the inflectional morphemes attached to verbs and the simple present 'be' signed

THE INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES ATTACHED TO

WERBS and

The SIPLE PRESENT "BE"

YÜKSEL GÖKNEL

2013

The Inflectional Morphemes and the Simple Present "be"

2

THE INFLECTIONAL MORPHEMES ATTACHED TO VERBS

Time and personal inflectional morphemes are attached to nouns, noun

compounds, adjectives, prepositional phrases, and verbs.

The grammar term “noun” includes “proper nouns” such as: “Jack”, “Meh-

met”, “İstanbul”, “Germany”, “English”; “common nouns” such as: “book”,

“table”, “school”, “television”, and “abstract nouns” such as: “poverty”,

“laughter”, “happiness”, “kindness”, “bravery”, “curiosity”, etc.

Pronouns are also considered as nouns because they occupy the places of

nouns, and act as nouns in sentences.

Adjectives are words like “good”, “clever”, “hardworking”, “wealthy”,

“attractive”, etc. A prepositional phrase in English is a group of words that begins with a

preposition and ends either with a noun (a pronoun, or a gerund), or a

nominal phrase: “On the table", “at the table”, “in the box”, “at ten

o’clock”, “at school”, “at the door”, “behind the curtain”, “in front of the

mirror”, “next to the station”, “above the clouds”, “under the table”, “until

morning”, “since Sunday”, and “before buying” are all prepositional

phrases.

In Turkish, however, the equivalents of these prepositions are the [E], [DE],

[DEN], and [LE] morphemes, which follow nouns attached to them. When

compared, English prepositions are prepositional (they are used before

nouns) in the sentence order, but in Turkish, the [İ], [E], [DE], [DEN], and

[LE] morphemes are postpositional because they follow nouns attached to

them. The first category of time morphemes are used attached to nouns,

adjectives, adverbials or prepositional phrases, to which ♫ [dir, dır, dür,

dur, tir, tır, tür, tur] (present); ♫ [di, dı, dü, du ti, tı, tü, tu] (past), ♫ [miş,

mış, müş, muş] (rumor, inference) morphemes are attached. The “olacak”

word is separately used to convey the meaning of “will be”. The ♫ [dir, dır, dür, dur, tir, tır, tür, tur] allomorphs are not normally used in

Simple Present “Be” Tenses, but when they are used, they add different

concepts to such sentences. These sentences will be explained in the

following paragraphs.

The equivalents of these “be” morphemes in English are “is”, “are”, “was”,

“were”, “has been”, “have been”, “will be”, “will have been”, “had

been” and “going to be” verb compositions.


3

THE SIMPLE PRESENT “BE”

The personal allomorphs used with verb “be” are as follows:

(ben): ♫ [im, ım, üm, um]; (sen): ♫ [sin, sın, sün, sun]; (o): [ø]; (biz): ♫

[iz, ız, üz, uz]; (siz): ♫ [sin.iz, sın.ız, sün.üz, sun.uz]; (on.lar): ♫ [ø (ler, lar)]

1. Nouns: Ben bir öğretmen-im (öğ*ret*me*nim). I am a teacher. Sen bir

doktor-sun (dok*tor*sun). You are a doctor. O bir doktor (dok*tor).

She is a doctor. Biz doktor-uz (dok*to*ruz). We are doctors. Siz bir

öğretmen-sin.iz (siz / öğ*ret*men*si*niz). You are a teacher. Onlar

asker (on*lar / as*ker). They are soldiers.

2. Adjective: Ben tembel-im (tem*be*lim). I am lazy. Sen çalışkan-sın

(ça*lış*kan*sın). You are hardworking. O mutlu(dur) (o / mut*lu). She

is happy. Biz iyi-/y/iz (biz / i*yi*yiz). We are all right. Yorgun-sun.uz

(yor*gun*su*nuz). You are tired. Onlar istek-siz. They are unwilling.

3. Prepositional phrase: The allomorphs [de, da, te, ta] are expressed in

English in the prepositions of “in”, “at” or “on”. For example:

ev-de (at home); okul-da (at school, in school); masa-da (on the table, at

the table); kapı-da (at the door); kutu-da (in the box); bahçe-de (in the

garden); hastane-de (in hospital, in the hospital); uçak-ta (on the plane).

