A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation · about 6 minutes
Assimilation: -de or -te
consonant assimilation
After a hard consonant, the d of an ending becomes t and the c becomes ç.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need12
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- anahtarkey
- mutfakkitchen
- annemother
- köşecorner
- otobüsbus
- uçakplane
- inmekto get off; to go down
- sokakstreet, lane
- oynamakto play
- geçlate
- çantabag
- arabacar
Understand
RememberAfter fıstıkçı şahap, d becomes t and c becomes ç.
- Signal words
- -de
- -te
- -den
- -ten
- -di
- -ti
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.
| after a vowel or a voiced consonant: d | evde, okulda, Berlin'de |
| after f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p: t | kitapta, sokakta, otobüste |
| from, out of: -den / -ten | evden, uçaktan |
| past: -di / -ti | geldim, içtim, yaptım |
| someone who does something: -ci / -çi | gazeteci, kitapçı, sütçü |
| memory phrase for the eight | fıstıkçı şahap |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
After f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p a d becomes t.
Anahtar mutfakta.The key is in the kitchen.
After a vowel and after the other consonants the d stays.
Annem evde değil.My mother is not at home.
The same goes for -den and for the past -di.
Dün çok çay içtim.Yesterday I drank a lot of tea.
The c of -ci also becomes ç after these sounds.
Köşede bir kitapçı var.There is a bookshop on the corner.
With a proper name the ending comes after the apostrophe and assimilates in the same way.
Elif Paris'te yaşıyor.Elif lives in Paris.
Example sentences
Otobüste yer yok.There is no room on the bus.
Uçaktan yeni indim.I have just got off the plane.
Akşam ne yaptın?What did you do in the evening?
6 more example sentences
Sokakta çocuklar oynuyor.Children are playing in the street.
Mehmet dün eve geç geldi.Mehmet came home late yesterday.
Sınıfta yirmi öğrenci var.There are twenty pupils in the class.
Ağaçtan bir elma düştü.An apple fell from the tree.
Ablam gazeteci.My older sister is a journalist.
Hafta sonu ne yaptınız?What did you do at the weekend?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English spelling hides assimilation: the past ending “-ed” is written the same in “played” and “walked”, although in “walked” you hear a t. If you are used to that, you write d in Turkish where you hear t. But Turkish writes what it says: after k, a t.
Quick check
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Practise
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Some endings begin with d: -de (in), -den (from) and -di (past). If one of the voiceless consonants f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h or p comes before it, the d becomes t: evde, but kitapta, sokakta, otobüste.
Turkish children remember the eight letters with two words: fıstıkçı şahap, “Şahap the pistachio seller”. Every consonant in it is one of the eight.
In the same way the c of the ending -ci (someone who makes or sells something, like English -er or -ist) becomes ç: gazeteci “journalist”, but kitapçı “bookseller” and sütçü “milkman”. And the past: geldim “I came”, but içtim “I drank” and yaptım “I did”.
Vowel harmony still applies. So -de has four forms (de, da, te, ta) and -di eight (di, dı, dü, du, ti, tı, tü, tu) — but always by the same two rules.
A closer look
Only the start of the ending changes
Assimilation only affects the first consonant of the ending. The word itself stays as it is: kitap keeps its p in kitapta. Only when an ending starts with a vowel does the end of the word change — that is softening, a topic of its own.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English assimilates too, but does not write it: “cats” has an s sound, “dogs” a z sound, and both are written with s. Turkish writes what it says. If the ending is pronounced hard, it is written hard.
Anahtar çantada değil, cepte.The key is not in the bag but in my pocket.
Worth knowing
Hand on your throat
Put your hand on your throat and say the consonants. With b, d, g, v, z, j, l, m, n, r and y it buzzes; with the eight from fıstıkçı şahap it does not. After a sound that does not buzz, the ending does not buzz either.
Kitapçı ve sütçü bu sokakta.The bookshop and the dairy shop are in this street.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gelmek · içmek · yaşamak · oynamak · inmek