Turkish copula

Turkish language copulas, which are called as ek-eylem (Turkish pronunciation: [ec ˈej.lem]) or ek-fiil (Turkish pronunciation: [ec fiˈ.il]), both of which literally mean "suffix-verb", are one of the most distinct features of the Turkish grammar. Since Turkish is a highly agglutinative language, copulas are rendered as suffixes, albeit with a few exceptions.

Zero copula

Zero copula is the rule for third person, as in Hungarian and Russian. That means two nouns, or a noun and an adjective can be juxtaposed to make a sentence without using any copula. Third person plural might be indicated with the use of plural suffix "-lar/-ler".

Abbas yolcu	Abbas [is a] traveller.
Deniz mavi	Sea [is] blue
Kapılar ve camlar açık	Doors and windows [are] open
Asansör bozuk	Lift [is] broken
İşçiler üzgün	Workers [are] sad

To be (Olmak vs. İmek)

Turkish "to be" as regular/auxiliary verb (olmak) and "to be" as copula (imek) contrasts.

Auxiliary verb imek ("i-" is the root) shows its existence only through suffixes to predicates that can be nouns, adjectives or arguably conjugated verb stems, arguably being the only irregular verb in Turkish.

The missing forms of i- are supplied by ol-: the infinitive olmak is an example, since there is no infinitive *imek. An infinitive ermek appeared in ancient texts; its stem er- became the current i-.^[1]

The word "idir", a variation of "imek" indicates alethic modality, so is used for emphasis, or to prevent ambiguity. "İdir" is an enclitic word, and exhibits vowel harmony when used as a suffix. Therefore "Ali asker idir" turns into "Ali askerdir". In examples, emphasised word is written italic:

Abbas yolcudur	Abbas [is] traveller.
Deniz mavidir	Sea [is] blue
Kapılar ve camlar açıktır	Doors and windows [are] open
Asansör bozuktur	Lift [is] broken
İşçiler üzgün	Workers [are] sad

Negative copula

Negation is indicated by the negative copula değil. Değil is never used as a suffix, but it takes suffixes according to context.

Abbas yolcu değil	Abbas [is] not traveller.
Kapılar ve camlar açık değildir	Doors and windows [are] not open
Öğretmen değilim	I [am] not [a/the] teacher
Mutlu değilmişiz	[Apparently] we [were] not happy.

Personal copulas

A complete sentence is formed by the addition of a suffix to a noun or adjective as an instance of nonverbal person agreement, with the conjugate verb "imek" only implied. These suffixes are, in origin, personal pronouns and indicate grammatical person.^[1]

Past copulas

Alethic past tense is indiacted with "idi", another variation of "imek". It is enclitic and exhibits vowel harmony like "idir".

Inferential past tense is indicated with "imiş". It is enclitic and exhibits vowel harmony like "idir".

Conditional copulas

Conditional (hypothetical) mood is indiacted with "ise". It is enclitic and exhibits vowel harmony like "idir".

References