The other [e, a] and [den, dan, ten, tan] allomorphs are not used with the

verb “be”; they are used together with action verbs like “go”, “come”, “wait“,

“sleep”, etc. When the expressions above end with vowels, they are linked to the

personal allomorphs by the /y/ glides: Postacı kapı-da. The postman is at the door. Onlar şimdi uçak-ta. They

are on the plane now. Ben kapı-da-/y/ım. I am at the door. Sen akıllı-sın.

You are clever. O mutfak-ta. She is in the kitchen. Biz haklı-/y/ız. We are

right. Siz güzel-sin.iz. You are beautiful. Onlar çirkin. They are ugly.

The same [E], [DE] and [DEN] morphemes are also used attached to “ön”,

“arka”, “yan”, “üst”, “karşı”, “sol”, “sağ”, “alt”, “bitişik” nouns, such as “ön-e”,

“arka-/y/a”, “yan-a”, “üst-e”, “karşı-/y/a”, “yukarı-/y/a”, “ön-de”, “arka-da”,

“yan-da”, “alt-ta”, “üst-te”, “karşı-da”, “sağ-da”, “sol-da”, “bitişik-te”, “ön-den”,

“arka-dan”, “yan-dan”, “üst-ten”, “karşı-dan”, “sağ-dan”, “yakın-dan”.

These words are all nouns when they are without suffixes; if they were not,

the [E], [DE] and [DEN] morphemes would not be attached to them. When


4

they are together with these suffixes, they function as adverbials in

sentences. Consequently, as these words are all nouns, they are also used in noun

compounds like the simple noun compounds such as “oda-/n/ın kapı-/s/ı”;

“perde-/n/in arka-/s/ı”; “ayna-/n/ın ön-ü”; “vazo-/n/un yan-ı”; “yatak-ın alt-ı”

(ya*ta*ğın / al*tı); “bakkal-ın bitişik-i” (bak*ka*lın / bi*ti*şi*ği); “koltuk-un

sağ-ı” (kol*tu*ğun / sa*ğı); “bakkal-ın karşı-/s/ı”; “ev-in arka-/s/ı”.

When the above [E], [DE] and [DEN] morphemes are attached to the noun

compounds above, they take the /n/ glides. The compounds below are

underlined. Compare and consider the following sentences:

Kedi perde-/n/in arka-/s/ı/n/-da. (per*de*nin / ar*ka*sı) NP noun compound - /n/da

(adverbial predicate) VP

(ke*di / per*de*nin / ar*ka*sın*da ↷).

The cat is behind the curtain.

Gözlük-ler-im ayna-/n/ın ön-ü/n/-de. (ay*na*nın / ö*nü)

(göz*lük*le*rim / ay*na*nın / ö*nün*de ↷)

My glasses are in front of the mirror. Terlikler-in karyola-/n/ın alt-ı/n/-da. (kar*yo*la*nın / al*tı)

(ter*lik*le*rin / kar*yo*la*nın / al*tın*da ↷)

Your slippers are under the bed.

Ben-im ev-im bakkal-ın bitişik-i/n/-de. (bak*ka*lın / bi*ti*şi*ği)

(be*nim / e*vim / bak*ka*lın / bi*ti*şi*ğin*de ↷)

My house is next to the grocer. Sen-in dükkân-ın bakkal-ın karşı-/s/ı/n/-da. (bak*ka*lın / kar*şı*sı)

(se*nin / dük*kâ*nın / bak*ka*lın / kar*şı*sın*da ↷)

Your shop is opposite (to) the grocer. İstasyon sol-da.

(is*tas*yon / sol*da ↷)

The station is on the left.

İstasyon, bakkal-ın sol-u/n/-da. (bak*ka*lın / so*lu)

(is*tas*yon / bak*ka*lın / so*lun*da ↷)

The station is on the left of the grocer. Karı-ım ev-de.

(ka*rım / ev*de ↷)

My wife is at home.


5

Ben, postane-/n/in ön-ü/n/-de-/y/im. (pos*ta*ne*nin / ö*nü)

(ben / pos*ta:*ne*nin / ö*nün*de*yim ↷)

I am in front of the post office.

In the sentences above, there are no time morphemes attached to the

words “arkasında”, “önünde”, “karşısında”, “evde”, etc. The absence of

these time morphemes in the sentences above imply that the time is pre-

sent. The other [E] and [DEN] morphemes are attached to action verbs.

