Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 222
17.3.1.1 Group 1 possessive-marked postpositions with genitive
complements
The postpositions in this group usually form a genitive-possessive construction (14.4)
with their complement noun phrase.
(i) As in the case of noun phrases in general (14.3.3.3 (i)), dative case marking is
required where the postpositional phrase expresses the destination or target of an action:
(55) Küçük kız (ben-im) yan-ım-a geldi.
I-GEN side-1SG.POSS-DAT
‘The little girl came over to me.’
(56) Bu tabloyu kanepenin üstüne asalım.
‘Let’s hang this picture above the sofa.’
(ii) Location requires locative case marking (14.3.3.4):
(57) Dolab-ın arka-sın-da bir şey var mı?
cupboard-GEN back-3SG.POSS-LOC
‘Is there anything behind the cupboard?’
(iii) Motion from, out of or through a space requires ablative case marking (14.3.3.5 (i)):
(58) Kanepe-nin alt-ın-dan bir fare çıktı.
sofa-GEN bottom-3SG.POSS-ABL
‘A mouse ran out from under the sofa.’
(59) Arabayla parkın içinden geçilmez.
‘One can’t go through the park by car.’
17.3.1.2 Group 1 possessive-marked postpositions with non-case-marked
complements
There are various contexts which require the complement of a group 1 possessive-marked
postposition to be left in the non-case-marked form rather than being given genitive case
marking. These are all contexts in which the complement is 3rd person, and even if it is
plural (as in (67) and (68) below), the possessive marking on the postposition is always
3rd person singular.
(i) Contexts where the postposition is used in a non-physical sense, or with a
metaphorical meaning. (60)–(62) show various such uses of içinde ‘in’:
(60) Bütün bunları iki saat içinde mi yaptınız? (cf. (60) in Chapter 16)
‘Did you do all these in two hours?’
(61) Ter içinde kalmıştım.
‘I was covered in sweat.’
(62) Seyhan korku içinde kapıya hafifçe vurdu.
‘In a state of fear, Seyhan gently knocked on the door.’
Metaphorical uses of altın(d)a ‘under’ are also common:
(63) Bütün okullar Bakanlık’ın denetimi altına alındı.