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Turkish joins two nouns into a compound by marking the possessed noun with the possessive -(s)ı, and the possessor takes the genitive -(n)ın only when it names a specific owner.

How two nouns join

A Turkish noun-noun compound sets two nouns side by side and marks the second one — the thing being described — as possessed. In otobüs durağı, "bus stop", otobüs names the kind and durak carries the possessive ending that binds the pair. That ending is obligatory: two bare nouns dropped together, otobüs durak, make no compound at all and are not Turkish.

From there, one choice sorts every compound into two kinds. Leave the possessor bare and you name a type of thing: otobüs durağı is a bus stop, any bus stop. Put the genitive on the possessor and you point to a specific owner: Ali'nin evi is "Ali's house", that particular house. The genitive is the whole difference in meaning, and the sections below take each kind in turn.

The two endings and their vowels

Both endings reshape their vowel to harmonise with the noun they attach to, so each comes in four spellings chosen by that noun's last vowel. After a back unrounded vowel the pair is -(n)ın and -(s)ı; after a front unrounded vowel, -(n)in and -(s)i; after a back rounded vowel, -(n)un and -(s)u; and after a front rounded vowel, -(n)ün and -(s)ü. The grid lays out all four rows.

The letters in parentheses are buffers that surface only after a vowel-final noun, keeping two vowels from meeting at the seam. çorba ends in a vowel, so the possessive slots in its -s- buffer and gives domates çorbası, "tomato soup"; bahçe takes the genitive with its -n- buffer in bahçenin kapısı, "the garden's gate". After a consonant the buffers stay hidden, as the plain ending in Türkçe dersi shows.

Compounds with a specific owner

When the possessor is a specific, identifiable owner, it takes the genitive and the possessed noun takes the possessive, so both nouns are marked. Ali'nin evi is "Ali's house", kapının kolu is "the door's handle", and bahçenin kapısı is "the garden's gate" — each pointing to one particular owner's thing. Drop the genitive and the phrase falls apart: Ali evi is not "Ali's house". Drop the possessive and it fails the same way: kapının kol is not Turkish.

Compounds that name a type

When the compound names a type of thing rather than one owner's property, the possessor stays bare and only the possessed noun is marked. otobüs durağı is "a bus stop", Türkçe dersi is "a Turkish lesson", domates çorbası is "tomato soup", and bahçe kapısı is "a garden gate" — kinds of thing, with no owner in view. Add a genitive to the possessor and the meaning shifts: otobüsün durağı and domatesin çorbası are well-formed Turkish, but they now say "the bus's stop" and "the tomato's soup", a specific owner no one means here.

One genitive changes the meaning

Set the two kinds side by side and the genitive does all the work. bahçe kapısı is "a garden gate", a kind of gate you could buy in any shop; bahçenin kapısı is "the garden's gate", the gate belonging to one particular garden. Same two nouns, same possessive on the second — the single -(n)in on the first noun is the whole difference between a type and a specific owner.

Everyday names are built this way

The bare-possessor compound is the ordinary Turkish way to name a thing, and most of these names are fixed vocabulary you learn as whole units. Dishes work like this — domates çorbası is "tomato soup", the standard name on any menu — and so do school subjects: Türkçe dersi is "the Turkish lesson", or "Turkish class". The possessive on the second noun is baked into the name, never dropped.

A hidden n before a case ending

One more buffer appears when a case ending lands on top of a compound. Add the locative to otobüs durağı to say "at the bus stop" and an -n- slips in between the possessive and the case ending, giving otobüs durağında rather than the buffer-less form a learner reaches for first. This -n- comes back on any possessed noun that then takes a case, and it is easy to leave out.