The “yes-no” interrogatve sentences in The Simple Present “be”:

(Ben) ♫ [mi-/y/im?, mı-/y/ım?, mü-/y/üm?, mu-/y/um?]

(Sen) ♫ [mi-sin?, mı-sın?, mü-sün?, mu-sun?]

(O) ♫ [mi?, mı?, mü?, mu?]

(Biz) ♫ [mi-/y/iz?, mı-/y/iz?, mü-/y/üz, mu-/y/uz]

(Siz) ♫ [mi-sin-iz?, mı-sın-ız?, mü-sün-üz?, mu-sun-uz?]

(Onlar) ♫ [(ler) mi?, (lar) mı?]

(Sen) ev-de mi-sin?

(ev*de ↝/ mi*sin ↷)

Are you at home? (Siz) iyi mi-sin-iz?

(i*yi ↝/ mi*si*niz↷)

Are you all right?

(Ben) deli mi-/y/im?

(ben / de*li ↝/ mi*yim ↷)

Am I crazy?

Hazır değil mi-/y/iz?

(ha*zır / de*ğil↝ / mi*yiz ↷) Aren’t we ready? .

When one of the allomorphs of the [DİR] morpheme attaches to the last

words of one of the sentences above, the sentences mean either “per-

haps" or "I am sure". This difference of meaning can be heard in speech.

When a syllable printed in bold face is stressed, the sentence means, “I am

sure”, when it is not, it means "perhaps". The allomorphs of this morpheme

are [dir, dır, dür, dur, tir, tır, tür, tur],which are used only for the third peson.

(ka*rı*mev*de*dir ↷) (perhaps); (ka*rım / ev*de*dir ↷) (I am sure)

"bura”, "şura", "ora", “bu”, “şu”, “o” could all be used as nouns. When

these nouns are attached to the allomorphs of the [E], [DE], and [DEN]


6

morphemes, they become adverbials; but if they are attached to the

allomorphs of the phoneme [İ], they can be used in the object position in

sentences:

O bura-da (bur*da). pred adverbial

(o / bur*da↷)

He is here. ("Here" is a predicate adverb.)

Ben bura-da-/y/ım

(ben / bur*da*yım ↷)

I am here.

Kedi şura-da (şur*da).

(ke*di / şur*da ↷) or (ke*di / şur*da ↷)

The cat is there.

Onlar ora-da (or*da).

(on*lar / or*da ↷) or (on*lar / or*da ↷)

They are there.

Onlar bura-dan (burdan) git-ti-ler, ayrıl-dı-lar.

(on*lar / bur*dan / git*ti*ler ↷)

They left here.

Bura-dan (burdan) ayrıl-ma.

(bur*dan / ay*rıl*ma ↷)

Don't leave here.

Onlar ora-dan ayrıl-ı.yor-lar.

(on*lar / or*dan / ay*rı*lı*yor*lar ↷)

They are leaving there.

Ben bura-/y/ı hiç gör-me-di-im.

(ben / bu*ra*yı / hiç / gör*me*dim ↷)

I have never seen here.

("Burayı" is the object of the sentence.)

Ben bu-/n/u anla-ma-dı-ım. definite (obj)

(ben / bu*nu / an*la*ma*dım ↷)

I didn’t understand this.


7

Ben bu/n/-lar-ı anla-ma-dı-ım.

(ben / bun*la*rı / an*la*ma*dım ↷)

I didn’t understand these.

The same [DEN] morpheme can be used after “bu” and “o” preceded by the

advers “böyle”, “önce” and “sonra” to form postpositional phrases, which

function as adverbials:

“bu/n/-dan böyle” (bun*dan / böy*le) (from now on); “bu/n/-dan sonra”

(bun*dan / son*ra) (after this); (bun*dan / ön*ce) (before this)

When the nouns, adjectives or adverbials ending with vowels attach to the

[de, da, te, ta] allomorphs, they take /y/ glides when they attach to the first

person singular and plural personal allomorphs:

Ben iyi-/y/im. I am all right. Ben bura-da-/y/ım. I am here.

Biz iyi-/y/iz. We are all right. Biz evde-/y/iz. We are at home.

