The door of the house: two tails at once
The door of the house needs two tails, not one. The owner takes -in, the thing takes -i: evin kapısı. Drop the second one and you have nothing: evin kapı means nothing at all. For example: “Evin kapısı açık kalmış” — The door of the house was left open. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
The door of the house needs two tails, not one. The owner takes -in, the thing takes -i: evin kapısı. Drop the second one and you have nothing: evin kapı means nothing at all.
The shorter shape is commoner — only -i, with no tail on the first word. That is a different sense. bahçe kapısı is a garden door as a kind of door; bahçenin kapısı is the door of this particular garden.
With pronouns the rule holds: benim evim. The tail on the thing is owed; benim can go, because evim already says my house. Saying benim ev is the commonest slip of a first year.
Links chain up: evin kapısının anahtarı, the key to the door of the house.
Table
| the kind of link | example | what it means |
|---|---|---|
| only -ı on the thing | bahçe kapısı | a garden door — the breed of thing |
| -in on the owner and -ı on the thing | bahçenin kapısı | the door of this garden — possession |
| a pronoun | benim evim | my house; benim can drop, evim cannot |
| a chain | evin kapısının anahtarı | the key to the door of the house |
By example
- Evin kapısı açık kalmışThe door of the house was left open
- Komşunun çocukları bahçede oynuyorThe neighbor's children are playing in the garden
- Telefonumun şarjı bittiMy phone has run out of charge
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
Bahçe kapısı vs bahçenin kapısı?
The door of the house needs two tails, not one. The owner takes -in, the thing takes -i: evin kapısı. Drop the second one and you have nothing: evin kapı means nothing at all.
What the Turkish izafet is?
The shorter shape is commoner — only -i, with no tail on the first word. That is a different sense. bahçe kapısı is a garden door as a kind of door; bahçenin kapısı is the door of this particular garden.
Why benim ev is a mistake?
With pronouns the rule holds: benim evim. The tail on the thing is owed; benim can go, because evim already says my house. Saying benim ev is the commonest slip of a first year.
How to say the door of the house in Turkish?
Links chain up: evin kapısının anahtarı, the key to the door of the house.
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Evin kapısı açık kalmış” — The door of the house was left open. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.