A2 · The cases · about 7 minutes
With ile: with, and, by
“with” as an ending
The word “ile” means “with” and likes to attach itself as an ending.
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Words you will need4
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- alışverişshopping
- bıçakknife
- kesmekto cut
- kalempen, pencil
Understand
Remember“With” goes at the end: otobüsle, arabayla — and with pronouns onto the genitive: seninle.
- Signal words
- ile
- -le
- -la
- -yle
- -yla
- kiminle
- neyle
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Turkish.
| by bus | otobüsle · otobüs ile |
| by car | arabayla · araba ile |
| with the knife | bıçakla |
| with my mother | annemle |
| with me, with you, with him | benimle · seninle · onunla |
| Ali and Ayşe | Ali ile Ayşe |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
ile comes after the noun and is usually attached.
İşe metroyla gidiyorum.I go to work by underground.
As an ending: -le or -la, after a vowel -yle or -yla.
Elif annesiyle alışverişe gitti.Elif went shopping with her mother.
Pronouns go into the genitive before ile.
Yarın benimle sinemaya gelir misin?Will you come to the cinema with me tomorrow?
Between two nouns ile means “and”.
Ali ile Ayşe kardeş.Ali and Ayşe are brother and sister.
Nothing softens before -le.
Ekmeği bıçakla kestim.I cut the bread with the knife.
Example sentences
Kiminle konuşuyorsun?Who are you talking to?
İzmir'e uçakla gidiyoruz.We are flying to İzmir.
Can arkadaşlarıyla futbol oynuyor.Can is playing football with his friends.
5 more example sentences
Çayı şekerle mi içiyorsun?Do you take your tea with sugar?
Seninle konuşmak istiyorum.I want to talk to you.
Dün Ayşe'yle karşılaştım.Yesterday I ran into Ayşe.
Trenle üç saat sürüyor.By train it takes three hours.
Ekmek ile peynir aldım.I bought bread and cheese.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English speakers build “with you” as sen ile, leaving the pronoun in its basic form. Before ile, though, it goes into the genitive: seninle, benimle, onunla.
Quick check
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Next on the path: 53 · Pronouns with case endingsBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
“With” is ile. It comes after the noun, and usually it is attached as an ending: arkadaşımla“with my friend”otobüsle“by bus”kalemle“with the pen” As an ending it follows two-way vowel harmony, -le or -la; after a vowel a y goes in: arabayla, Ayşe'yle.
The meanings largely match English “with” and “by”: company (annemle “with my mother”), tool (bıçakla “with a knife”), means of transport (trenle “by train”) and manner (sevgiyle “with love”). Between two nouns ile also means “and”: Ali ile Ayşe.
Pronouns go into the genitive before ile: benimle “with me”, seninle “with you”, onunla “with him, her”, bizimle, sizinle; only onlarla “with them” has no genitive. The ending has no link vowel and leaves the stem unchanged: kitapla, not kitabla.
A closer look
Separate or attached
otobüs ile and otobüsle are the same. Written separately it sounds a little more formal and is more common in written texts; in speech it is nearly always attached.
Attached, ile has only two forms, because it is really a word of its own: -le and -la, never with a link vowel and never with softening. The y after a vowel is what is left of the i: araba ile → arabayla.
Ben otobüs ile gidiyorum, sen de otobüsle gel.I am going by bus, you come by bus too.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Without: the ending -siz
The opposite of ile is not a preposition but an ending that makes an adjective, like English “-less”: şekersiz “without sugar”, literally “sugarless”, sütsüz “without milk”. It follows four-way vowel harmony.
Kahvemi şekersiz içiyorum.I take my coffee without sugar.
Worth knowing
“And” between nouns
Between two nouns ile can replace ve “and”: Ali ile Ayşe like Ali ve Ayşe. Between verbs or sentences that does not work; only ve can go there.
Annemle babam bugün geliyor.My mother and father are coming today.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gitmek · konuşmak · gelmek · istemek · içmek · oynamak · kesmek