Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

‘I’ve heard [that Zeki has had an accident]. [His having an accident] will upset
all the plans.’
(d) in the opening sentence of a conversation, or a sentence in which the speaker
introduces a new topic of discussion:
(80) Ayşe, [benim şimdi çıkmam] gerekiyor.
‘Ayşe, I’ve got to go out now.’
(81) [Sizlerin yazın Amerika’ya gideceğiniz] doğru mu?
‘Is it true [that you will be going to America in the summer]?
(iii) Usage of genitive-marked pronouns as modifiers of possessive noun phrases:
The referent of a 3rd person genitive-marked pronoun is always someone/ something
other than the subject of the clause. For example, in both of the examples below onun
‘his/her’ indicates a person other than Semra:
(82) Semra on-un anahtar-lar-ın-ı kaybet-miş.
Semra s/he-GEN key-PL-3SG.POSS-ACC lose-PF/EV
‘Apparently Semra lost his/her keys.’
(83) Semra Elif’e onun anahtarlarını vermiş. (cf. (15))
‘Semra gave Elif her/his keys.’ (her/his=Elif or any person other than Semra)
If it is intended that the possessive-marked noun phrase refer to the subject within the
same clause (i.e. Semra in (84)), then onun is omitted. In such cases the possessive suffix
can refer to any 3rd person in the clause or to some previously mentioned person:
(84) Semra anahtarlarını kaybetmiş.
‘Apparently Semra lost her keys.’ (most likely intended meaning: her=Semra)
(85) Semra Elif’e anahtarlarını vermiş. (cf. (15))
‘Apparently Semra gave Elif her/his keys.’ (most likely intended meanings:
her=Semra or Elif)
A genitive-marked pronoun is used in the following circumstances:
(a) when the possessed entity is compared with something else:
(86) Burası bizim evimizden daha sıcak.
‘It’s warmer here than [in] our house.’
(87) Zeki’nin arabası evin önündeymiş. SeNİN arabanı garaja soktum.
‘Zeki’s car is in front of the house. I put your car in the garage.’
(b) when the possessor is focused:
Pronouns 243
(88) Ahmet bugün çok sevinçli. Öğretmen en çok oNUN yazısın beğenmiş.
‘Ahmet is very happy today. It seems the teacher liked his essay best.’
(c) in the opening sentence of a conversation, or a sentence in which the speaker
introduces a new topic of discussion:
(89) Ayşe, benim anahtarım nerede?
‘Ayşe, where’s my key?’