LingoflyWhat a thing is for and what it is made of: -lık and “-den yapılmış”
In a shop two questions decide everything: what is this made of, and what is it for. Turkish answers them with different builds. For example: “Bu çanta hakiki deriden yapılmış” — This bag is made of genuine leather. A rule from the Turkish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
In a shop two questions decide everything: what is this made of, and what is it for. Turkish answers them with different builds.
Material stands right in front of the thing, with no tails at all: cam bardak, a glass tumbler. For more detail there is -den yapılmış: Bu çanta hakiki deriden yapılmış.
Purpose comes from -lık, the thing for it: göz → gözlük, glasses. The same tail turns a quality into a name of that quality: yalnız → yalnızlık, loneliness. What it attached to tells them apart.
The third job of -lık is counting, and in a shop it is the commonest. beş liralık is worth five liras, and İki kişilik bir masa var mı? asks for a table for two. The trap is mixing it with the owner link: okul müdürü is the principal of the school.
Table
| the assembly | what it means | example |
|---|---|---|
| material + thing | what it is made of | cam bardak — a glass made of glass |
| -den yapılmış | made of | yünden yapılmış — made of wool |
| thing + -lık | the thing for it | göz → gözlük — glasses |
| quality + -lık | the property as a noun | yalnız → yalnızlık — loneliness |
| number + -lık | worth that much | beş liralık — worth five liras |
| -lı / -sız | with it or without it | şekerli / şekersiz |
| the -i link (do not confuse) | possession | okul müdürü — the principal of the school |
By example
- Bir haftalık alışveriş yaptıkWe did a week’s worth of shopping
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
What a thing is for and what it is made of: how does it work in Turkish?
In a shop two questions decide everything: what is this made of, and what is it for. Turkish answers them with different builds.
What does it look like in a Turkish example sentence?
“Bu çanta hakiki deriden yapılmış” — This bag is made of genuine leather. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.