ile (with, by, and) explained

Generally speaking ile in Turkish is the English equivalent of with, but it also functions as by and and as well.

So ile has one to many relationship with the English prepositions with, by, and and.

Here are some examples that illustrate the different uses of ile:

• with: Ali ile sinemaya gittim. (I went to the cinema with Ali.)
• by: Okula otobüs ile geldim.( I came to school by bus.)
• and: Ayşe ile Ali geldi. (Ayşe and Ali came.)

You know which preposition it refers to from the context and mostly by getting used to.

ile can be used as a separately next to a word, or can be attached to the last word in a sentence. When added as a suffix it follows the rule below.

Examples

….by car → arabayla

….with my friend → benim arkadaşımla

Samuel and Jackson….. → Samuel ile Jackson…

Apple and banana…. → elma ile muz

….by train → trenle

….by taxi → taksiyle

When you do something using a tool or an instument ile is also used as in the examples below.

...with/using telefon → telefonla…

...with/using anahtar → anahtarla…

...using money → parayla…

Thanks for reading!

Written by

Abbas Abdelila

@abbasabdelila