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Please help a poor beginner!
1.       yael
2 posts
 30 Apr 2006 Sun 07:39 am

I read the rules about major and minor vowel harmony and also consonant harmony which were very clearly explained. Thank you so much. Still, I am not understanding why kötü in the personal pronoun lesson, becomes kötüsün to mean "You are bad." (Rather than keeping the suffix -sin). "Kötü" is a soft and round word, right? The regular suffix would be -sin which is soft, so no problem there. So is it changed because of the "i" in "sin?" Does the fact that the suffix -sin is being added to a round word cause it to become "-sün?"
I'm sure the explanation is right in front of me and obvious to all of you, but this is maybe my second or third day learning any Turkish, so please be patient with me. I love this website and thank whoever is involved with its creation and maintenance, making available such a wonderful resource.
All the best. Yael

2.       erdinc
2151 posts
 30 Apr 2006 Sun 08:46 am

Greetings,
All the information you need is included here:
http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_6_2142

In any word regarding the vowel harmony rules only the last vowel counts. We have eight vowels which are a,ı,o,u and e,i,ö,ü. The formers are back vowels and the latters are front vowels.

Some suffixes have only two forms. This means they have one form with a back vowel and another form with a front vowel. For instance the plural suffix is such a suffix. It has the forms: "-lar" and "-ler". Obviously if the last vowel is a back vowel (a,ı,o,u) you add the -lar and if it is a front vowel you add the -ler.
example:
patates + ler : patatesler
(because the last vowel in patates is e, it takes -ler.)
kalem + ler : kalemler

Now, let's see what happens if a suffix has four forms:
What is the last vowel in 'kötü' ?
Yes, obviously it is ü. This time we follow this chart:

Follow this rule (1):

If the last vowel is "a" or "ı" > use "ı"
If the last vowel is "e" or "i" > use "i"
If the last vowel is "o" or "u" > use "u"
If the last vowel is "ö" or "ü" > use "ü"



Example:
akıllı + sın
Here the last vowel is ı and according our rules it should take ı.

Exercise 1:
yorgun : tired
I want to say "I'm tired". Here are the personal suffixes. Which one do I pick?

Singular
1. : -ım, -im, -um, -üm
2. : -sın, -sin, -sun, -sün
3. : --
Plural
1. : -ız, -iz, -uz, -üz
2. : -sınız, -siniz, -sunuz, -sünüz
3. : -lar, -ler

Exercise 2:
gitmek : to go
present continuous of gitmek: gidiyor
I want to say "I'm going". Personal suffixes are the same as on exercise 1. Which one do I pick?

Exercise 3:
görmek : to see
Future tense of görmek: görecek
I want to say "You will see". Personal suffixes are the same as on exercise 1. Which one do I pick?

The vowel harmony rule applies to all suffixes that have four forms. For instance the question suffix has four forms which are -mı,-mi,-mu,-mü
Remember only the last vowel counts. The question suffix is written with one space in between.

example:
güzel: nice
I want to say "is it nice?" The last vowel in güzel is 'e'. I check the rules and it says e takes 'i'. So I write "güzel mi?"

exercise 4:
Add the question suffix
pahalı ...?
sıcak ... ?
Bu Ali ...?
Senin Adın Ayşe ...?

Sometimes we apply the vowel harmony rules after a suffix. This is tricky.
Assuming I want to say "Are you hungry?" Hungry is "aç" in Turkish. First comes the question suffix. The last vowel in "aç" is "a" and it takes mı so we have "aç mı". Now I add the personal suffix -sın, -sin, -sun, -sün after the question suffix [/B]but the last vowel has changed[/B] because I have just add the question suffix. Now the last vowel in "aç mı" is "ı" and it takes "sın". So we have "aç mısın?" (are you hungry?).

exercise 5:
yorgun: tired
I want to say "Are you tired?". First apply the question suffix and then the personal suffix.

(1) I think there is no other source where the rules are explained like I have written here in reds. I have used the information on minor and major harmony rules to write the rules that way. I have explained here how I did it: http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_6_3145

Any non-native Turkish speaker can do these exercises.

3.       yael
2 posts
 30 Apr 2006 Sun 07:57 pm

Thank you so much. That clarifies it for me.

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