PERSIAN GRAMMATICAL ELEMENTS

IN OTTOMAN

A synopsis

1
Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………… 3
§1. Persian in relation to Arabic and Ottoman ………………………………………… 4
§2. The Persian izafet-construction ……………………………………………………. 6
§2.1. The genitival phrase …………………………………………………….. 6
§2.2. The attributive phrase …………………………………………………… 6
§2.3. Izafet series ………………………………………………………………. 7
§2.4. Gender and number agreement in the izafet-construction ……………….. 7
§2.5. Orthographic conventions ………………………………………………… 7
§3. The Persian infinitive, the present and past verbal stem …………………………… 8
§3.1 The infinitive ………………………………………………………………. 8
§3.2. The past stem ……………………………………………………………. 8
§3.3. The present stem ………………………………………………………… 8
§4. The Persian participles …………………………………………………………….. 9
§4.1. The present participle ………………………………………………….. 9
§4.2. The past participle ………………………………………………………. 9
§4.3. The future participle ……………………………………………………. 9
§5. Word-forming elements in Persian ……………………………………………….. 10
§5. The Persian pronouns and finite verbal forms ……………………………………. 12
§6. Persian prepositions ………………………………………………………………. 13
§7. The Persian plural ………………………………………………………………… 14
§8. The Persian conjunction ki ………………………………………………………. 14
Sources……………………………………………………………………………….. 15

2
Introduction

The purpose of this synopsis is to facilitate the learning of the Ottoman Turkish language by offering
the learner a synoptical overview of those elements of the Persian language that he or she is likely to
encounter while studying with a textbook. It is mainly focused on two grammar points which are most
prominent in Ottoman: on the so called izafet-construction (a genitival or appositional type of noun-
adjective or noun-noun phrase untypical of Turkish left-branching syntax, but abundantly employed in
Ottoman and other languages with a strong Persian influence, e. g. Urdu) and on word-formation.
Persian compound word make up lot of Ottoman vocabulary, especially in the vocabulary of Divan-
poetry. The leaner can of course always consult the dictionary while reading texts as compound words
are usually listed as separate entries, yet reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition can be
effectively facilitated by learning the most common formative elements and understanding their
underlying grammatical form. I have benefited from the exhaustive lists of Persian formative elements
provided by Buğday, Kissling and Develi. The formative elements have been rearranged according to
function or semantic field and supplemented with information on the underlying verbal form, which
should facilitate the learning process.

This synopsis (Persian grammatical elements in Ottoman) is part of a series of upcoming Ottoman
Turkish language learning materials (on Ottoman script, Arabic grammatical elements in Ottoman,
Turkic grammatical elements in Ottoman, Divan-poetry vocabulary worksheets, Ottoman metrics …)
which is intended to supplement the basic study with a textbook by giving the learner a synoptic, to-
the-point overview of certain aspects of the Ottoman language.

Blaž Božič

Ljubljana,
30th December 2021

3
§1 Persian in Relation to Arabic and Ottoman

Persian is an Indo-European language and differs grammatically from Turkish (a member of

the Turkic language family), the core language layer of Ottoman, and Arabic (a member of the Semitic
language family).
Arguably the most prominent Persian grammatical elements in Ottoman are the izafet-
construction and the various word-forming elements (which are based on the verbal stems and
participles). Furthermore, Persian acted as a major link in the incorporation of Arabic elements into
Ottoman Turkish. The first chapter will give a general overview of arabisms and their rendering in
Persian and, in turn, Ottoman. The focus will on the orthographic and phonetical level of all three
languages in relation to each other.

In order to better understand the rendering of Arabic and Persian words, the vowel inventories of
Arabic, Persian and Ottoman will be presented below.

