Possession in English is dealt with in two ways: you can say “the Queen of England” or “England’s Queen”. In Turkish, both these would be translated in the same way: “İngiltere’nin kraliçesi”.
Unlike in the English “England’s Queen”, where only the person or thing doing the possessing is marked (with ‘s), in Turkish both the possessor and the possessed are marked.
Thus, İngiltere (England)+‘nin (‘s) kraliçe (Queen) + si (possession marker).
And if we are already talking about England, we can drop it:
Kraliçesi (its Queen)
Other possessive markers
There are other possessive markers for other persons – and all possessive markers follow vowel harmony. See our other articles on vowel harmony.
| Person | Word ending in consonant | Word ending in vowel |
| Benim (My) | Köpeğim (My dog) | Kedim (My cat) |
| Senin (Your) | Köpeğin (Your dog) | Kedin (Your cat) |
| Onun (His/her/its) Mert’in (Mert’s) |
Köpeği (His/her/its/Mert’s dog) | Kedisi (His/her/its/Mert’s cat) |
| Bizim (Our) | Köpeğimiz (Our dog) | Kedimiz (Our cat) |
| Sizin (Your plural/formal) | Köpeğiniz (Your dog) | Kediniz (Your cat) |
| Onların (Their)
Kayalar’ın (The Kaya family’s) |
Köpeği/Köpekleri (Their/The Kaya family’s dog – the latter only when the plural nature of the owners is being emphasised) | Kedisi/Kedileri (Their/The Kaya family’s cat – the latter only when the plural nature of the owners is being emphasised) |
As the usual meaning of köpekleri is “his/her/their dogs”, there is a general preference towards using köpeği when there are multiple owners except in situations where the singular nature of the possessed dog is already established.
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