Existence and possession (var / yok)

Turkish uses two invariable words — var («exists / there is») and yok («does not exist / there isn't») — to express both existence and possession. They do not conjugate for person or number; instead, possession is shown by attaching a possessive suffix to the noun that names the thing owned. var and yok sit at the end of the clause, following the noun phrase they describe.

• Existence in a place. Use var or yok to state that something is or is not present somewhere: «Evde süt var.» (There is milk at home.)

• Possession. To say someone has or does not have something, attach the appropriate possessive suffix to the noun, then add var or yok: «Arabam var.» (I have a car.) The possessor is encoded in the suffix, not in a separate pronoun.

• Past time. Add the past-tense copula -dı / -di / -du / -dü (or -tı / -ti / -tu / -tü after voiceless consonants) directly to var or yok to give a past meaning: «vardı» (there was), «yoktu» (there wasn't).

For existence, the structure is simply: [location] + [noun] + var / yok. For possession, the possessive suffix is added to the noun before var or yok: [noun + possessive suffix] + var / yok. The possessive suffixes follow vowel harmony. The table below shows the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person singular forms using the noun araba (car) as an example.

For the past tense, attach the past copula directly to var or yok. Because var ends in a vowel, the suffix is -dı → vardı. Because yok ends in the voiceless consonant k, the suffix is -tu → yoktu.

• Calquing English «I have a car» with a subject pronoun.

  English marks the owner with a subject pronoun («I»). Turkish marks it with a suffix on the possessed noun. Saying ben bir araba var is not grammatical. The correct form is bir arabam var, where «-m» on «araba» carries the meaning «my».

• Using değil to negate existence or possession.

  «Değil» negates nominal and adjectival predicates («o öğrenci değil» — he is not a student). It does not negate existence or possession. For those, use yok directly. «Kitap değil» means «it is not a book»; «kitap yok» means «there is no book».

• Using olmak for the past instead of the copula on var / yok.

  Learners sometimes reach for «oldu» (the past of «olmak», to become / to be) to express past possession. This changes the meaning entirely. To say «I had a car», add the past copula to var: arabam vardı. «Araba oldu» means «it became a car», which is a completely different sentence.