Basic Postpositions in Turkish

Overview

If you are familiar with English prepositions like "in," "on," "for," and "with," you already understand the general concept of postpositions — they just come after the noun instead of before it. Where English says "for the house," Turkish says "ev için" (house for). This word order difference is one of the most characteristic features of Turkish as a subject-object-verb language.

At the A1 level, learning basic postpositions lets you express location, purpose, accompaniment, and other relationships that are essential for everyday communication. Some Turkish postpositions are standalone words, while others are suffixes that attach directly to the noun or pronoun.

Many postpositions require the preceding noun to be in a specific grammatical case, which adds a layer of complexity. At this stage, focus on learning the most common ones as fixed phrases, and the case patterns will become clearer as your grammar knowledge grows.

How It Works

Common Standalone Postpositions

Turkish	English	Required case	Example
için	for	nominative	Sen için (for you) / Sağlık için (for health)
ile / -(y)le / -(y)la	with / by means of	nominative	Ali ile (with Ali) / Otobüs ile (by bus)
gibi	like, as	nominative	Sen gibi (like you)
kadar	as much as, until	nominative/dative	Akşama kadar (until evening)
sonra	after	ablative (-den)	Dersten sonra (after class)
önce	before	ablative (-den)	Yemekten önce (before the meal)
beri	since	ablative (-den)	Sabahtan beri (since morning)
doğru	toward	dative (-e)	Eve doğru (toward home)

Location Postpositions

These typically take the genitive case on the preceding noun and possessive suffixes on themselves:

Turkish	English	Example
üzerinde	on top of	Masanın üzerinde (on the table)
altında	under	Masanın altında (under the table)
yanında	next to	Evin yanında (next to the house)
içinde	inside	Kutunun içinde (inside the box)
arkasında	behind	Binanın arkasında (behind the building)
önünde	in front of	Okulun önünde (in front of the school)
arasında	between	İki bina arasında (between two buildings)
karşısında	across from	Parkın karşısında (across from the park)

İle — The Most Flexible Postposition

"İle" (with) has three forms:

1. Standalone: Ali ile (with Ali)
2. Suffix after consonant: Aliyle / kalemle (with a pen)
3. Suffix after vowel: arabayla (by car)

When it attaches as a suffix, it follows two-way vowel harmony:

• After front vowels: -(y)le → trenle (by train)
• After back vowels: -(y)la → arabayla (by car)

With pronouns, ile creates special combined forms:

• ben + ile → benimle (with me)
• sen + ile → seninle (with you)
• o + ile → onunla (with him/her)
• biz + ile → bizimle (with us)
• siz + ile → sizinle (with you)
• onlar + ile → onlarla (with them)

Examples in Context

Turkish	English	Note
Bu hediye senin için.	This gift is for you.	için = for
Seninle gelmek istiyorum.	I want to come with you.	seninle = with you
Otobüsle gidiyorum.	I'm going by bus.	-le = by means of
Çocuklar gibi oynuyorlar.	They are playing like children.	gibi = like
Akşama kadar çalışıyorum.	I'm working until evening.	kadar = until
Dersten sonra buluşalım.	Let's meet after class.	-den sonra = after
Yemekten önce ellerini yıka.	Wash your hands before the meal.	-den önce = before
Masanın üzerinde bir kitap var.	There is a book on the table.	üzerinde = on top of
Evin yanında park var.	There is a park next to the house.	yanında = next to
Sabahtan beri bekliyorum.	I've been waiting since morning.	-den beri = since

Common Mistakes

Putting Postpositions Before the Noun

• Wrong: İçin ev or İle Ali
• Right: Ev için / Ali ile
• Why: Turkish uses postpositions (after the noun), not prepositions (before the noun). This is one of the most fundamental word order rules.

Forgetting the Required Case

• Wrong: Ders sonra (after class)
• Right: Dersten sonra
• Why: "Sonra" requires the ablative case (-den/-dan) on the preceding noun.

Mixing Up İle Forms

• Wrong: Arabala gidiyorum
• Right: Arabayla gidiyorum
• Why: After a vowel, ile becomes -(y)la or -(y)le with a buffer y. The vowel harmony must also match.

Practice Tips

• Learn postpositions in context phrases. Rather than memorizing isolated words, learn fixed phrases: "dersten sonra" (after class), "yemekten önce" (before food), "arabayla" (by car). These chunks are immediately usable.

• Focus on the five most common ones first. Master için (for), ile (with), sonra (after), önce (before), and gibi (like). These cover the majority of postposition needs at the A1 level.

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