1. Originally, Classical Arabic (7th century AD onward) had three long /ā/, /ī/, /ū/ and three short
/a/, /i/ and /u/ vowel phonemes.
2. The New Persian (10-11th century AD onward) vowel inventory consists of 6 vowel
phonemes, three of which are traditionally termed “long” (/ɒ/ /u/ /i/, transcribed <ā>, <ū>
and <ī> respectively), while the other ones are termed “short” (/æ/ /e/ /o/, transcribed <a>,
<e> and <o> respectively). Early Modern Persian inherited from Middle Persian two more
long vowels, ē and ō,1 which eventually merged to ī and ū respectively in Western Persian.
3. The Ottoman Turkish vowel inventory consists of 9 vowels, which can be classified according
to the following three oppositions: a) front (palatal) : back (velar), b) open : closed and c)
rounded : unrounded:

unrounded rounded
open closed open closed
front e i (ė) ö ü
back a ı o u

Arabic loanwords have been adapted in Ottoman mainly via Persian and that process have undergone
certain changes. It should be noted that the orthographic representation of words of Arabic and Persian
origin in Ottoman is, by convention, the same as in the respective source languages, while the
pronunciation differs in some respects. The following survey should give a synoptical survey of
important points on the pronunciation and transcription of Arabic and Persian words in Ottoman,
focusing on the relation between the languages on the orthographic and phonetic level.

Vowels:

1. In loanwords from Arabic to Persian, the Arabic long vowels /ā/, /ī/ and /ū/ were equated with
the three Persian “long” vowels /ɒ/ /u/ and /i/. Both Arabic and Persian long vowels are and
represented in script by the signs <‫( >ﻮ< >ﻯ< >ﺍ‬in transcription: <ā>, <ī> and <ū>)
respectively.2 By convention, those “long vowels” are orthographically represented in the
same manner (<‫ )>ﻮ< >ﻯ< >ﺍ‬in Ottoman. As vowel lengths can occur in Turkish only
secondarily, is likely that those long vowels were by default pronounced short, but also had a
sort of “learned” pronunciation with the long vowels actually being pronounced long, as
educated speakers where aware of the correct pronunciation. In Ottoman, “long” vowels of
native Persian words behave the same was as Arabic ones. One can equate the vowels in the
following manner:

1
Termed majhul “foreign” in Arabic as they were foreign to the Arabic system and couldn’t be equated to any of
the Arabic vowels. They were usually written with <‫ >ﻯ‬and <‫>ﻮ‬.
2
The Persian so-called majhul-vowels /ē/ and /ō/ were represented by <‫ >ﻯ‬and <‫ >ﻮ‬respectively and later
merged with /ī/ and /ū/ in Western Persian. They are still preserved in Eastern Persian (Dari) and Kurdish.

4
 Arabic Persian Ottoman
<ā> /a:/ <ā> /ɒ/ <ā> /a/
<ī> /i:/ <ī> /i/ <ī> /i/
<ū> /u:/ <ū> /u/ <ū> /u/

2. In loanwords from Arabic to Persian, the Arabic short vowels were equated with the Persian
“short” vowels, i.e., Arabic /a/ /i/ and /u/ > Persian /a/, /e/ and /o/. These vowels are either not
represented in script or represented by means of the ḥarekāt-diacritics.3 However, in Ottoman,
we see a split of the short vowel series into front (palatal) and back (velar) ones, depending on
their consonantal environment. The vowel colour is usually, but not always, predictable from
this environment (based on the kalın-ince distinction,4 where ince-environment more often
yields a front (palatal) vowel, a kalın-environment more often a back (velar) vowel. The
following chart should make the equations clear:

Arabic Persian Ottoman

< َ‫ > ـ‬/a/ < َ‫ > ـ‬/æ/ < ‫ > َـ‬/a/
< َ‫ > ـ‬/e/

< َ‫ > ـ‬/i/ َ‫ـ‬

< > /e/ <َ‫ > ـ‬/i/

<َ‫ > ـ‬/ı/

< َ‫ > ـ‬/u/ < َ‫ > ـ‬/o/ < َ‫ > ـ‬/u/, rarely /o/

< َ‫ > ـ‬/ü/, rarely /ö/

Consonants:

1. In Persian (and in turn Ottoman), the Arabic dental fricatives [θ] < ‫ > ﺙ‬and [ð] < ‫ > ﺫ‬are
pronounced [s] and [z] respectively (and should be as transcribed <s̠ > and <z̠> according to
the İA transcription standard).
2. In Persian, the pharyngealized Arabic consonants (which are alien to the Persian phonetic
system) have been assimilated to their nearest counterpart, cf. ṣ > s, ẓ and ż > z, ṭ > t. This
yielded a number of – from the viewpoint of Persian – “superfluous” consonantal graphemes.
The orthography has been taken over into Ottoman, which retains the Persian pronunciation
but uses the superfluous graphemes to indicate the quality of the vowels in native Turkish
words.5
3. In Persian, as in native Turkish words, we find a number of consonants not present in Arabic.
4. The Arabic consonant /ʿ/ <‫ >ﻉ‬is dropped word-initially in Persian and in Ottoman. Medially
between vowels, it is realized as a glide or glottal stop in Persian and as a secondary
lengthening when it follows that vowels and precedes a consonant (cf. baʿd [ba:d] “after”). In
Ottoman, the /ʿ/ is usually realized (as a glottal stop) only between vowels of the same kind
(şiʿir, fiʿil, saʿat …).

