Adjectives from Nouns

Turkish builds many adjectives from nouns with suffixes. The most useful pair is -lI (with, having) and -sIz (without, -less). Both start with a consonant, so the noun never softens: renk → renkli, kitap → kitapsız.

The Suffix -li / -lı / -lu / -lü ("with", "having"):

This suffix shows that something has the thing named by the noun. It follows 4-way (I-type) vowel harmony.

• şeker (sugar) → şekerli (with sugar) – şekerli çay (tea with sugar)
• süt (milk) → sütlü (with milk) – sütlü kahve (coffee with milk)
• akıl (mind, reason) → akıllı (clever) – akıllı çocuk (clever child)
• güç (power) → güçlü (strong) – güçlü adam (strong man)
• tuz (salt) → tuzlu (salty) – tuzlu yemek (salty food)
• ev (home) → evli (married) – an idiomatic meaning worth memorising

Origin: with place names, -lI means "from": İstanbullu (from Istanbul), Ankaralı, İzmirli. No apostrophe is used before this suffix.

The Suffix -siz / -sız / -suz / -süz ("without", "-less"):

This suffix shows that something is missing. It also follows 4-way vowel harmony.

• şeker → şekersiz – şekersiz kahve (coffee without sugar)
• ev → evsiz – evsiz insanlar (homeless people)
• para → parasız – parasız kaldım (I ran out of money); also "free of charge"
• tat → tatsız – tatsız yemek (tasteless food)
• iş → işsiz – işsiz genç (unemployed young person)
• tuz → tuzsuz – tuzsuz tereyağı (unsalted butter)

Other Useful Suffixes:

• -lIk mostly makes nouns (göz → gözlük glasses, tuz → tuzluk salt shaker), but also adjectives of time, capacity or purpose: günlük (daily), haftalık (weekly), yıllık (yearly), iki kişilik oda (double room), kışlık mont (winter coat)
• -CI (-cı, -ci, -cu, -cü; ç after a voiceless consonant) mostly makes job nouns (süt → sütçü milkman, balık → balıkçı fisherman, kitap → kitapçı bookseller), but also describes habits: şakacı (playful), kavgacı (quarrelsome), inatçı (stubborn)
• -sAl (2-way harmony) forms more formal adjectives: bilimsel (scientific), toplumsal (social), tarihsel (historical)

Common Mistakes:

• ✗ şekerlı → ✓ şekerli (last vowel e → -li)
• ✗ kitapcı → ✓ kitapçı (c → ç after p)
• ✗ İstanbul'lu → ✓ İstanbullu (no apostrophe before derivational suffixes)