The plural form in Turkish (lar/ler suffix) often serves as a gateway to agglutination (fancy word for adding suffixes to stems) and two-way vowel harmony. What you're not told, though, is that even this simple-looking suffix brings with it many exceptions and quirks.
Vowel Harmony (Ünlü Uyumu)
The plural suffix is -lAr and it follows two-way vowel harmony as follows:
If the last vowel of the stem is a/ı/o/u (easier to memorize as a + undotted vowels), -lar is used:
araba (car) - arabalar (cars)
arı (bee) - arılar (bees)
top (ball) - toplar (balls)
çocuk (child) - çocuklar (children)
If the last vowel stem is e/i/ö/ü (e + dotted vowels), -ler is used instead:
ev (house) - evler (houses)
diş (tooth) - dişler (teeth)
göz (eye) - gözler (eyes)
ürün (product) - ürünler (products)
A | |
a, ı, o, u | a |
e, i, ö, ü | e |
lAr | |
a, ı, o, u | lar |
e, i, ö, ü | ler |
Smooth sailing so far, right? Now, let's get into some exceptions.
Some loanwords from French and Arabic end in palatalized consonants - consonants produced with the tongue bunched up towards the hard palate. These are usually palatalized L or T ([lʲ] or [tʲ] respectively).
If a word, which would normally require the use of -lar, ends in a palatalized consonant, -ler is used instead. Here are the most common examples:
alkol (alcohol, /alʲ'kolʲ/) - alkoller (alcohols)
rol (role, /rolʲ/) - roller (roles)
kontrol (control, /kon'trolʲ/) - kontroller (controls)
hâl (condition, /halʲ/) - hâller (conditions)
kabul (acceptance/admission, /ka'bulʲ/) - kabuller (acceptances/admissions)
saat (hour/clock/watch, /sa:tʲ/) - saatler (hours/clocks/watches)
sıhhat (health, /sıh'hatʲ/) - Sıhhatler olsun! ("Health be upon you!", see 3rd person imperative blog for more)
Now that that's out of the way, let's have a look at how the plural form interacts with numerals.
Numerals (Sayılar)
If quantified with a numeral, nouns and adjectives must be in the singular form:
Annem üç ekmek almamı söyledi. - My mother told me to buy three (loaves of) bread.
Bu yapboz yüz parça. - This jigsaw puzzle is one hundred pieces.
İki görgüsüz, çöpü yere attılar. - Two uncouth (people) threw the trash on the ground.
By extension, nouns preceded by the question word kaç also must be in the singular:
Geziye kaç öğrenci gelecek? - How many students will attend the trip?
Kaç kişi var orada? - How many people are there?
You've probably heard that before, but did you know that there are exceptions to that rule too?
The names of well-known groups can be in the plural even if preceded by a numeral:
Pamuk Prenses ve Yedi Cüceler - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Üç Silahşörler - The Three Musketeers
Ali Baba ve Kırk Haramiler - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Place names can also ignore the rule:
Beşevler - a neighborhood in Bursa (lit. Five Houses)
Yedikızlar Camii - a mosque in Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria (lit. Seven Girls Mosque)
Quantifiers (Niceleyiciler)
A noun must be in the singular if it's quantified by:
1. an uncountable quantifier such as az (little), çok (a lot/many), azıcık (a tiny bit), bayağı (a lot), hiç (no/any), ne/bu/şu/o kadar/denli (how/this/that much);
İçine azıcık süt koydum. - I put a tiny bit of milk in it.
Tatlının içinde çok şeker var. - There's a lot of sugar in the dessert.
Bu kadar çikolatayla ne yapacağız? - What will we do with this much chocolate?
Yemeğine hiç tuz koymadım. - I didn't put any salt in your food. (double negative!!)
2. the quantifiers her (every) or değme (poetic/obsolete every);
Her gün duş alırım. - I shower every day.
Değme ağaç yemiş vermez. - Every tree doesn't bear fruit.
3. a compound quantifier which contains one or more of the quantifiers mentioned in (1) or (2):
Geziye birkaç öğrenci geldi. - A couple of students attended the trip.
Birçok kişi geri dönüşüm kutularını kullanmıyor. - Many people don't use the recycling bins.
Hiçbir birey başkalarının eylemlerinden sorumlu değildir. - No individual is responsible for the actions of others. (double negative!!)
A noun can either be singular or plural if quantified by tüm (all), bütün (all), birtakım (some kind of/a group of), bazı (some) and kimi (some).
Tüm/bütün + plural noun means all of plural noun:
Türkiye'deki tüm/bütün müzeler yenilenecek. - All museums in Türkiye will be renovated.
Tüm/bütün + singular noun (usually a group noun or a time segment) means the entirety of said group or time period:
Tüm/bütün sınıf geziye katıldı. - The entire class attended the trip.
Tüm/bütün gün bir yudum su içmedin. - You didn't have a sip of water the entire day.
Birtakım + plural noun means some kind of, while birtakım + singular noun means a group of. Both can be used with very slight semantic differences, but the plural form is more common:
Birtakım turistler anlamadığım bir dil konuşuyorlardı. - Some kind of tourists were speaking a language I didn't understand.
Bazı is usually followed by plural nouns, but it's also rarely used with singular ones:
Bazı doktor(lar) kötüdür. - Some doctors are bad.
Kimi can be followed by both plural and singular nouns with no semantic difference:
Kimi ilaç(lar) yan etki doğurabilir. - Some medications can cause side effects.
That was a mouthful. If you've taken your notes, we can move on to the last point.
Abnormal Plurals
Personal names and nouns of kinship can be pluralized, taking on the meaning said person + members of their household:
Ayşeler yarın bize gelecekler. - Ayşe and her household/family are coming over tomorrow.
Teyzemler Almanya’dan dönmüşler. - My maternal aunt and her household/family have (reportedly) returned from Germany.
Teyzelerim (my maternal aunts) and teyzemler (my maternal aunt and her household) should not be confused:
Teyzelerim annemden büyük. - My maternal aunts are older than my mother.
Quotes can be pluralized, obtaining the meaning many occurrences of the same or similar quote (this is mostly seen in colloquial speech):
Ali’nin öldüğünü duyduklarında “bilmiyorum”lar, “benim ilgim yok”lar, “nasıl yani”ler bitmek bilmedi. - When they heard that Ali died, (phrases like) “I don’t know”, “I don’t have anything to do with it”, and “Like, how?” didn’t end. An example to this can be found here;
Yeni kuşak ilişkilerde “canım”, “balım”, “aşkitom”ları sıkça duyuyoruz. - In new generation relationships, we often hear (phrases like) “my life”, “honey”, and “my love”.
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