TURKISHCOURSE

In Turkish there is no such verb as the English "to have". Instead, Turkish uses the words var, meaning "there is/are", and yok, meaning "there is/are not".

Example:
?ehirde bir cami var - There is a mosque in the city (literally: A mosque is "present" in the city)
?ehirde bir kelise yok - There is no church in the city (literally: A church is "not present" in the city)

Possession is expressed by using the possessive endings + var/yok. Let's have a look at the following examples:

benim ev-im var / yok - I have / don't have a house
senin ev-in var / yok - you have / don't have a house
onun ev-i var / yok - he/she has / doesn't have a house
bizim ev-imiz var / yok - we have / don't have a house
sizin ev-iniz var / yok - you have / don't have a house
onlar?n ev-leri var / yok - they have / don't have a house

If the noun ends in a vowel, the suffixes of the 1st and 2nd person singular and plural drop their vowel. The third person plural does not change. The third person singular however, keeps the vowel, and gets a buffer consonant -s-. The following examples will make this clear.

benim kedi-m var / yok - I have / don't have a cat
senin kedi-n var / yok - you have / don't have a cat
onun kedi-s-i var / yok - he/she has / doesn't have a cat
bizim kedi-miz var / yok - we have / don't have a cat
sizin kedi-niz var / yok - you have / don't have a cat
onlar?n kedi-leri var / yok - they have / don't have a cat

In daily speech the personal pronouns (benim, senin,..) are dropped. However, if there could be confusion, or if it's necessary for stress, the pronouns will be used. In the above examples, it's safe to say "kedim var" for example, and drop "benim".

Example:
doktorum - reading this word on its own, without a context, you have no idea whether it says "I'm a doctor", or "my doctor". In that case, if it has the latter meaning, it's best to mention "benim".

Attention: you will never have this problem with nouns ending in a vowel.
Example: hem?irem - hem?ireyim ==> the first is "my nurse", the second is "I am a nurse". How do we tell? Because in combinations of a noun ending in a vowel, with the suffixes of the verb olmak starting with a vowel, a buffer -y- is added.
Another, bit stupid example, but it might be easy to remember the difference: arabam - my car / arabay?m - I am a car.

Notice the differences in the following sentences:

• Ali var - Ali is there (he is present, in the room for example, or at a party)
• Ali'nin köpe?i var - Ali has a dog
• Ali yok mu? - Is Ali not there?
• Ali'nin köpe?i yok mu? - Doesn't Ali have a dog?

Remember: if there's a question word in the sentence, we don't use the question particle "mi".
Ex: Kaç köpe?? var? - How many dogs does he have?

Some more examples:

• Çay?m var - I have tea
• Çay var - There is tea
• Bu çay de?il! - This is not tea!