What is buffer letter?
In Turkish two vowels can not be next to each other. When a word that ends with a vowel takes a suffix that starts with a vowel, we put the buffer letter between them. In Turkish we call them kaynaştırma harfi - combining letter.
Who are they?
There are 4 buffer letters in Turkish: –y, -n, -s, -ş
In Turkish schools our teachers told us to remember these letters with the word "Yaşasın!" which means hurrah, hurray, hooray in English and heil!, hurra! in German. As I thought that they may not be such triggers for excitement, I had to teach my readers when to use them so you could also say "Yaşasın!" from your heart after you read -_*
1. y
1. y
Masa-y-a kitabı koydu. He put the book on the table.
Çanta-y-ı aldı. He took the bag.
Araba-y-a bak! Look at the car!
--> araba, ends with a, we need to add a, we have two vowels a and a, there needs to be a connection between which is y.
--> we can use it with the verbs also. For example with the negative form of future tense, we always use it;
Gitmeyeceğim: I will not go
git-mek: to go
git-me-mek: to not go, me is the general suffix to make the verbs negative.
-ecek/-acak: the future tense suffix for the verbs
so, in order to add -ecek to gitme- we need y between.
yürüyen adam: the man who is walking / walking man
yürümek: to walk
-en/-an: the man who/that/which
so we need y, but look at this verb also;
oturan çocuk: the kid who is sitting
otur-mak: to sit, as you see we did not add y, otur- the verb stem ends with r which is not a vowel but consonant.
*Now we learned that Turkish people do not feel comfortable with two vowels together. But is that all? Is there no other place that we use y? Some other places exist indeed;
“ile, idi, imiş, ise” Are these familiar to you? They should not be :) Because when we use these mini words we omit the first vowel and add y instead. We seldom use them as a separate word but it is also possible although we do not prefer.
ile (with, and)
araba-y-la, with the car,
araba ile is also correct to use
anne-y-le, with the mother, anne ile is also correct.
Anne ile(ve) çocuk bahçede oyun oynuyor(lar).
The mother and the kid are playing games in the garden.
ile can mean "by means of"
İşe arabayla gidiyorum. I am going to work with car.
idi (was/were)
Bu bir hataydı. This/That was a mistake.
hata: mistake
hata idi is also correct.
imiş (was/were, the past tense that you hear/recognize)
Bu film çok eskiymiş. Annem söyledi. Fakat çok güzelmiş.
This movie is very old. My mother told me. But it is very nice. (I learned it from my mother)
eski - old, eski-y-miş, imiş lost its "i" and we added "y". Because eski ends with i which is a vowel. güzel-miş, güzel ends with "l", a consonant, so we did not add "y".
(eski imiş, güzel imiş are also correct)
ise (if)
Birinci cevap doğruysa ama ikinci cevap yanlışsa bu sınavı geçemezsin.
If the first answer is correct but the second is wrong, you can not pass this exam.
-->We have a word for if, "eğer". But even if we use it in the beginning of the sentence, we still need to use the word "ise" which we usually use it like a suffix and add to the word instead.
-->ise can be isa because of the vowel harmony
doğru-y-sa, ends with u-vowel so we need y. yanlış ends with ş-consonant so we don't need a connection.
--> araba, ends with a, we need to add a, we have two vowels a and a, there needs to be a connection between which is y.
--> we can use it with the verbs also. For example with the negative form of future tense, we always use it;
Gitmeyeceğim: I will not go
git-mek: to go
git-me-mek: to not go, me is the general suffix to make the verbs negative.
-ecek/-acak: the future tense suffix for the verbs
so, in order to add -ecek to gitme- we need y between.
yürüyen adam: the man who is walking / walking man
yürümek: to walk
-en/-an: the man who/that/which
so we need y, but look at this verb also;
oturan çocuk: the kid who is sitting
otur-mak: to sit, as you see we did not add y, otur- the verb stem ends with r which is not a vowel but consonant.
*Now we learned that Turkish people do not feel comfortable with two vowels together. But is that all? Is there no other place that we use y? Some other places exist indeed;
“ile, idi, imiş, ise” Are these familiar to you? They should not be :) Because when we use these mini words we omit the first vowel and add y instead. We seldom use them as a separate word but it is also possible although we do not prefer.
ile (with, and)
araba-y-la, with the car,
araba ile is also correct to use
anne-y-le, with the mother, anne ile is also correct.
Anne ile(ve) çocuk bahçede oyun oynuyor(lar).
The mother and the kid are playing games in the garden.
ile can mean "by means of"
İşe arabayla gidiyorum. I am going to work with car.
idi (was/were)
Bu bir hataydı. This/That was a mistake.
hata: mistake
hata idi is also correct.
imiş (was/were, the past tense that you hear/recognize)
Bu film çok eskiymiş. Annem söyledi. Fakat çok güzelmiş.
This movie is very old. My mother told me. But it is very nice. (I learned it from my mother)
eski - old, eski-y-miş, imiş lost its "i" and we added "y". Because eski ends with i which is a vowel. güzel-miş, güzel ends with "l", a consonant, so we did not add "y".
(eski imiş, güzel imiş are also correct)
| The male kid learned about the movie from his mother and shares this info with his sister |
ise (if)
Birinci cevap doğruysa ama ikinci cevap yanlışsa bu sınavı geçemezsin.
