Possessive suffixes and the genitive pronouns
Where English uses a separate word ('my book'), Turkish attaches a suffix to the noun: kitap (book) → kitabım (my book). The set is -(i)m = my, -(i)n = your, -(s)i = his/her/its, -(i)miz = our, -(i)niz = your (pl/formal), -leri = their. The buffer letters in parentheses appear when the noun ends in a vowel. The personal pronouns also have a genitive form — benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların — but they're optional, used mostly for emphasis. Vowel harmony chooses ı / i / u / ü for each suffix.
The basic chart
Take the noun ev (house): evim (my house), evin (your house), evi (his/her house), evimiz (our house), eviniz (your house, pl/formal), evleri (their house). Now kitap (book) — last vowel a → harmony ı: kitabım (my book — note the p softens to b), kitabın (your book), kitabı (his/her book), kitabımız (our book), kitabınız (your book, pl), kitapları (their books). And with göz (eye) → harmony ü: gözüm, gözün, gözü, gözümüz, gözünüz, gözleri.
Buffer letters after a vowel
If the noun ends in a vowel, the suffix slips a buffer s or n in to keep things pronounceable. araba (car): arabam (my car — drop the suffix's i, just m), araban (your car), arabası (his/her car — buffer s), arabamız, arabanız, arabaları. anne (mother): annem, annen, annesi, annemiz, anneniz, anneleri. The trickiest one is 3rd singular: after a vowel it's -sı / -si / -su / -sü with the buffer s.
The consonant-softening rule
Several Turkish consonants soften when a vowel-initial suffix follows. p → b, t → d, k → ğ, ç → c. So kitap (book) → kitabım, not *kitapım. ağaç (tree) → ağacım. ekmek (bread) → ekmeğim. dört (four) doesn't take possessives often, but the same rule would apply. This softening is a hallmark of Turkish; you'll meet it again with the accusative and dative cases.
Genitive pronouns for emphasis
You can leave the pronoun out — kitabım alone is unambiguously 'my book'. But if you want to emphasize who owns it, add the genitive pronoun: benim kitabım (MY book — emphasis), senin kitabın (YOUR book), onun kitabı (HIS / HER book), bizim kitabımız, sizin kitabınız, onların kitapları. Notice the suffix on the noun stays no matter what — it's required, not the pronoun.
Possessive of possessive
Turkish loves stacking. My mother's car = 'my mother' + 'her car' — annemin arabası. The first noun gets the genitive -(n)in (we'll meet this fully in lesson 13), and the second gets the -(s)i suffix. For now just notice the pattern: Ali'nin evi = Ali's house, Ayşe'nin kedisi = Ayşe's cat. The apostrophe attaches to proper names before suffixes.