3
The diacritics being üstün (fatḥa, Arabic /a/, Persian /æ/), kesre (kasra, Arabic /i/, Persian /e/) and ötre
(ḍamma, Arabic /u/, Persian /o/).
4
Kalın-consonants are ḥ, ḫ, ṣ, ẓ, ż, ṭ, ġ and ḳ, their ince-counterparts being h, s, z, ẕ, t, g, and k. Additionally, but
without pair, the consonant /ʿ/ counts as a kalın-consonant. All other consonants can be considered neutral but
generally function as ince (they retain the front articulation of the vowel).
5
Even in vocalized texts, this doesn't fully eliminate ambiguity though: an ötre-diacritic in a kalın-consonantal
environment, can be, for example, read either as /u/ or /o/.

5
§2. The izafet-construction

The Persian izafet-construction (Pers. eẓāfe < Arab. iḍāfa “junction”, “annexation”) is a
morphosyntactic construction in which two lexemes (most often noun + noun or noun + adjective) are
linked into 1) a genitival (noun + noun) or 2) an attributive phrase (noun + adjective or noun + noun)
by means of the enclitic particle -(y)i/ı/ü/u.6 Generally, only words of Persian origin (incl. Persian
words of ultimately Arabic origin) can be joined into the izafet7

The izafet-construction represents a right-branching morphosyntactic element, quite foreign to the

otherwise strongly left-branching Turkish language (cf. the Turkish lose genitive Belġrād ḳalʿesi vs.
the izafet ḳalʿe-i Belġrad)

§2.1 The genitival phrase

The basic pattern of a genitival phrase is NOUN-(y)i/ı/ü/u NOUN

The genitival phrase links two nouns in a relationship where the second noun modifies/limits the first
one in some way8, cf.

nāḳilān-ı ās̠ ār “transmitters of the works” (ās̠ ār < pl. of es̠ er)
muḥāṣara-i Ḳonsṭanṭinīye “siege of Constantinople”
rāh-ı necāt “the path of ecape”

§2.2 The attributive phrase

The basic pattern of the attributive phrase is NOUN-(y)i/ı/ü/u ADJECTIVE

The attributive phrase links an adjective with the noun it modifies. In Persian, unlike Turkish, the
attributive adjective follows rather than precedes the noun, cf.

şāʿir-i meşhur “famous poet”

ḥadīs-i şerīf “the noble hadith”
evrāk-ı maṭbūʿa “printed pages”

► As a subtype of the attributive phrase one could consider the type NOUN-(y)i/ı/ü/u
PROPER NOUN, as in:

vilayet-i Ṭuna “The Danube vilayet”

cāmiʿ-i Ayaṣofya “The Hagia Sophia mosque”
nehr-i Dicle “the river Tigris”

6
In the predominantly non-vocalized Ottoman texts this particle is usually not indicated and must be induced
from the context. In vocalized texts and in some environments where it is indicated, the izafet can be marked in a
number of ways further discussed below in this section. The basic form of the particle with four allomorphs
(i/ı/ü/u) implies the functioning of labial vowel harmony, which in Ottoman shifted from a tendency to a rule
probably as late as the 18th century. The issue of labial harmony is a complex one; at this stage of one should be
therefore best advised to just focus on consistency in transcription (I use the one employed in Buğday 2009 with
labial-harmonic allomorphs. Alternative transcriptions include indicating only one form (-i) or indicating only
the palatal allomorphs (-i/ı).
7
There are some exceptions to this rule, namely the so-called famous mistakes (ġalatāt-i meşhūre) which
include words of Turkish origin and have been widely used, cf. izafets with the words donanma “fleet”, sancaḳ
“banner” etc.
8
Cf. constructions with the English preposition of or the French de.

