Onun adı aklıma gelmiyor.

Their name does not come to mind.

Breakdown of Onun adı aklıma gelmiyor.

• ad: the name
• o: he/she
• aklına gelmek: to come to mind

Questions & Answers about Onun adı aklıma gelmiyor.

Why is it onun adı and not just o adı?

Because onun is the genitive form of o and means his/her/its.

• o = he / she / it / that
• onun = his / her / its / that one’s

In Turkish, possession is often shown in two places:

• the possessor gets the genitive ending: onun
• the possessed noun gets a possessive ending: adı

So:

• onun adı = his/her name

Using o adı would not be correct here.

What exactly does adı mean, and why is it not just ad?

Ad means name.

Here, it becomes adı because it has the 3rd person possessive suffix, meaning his/her/its name.

So:

• ad = name
• adı = his/her/its name

This is part of the common Turkish possession pattern:

• benim adım = my name
• senin adın = your name
• onun adı = his/her name

So in this sentence, adı already includes the idea of his/her.