Now we're going to talk about how to form the accusative case in Turkish
The accusative case is a set of endings which you add to the definite or
specific
direct object of a Turkish verb
Let's look at the sentence "Ahmet bought a stamp": Ahmet pul aldı.
In this sentence "pul" stamp is the direct object of the verb
"aldı," what did Ahmet buy? Ahmet bought a stamp.
But although "pul" is a direct object it's
general it's nonspecific "a stamp any stamp"
But what if we want to say that Ahmet bought not "a stamp" but Ahmet bought "the stamp"
the stamp which costs a million dollars, the stamp he's been wanting for his collection, the stamp he forgot to buy yesterday
in that case "pul" becomes specific
definite our
direct object is now specific indefinite
So we'll need to add the appropriate form of the accusative case ending
The accusative case ending follows the rules of four-way vowel harmony, so let's take a look
"Ahmet pul...pulu aldı."
"Ahmet pulu aldı": Ahmet bought the stamp
Let's look at what happens when we want to add the accusative case ending to word which ends in a vowel
so this time instead of having bought a
stamp, Ahmet bought a present a
nonspecific present
Ahmet hediye
present
aldı
Notice that "hediye" ends in a vowel well
Let's say we want to make this a
specific, definite direct object object. Ahmet didn't buy a present he bought
the present, the present he's been meaning to buy for months, the present we were talking about five minutes ago
So "Ahmet hediye..."
accusative case ending four-way vowel harmony "hediye..i"
"...aldı", Ooh
But Turkish does not like to see those two vowels next to each other so we'll need a buffer continent in this case "y"
So "Ahmet hediyeyi aldı": Ahmet bought the present
We can also
add
the accusative ending after the plural suffix
So if we want to say "Ahmet bought the presents, the present for Layla and the present for Noor" and so on
Ahmet hediyeler
plural suffix, and we can simply add the appropriate form of the accusative case ending directly to our plural suffix
So "Ahmet hediyeleri...
"...aldı"
Ahmet bought the presents
Now
there are certain cases where
excuse me, there are certain situations where it is required that you use the accusative case ending for
your direct object let's take a look at what some of those situations are
Remember, how do we decide what kind of direct object does and doesn't need an accusative case ending?
We look at whether or not
It's specific and definite, of course any proper now must be specific and definite
It's the name of a place or the name of a person so for example if you want to...
Let's look at the proper noun Istanbul and say "I saw Istanbul"
"Istanbul" our proper now
accusative case ending, "-u"
I saw: "gördüm"
"Istanbulu gördüm." Ah.
But because Istanbul is a proper noun we have to remember to insert a little
apostrophe between the proper noun and the accusative case ending
Another example where the accusative case ending is required for the direct object
Any direct object which
excuse me, any direct object which has a possessive suffix attached to it must be definite and specific, so
Let's look at another example. If we want to say "I saw a cat." We would simply say
Kedi gördüm.
But if I want to say "I saw my cat" well, we know we'll need to add the appropriate possessive suffix. SO
Kedim: "my cat," and then we simply add the accusative case ending to
the possessive suffix, so "Kedimi gördüm."
Remember after possessive suffixes
excuse me, if your direct object has a possessive suffix
then the accusative case ending will be required
We also need to use the accusative case ending for direct objects which are modified by demonstrative pronouns
What's the demonstrative pronoun? In Turkish "bu": this, "şu": this or that and "o": that
are all demonstrative pronouns, so if I want to say "I saw this cat"
Bu kediyi...
Notice that buffer, "y"
Bu kediyi gördüm.
I saw this, specific, definite cat so we use the accusative case
We also need to use the accusative case ending when our direct object is
modified by
"her"
every
"büyün": all or
"bazı": some so if I want to say "I saw all the cats"
that phrase "all the cats" we'll need an
accusative case ending, that direct object will need an accusative case ending. Let's take a look
Bütün kedileri gördüm.
I saw all the cats
with an accusative case ending
One final note about when to use the accusative case
We've seen that where our direct object is definite or specific
we need to use the accusative case, so of course we need to use it when our direct object is one of the pronouns for
example if I want to say "I saw you" singular in formal
Sen...
Seni gördüm.
I saw you