6
► The izafet construction functions as a lexical unity and is embedded into the syntax of the sentence
by means of Turkish case suffixes cf. the izafet in the locative case:

vilayet-i Ṭuna’da “In the Danube vilayet”

☼ There are some common Modern Turkish adjectives which are izafets in their origin: aynı
“same” (< ʿayn-ı), bazı “some” (<baʿż-ı) and gayri “other, outside, not” (< ġayr-i)

§2.3 Izafet series

As izafets behave as lexical unities, they can be used as a member of another (extended) izafet. While
the series can be, theoretically speaking, extended without limits, izafets of more than three members
(at least four members = two izafets) are generally not considered good style.9

Simple extensions of the izafet (3 members = 1 izafet + 1 noun or adjective) are nevertheless quite
often encountered, e.g.:

bülbül-i bāġ-ı feṣāḥet “The nightingale of the garden of eloquence”

§2.4 Gender and number agreement in the izafet-constructions

In the context of the izafet, one can observe gender and number agreement. This is a feature of Arabic
grammar and concerns Arabic substantives and adjectives. If, for instance, an Arabic adjective follows
an Arabic substantive, they must agree in gender:

mīsāḳ-i millī-(ø) “national oath”, mīsāḳ = masc.

devlet-i ʿalī-ye “the sublime (=Ottoman) state, devlet = fem.

As this topic is also concerned with Arabic morphology, it will be dealt with in detail in the grammar
sheet on Arabic elements in Ottoman.

§2.5 Orthographic conventions

In the overwhelming majority of cases, the izafet construction is not represented graphically in the text
and must be induced from the context. As the (y)i/ı/ü/u linking particle is a vocal element, it is
nevertheless shown in vocalized texts (as well as in some other instances). The following table shows
the possibilities of writing this particle and the conventions regarding its transcription.

Ending of the first Indication in Transcription

element10 Ottoman script
1. -C# ‫ﹺ‬,ø -i/-ı/-u/-ü
2. -‫ﻩ‬# (‫ = ﻩ‬C) ‫ﹺ‬,ø -i/-ı/-u/-ü
3. -‫ﻩ‬# (‫ = ﻩ‬V) ‫ﻩﺀ‬ -i/-ı or -yi/-yı
4. -‫ﺍ‬#,-‫ﻭ‬# ‫ﻯ‬ -yi/-yı
5. -‫ﻯ‬# ‫ﺉ‬ -yi/-yı

1. If the first element ends in a consonant, the izafet is represented by either by a kesre or not at all (the
latter is more often the case).
2. If the first element ends in he, and the he indicates a consonant, i. e. /h/, the same rule applies as for
all other consonantal endings (see above).

9
Although izafet series/izafets with multiple members were, for example, highly popular in the 17th/18th century
“Indian style” current in divan poetry.
10
Since the context is an indication of a general rule, Arabic letters are represented in their isolated form.

7
3. If the first element ends in he, and the he indicates a vowel, i. e. /e/ or /a/ of Persian word (e.g.:
ḫāne, būşe …) the izafet is represented by a hemze over the he (also in non-vocalized texts).
4. If the first element ends in elif /ā/ of vāv /ū/ the izafet is represented by a ye.

In transcription, the particle -(y)i/ı/ü/u is always written with a hyphen.

§3. The Persian infinitive, the present and the past verbal stem

3. 1. The infinitive

The infinitive of Persian verbs ends in -den/-ten (cf. reften “to go”, dīden “to see”) or
īden/īsten (cf. bārīden “to rain”, dānisten “to know”). The infinitive is also the dictionary form of the
verb.
When employed as such, the Persian infinitive in Ottoman usually functions as a substantive,
similarly to the Turkish -mak/mek (cf. ker-den = ėtmek).

3.2. The past stem

The past stem is formed regularly by removing the -en part of the suffix of the infinitive, cf.

reften “to go” > reft-

dīden “to see” > dīd-
besten “to tie” > bend-

Bare past stems form compound words with nouns, e. g. ḳalʿe-bend “locked in a fortress” (< benden
“to tie”).

