English calls them pre*positions because they sit *in front of their noun: for you, with Ali, like a bird. Turkish has the mirror-image system — postpositions, which sit behind their noun: senin için (you for), Ali ile (Ali with), kuş gibi (bird like). English speakers spend months producing word-for-word calques with the adposition in front, which is not merely odd word order — it is ungrammatical, because a Turkish postposition needs a complement in front of it to attach to and to assign case to. This page fixes the ordering reflex and the case it controls.
Postpositions follow their noun
The core rule is blunt: in Turkish, the little relational word comes after the thing it relates to. için (for), ile (with), gibi (like), kadar (as … as / up to), göre (according to), sonra (after), önce (before), kadar, doğru (towards) — every single one of them trails its noun. Reverse the English order in your head: "for you" becomes "you for," "with Ali" becomes "Ali with."
Senin için bir hediye aldım.
I bought a present for you. (literally: you-for a present I-bought)
Ali ile sinemaya gittik.
We went to the cinema with Ali. (literally: Ali with)
Bir kuş gibi özgürüm.
I'm free like a bird. (literally: a bird like)
The classic A2 error is to keep the English order:
❌ İçin sen bir hediye aldım.
English order — the postposition 'için' must follow its noun, not precede it: Senin için.
✅ Senin için bir hediye aldım.
I bought a present for you.
❌ İle Ali sinemaya gittik.
English order — 'ile' (with) follows its noun: Ali ile.
✅ Ali ile sinemaya gittik.
We went to the cinema with Ali.
They are separate words (with one common exception)
Most postpositions are written as separate words after their noun: senin için, Ali gibi, bana göre. So don't try to suffix them on. The main exception is ile ("with"), which very often contracts into a suffixed -(y)lA — Ali ile becomes Ali'yle, araba ile becomes arabayla — but the full separate-word form ile is always correct and is what you should start from.
Arabayla geldim.
I came by car. (ile contracted onto araba → arabayla)
Seninle konuşmak istiyorum.
I want to talk with you. (senin + ile → seninle)
Each postposition selects a case on its complement
Getting the order right is only half the job. A Turkish postposition also governs the case of the noun in front of it — and the case is not free, it is fixed per postposition. Choose the wrong case and the phrase is still wrong even with perfect ordering. There are three patterns to memorize:
1. Genitive on pronouns — for için, gibi, kadar. With a personal pronoun, these take the genitive form (benim, senin, onun, bizim, sizin, onların). So "for me" is benim için, not ben için. (With an ordinary noun, these same postpositions take the bare, caseless form: Ali için, kuş gibi — the genitive only shows up on pronouns and on the third-person, where onun için / onun gibi are required.)
Bu benim için çok önemli.
This is very important for me. (genitive 'benim', not 'ben')
Senin kadar çalışmadım.
I didn't work as hard as you. (genitive 'senin' with 'kadar')
❌ Ben için bekle.
Wrong case — pronouns take the genitive before 'için': Benim için bekle.
✅ Benim için bekle.
Wait for me.
2. Dative — for göre. göre ("according to / in my opinion / compared to") always takes the dative suffix -(y)A on its complement: bana göre (according to me), Ali'ye göre (according to Ali), fiyata göre (compared to the price).
Bana göre bu film çok sıkıcıydı.
In my opinion, this film was very boring. (dative 'bana', not 'ben')
Hava durumuna göre yarın yağmur var.
According to the weather forecast, it'll rain tomorrow.
❌ Sen göre haklısın.
Wrong case — 'göre' demands the dative: Sana göre haklısın.
✅ Sana göre haklısın.
According to you, you're right.
3. Ablative — for sonra and önce with a noun. When sonra ("after") and önce ("before") take a noun complement, that noun goes in the ablative -DAn: dersten sonra (after the lesson), yemekten önce (before the meal). (After a bare time expression they can stand alone — bir saat sonra "an hour later" — but a noun complement needs the ablative.)
Dersten sonra buluşalım.
Let's meet after the lesson. (ablative 'dersten')
Yemekten önce ellerini yıka.
Wash your hands before the meal. (ablative 'yemekten')
Why English intuition misfires
English is a head-initial language: the preposition (the "head" of the phrase) comes first, and the noun follows it. Turkish is consistently head-final — the head comes last, whether that head is a verb (which ends the sentence), a postposition (which ends its phrase), or a possessed noun. So the postposition-final order is not a quirky exception; it is the same right-to-left logic that runs through all of Turkish syntax. And because English prepositions don't visibly mark the case of their object (we say "for me," but English barely inflects), learners forget that Turkish postpositions impose a specific, non-negotiable case. The two errors travel together: put the word first (English order) and you also tend to leave the complement caseless. Fix the order and the case at the same time.
Common mistakes
❌ Gibi sen olmak istiyorum.
English order — 'gibi' (like) follows its noun, with the genitive pronoun: Senin gibi olmak istiyorum.
✅ Senin gibi olmak istiyorum.
I want to be like you.
❌ Sonra ders buluşalım.
Two errors — 'sonra' follows its noun and takes the ablative: Dersten sonra buluşalım.
✅ Dersten sonra buluşalım.
Let's meet after the lesson.
❌ Ben göre bu yanlış.
Wrong order and case — 'göre' follows its noun in the dative: Bana göre bu yanlış.
✅ Bana göre bu yanlış.
In my opinion, this is wrong.
❌ Kadar sen yorgunum.
English order — 'kadar' follows the genitive pronoun: Senin kadar yorgunum.
✅ Senin kadar yorgunum.
I'm as tired as you.
❌ Için ne bunu yaptın?
Postposition-first calque of 'for what' — say 'ne için' (what for) or, more naturally, 'niçin/neden': Bunu ne için yaptın?
✅ Bunu ne için yaptın?
What did you do this for?
Key takeaways
- Turkish has postpositions, not prepositions: the relational word comes after its noun. Flip every English phrase end-to-end — "for you" → senin için.
- Most postpositions are separate words; only ile commonly contracts to -(y)lA (arabayla, seninle).
- Case is fixed per postposition: için / gibi / kadar → genitive on pronouns (benim için); göre → dative (bana göre); sonra / önce → ablative on a noun (dersten sonra).
- The two errors come as a pair — wrong order plus a caseless complement. Fix both together.
- It all flows from Turkish being head-final: postposition last, verb last, head last.
Now practice Turkish
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Postpositions, Not PrepositionsA2 — Turkish 'prepositions' come after the noun — and each one lexically demands a particular case on its complement.
- Postpositions with Bare/Genitive: için, gibi, kadarA2 — The four most common Turkish postpositions take a bare full noun but a genitive pronoun — drill this and you'll never say *ben için again.
- Dative Postpositions: göre, doğru, rağmen, kadarB1 — göre, doğru, rağmen, karşı and 'until' kadar all govern the dative -(y)A — so 'according to me' is bana göre, not the genitive 'benim göre' that the other postpositions would lead you to expect.
- Wrong Case (Especially Dative/Locative/Ablative)B1 — Why English prepositions lead you to the wrong Turkish case, and how to memorize verb-plus-case as a single unit.