# Apostrophe placement



## Arabus

Hello,

_Vapurumuz Eminönü’nden her gün saat 10.35’te balkıyor. Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru’muz sırasıyla, Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa, Kanlıca, ... Rummeli Kavağı iskelelerinde duruyor ve Anadolu Kavağı son iskeledir.
_
​Why was the apostrophe placed this way _Vapuru’muz _instead of this way _Vapur'umuz_?

Is the word _Vapurumuz _different from _Vapuru’muz_? Or is it normal to alternate this way in the use of the apostrophe even in the same paragraph?

Why does the word _Eminönü’nden_ has _-ü-_? Is it part of the proper name? What does the name mean by the way?

Thanks,


​


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## Rallino

Vapur is a normal noun. When you give it a name and say: XYZ Vapuru, it's a genitive form, and the entire thing is now a proper name, and any further suffix will be added with an appostrophe.

In the context, the name of the boat is: *Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru*, any further suffix should come with an appostrophe.

If we wrote: Vapur'umuz, then it would mean that the name of the boat is: "Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapur", which doesn't mean much now that there is no genitive.

The same thing goes for the very common word "cumhuriyet" (republic)

"Türkiye Cumhuriyeti" is a proper name. The name itself has that "i". Now if you add any further suffix, they will be separated.

*Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'ne....* and not _Türkiye Cumhuriyet'ine_, as there is no such thing as 'Türkiye Cumhuriyet'

_Eminönü_ is the name of quarter in İstanbul. It's got the "ü" in it.


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## Arabus

Thank you.


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## CapnPrep

Rallino said:


> In the context, the name of the boat is: *Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru*, any further suffix should come with an appostrophe.
> 
> If we wrote: Vapur'umuz, then it would mean that the name of the boat is: "Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapur", which doesn't mean much now that there is no genitive.


What if, instead of *our* "Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru", one wanted to say *their *"Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru"? 

_*Vapur**ları*_? _*Vapur**'ları*_? With or without apostrophe?


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## Rallino

CapnPrep said:


> What if, instead of *our* "Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru", one wanted to say *their *"Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru"?
> 
> _*Vapur**ları*_? _*Vapur**'ları*_? With or without apostrophe?



It's always: "Onların Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru". Because there is one boat.

If they all possess a boat each, and consequently there are multiple boats, then it's not a proper noun anymore because it isn't unique. Therefore with small letters:

Onların özel boğaz gezisi vapurları...


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## Arabus

He's right to ask, because many lousy grammars on the web make you believe that _-leri_ is a plural of _-i_, whereas in fact _-i_ does not have a plural form.


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## CapnPrep

Arabus said:


> He's right to ask, because many lousy grammars on the web make you believe that _-leri_ is a plural of _-i_, whereas in fact _-i_ does not have a plural form.


They may be lousy for other reasons, but in this case I don't think they are wrong. In principle, without any context, _vapurları_ is the plural of _vapuru_, however you want to interpret that: many boats with one owner, one boat with many owners, or many boats with many owners.



Rallino said:


> It's always: "Onların Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapuru". Because there is one boat.


Thank you. If I understand correctly, in this case one would use _onlar_ explicitly in order to avoid the ambiguity above, and to preserve the form of the proper noun. My more general question is whether it is always possible/required to preserve the exact form of the name. For example, is it possible to call the captain of this boat _Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapur'*cu*_?

Or to take a simpler phrase, if the name is _İstanbul Üniversite*si*_, but for some reason we wanted to say "*our* Istanbul University"?


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## Rallino

CapnPrep said:


> Thank you. If I understand correctly, in this case one would use _onlar_ explicitly in order to avoid the ambiguity above, and to preserve the form of the proper noun. My more general question is whether it is always possible/required to preserve the exact form of the name. For example, is it possible to call the captain of this boat _Özel Boğaz Gezisi Vapur'*cu*_?
> 
> Or to take a simpler phrase, if the name is _İstanbul Üniversite*si*_, but for some reason we wanted to say "*our* Istanbul University"?




It sounds really awkward to say: "Bizim İstanbul Üniversitemiz" But theoretically, if we were to write it, I'm guesing that we shouldn't put appostrophy.


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