3.3. The present stem

Unfortunately, the present stem cannot be conveniently derived from the infinitive (cf. inf.
bürden > present stem ber- “to carry”) and must thus be learned.
There are some general patterns by which one can predict the form of the present stem, although there
must be taken as tendencies and not firm rules.
For the sake of a better overview (and usage in §5), we will divide the patterns into provisional
categories: The pattern type: inf. āver-den ʽto bring ʼ> present stem aver- shall be termed “regular”,
while the type inf. dīden > present stem bīn- (supplementary stem) shall be termed “irregular”. Apart
from those, there are some smaller groups of verbs for which some rules can be established:

a) Infinitives which end in -īden (and thus form the past stem in -īd) form the present stem by
removing the element -īd from the past stem cf. bārīden > past stem bārīd-, present stem
bār- (termed: pattern -īd > ø)
b) In the past stem ends in -ḫt-, the present stem sometimes shows a substitution of -ḫt- with -
z-, cf. sūḫten “to ignite” > past stem sūḫt-, present stem sūz- (termed: pattern -ḫt- > -z-)
c) Some verbs whose past stem ends in -ūd form the present stem in -ā, cf. efzūden
“increase” > pret. stem efzūd, pres. stem efzā

The importance of the present stems of Persian verbs is that they frequently form compound words
with nouns (even more frequently than the past stem!)

8
§4. The Persian Participles

Arguably the most important Persian verbal elements in Ottoman are the participles. Many of the
compound word-forming suffixes, which form a great deal of the lexical stock in Ottoman, especially
poetry (and will be dealt with in §5) are participles in their origin. Persian has three types of
participles: present, past and future. The present participle is formed from the present stem, whereas
both the past and the future participle are formed from the past stem.

§4.1 The present participle

The present participle is formed by means of three different suffixes, -ā, -ān or -ende, which are
attached to the present stem.

a) The participle in -ende can be used substantively and adjectivally:

küşten “to kill” > pres. stem küş- (reg. pattern) > ptcp. pres. küş-ende “killing, deadly,
murderer”
güften “to speak” > pres. stem gū(y)- (irr. pattern) > ptcp. pres. gūy-ende “saying, speaker,
singer”
nevīşten “to write” > pres. stem. nevīş- (reg. pattern) > ptcp. pres. nevīş-ende “writing,
author”

b) The participle in -ān can function as an adjective or adverb:

reften “to go” > pres. stem rev- (pattern -f > -v) > ptcp. pres. rev-ān “going, flowing”
cüsten “to seek” > pres. stem. cū(y)- (irr. pattern) > ptcp. pres. cūy-ān “seeking, wishing”
kerdan “to do” > pres. stem kün- (irr. pattern) > ptcp. pres. kün-ān “doing”

c) The participle in -ā can function as an adjective or adverb as well:

güften “to speak” > pres. stem gū(y)- (irr. pattern) > ptcp. pres. gūyā “saying, allegedly”
dānisten “to know” > pres. stem dān- (reg. pattern) > ptcp. pres. dānā “knowing, wise”

It is clear from those examples that the same verb can sometimes form more than one type of the
present participle, cf. güften > gūyende, gūyā, but at the same time not all verbs form all of the present
participles.

§4.2 The past participle

This participle is formed by means of the suffix -e, attached to the past stem of the verb. It can usually
be equated with the Turkish -miş/mış participle. We encounter it very often in Ottoman (cf. güfte
“said” or “that which has been said” as well as in compounds, cf. “sevdā-zede” “struck by
melancholy”).

reften “to go” > pret. stem reft- > past ptcp. reft-e “gone”
dīden “to see” > pret. stem dīd- > past ptcp. dīd-e “seen”
dāden “to give” > pret. stem dād- > past ptcp. dād-e “given”
besten “to bind” > pret. stem best- > past ptcp. best-e “bound”
mürden “to die” > pret. stem mürd- > past ptcp. mürde-e „dead“

§4.3. The future participle

The future participle is formed by adding the suffix -enī to the past stem. It carries a necessitative
sense:

9
 dīden “to see” > pret. stem dīd- > ptcp. fut. dīdenī “what there is to see, things worth seeing.
fürūḫten “to sell” > pret. stem fürūḫt- > ptcp. fut. fürūḫtenī “saleable, for sell”

