In this lesson, we will learn how adjective clauses (for describing a noun using an adjective, like beautiful girl) and noun clauses (for describing ownership relationships between nouns, like car's door) are formed in Turkish. First, let's start with the adjective clauses which is simpler and then we'll look at noun clause construction.

Adjective clauses

Constructing adjective clauses in Turkish is very simple and straightforward, almost the same as in English. The only thing you need to do is to put the correct adjective before the noun.

beautiful girl ==> güzel kız

fast car ==> hızlı araba

big house ==> büyük ev

thick book ==> kalın kitap

high building ==> yüksek bina

hard lesson ==> zor ders

slow train ==> yavaş tren

If you don't add the adjective before the noun but use it as the main expression in the sentence, the word order changes in English and it changes the same way in Turkish.

This girl is beautiful. --> Bu kız güzel

This car is fast. --> Bu araba hızlı.

Ahmet is tall. --> Ahmet uzun.

I am tall. --> Ben uzunum. (Note the use of verb to be with the adjective)

You are tall. --> Sen uzunsun.

However, note that when you want to say a beautiful girl, the word for a (bir) is placed between the adjective and the noun.

a small piece ==> küçük bir parça

a greedy man ==> açgözlü bir adam

a blue book ==> mavi bir kitap

a short tree ==> kısa bir ağaç

a long movie ==> uzun bir film

Let's now apply what we've learned in the construction of a few sentences.

This is a red rose. ==> Bu kırmızı bir gül.

Joe is a quiet kid. ==> Joe sessiz bir çocuk.

Joe is a very quiet kid. ==> Joe çok sessiz bir çocuk.

Noun clauses

Two nouns form a clause in three different ways in Turkish:

Case1:

The first noun tells what the second noun is made of (i.e. metal box, plastic plate...). In this case, you just write these nouns in the same order as you do in English without adding any suffixes.

metal box ==> metal kutu

plastic plate ==> plastik tabak

Case2:

The first noun describes the second noun, wıth any relationship except for the made-of relationship we saw above and the specific ownership relationship. Examples to this case can be car key, book shelf, garden door, window glass... In this case, you write the nouns in the same order as English, but add the suffix -i at the end of the second noun. If the noun to which you append suffix -i already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant -s between these vowels to separate the two vowels. The third example below demonstrates this case.

car key ==> araba anahtarı

book shelf ==> kitap rafı

garden door ==> bahçe kapısı (note the fusion consonant s here)

window glass ==> pencere camı

Case 3:

There is a specific ownership relationship between the two nouns (the key of the car, the door of the garden,  Kemal's daughter, the door of the car). In this case, you write the describing noun first and the described noun second as it was done in the preceding two cases. However, you add the suffix -in to the first noun and the suffix -i to the second noun. If the noun to which you append the suffix -in already ends with a vowel, you add the fusion consonant n between the two vowels to separate them. For the suffix -i, the fusion consonant is same as told in the previous case. You add the consonant s to separate the word ending with a vowel from the suffix -i.

the key of the car ==> arabanın anahtarı (note the use of fusion consonant n here for the first noun, araba)

the door of the garden ==> bahçenin kapısı

Kemal's daughter ==> Kemalin kızı

the door of the car ==> arabanın kapısı (note the use of fusion consonant n for the first noun and the fusion consonant s for the second noun)

exception: The word for water, su, is an exception for the fusion consonants in noun clauses. The fusion consonant for water (su) is always 'y'.

color of water --> su-in renk-i --> suyun rengi (not sunun rengi)

water of Kemal --> Kemal-in su-i --> Kemal'in suyu. (not Kemal'in susu)

(Note that ' is used in Turkish to separate the suffixes from private words that need to be always capitalized, like Kemal in this case)