# Accusative vs Nominative ?



## Cet

Merhabalar! 

I'm just starting to learn Turkish, and I was wondering if you guys could help me with this. My Turkish tutor wants to learn a little Spanish, and I wanted to tell her "I brought my Spanish book" the next time we meet. I'm a little unsure about my suffixes though.

My attempt: İspanyonca kitabımı getirtim.

Are those two suffixes ("ımı") correct there? Yardımınız için teşekkürler!


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## Rallino

İspanyo*l*ca kitabımı getir*d*im.

It's correct


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## Cet

Çok teşekküler! 

I understand the _-ım_, but I’m never sure when to attach _-(y)_ı. I used it to mark the direct object in that sentence, but I also see direct objects without it all the time, like _Ali televizyon seyrediyor_. Do you normally use the accusative case with the verb _getirmek_?


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## Rallino

You know, in turkish we don't have the articles. In English you could say: "I saw the dog" and everyone would understand that you guys had been looking for a particular dog. Or you could say "I saw a dog", and people would think that some unknown dog had run past you.

Since we don't have the articles in Turkish, the accusative saves the day.
You can say: "Kitap getirdim", and I understand that you brought me some book, any book, so that I can read something.

Or, you can say: "Kitabı getirdim", and everyone will know that there is a book that you and I are aware of, and that you finally brought it.

_Ali televizyon seyrediyor._

I think in English we don't say: _I am watching *the* television. _We say: _I am watching TV._ - Without the definite article: *the*.

You can, it is true, say: "Ali bu televizyonu seyrediyor."
When you want to make sure that there is no misunderstanding, that Ali is watching particulary this TV and not the one over there.

In some languages like German and Hungarian, if a verb takes accusative, it takes accusative no matter what.

Well in Turkish, we don't just live by such a rule; we use accusative when there is a need for it.

You can say: "Kitap okuyorum", which actually equates to "Bir kitap okuyorum." where you can leave out the *bir, *since by the lack of accusative, we understand very well that it's not an _afore-mentioned_ book.

And you can very well say: "Kitabı okuyorum", with which, you mean you are actually reading the book that your uncle gave you just before he left.

In your example: _İspanyolca kitabımı getirdim_.
You are defining the book by saying "my book". You can't be talking about "some" book and then mentioning that it is actually your book. That possession meaning, makes it definite.

You could say: _İspanyolca kitabı getirdim
_Where you mean that you brought some "spanish book".

If a verb takes accusative, know that it can also be used without accusative, depending on the situation. But as a crude rule we can say that: If you add the possession, you have to use accusative.




I hope this helps.


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## Cet

Rallino said:


> I hope this helps.


 
Immensely! Thanks so much.  The concept makes a lot of sense now, just have to practice it. Can I try this once?

_Televizyon seyrediyorum._ I'm watching TV.
_En çok sevilen televizyon programımı seyrediyorum. _I'm watching my favorite TV program..? 

Really unsure about that sentence, but I hope it made some sense. I'm always nervous trying out sentences that I haven't patterned off of the ones in my book.


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## Rallino

Nice try =)

En çok sevilen = the most favourite.

It doesn't mean: "*my* favourite". So you can't add the possession.

En çok sevilen televizyon programı = The most favourite TV program

When you add the accusative, you have th add the buffer *n.
*
En çok sevilen televizyon programı*n*ı seyrediyorum.

My favourite = En sevdiğim. (lit. that I like the most)

..._that I like the most_, is a relative clause. In Turkish, you add the -diği to the verb root. Then the possession.

Sevmek --> Sev-
Sev + diği --> Sevdiği
Ben*im *sevdiği*m*.
Senin*in *sevdiği*n
*O*nun* sevdiği
Biz*im* sevdiği*miz
*Siz*in *sevdiği*niz

*En sevdiğim televizyon programımı seyrediyorum.


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## Cet

Rallino said:


> Nice try =)
> 
> En çok sevilen = the most favourite.
> 
> It doesn't mean: "*my* favourite". So you can't add the possession.
> 
> En çok sevilen televizyon programı = The most favourite TV program
> 
> When you add the accusative, you have th add the buffer *n.*
> 
> En çok sevilen televizyon programı*n*ı seyrediyorum.
> 
> My favourite = En sevdiğim. (lit. that I like the most)
> 
> ..._that I like the most_, is a relative clause. In Turkish, you add the -diği to the verb root. Then the possession.
> 
> Sevmek --> Sev-
> Sev + diği --> Sevdiği
> Ben*im *sevdiği*m*.
> Senin*in *sevdiği*n*
> O*nun* sevdiği
> Biz*im* sevdiği*miz*
> Siz*in *sevdiği*niz*
> 
> En sevdiğim televizyon programımı seyrediyorum.


 
Çok teşekkürler! Can't thank you enough for the help.  At least I got the _programımı_ part...this is great though. I need all the practice and corrections I can get.  I need to copy and paste your explanations so I can save them now...


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## macrotis

Rallino, you're a gifted teacher. WTG!


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## Rallino

macrotis said:


> Rallino, you're a gifted teacher. WTG!



Haha thanks mate =)


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