§5. Word-forming Elements in Persian

Persian features numerous word-forming elements (lexical elements and various affixes). It is
of importance to be familiar with the most common of these elements as it facilitates vocabulary
acquisition.
This list (including the examples) is based mainly on Buğday and supplemented with material
from Kissling and Develi.
While Buğday arranged the elements according to their grammatical features (e. g. “suffixes
which are originally present stems of verbs”), I have arranged them thematically according either to
their meaning or their function, which should facilitate learning/memorizing.11
In footnotes, I have added information on the form, the corresponding infinitive, the
derivational pattern and eventual variants. The symbol (p) means that the formative element is
originally the present stem of the verb, the symbol (pt) that it is a past stem, the symbol (oth) that it is
of other origin.
Nota bene: These elements can be attached both to Persian root lexemes and to Arabic ones. In
transcription, members of compound words are usually, but not always, written with a hyphen
between them (cf. cihān-nümā).

a) “Performing”

-kār /-gār /-ger “doing”, cf. günah-kār “sinner”(p)12

-bān /-vān “producing”, looking after”, “profession”, bāġ-bān “gardener”, şutur-bān
(oth) “camel-driver” (oth)
-efzā / -efzūd “increasing”, “enhancing”, cf. behcet-efzā “joy-enhancing” (p/pt)13

b) “Shining”, “illuminating”, “adorning”

-ārā (-ārāy) “adorning, adorner”, cf. dil-ārā “heart-adorner”, cihān-ārā “world-adorner,

Creator” (p)14
-efrūz “burning, illuminating”, cf. meclis-efrūz “banquet-illuminating” (p)15
-nümā / -nümūn “showing”, cf. cihān-nümā “world-revealing” rāh-nümūn “who shows the
way, guide” (p)16
-sūz “burning”, cf. dil-sūz, “heart-inflaming, tragic” (p)17
-tāb “shinning, illuminating”, cf. cihān-tāb “world-illuminating” (p)18

c) “Scattering”, “putting forth”

-efşān “scattering”, cf. gül-efşān “scattering roses” (p)19

-endāz “throwing”, cf. tīr-endāz “bolt/arrow thrower”, göz-endāz “throwing eyes”20

11
The reader will notice that these fields are sometimes not well defined or include elements that could be
included elsewhere as well. It should be noted that this arrangement is in no way meant to represent a
(linguistically) accurate division but merely a learning aid.
12
< inf. kerdan “to do” (reg. pattern)
13
< inf. efzūden “to increase” (efzā = pres. stem, efzūd = pret. stem, var. füzūd, pattern -ūd > ā)
14
< inf. ārāsten “to adorn” (reg. pattern)
15
< inf. efrūḫten “to illuminate, ignite” (pattern -ḫt- > -z-)
16
< inf. nümūden “to show, manifest” (nümā = pres. stem, nümūd = pret. stem, pattern -ūd > ā)
17
< inf. sūḫten “to burn”, (pattern -ḫt- > -z)
18
< inf. tābīden “to illuminate” (pattern -īd > ø)
19
< inf. efşanden “to scatter” (var. feşanden)
20
< inf. endāḫten “to throw” (pattern -ḫt- > -z)

10
-bār “pouring forth, raining” suḫen-ı dürer-bār “pearl-scattering speech” (p)21
-efrāz “lifting” cf. ser-erfrāz “lifting the head” > “proud” (p)22

d) Suffixes forming nomina loci

-dān (1) “containing”, cf. nemek-dan “salt container” gülāb-dān “rosewater-

container” (oth)
-gāh “place” cf. iḳāmet-gāh “residence, resting place”, ziyaret-gāh “place of
pilgrimage” (oth)
-ḫāne “house”, cf. ḫasta-ḫāne “hospital” (oth)
-istān 1) “land, province”, when the root is an ethnonym, cf. Hind-istān “India” 2)
otherwise a general location cf. seng-istān “stony country”, gül-istān “rose
garden”, kabr-istān “cemetery”, or 3) a time/season, cf. zem-istān “winter”,
bahār-istān “springtime”, tāb-istān “summertime” (oth)
-nāme “a place where something is written”, e. g. ruz-nāme “dairy”, mukavel-nāme
“contract” (oth)
-penāh “asylum, refuge”, cf. ʿalem-penāh “asylum of the world = Sultan” (p)23
-şen “place of”, cf. gül-şen “rose-garden”
-zār “a place where a thing abounds”, cf. lāle-zār “tulip-bed, tulip-garden”,
ḫarabe-zār “place full of ruins”, ruh-zār “cheek”, merġ-zār “pasture” (oth)

