kilide (to the lock)

Anahtarı kilide soktu ve kapıyı açtı. (He tucked the key into the lock and opened the door)

b) -i : 1accusative, 2possessive of third person, 3 a derivative suffix

etek (skirt)

etek+i-->eteği

Ayşe´nin eteği (Ayşe´s skirt)

Ayşe o eteği aldı. (Ayşe bought that skirt)

ayak (foot)

ayak+i --> ayağı

Ayağında yara var. (There is an injure at his foot)

Sol ayağı daha iyi kullanıyor. (He is using the left foot better)

kanat (wing)

kanat+i-->kanadı

Kuşun kanadı bembeyazdı. (The wing of the bird was completely white)

Takım dünkü maçta sol kanadı ihmal etti. (The team neglected the left wing in the match yesterday)

İstisnaî Durumlar (Exceptional Situations)

a) The softening happens at the monosyllabic words rarely. I´m writing a few exceptions.

çok (many, much), gök (sky),  cep (pocket), taç (crown),  renk (colour) and perhaps just a few more. I can´t remember now.

b) The verbs will be told later. And you will see the "t" of only the verbs "git- (go)" and "et- (make)" will soften.

tutmak=to hold, --> tutacağım (i will hold)

bitmek=to finish (intransitive) --->bitiyor (it is finishing)

gitmek=to go ---> gidiyoruz (we are going)

yardım etmek=to help --> yardım edelim (let´s help)

vs.

c) If we bring a suffix that starts with vowel to a proper noun that has ended up with an incontinuant hard consonant, the incontinuant hard consonant usually softens in the pronunciation, but never softens in the writing.

Mehmet (a Turkish boy name)

Mehmet+in(genitive) --> Mehmet´in (of Mehmet) ("t" doesn´t soften in pronunciation)

Sinop (the northest city of Anatolia)

Sinop+e(dative)---> Sinop´a (to Sinop) ("t" doesn´t soften in pronunciation)

Uşak+in (genitive) ---> Uşak´ın ("k" changes to "ğ" in pronunciation)

vs.

ç) If the word is disyllabic and ends with "-et/-at", the softening usually doesn´t happen.

exceptions: hasat (reaping),  ceset (corpse), kilit (lock), mabet (temple), kanat (wing), senet (deed, act (document))

d) If it is longer than disyllabic and is ending up with "-t", the softening usually doesn´t happen.

examples: iskelet (skeleton), dinamit (dynamite), ticaret (merchant), internet (internet) vs. vs. vs. ...

exception: piramit (pyramid)

e) "-iyet" is an Arabic suffix. The words that end up with this doesn´t soften. There is no exception.

cumhuriyet (republic), İslamiyet (Islam), hürriyet (özgürlük) (freedom), kraliyet (kingdom),  vs. vs. vs. ....

f) The softening can happen at the word that end with "nk", "nç", "nt". The exceptions are these:

kent (the place which is city or approximately city)

bank (bench (furniture)), tank (tank)

MULTIPLYING OF CONSONANT

The words that multiplying of consonant are these:

af (the forgiving)

sır (secret)

hak (1right,authority, 2jus, justice)

hat (line)

ret (rejection, denial)

haz (zest)

zan (supposing) (this is used too rarely)

I remember no words except these.

This is not a large topic, on the contrary, i´ts too limited.

They are monosyllabic and their last letter is consonant. If we bring a suffix that starts with vowel, that consonant redoubles, multiplies.

Why?

Because they are the words that have come from Arabic or Persian, namely foreign origined. And their original shapes are "aff", "sırr", "hakk", "redd" etc.

Bu hazzı yaşamak çok güzel. (It is so nice to have this zest ) (direct: ......to live this zest)

Sizin buna hakkınız yok. (You have no right for this) (direct: .... to this)