Website in: English | Español | Français | Italiano | Português

Turkish Grammar

Turkish is an agglutinative language and frequently uses affixes, or endings.[32] One word can have many affixes and these can also be used to create new words, such as creating a verb from a noun, or a noun from a verbal root (see the section on Word formation). Most affixes indicate the grammatical function of the word.[33] The only native prefixes are alliterative intensifying syllables used with adjectives or adverbs: for example sımsıcak ("boiling hot" < sıcak) and masmavi ("bright blue" < mavi).[34]

The extensive use of affixes can give rise to long words. It is jokingly said that the longest Turkish word is Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız, meaning "You are said to be one of those that we couldn't manage to convert to a Czechoslovak". This example is of course contrived; but long words do frequently occur in normal Turkish, as in this heading of a newspaper obituary column: Bayramlaşamadıklarımız (Bayram [festival]-Recipr-Impot-Partic-Plur-PossPl1; "Those of our number with whom we cannot exchange the season's greetings").

Related Articles:

Turkish Translation :: Turkish Grammar :: Turkish Classification :: Turkish Dialects :: Turkish Geographic Distribution :: Turkish Status

Find out more About Turkish Translation:

Introduction | Geography | Turkish People | Government | Turkish Economy | Communications | Turkish Transportation | Military | Turkish Transnational Issues | Flag | Map | Introduction and Background | Terrain | Peoples | Governments | Economies | Communication Systems | Transportation Systems | Militaries | Global Issues