e) Suffixes and prefixes denoting possession

-āver “brining” “carrying”, cf. peyām-āver “news-bringing” (p)24

-ber “carrying, bringing” dil-ber “heart-carrier” (p)25
-dār “having, possessing”, ṭaraf-dār “partisan, follower” (p)26
hem- “having part of”, cf. hem-fikir “like-minded”
-mend “possessing, provided with”, cf. dāniş-mend »wise, learned«
-nāk “having an abundance, loaded with”, cf. ġam-nāk “disconsolate, melancholy”
-vār “having, possessing”, cf. ümid-vār “having hope, hopeful” (oth)
-ver “possessing, cf. tāc-ver “crowned, having a crown” (oth)
-zāde “being born of”, cf. asıl-zāde “nobleman, of noble heritage” (oth)

f) Suffixes and prefixes denoting likeness or comparison

-veş “being like”, cf. şaḫ-veş “like a king” (oth)

-vārī “being as/like” cf. ḫāç-vārī “cruciform” (oth)
-āsā “being like, like” cf. cennet-āsā ”like paradise” (oth)
gayrı- “not, outside” gayrı-mümkün “impossible”, gayrı-müslim “not muslim” (oth)
-āne “like, in manner of” cf. şah-āne “kingly, royal” (oth)

g) Suffixes with a “passive” sense

-bend “tied”, cf. ḳāʿle-bend „tied up in a fortress, prisoner” (pt)27

-bū(y) “fragrant with, having the scent of”, cf. ʿanberbū(y) “having the scent of
amber” (p)28

21
< inf. barīden “to rain”, “to pour” (pattern -īd > ø)
22
< inf. efraḫten / efraşten “to lift”
23
< inf. penāhīden “to take refuge” (pattern -īd > ø)
24
< inf. āverden “to bing” (reg. pattern)
25
< inf. bürden “to carry” (irr. pattern)
26
< inf. dāşten “to have“ (irr. pattern)
27
< inf. besten “to tie”
28
< inf. būyīden “to have the scent of” (pattern -īd > ø)

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-ālūd “stained with« cf. ḫūn-ālūd “stained with blood”, ḫᵂāb-ālūd “stained with
sleep” (pt)29

h) Miscellaneous

-bāz “playing with” cf. cān-bāz »playing with life, acrobat« (p)30
-āram “calming” cf. dil-āram “heart-calming”, “lover” (p)31
-perver “nourishing”, cf. rūḥ-perver “soul-nourishing, nourisher of the soul” (p)32
-bīn “seeing, sighted” dūr-bīn “foresight, telescope” (p)33
-ī abstractum formed of an adjective (oth)34
-bī privative suffix, “without” cf. bī-vefā “unfaithful” (oth)
-bāz/vāz “re-”, cf. bāz-geşt “return”, > vāzgeçmek “to renounce” (oth)

§6. The Persian pronouns and finite verbal forms

The Persian pronouns are:

Singular Plural
1. men 1. mā
2. tü/tū 2. şümā
3. ū35 3. işān36

The 2nd person pl. şümā functions as a polite form of address. The pronouns can appear as the second
element of an izafet-construction indicating possession, cf. ümid-i mā “our hope”.

Persian finite verbal forms do not nearly occur as often as non-finite forms (participles, bare stems).

The present tense is formed from the present stem, cf. dīden “to see” > bīn (irr. pattern), which
is prefixed with the present marker mī- and conjugated in the following manner:

1. pers. sg mī-bin-em 1. pers. pl. mī-bin-īm

2. pers. sg. mī-bin-ī 2. pers. pl. mī-bin-īd
3. pers. sg. mī-bin-ed 3. pers. pl. mī-bin-end

☼ The verb is negated with the prefix ne-, cf. ne-mī-bin-em, ne-mī-bin-ī etc.

29
< inf. alūden (pres. stem = ālāy-)
30
< inf. baḫten “to play” (pattern -ḫt- > -z-)
31
< inf. ārāmīden “to calm” (pattern -īd > ø)
32
< inf. perverden “to nourish” (reg. pattern)
33
< inf. dīden “to see” (irr. pattern)
34
Rarely of substantives.
35
A For the third person singular the demonstrative ān “that one” can also be used. The form ū can be
substituted for vey.
36
For the third person plural the demonstrative īn “this one” can also be used. Generally, the pronoun işān can be
substituted with the plural of the demonstrative 3. pers. sg. ānhā (plural of ān).

