Hello there,

I´ve just begun learning the language and was studying examples of some "possessive adjectives" when I came across these two examples:

onlarýn elmasýnda - in their apple
onlarýn elmasýndan - from their apple

I tried to think through but it´s gotten a little confusing. I know the possessives such as "my, your, his, their".. aren´t necessary in Turkish since they´re already indicated by suffixes, and are only used to place emphasis, e.g. "arabam" = "my car" but "benim arabam" = "my car".

But doesn´t elmasýnda mean "in his apple"? Wouldn´t "in their apple" be onlarýn elmalarýnda?

I realize onlarýn elmalarýnda could also mean "in their apples" (or "in your apples"...), but isn´t there a possession conflict in onlarýn elmasýnda?  Or is the "3rd person singular" form supposed to be used in conjunction with the 3rd person plural in cases such as this...?

Things are getting a little convoluted in my head. Can someone provide an explanation to this? Thanks.

Thanks fuki, but I guess what I wanted to know is why "in their apple" could not be translated as onlarýn elmalarýnda, instead it´s onlarýn elmasýnda. Does that make sense? Is it some type of exception to the rules?

I´m not sure what you know, so I will go over some basics.

onlar means they

onlarýn is a possessýve noun (meaning their) and the following noun (apple - elma) must have a suffýx to show it is possessed.

onlarýn elmasý - their apple

onun elmasý - his/her apple

Now, when we add the suffix for in/on/at, in this case ´da´ we find for 

onlarýn elmasý + buffer n (for the second suffix) + da = onlarýn elmasýnda (in their apple)

onun elmasý+ buffer n (for the second suffix) + da = onun elmasýnda (in his or her apple)

To quote fuki onlarýn elmalarýnda - in their apples

elmalar means apples, so the plural suffix (ler or lar) means that this is not one apple we are referring to.

(benim) elmam - my apple

(senin) elman - your apple

onun elmasý - his or her apple

(bizim) elmamýz - our apple

(sizin) elmanýz - your apple (formal or plural)

onlarýn elmasý - their apple

This is why our teacher always stated you must use either onun or onlarýn to avoid confusion.

So onlarýn elmalarýnda means ´in their apples´.

Thus including the possessing noun avoids ambiguity.

I forgot who originally posted this, (possibly marioninturkey), but it explains similar problems.

Evleri

e.g. evleri 

could be

ev+leri = their house 
or

evler+i = his/her houses 
or

evler+i= houses (object of a noun) 
or

evler+i= houses as a compound noun

It is usually obvious from the whole sentence:

Evlerini satacaklar = They are going to sell their house

(clue is the "lar" on the end of satacak: we are talking about "them")

Ahmet´in evleri çok = Ahmet has lots of houses (or Ahmet´s houses are many,
the clue is Ahmet´in: we are talking about Ahmet)

Evleri boyatacak mýsýnýz = Are you going to have the houses painted?

(clue is boyatmak which makes the noun take the objective ending)

Þelale Evleri´ne gideceðiz= We are going to Þelale Evleri

(Waterfall Houses= the name of a housing estate)

(clue is Evleri and the previous word have a capital letter that shows it is a proper noun)

I hope this also helps. 

Both of them are correct. Usually we tend to not use more than one -lar when the meaning is clear from the context. So onlarýn elmasýnda is more preferred.

But note the following:

If you are talking about a single apple

onlarýn elmalarýnda/elmasýnda = in/on their apple

If you talk about more than one apple you have to use -lar

onlarýn elmalarýnda = in/on their apples

Thanks si++ and Henry! so as I understand it now, "onlarýn elmalarýnda/elmasýnda" both could mean "in/on their apple", but to avoid confusion over singular/plural form, "onlarýn elmalarýnda" is usually used for "in/on their apples." The example I looked at listed "onlarýn elmasýnda" for "in/on their apple" but did not mention "onlarýn elmalarýnda" as a possibility, so I was confused over that.. thanks again!