Table 2.
Turkish suffixes, their English translation equivalents, and their meanings
| Turkish | Alternations | English | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| –lIk | lık/lik/luk/lük | –ness | iyi–iyilik/good–goodness | Added to nouns or adjectives to make abstract nouns. |
| –sIz | sız/siz/suz/süz | –less | ümit–ümitsiz/hope–hopeless | Added to nouns to form adjectives. |
| –CA | ca/ce/ça/çe | –ish | çocuk–çocukça; Türk– Türkçe / child–childish; Turk–Turkish | Added to nouns to create adjectives, describing actions or attitudes. It also creates nouns, adjectives or adverbs denoting a language from nouns of nationality. |
| –CI |
cı/ci/cu/cü/ çı/çi/çu/çü |
–er | iş––işçi; içki––içkici / work––worker; drink––drinker | Added to nouns to form nouns indicating a person associated with a profession or indicating a person engaged in a particular activity. |
| –lI | lı/li/lu/lü/ | –ful | dikkat––dikkatli/ care––careful | Added to nouns or adjectives to make nouns or adjectives which denote (1) possessing the object or quality indicated by the basic word, (2) possessing the object or quality in a high degree, (3) belonging to a place or institution. |
| –GI | gı/gi/gu/gü/ kı/ki/ku/kü | –ion, –menta | bil––bilgi; sor––sorgu / know––knowledge; inquire–– inquisition | Added to verbs to form nouns. |
aThere is no direct equivalent of –GI suffix in English. Therefore, these are some translation options