However, the nouns and adjectives ending with consonants do not need the

/y/ glides when they are suffixed by the personal allomorphs. Besides, the

final consonants of the preceding words detach from their syllables, and

attach to the first vowels of the following morphemes, which are showed by

single underlines:

Ben öğretmen-im. (ben / öğ*ret*me*nim ↷) I am a teacher.

Ben tembel-im. (ben / tem*be*lim ↷) I am lazy.

Biz çalışkan-ız. (biz / ça*lış*ka*nız ↷) We are hardworking.

The personal allomorphs used in this tense are as follows:

(ben) ♫ [im, ım, üm, um,]

(sen) ♫ [sin, sın, sün, sun]

(o) [Ø]

(biz) ♫ [iz, ız, üz, uz]

(siz) ♫ [sin.iz, sın.ız, sün.üz, sun.uz]

(onlar) ♫ [Ø] ([ler, lar])

Ben (bir) öğretmen-im.

(ben / bi*röğ*ret*me*nim ↷) (liaison)

I am a teacher.


8

Sen (bir) doktor-sun.

(sen / bir / dok*tor*sun ↷)

You are a doctor. O (bir) mimar.

(o / bir / mi:*mar ↷)

She is an architect.

The /i:/ in the last example shows that the /i:/ vowel is lengthened, and the

hyphen (-) is used to separate morphemes, not syllables. The syllables are

separated by asterisks (*). However, dots are used when inflectional or

derivational allomorphs having two or more syllables such as [me.li, ma.lı].

[e.bil, a.bil], [e.cek, a.cak] are separated. Biz öğretmen-iz.

(biz / öğ*ret”me*niz ↷) or (bi*zöğ*ret*me*niz ↷) (liaison)

We are teachers.

Siz-ler öğretmen-sin.iz.

(siz*ler ~/ öğ*ret*men*si*niz ↷) or (siz*le*röğ*ret*men*si*niz ↷) (liaison)

You are teachers.

Onlar öğretmen.

(on*lar / öğ*ret*men ↷) or (on*la*röğ*ret*men ↷) (liaison)

They are teachers.

Ben iyi-/y/im.

(ben / i*yi*yim↷) or (be*ni*yi*yim ↷) (liaison)

I am allright.

(The /y/ glide is inserted between the two successive /i/ vowels.)

Ben ev-de-/y/im.

(ben / ev*de*yim ↷) or (be*nev*de*yim ↷) (liaison)

I am at home.

(The /y/ is a glide inserted between /e/ and /i/ vowels.) Onlar tiyatro-da.

(on*lar / ti*yat*ro*da ↷)

They are at the theater. Biz İstanbul’-da-/y/ız.

(biz / is*tan*bul*da*yız ↷) or (bi*zis*tan*bul*da*yız ↷) (liaison)

We are in İstanbul.


9

Note: "Liaison" means connecting two or more words by detaching the last

consonant of a word from its syllable and attaching it to the first vowel of the

following word while articulating. Although this consonant transposition helps

to improve the fluency of the oral communication, it is not showed in writing.

The /y/ glides in the sentences above are used to link the successive

vowels /i/ and /i/ in "iyi-/y/im", /e/ and /i/ in "ev-de-/y/im", and /a/ and /ı/ in

"İstanbul-da-/y/ız" harmoniously.

The Present Tense verb composition of the Turkish language above is also

used to express The Present Perfect Tense concept of the English

language.

In languages, tense and time are different notions. Tense is the physical

structure of a verb composition, but time is an abstract concept produced

by the human intellect. In other words, one can use the same verb

composition to express two different time concepts. For instance, English

people say, "I have been here for an hour”, but Turkish people say, "*I am

here for an hour". This shows us that Turkish people use The Simple

Present verb form of the verb "be" both for the Simple Present and for the

Present Perfect tenses of the English language. Compare and consider the

following sentences:

(Ben) şimdi ev-de-/y/im.

(ben / şim*di / ev*de*yim ↷)

I am at home now. (Ben) iki saat-tir ev-de-/y/im.

(ben / i*ki / sa*at*tir / ev*de*yim ↷)

I have been at home for two hours.

(Ben) saat sekiz-den beri ev-de-/y/im.

(ben / sa*at / se*kiz*den / be*ri / ev*de*yim ↷)

I have been at home since eight o’clock.

