The plural: -lar or -ler, and nothing else
English has one plural ending plus a pocket of oddities like men and mice. Turkish has exactly two, and you work the choice out instead of learning it. For example: “Odalar çok küçük” — The rooms are very small. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
English has one plural ending plus a pocket of oddities like men and mice. Turkish has exactly two, and you work the choice out instead of learning it.
Look at the last vowel of the word. A back vowel (a, ı, o, u) takes -lar; a front vowel (e, i, ö, ü) takes -ler. So oda → odalar, ev → evler, kapı → kapılar.
Then the rule that fights the English hand hardest: after a number there is no plural. Three rooms is üç oda, never üç odalar. The number has already said many. The same holds after çok: çok insan var.
And third, -lar/-ler always comes first, ahead of every other tail: ev-ler-im-de, in my houses.
Table
| last vowel | the ending | example |
|---|---|---|
| a, ı, o, u | -lar | oda → odalar |
| e, i, ö, ü | -ler | ev → evler |
| after a number | none | üç oda — three rooms |
By example
- Odalar çok küçükThe rooms are very small
- Komşular evde yokThe neighbors are not home
- Üç oda ve bir balkonThree rooms and a balcony
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
-lar or -ler: the Turkish plural?
English has one plural ending plus a pocket of oddities like men and mice. Turkish has exactly two, and you work the choice out instead of learning it.
Why üç oda and not üç odalar?
Look at the last vowel of the word. A back vowel (a, ı, o, u) takes -lar; a front vowel (e, i, ö, ü) takes -ler. So oda → odalar, ev → evler, kapı → kapılar.
Does Turkish need a plural after a number?
Then the rule that fights the English hand hardest: after a number there is no plural. Three rooms is üç oda, never üç odalar. The number has already said many. The same holds after çok: çok insan var.
Why evler but kapılar?
And third, -lar/-ler always comes first, ahead of every other tail: ev-ler-im-de, in my houses.
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Odalar çok küçük” — The rooms are very small. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.