Yönelme Durumu (Dative Case) in Turkish

Yönelme Durumu – The Dative Case (The Case of Direction)

The Dative Case (case of direction) answers the questions:
Where to? – nereye?
To whom? – kime?
To what? – neye?

It indicates direction towards someone or something.

The dative case is formed by adding the stressed suffix -e or -a, depending on the rules of vowel and consonant harmony.

ev → eve – to home / going home
okul → okula – to school / going to school

If the suffix is added to a word ending in a vowel, the consonant “y” is inserted before the suffix.

Examples:
araba → arabaya – into the car
Ali → Ali’ye – to Ali
Ankara → Ankara’ya – to Ankara

Personal pronouns in the dative case

suffix -a

suffix -e

When is -ya / -ye added?

If the word ends in a vowel, the buffer consonant -y- is inserted between the stem and the suffix:

• oda → odaya (a + a → insert -y-)
• elma → elmaya
• ülke → ülkeye

Suffix -a

Examples:

• Okula gidiyorum. → I’m going to school.
• Kitaba bakıyorum. → I’m looking at the book.
• Odaya gir. → Enter the room.
• Arabaya biniyoruz. → We are getting into the car.

Suffix -e

Examples:

• Şehre taşındık. → We moved to the city.
• Eve dönüyorum. → I’m returning home.
• Elmaya uzandı. → She reached for the apple.
• Ülkeye giriş yaptık. → We entered the country.

The Dative Case in Turkish: Usage and Examples

The dative case marks the endpoint of movement (toward something, to somewhere).

For example:

Eve gitti.
(He went home.)

Okula geldi.
(She came to school.)

Arabaya bindik.
(We got into the car.)

Bize bakıyor.
(He is looking at us.)

It is used to indicate price or cost.

For example:

Bin liraya almış.
(He says he bought it for a thousand liras.)

Bu iş kaç paraya olur?
(How much do they pay for this kind of work?)

It forms time expressions.

For example:

Sabaha İstanbul’a varırız.
(We will reach Istanbul by morning.)

Öğleye biter.
(It will finish by noon.)

Akşama uğrarım.
(I will drop by toward the evening.)

It indicates a place — the endpoint of movement or direction.

For example:

Kitabı masaya koydu.
(He put the book on the table.)

Koltuk’a oturdu.
(He sat down in the armchair.)

Sınıfa girdi.
(He entered the classroom.)

It expresses the object for whom something is done, the purpose or goal of an action.

For example:

Bize yer ayırmışlar.
(They reserved seats for us.)

Bu tatlıyı size aldım.
(I bought these sweets for you.)

Annesini görmeye gitti.
(He went to see his mother.)

It forms reduplicated nouns expressing a state or manner of action.

For example:

El ele koşuyorlardı.
(They were running hand in hand.)

Otobüse nefes nefese yetişti.
(He caught the bus out of breath.)

When attached to the second participle ending in -en / -an in reduplicated constructions, it adds a meaning of exaggeration or intensity.

For example:

Sınıfa girdim, bağıran bağırana.
(I entered the classroom — everyone was shouting.)

Toplantıda soru soran soranaydı.
(At the meeting, people were asking a huge number of questions.)

Postpositions

The following postpositions require the dative case:

kadar, göre, doğru, rağmen, karşılık, dek, dair, ait

For example:

Sabaha kadar oturdu.
(He sat until morning.)

Mehmet’e göre bu doğruymuş.
(According to Mehmet, this is true.)

Türkçe’ye doğru.
(Straight toward the Turkish language.)

Buna rağmen bana inanmadı.
(Despite this, he did not believe me.)

Bu kitaba karşılık ne istiyorsun?
(What do you want in exchange for this book?)

Sabaha dek uyumadık.
(We did not sleep until morning.)

Buna dair bir bilgim yok.
(I have no information about this.)

Bu araba kime ait?
(Whose car is this? / To whom does this car belong?)

Sometimes, together with possessive suffixes, it forms fixed idiomatic expressions.

For example:

inadına gülmek
(to laugh out of spite)

kolayına gitmek
(to choose the easiest way)

inadına yapmak
(to do something out of spite)

Sometimes, acting as a link between two nouns, it forms expressions used as adjectives.

For example:

dile kolay
(easy to say)

cana yakın
(friendly, warm)

midesine düşkün
(a person who loves food / fond of eating)

The dative case suffix can also be added to phrases that end with a verbal form.

For example:

Geçmiş olsuna gitti.
(He went to visit and say “Get well soon.”)

Yarın Ahmet’e hayırlı olsuna gideceğiz.
(Tomorrow we will go to visit Ahmet and wish him success.)

In the first and second person singular pronouns (ben and sen), the root vowel changes when the dative suffix is added.

For example:

Ben → ben-e → bana
Sen → sen-e → sana

Possessive suffixes

Possessive suffixes come before case suffixes.

For example:

Benim evime
senin sınıfına
onun arabasına
bizim ailemize

Common Turkish Verbs That Require the Dative Case

Examples

Ben işe gidiyorum. – I am going to work.

O, annesine gitti. – He went to his mother.

Akşam saat yedide eve geldim. – I came home at 7 in the evening.

Herkes bana bakıyordu. – Everyone was looking at me.

Çocukların hepsi arabaya bakıyordu. – All the children were looking at the car.

Birden odaya bir adam girdi. – Suddenly, a man entered the room.

Kitapları şu rafa koy. – Put the books on that shelf.

Gece ikide otobüse bindik. – We got on the bus at 2 a.m.

Ben bu konuyu size anlatmıştım. – I had already explained this topic to you.

Selma böyle şeylere çok kızıyor. – Selma gets very angry at such things.

Babası ona çok kızmış. – His father got very angry at him.

Sen öğretmene sormadın mı? – Didn’t you ask the teacher?

Sedat kalemi Ali’ye vermiş. – Sedat gave the pen to Ali.

Mehmet bize inanmıyor. – Mehmet doesn’t believe us.

Ben bu tür şeylere inanamıyorum. – I can’t believe in such things.

Ben sana söylemiştim. – I told you.

Öğretmen ona izin vermemiş. – The teacher didn’t allow him.

O, bana izin vermez. – He doesn’t allow me.

Biz her zaman yaşlılara yardım etmeliyiz. – We should always help the elderly.

Ömer sana neden bağırdı? – Why did Ömer shout at you?

İzzet Gönül’e âşık olmuş. – İzzet fell in love with Gönül.

Ben de anneme mektup yazıyordum. – I was writing a letter to my mother too.

Bu elmalarI kardeşine götür. – Take these apples to your brother.

Beni her sabah babam okula götürüyor. – Every morning, my dad takes me to school.

Halil bize hiç güvenmiyor. – Halil doesn’t trust us at all.

Arkadaşlar toplantıya başlıyoruz. – Friends, we’re starting the meeting.

Ben sana söz vermedim. – I didn’t promise you.

Dilek her zaman bize engel oluyor. – Dilek always gets in our way.

Sen bana karışma! – Don’t interfere with me!

Hepimiz bu habere çok sevindik. – We all were very happy about this news.

Hepimiz bu habere çok üzüldük. – We all were very sad about this news.