Case: case
Case helps specify the role of the noun phrase in the sentence. For example, the nominative and accusative cases often distinguish subject and object of the verb, while in fixed-word-order languages these functions would be distinguished merely by the positions of the nouns in the sentence.
In Turkish, case is an inflectional feature of nouns. In some cases, numerals) may also be inflected for case when they are used as nouns. It is also valency feature of postpositions (saying that the adposition requires its argument to be in that case).
Traditionally, Turkish is considered to have 6 cases (nominative is
often not listed): Nom, Acc, Gen, Dat, Loc, Abl.
We also consider suffix -lA as a case suffix introducing comitative or instrumental case, and mark it as Ins (although the function may sometimes be Com in some of these cases, currently we do not distinguish the two).
Nom: nominative / direct
The base form of the noun, typically used as citation form (lemma).
Examples
- Kız uyuyor. “The girl sleeps.”
Acc: accusative
Typically, accusative case in Turkish marks the definite direct object in a sentence.
Indefinite direct objects do not receive the accusative suffix,
but stays in bare form (Nom).
In Turkish Acc is expressed by suffix -(y)I (ı/i/u/ü/yı/yi/yu/yü).
Examples
- Kitabı okudum “I read-PAST the book” (cf. Kitap okudum “I read a book” / “I read books”)
Dat: dative
Dative case is typically used to indicate movement into/towards/to a place or time. The oblique arguments of some verbs and complements (noun phrases) of some postpositions also required to be in dative case.
In Turkish Dat is expressed by suffix -(y)A (e/a/ye/ya).
Examples
- Ankara’ya gidiyorum. “I am going to Ankara”
- Kitabı Ali’ye ver “Give the book to Ali”
- Yağmura rağmen oynuyorlar “They are playing despite the rain” (postposition rağmen “despite” requires a dative complement)
- Habere üzüldük “we are sorry/upset about the news”
Gen: genitive
Prototypical meaning of genitive is that the noun phrase somehow belongs to its governor; it would often be translated by the English preposition of. Complements of some postpositions are also required to be in genitive case. The genitive morpheme also marks the subject of the subordinate clauses.
In Turkish Gen is expressed by suffix -(n)In.
Examples
- Ali’nin kitabı “Ali’s book”
- Kitabı senin için aldım “I bought the book for you”
Loc: locative
The locative case often expresses location in space or time, which gave it its name. The oblique arguments of some verbs and complements (noun phrases) also required to be in locative case.
In Turkish Loc is expressed by suffix -DA.
Examples
- Evdeyim “I am at home”
- Toplantı ikide “The meeting is at two”
- Kendi yönteminde ısrar ediyor “He is insisting on his own method”
Ins: instrumental
The role from which the name of the instrumental case is derived is that the noun is used as instrument to do something.
In Turkish, instrumental suffix -(y)lA also indicates comitative,
or signal coordination of two phrases.
We mark all meanings/usages as Ins.
The oblique arguments of some verbs and complements (noun phrases) of some postpositions also required to carry the instrumental suffix.
Traditionally instrumental and comitative are not considered Cases in Turkish.
We mark comitative use of -(y)lA as Ins.
Examples
- Ankara’ya trenle gitti “she went Ankara by train” (instrumental)
- Ankara’ya Ali’yle giti “she went Ankara (together) with Ali” (comitative)
- Ankara’yla ilgili bir kitap “A book about Ankara”
- Bebekle ilgilenmiyor “He does not pay attention to the baby”
- Elmayla portakalı pazardan aldım “I bought the apples and the oranges from the market” (coordination)
Abl: ablative
Prototypical meaning: direction from some point. The oblique arguments of some verbs and complements (noun phrases) of some postpositions also required to be in ablative case.
Examples
- Ankara’dan gelmişler “The came from Ankara”
- Kitabi Ali’den aldım “I took/buy the book from Ali”
- Ali’den hoşlanıyor “she likes Ali”
- Bunlar Akara’dakilerden dolayı oluyor “All these are happening because of people in Ankara”
Equ: equative
The equative case means “X-like”, “similar to X”, “same as X”. It marks the standard of comparison and it differs from the equative Degree, which marks the property being compared. It occurs in Turkish.
Examples
- ben “I”; bence “like me”
Case in other languages: [am] [apu] [arr] [bej] [bg] [cs] [el] [eme] [en] [es] [ess] [et] [fi] [ga] [gn] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [ka] [kmr] [koi] [kpv] [ky] [mdf] [myu] [myv] [pcm] [ps] [pt] [qpm] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tl] [tpn] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urb] [urj] [uz] [xcl]