Dative case in Turkish

The dative case is formed by adding the ''-e, -a'' suffixes to the end of the noun. The word that should be in the dative case can be found as an answer to the questions 'neye?' (to what?), 'kime?' (to whom?) and 'nereye?' (to where?) will lead to find a dative case in a sentence. There are many different uses for the dative case.

Usage of the Dative

The dative is used in the following 4 cases:

1. indicating a direction
2. indicating how an action is done
3. indicating the time
4. indicating a purpose

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Ayşe Y.

Göksu A.

Buse M.

Burak Y.

Esra G.

Dilara K.

Bahar C.

Sinem T.

Hatice I.

Binnur A.

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1. Indication of a direction

The dative form is used to indicate the direction or place of an action or where an action is directed to. The noun in the dative case can be found as an answer to the questions ‘nereye?’ (to where?) and ‘kime?’ (to whom?) The indirect object of a verb can be found as an answer to the question 'kime?' (to whom?)

Example dialogues

Example with 'Nereye' (to where)

• Nereye gideceksin? Where do you go to?
• Okula gideceğim. I will go to school. 

Example with 'Kime' (to whom)

• Kime aldım? To whom did you buy the book? / Who did you buy the book for?
• Arkadaşıma kitap aldım. I bought a book to my friend.

2. Indicating how an action is done

 The dative case can be found as an answer to the question ‘nasıl?’ (how?) Also the dative form reports a situation and shows how the action of the verb is done.

Example dialogues

• Bu sorunu nasıl çözebiliriz? How can we solve this problem?

• Bu sorunu kafa kafaya çözebiliriz. We can solve this problem face to face.

3. Indication of the time

 The dative form indicates the time and has a meaning of -e kadar (until). It can be found as an answer to the question ‘ne zaman?’ (when?)

Example dialogues

• Ödevin ne zaman bitecek? When will your homework be finished?
• Ödevim yarına kadar bitecek. My homework will be finished (untill) tomorrow.

4. Indication of a purpose

The dative form also indicates a purpose and forms a reason.

Example dialogues

Example for 'purpose' (amaç)

• Ne için hazırlanıyor? What is she preparing for?
• Partiye gitmek için hazırlanıyor. She is preparing for the party.

Example for 'reason' (sebep)

• Bu gezi rehberini ne için aldın? What did you buy this travel guide for?
• Türkiye'ye seyehat edeceğim. I will travel to Turkey.

Declension of nouns in the dative form

Change the suffix of the noun to '-a' or '-e' when the last vowel is one of the following ‘-a, -ı, -o, -u, -e, -i. -ö. -ü’.

Examples

• Okul (school) + a: Okula
• Defter (notebook) + e : Deftere
• Çoban (shepherd) + a: Çobana

 Pronouns with the dative case

The dative case changes the structures of the pronouns ben (i) and sen (you).

• Ben + e = Bana (not ‘bene’)
• Sen+ e = Sana (not ‘sene’)