Çoğul ekleri — the plural suffix
Turkish has just one way to make a plural: stick -ler or -lar on the end of the noun. Which one? Two-way vowel harmony decides. If the last vowel of the word is one of the four front vowels (e, i, ö, ü), use -ler: ev → evler (houses). If it's a back vowel (a, ı, o, u), use -lar: kitap → kitaplar (books). That's the entire system. No irregular plurals, no gender, no tricky exceptions for foreign words.
The rule in one line
Front vowel? -ler. Back vowel? -lar. Always look at the LAST vowel in the word, not the first one. mektup (letter) — last vowel u is back → mektuplar. şehir (city) — last vowel i is front → şehirler. otobüs — last vowel ü is front → otobüsler. çocuk — last vowel u is back → çocuklar.
When you don't use the plural
Turkish DROPS the plural after numbers. iki kitap = 'two books' (literally 'two book'). beş çocuk = 'five children'. The number itself shows it's plural. You only add -lar/-ler when there's no number, or when you mean 'these specific multiple X's': kitaplar masada = 'the books are on the table'. We'll come back to numbers in lesson 9 — for now just know: number + plural = wrong.
Plural makes things specific too
Bare plural with no number often translates as 'the X's' or 'X's in general'. Çocuklar okulda = 'The children are at school'. Türkler = 'The Turks / Turks'. Kitaplar pahalı = 'Books are expensive (in general)'. To say 'some books' or 'a few books', you'd add birkaç before the singular: birkaç kitap.
Common harmony pairs to memorize
ev → evler (house/s). kitap → kitaplar (book/s). çocuk → çocuklar (child/ren). göz → gözler (eye/s). kız → kızlar (girl/s). adam → adamlar (man/men). kadın → kadınlar (woman/women). gün → günler (day/s). şehir → şehirler (city/cities). arkadaş → arkadaşlar (friend/s).
What about people's names?
Adding -ler/-lar to a name means 'X and his/her group, X's family'. Mehmetler = 'Mehmet and the others / Mehmet's family'. Ayşeler bizde = 'Ayşe and her family are at our place'. This is a fun social usage you'll hear constantly — Turkish loves the collective.
