Turkish -li and -siz Suffixes: With and Without
How Turkish builds adjectives from nouns with -li ("with, having") and -siz ("without"): the four-way vowel harmony that runs across both, why the l and the s never harden, and how -li also means "from a place".
Ekle ·
Turkish turns a noun into an adjective with two opposite suffixes — one meaning "with" or "having", the other "without" — each shaped by four-way vowel harmony.
What the two suffixes do
Turkish has no separate words for "with" or "without"; it hangs a suffix straight onto the noun. şeker is "sugar", so şekerli is "with sugar, sweetened" and şekersiz is "without sugar, unsweetened". The two are a matched pair: one adds a quality to the noun, the other takes it away.
Four-way vowel harmony
Each suffix carries a high vowel that copies the last vowel of the noun on two axes at once — front or back, and rounded or not. After the e of şeker the vowel comes out front and unrounded, giving şekerli; after the u of tuz it comes out back and rounded, giving tuzlu. That makes four possible vowels for each suffix, laid out below.
| Last vowel | With | Without |
|---|---|---|
| a · ı | -lı | -sız |
| e · i | -li | -siz |
| o · u | -lu | -suz |
| ö · ü | -lü | -süz |
Only the vowel moves. The l of the "with" suffix and the s of the "without" suffix hold steady whatever consonant the noun ends in, so tuzlu keeps its l and tuzsuz keeps its s.
With and without, side by side
The quickest way to feel the pair is to build both forms from one noun. Each noun below appears twice — once carrying the quality, once lacking it.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| şekerli | şeker + li | with sugar, sweetened |
| şekersiz | şeker + siz | without sugar, unsweetened |
| tuzlu | tuz + lu | salty, salted |
| tuzsuz | tuz + suz | unsalted, salt-free |
When the pair is not a mirror image
Often the two forms are exact opposites. şans is "luck", so şanslı is "lucky" and şanssız is "unlucky", with nothing more to it.
The meaning can drift, though. ev is "house" or "home". evsiz means just what you would expect, "homeless", while its partner evli has settled on "married" rather than the literal "having a home". The suffix is regular; the sense has simply specialised.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| evli | ev + li | married |
| evsiz | ev + siz | homeless |
| şanslı | şans + lı | lucky |
| şanssız | şans + sız | unlucky |
The 'from a place' meaning
On the name of a place, the "with" suffix takes on a second job: it names someone or something from there. İstanbul gives İstanbullu, "someone from Istanbul", and köy ("village") gives köylü, "a villager". The same "having" idea sits underneath — belonging to a place rather than owning a thing.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| İstanbullu | İstanbul + lu | someone from Istanbul, an Istanbulite |
| köylü | köy + lü | villager, peasant |
The "without" suffix has no such second life; it keeps its plain "lacking" sense wherever it goes.
Frequently asked questions
- When do I use -li and when -siz?
- Use the first when the noun has the quality and the second when it lacks it: şekerli is "with sugar", şekersiz is "without sugar". Which of the four spellings you pick — -lı, -li, -lu, -lü for "with", or -sız, -siz, -suz, -süz for "without" — is decided by the last vowel of the noun.
- Why does İstanbullu mean 'from Istanbul' rather than 'with Istanbul'?
- Because on a place name the "with" suffix means "belonging to that place": İstanbul gives İstanbullu, "someone from Istanbul", and köy gives köylü, "a villager". The "without" suffix, -siz, never takes this sense.
- Are -li and -siz case endings?
- No. A case ending marks a noun's role in the sentence and leaves it a noun; -li and -siz build a new adjective out of a noun. tuz is "salt"; tuzlu is "salty" and tuzsuz is "unsalted". They also keep their l and s in every position, where the case endings would harden.