Now we're going to talk about the Turkish words "var" and "yok" and how you can use them
Var
in Turkish literally means
it exists or they exist,
there is or there are.
So for example if you want to say in Turkish "there is a cat" you can say
"Kedi..." Turkish word for cat
"...var."
"There is a cat," literally "A cat exists. The cat exists."
"Var" does not change between singular and plural so if you want to say "There are cats," you'll simply say
"Kedi..."
add the plural suffix...
"Kediler": cats
"...var." There are cats or cats exist.
"Var" cannot be negated with "değil," the Turkish word for "not"
The way you can express the opposite of "var" or in other words
Something that there isn't or that does not exist is the Turkish word
yok
So that literally means "there is not," "there are not" or "there does not exist"
So for example if you want to say "there isn't a cat" you can say
Kedi yok.
There isn't a cat.
And again
"yok" does not change between singular and plural so if you want to say "there aren't any cats" you could say
"Kediler"
"Kedi" in the plural..."kediler"
"...yok."
There are no cats.
"Var": there exists
where "there is" or "there are" and
"Yok": there does not exist, there isn't, there aren't
Var and yok have another use though
beyond expressing there is or there is not
Turkish does not have a
verb that is equivalent to the English verb "to have"
So when we want to say things in Turkish like "I have a cat" we're actually...or "I do not have a cat"
we're actually going to use "var" and "yok"
Let's look at how this works
We'll start with the Turkish word for cat. I'm going to say "I have a cat"
Kedi
we have the option of including the
personal pronoun in the genitive, "benim": my
don't have to but we can
Kedim
add the possessive suffix
first-person singular in this case, "kedim": my cat
var
Literally, "My cat exists" or "There is my cat."
But what it means and the way we're translating it is, "I have a cat"
Kedim var.
"I have a cat," but literally "My cat exists."
You can do this with the second person and the third person as well. Let's see how this works, so
Senin
kedi...
we'll add the possessive suffix, so
kedin
...var.
Literally, "Your cat exists."
But well translate it as "You have a cat."
Kedin var.
For the third-person
we can use "onun"
his/her or its
Or we can actually use a person's name in the genitive, so for example,
Mehmet'in
kedi
then the possessive suffix in the third-person singular so
kedisi
His cat or Mehmet's cat
var.
Literally his or Mehmet's cat exists, but we'll translate it as
He has a cat or Mehmet has a cat.
Moving on to the plural
Need to erase "yok." Moving on to the plural...
Bizim
Our
kedi
cat
Bizim kedimiz var.
Literally, "Our cat exists"
but we'll translate it as "We have a cat."
Same story for the second person so
Sizin
"your" plural or formal
kediniz var.
"Your cat exists," but we're gonna translate it as "You have a cat."
This is the most natural and most common way to say "I have" or "You have, he has, she has" etc. in Turkish
Finally for the third person
I'm going to follow our usual rules for possessive so we can say
Onların
or we can use names
"Onların": their
kedisi
We have the option of saying "Onların kedileri" with the same meaning
var.
Literally "Their cat exists"
but we'll translate it as "They have a cat"
For "yok"
We're going to do exactly the same thing, so
let's say we want to say "I don't have a cat"
Benim kedim: my cat
yok.
My cat does not exist
but we'll translate it as "I don't have a cat," "My cat does not exists."
I don't have a cat: Benim kedim yok.
Or simply...kedim yok.
For "you don't have a cat"
Exactly the same story, "your cat does not exist."
We'll translate it as "you don't have a cat"
Kedin yok.
Same story throughout so for "he does not..." or "she does not have a cat." Oh
Onun or Mehmet'in kedisi yok
Does not have a cat.
"He she it does not have a cat"
For "we don't have a cat"
Bizim kedimiz yok.
For "you don't have a cat"
Sizin keniniz yok.
Literally "your cat does not exist," but translated "you do not have a cat."
Finally for they if "they don't have a cat"
Onların kedisi or Onların kedileri yok.
They don't have a cat.