Ayşe on sene-dir öğretmen.

(ay*şe / on / se*ne*dir / öğ*ret*men ↷)

Ayşe has been a teacher for ten years.

(Ben) iki saat-tir bur(a)-da-/y/ım.

(ben / i*ki / sa*at*tir / bur*da*yım ↷)

I have been here for two hours.

As it is seen in the sentences above, two different concepts of time of the

English language are expressed in only one verb composition in Turkish.


10

“Şimdi”, “iki saattir” and “saat sekizden beri” expressions are enough to

convey the difference of time.

The personal pronouns in the sentences above are optional elements be-

cause they can be understood from the personal allomorphs attached to

the verbs of the sentences. However, when the third person singular or

plural pronouns are used in place of proper nouns, one cannot understand

whom those pronouns stand in for. For example, when I say, “I went to

Ankara” you do not need to ask, “Who went to Ankara?"

However, when I say, “She went to Ankara” you immediately ask who she is.

Therefore, in the sentence, “Ankara’ya gitti”, the zero morpheme [Ø], which

stands for “o”, does not clearly express who the real person is being talked

about. However, if the name of the real person has already been mentioned,

the personal pronoun “o” can naturally be used.

To change the above sentences into the negative form, the word “değil” is

used together with personal morphemes:

“değil-im”, “değil-sin”, “değil”, “değil-iz”, “değil-sin.iz”, ”degil-(ler)”

Ben doktor değil-im.

(ben / dok*tor / de*ği*lim ↷)

I am not a doctor.

Çocuk-lar ev-de değil. (liaison)

(Liaisons can only be used in speech; they cannot be used in writing.)

(ço*cuk*la*rev*de / de*ğil ↷)

The children are not at home.

Bazı çocuk-lar bahçe-de değil.

(ba*zı / ço*cuk*lar / bah*çe*de / de*ğil ↷)

Some boys are not in the garden.

Biz Ankara'da değil-iz.

(biz / an*ka*ra*da / de*ği*liz ↷)

We are not in Ankara.

Siz istek-li değil-sin.iz.

(siz / is*tek*li / de*ğil*si*niz ↷)

You are not willing.

When one of the allomorphs [dir, dır, dür, dur, tir, tır, tür, tur] of the

morpheme [DİR] is used, the sentence gains either the concepts of

“perhaps” or “I am sure”:


11

(ço*cuk*lar / ev*de*dir ↷) (perhaps)

(ço*cuk*lar / ev*de*dir ↷) (I’m sure) Bütün kız-lar güzel-dir.

(bü*tün / kız*lar / gü*zel*dir ↷)

I’m sure all girls are beautiful. (certainty)

Bütün kız-lar güzel mi-(dir)?

(bü*tün / kız*lar/ gü*zel / mi*dir ↷)

Are all girls beautiful? (What is your opinion?)

Bütün kız-lar güzel değil mi?

(bü*tün / kız*lar / gü*zel / de*ğil / mi ↷)

Aren’t all girls beautiful?

Sen öğretmen değil mi-sin?

(sen / öğ*ret*men / de*ğil / mi*sin ↷)

Aren’t you a teacher? O (bir) öğretmen değil.

(o / öğ*ret*men / de*ğil ↷)

She is not a teacher. (certainty)

O bir öğretmen değil-dir.

(o / bir / öğ*ret*men / de*ğil*dir ↷)

Perhaps, she is not a teacher. (uncertainty)

Kocam yorgun. My husband is tired.

Kocam yorgun değil. (de*ğil ↷) My husband is not tired.

Kocam yorgun-dur. (Kocam yorgun olabilir.) (possibility)

Perhaps my husband is tired, or he may be tired.

Ahmet ev-de değil-dir.

(ah*met / ev*de / de*ğil*dir ↷)

I guess Ahmet is not at home. (uncertainty) Sanırım o, o kadar aptal değil-dir.

(sa*nı*rım / o~ / o / ka*dar / ap*tal / de*ğil*dir ↷)

I guess that he is not so stupid.

This is a section of my book titled "TURKISH GRAMMAR UPDATED ACA-

DEMIC EDITION YUKSEL GOKNEL september 2013". If you want to

download and read this book free, you could look for it in your browser.

Yüksel Göknel

the inflectional morphemes attached to verbs and the simple present 'be' signed

Documents