Turkish Postpositions: için, gibi, kadar, ile
How the five common Turkish postpositions work — why için, gibi and kadar take a bare noun or a genitive pronoun, why göre and "up to" kadar take the dative, and how ile doubles as the ending -la / -le.
Ekle ·
A Turkish postposition is a fixed little word that follows its noun and never changes shape; what you have to get right is the case on the word standing in front of it.
What postpositions do
English puts words like "for", "like" and "with" in front of a noun; Turkish puts them after it. The five you meet first are için "for", gibi "like", kadar "as much as", ile "with" and göre "according to". Each is a separate word that follows its noun, and none of them ever inflects — they carry no vowel harmony and take no ending of their own.
The order never varies: the noun comes first and the postposition second, so it is ders için "for the lesson", with the postposition behind. Because the postposition itself stays still, all the grammar happens on the word before it — and choosing that word's case is the whole of the job.
Which case the word in front takes
On an ordinary noun most of these postpositions want no case at all — the noun just sits there bare, as in ders için and aslan gibi. The choice appears with the personal pronouns, and it splits two ways: için, gibi and kadar pull the pronoun into the genitive, while göre pulls it into the dative.
| Base pronoun | Genitive | Dative |
|---|---|---|
| ben | benim | bana |
| sen | senin | sana |
| o | onun | ona |
Read the middle column with için, gibi and comparison kadar: benim gibi "like me", benim kadar "as much as me". Read the right column with göre: bana göre "according to me". The pronoun o "he, she, it" runs the same way, giving onun için in the genitive and ona in the dative.
Four worked phrases
Four phrases to fix the shape — a bare noun in front of the postposition in three of them, and a genitive pronoun in the fourth.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| ders için | ders için | for the lesson / for class |
| senin için | sen + in için | for you |
| aslan gibi | aslan gibi | like a lion |
| kalem ile | kalem ile | with a pen |
The case mistakes to avoid
Two slips are worth naming. First, dropping the genitive on a pronoun: ben için is wrong, because için calls for the genitive there — the forms are senin için and benim için. Second, feeding göre a genitive: benim göre is wrong, because göre takes the dative — the forms are bana göre and sana göre.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| senin için | sen + in için | for you — the pronoun in the genitive |
| bana göre | ban + a göre | according to me — the pronoun in the dative |
Bare noun or genitive pronoun
için "for" and gibi "like" sit straight after a plain noun with nothing added: ders için "for the lesson", aslan gibi "like a lion". The noun keeps its dictionary shape and the postposition simply follows.
When the word in front is a personal pronoun, it turns to the genitive — the "my / your" shape — and the postposition still follows unchanged: senin için "for you", benim gibi "like me". The everyday benim için "for me" and senin gibi "like you" are built the very same way.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| ders için | ders için | for the lesson |
| senin için | sen + in için | for you |
| aslan gibi | aslan gibi | like a lion |
| benim gibi | ben + im gibi | like me |
One word with two cases
kadar does two jobs. In its "as much as" comparison it behaves like için and gibi: a bare noun, or a genitive pronoun — benim kadar "as much as me". The everyday bu kadar "this much" and ne kadar "how much" show the same bare pattern.
In its "up to, until, as far as" sense the same word turns to the dative on the word in front: akşama kadar "until evening", eve kadar "as far as home". One word, two governments — the meaning tells you which case to reach for.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| benim kadar | ben + im kadar | as much as me |
| akşama kadar | akşam + a kadar | until evening |
A word or an ending
ile "with" is the only one of the five that also has a clitic twin. After a plain noun it can stand as its own word, kalem ile "with a pen", or lean onto the noun as the ending -la or -le, chosen by vowel harmony. The attached spelling is the one you hear far more often.
On a personal pronoun it goes onto the genitive stem and contracts: benim ile is written and said as benimle "with me". The other four postpositions stay whole words in every position.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| kalem ile | kalem ile | with a pen |
Frequently asked questions
- Why is it benim için and not ben için?
- Because için — like gibi and comparison kadar — puts a personal pronoun into the genitive, the "my / your" shape. So "for me" is benim için, "for you" is senin için, and "like me" is benim gibi. The bare ben için is the classic learner slip; the pronoun has to carry the genitive.
- What case does göre take?
- The dative. göre "according to" wants the word in front in the dative — bana göre "according to me", sana göre "according to you". It never takes the genitive, so benim göre is wrong. That government is what sets göre apart from için and gibi.
- Why does kadar sometimes take the genitive and sometimes the dative?
- Because it does two jobs. In the "as much as" comparison it patterns with için and gibi — a bare noun or a genitive pronoun, as in benim kadar "as much as me" and bu kadar "this much". In the "up to, until" sense it takes the dative, as in akşama kadar "until evening" and eve kadar "as far as home". The meaning picks the case.
- When do I use ile and when -la or -le?
- They are the same word. ile is the free form after a noun, kalem ile; -la and -le are that word contracted onto it, chosen by vowel harmony. On a pronoun it attaches to the genitive, so benim ile becomes benimle "with me". The contracted spelling is the everyday one.