In Turkish, a noun has 5 fundamental states, produced using suffixes, that correspond to meanings of some prepositions in English. It is not necessary to learn these as the states of nouns, but learning these suffixes is important since they are very commonly used.

An important thing to note here is the use of the -i form. It is used to denote the subject of an action, and adds the meaning of "being known, specified" just as the meaning given by "the". This will be more clear after looking at the sentences below. (bir --> one, kedi --> cat, gördüm --> I saw)

Bir kedi gördüm. --> I saw a cat. (Note that although cat is the object of the action here, the -i form of kedi is not used since it is not known, i.e. it is a cat, not the cat)

Kediyi gördüm. --> I saw the cat. (Note that kedi has the suffix -i, but the two -i's are separated by the fusion consonant 'y'.)

Now, example sentences for all the cases.

• Nothing state:

  • This is a house. --> Bu bir ev.

• -i state:

  • I saw the house. --> Evi gördüm.

• -e state:

  • Go home. --> Eve git. (House and home are the same word in Turkish, 'ev'.)

• -de state:

  • The pen is on the table. --> Kalem masada.

  • Joe is at school. --> Joe okulda.

  • Your mother is in that room. --> Annen o odada.

• -den state:

  • I came from home. --> Evden geldim.