If the first answer is correct but the second is wrong, you can not pass this exam.
-->We have a word for if, "eğer". But even if we use it in the beginning of the sentence, we still need to use the word "ise" which we usually use it like a suffix and add to the word instead.
-->ise can be isa because of the vowel harmony
doğru-y-sa, ends with u-vowel so we need y. yanlış ends with ş-consonant so we don't need a connection.
2. n
When we talk about the buffer letters, first "y" comes to mind, that's the most common. N is the second common one and we use it when we add a suffix to compound nouns. What is this? I always call them genitive noun phrases, for example;
yaz günü - summer day, Türk Dili - Turkish Language, işaret dili - sign language, vücut dili - body language, yemek tarifi - recipe, Yüzük Kardeşliği - Fellowship of the Ring.
Bebek arabasını gördün mü? Ne kadar değişik! Have you seen the stroller? How different it is!
--> arabası-n-ı . We needed to add -ı but we had to add n between. What if it was nout a compund noun but just araba?
Arabayı gördün mü? Have you seen the car?
--> Now we add y as araba is alone and does not belong to any phrases.
Annemin arabasını gördün mü? Have you seen my mother's car?
Onların evi - Their house
Onların evini mi arıyorsun? Are you looking for their house?
akrabalarımın evleri - houses of my relatives
Akrabalarımın evlerini arıyorum. I am looking for my relatives' houses.
*Arkadaşımın evinde üç oda var. There are three rooms in my friend's house.
arkadaşımın evi - my friend's house, although the suffix -de starts with a consonant we still add n, this is unique for these noun phrases, arkadaşımın evi-n-den-from my friend's house. So unless it is a tense suffix, always add n when you add a suffix to a genitive noun phrase/compund noun.
*The first word of these phrases also take n.
Ali'nin telefonu - Ali's phone
caddenin ışıkları - the lights of the street
but
evin odası - room of the house (ends with a consonant)
Sene-n-in sonu geldi. End of the year has come.
but yıl-ın sonu - end of the year
*After personal pronouns we always use n as connection.
O-n-a haber verin. Inform him.
Bu-n-u biliyoruz. We know this.
When we talk about the buffer letters, first "y" comes to mind, that's the most common. N is the second common one and we use it when we add a suffix to compound nouns. What is this? I always call them genitive noun phrases, for example;
 |
| bebek arabası - stroller, baby carriage |
 |
| okul yolu - school road |
yaz günü - summer day, Türk Dili - Turkish Language, işaret dili - sign language, vücut dili - body language, yemek tarifi - recipe, Yüzük Kardeşliği - Fellowship of the Ring.
Bebek arabasını gördün mü? Ne kadar değişik! Have you seen the stroller? How different it is!
--> arabası-n-ı . We needed to add -ı but we had to add n between. What if it was nout a compund noun but just araba?
Arabayı gördün mü? Have you seen the car?
--> Now we add y as araba is alone and does not belong to any phrases.
Annemin arabasını gördün mü? Have you seen my mother's car?
Onların evi - Their house
Onların evini mi arıyorsun? Are you looking for their house?
akrabalarımın evleri - houses of my relatives
Akrabalarımın evlerini arıyorum. I am looking for my relatives' houses.
*Arkadaşımın evinde üç oda var. There are three rooms in my friend's house.
arkadaşımın evi - my friend's house, although the suffix -de starts with a consonant we still add n, this is unique for these noun phrases, arkadaşımın evi-n-den-from my friend's house. So unless it is a tense suffix, always add n when you add a suffix to a genitive noun phrase/compund noun.
*The first word of these phrases also take n.
Ali'nin telefonu - Ali's phone
caddenin ışıkları - the lights of the street
but
evin odası - room of the house (ends with a consonant)
Sene-n-in sonu geldi. End of the year has come.
but yıl-ın sonu - end of the year
*After personal pronouns we always use n as connection.
O-n-a haber verin. Inform him.
Bu-n-u biliyoruz. We know this.
3. s
To make a genitive noun phrase, you use s with the third singular subject.
Okulun bahçe-s-i - Garden of the schoolTo make a genitive noun phrase, you use s with the third singular subject.
Şehrin cadde-s-i - Street of the city
So when you say 'Adamın arabasını çaldılar'. They stole his car.
araba-s-ı-n-ı both n and s are connections.
So when you say 'Adamın arabasını çaldılar'. They stole his car.
araba-s-ı-n-ı both n and s are connections.
4. ş with the distrubutive numerical adjectives
It happens when the number ends with a vowel. We add ş between the suffix -er/-ar and the number.
It happens when the number ends with a vowel. We add ş between the suffix -er/-ar and the number.
Öğrenciler iki-ş-erli gruplar halinde yürüyorlar. The students are walking in a group of two people.
Altışar altışar 60'a kadar sayı saymayı öğreniyoruz. We're learning to skip counting by 6 to 60.
Kalemleri yedişer yedişer ayırıyoruz. We are grouping the pencils by 7.
birer, ikişer, üçer, dörder, beşer, altışar, yedişer, sekizer, dokuzar, onar
birer, ikişer, üçer, dörder, beşer, altışar, yedişer, sekizer, dokuzar, onar
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