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 The past tense is formed from the past stem, cf. dīden > dīd, which is conjugated with the
same personal endings as the present tense, with the exception in the 3rd person singular (cf. present
tense mī-bin-ed vs. past tense dīd-ø)

1. pers. sg dīd-em 1. pers. pl. dīd-īm

2. pers. sg. dīd-ī 2. pers. pl. dīd-īd
3. pers. sg. dīd-ø 3. pers. pl. dīd-end

☼ The verb is negated with the prefix ne-, cf. ne-dīd-em, ne-dīd-ī etc.

§7. Persian prepositions

The following chart gives an overview of the most common Persian prepositions in Ottoman. It is
based on Buğday and supplemented with examples of native Turkish grammatical equivalents of the
prepositions.

Preposition Meaning Example of usage Turkish

equivalent
ez (poetic variant: ze) “of, from, out of” Functions as the -dan/den (abl.
Turkish ablative, cf. ez case)
derūn-ı şehr “from
outside the city”, pīş ez
nāhār “before lunch”
bā “with” Also used as a word -ile, le/la -in/ın
forming prefix, cf. bā- (instrumental
ṣulḥ “with peace, postposition/bound
peacefully” morphemes)
ber “on, according to, as” In fixed expressions, as üzere
ber-ṭaraf “aside, out of
the way”, also in
derivatives of verbs
ber-firāz “increasing,
enhancing”.
be “with, to” a dative-like function, -(y)a/(y)e (dat.
indicating direction cf. case)
be-men “to me”
bī “without” Frequently functions as -siz/sız
a Px in word formation,
eg. bī-vefa “unfaithful”
tā “to”, “unto”, “until” As reposition usually in -(y)a/(y)e ḳadar
combination with be,
e.g. tā be-seḥer “until
dawn”, tā oraya ḳadar
gitdük “we went all the
way up to there”
der “in”, “within”, Used frequently in titles içinde, -da/-de
“among”, “by”, with words as beyān (locative case)
“concerning” “explanation”, sitāyiş
“praise” etc. with the
meaning
“concerning”/”on”

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In addition, we find a number of so-called “inauthentic prepositions”. These are nouns in their origin
and function as the first member of an izafet-construction. This list is based on Buğday as well:

Noun Original meaning Preposition Prepositional

meaning
ser “head” ser-i “on”, “over”
rū(y) “face” rūy-i “on”
bālā “high” bālā-yi “above” “on”
zīr “under part”, zīr-i “under”
“bottom”
pīş “front” pīş-i “in front of”,
püşt “back” püşt-i “behind”
pehlū “side” pehlū-yi “beside”
nezd “immediate nezd-i “at, near, by”
vicinity”
derūn “inside part” derūn-i “inside of”
bīrūn “outside part” bīrūn-i “outside of”

§7 The Persian plural

There are two plural endings in Persian, -ān and -hā. Nouns that designate human beings take the
ending -ān:

naḳıl “bearer of a traditions” > pl. naḳılān

Vocalic stems form this plural either with the buffer consonant -g- (vocalic hemze stems, e.g.: ḫoca >
ḫocagān) or -y- (all other vocalic stems, e.g.: rāvī “narrator” > rāvīyān).

Nouns that designate things and animals take the ending -hā:

esb “horse” > pl. esbhā

ejder “dragon” > pl. ejderhā

☼ Some plural forms have been lexicalized and function as singulars in Ottoman (müslim-ān-lar)

§8 The Persian conjunction ki

The Persian conjunction ki can be use either as a true conjunction (meaning “because” or “that” in
reported speech) or as a relative pronoun in relative clauses.

☼The similarly sounding Turkish interrogative pronoun kim is often used in the same way, cf.

ḳanġı naḳāş kim ol dāyire-i ḥüsnüñden

noḳṭa taṣvīr ide üstād-ı cihāndur bilürem
(Şeyḫi)

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Sources

Buğday, Korkut. The Routledge Introduction to Literary Ottoman. London/New York: Routledge,
2009.
Develi, Hayati. Osmanlı Türkçesi Grameri 2. Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi, 2013.
Kissling, Hans Joachim. Osmanisch-Türkische Grammatik. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasowitz, 1960.
Andrews, Walter G. et al. Ottoman Lyrics Poetry. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

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