There is no definite article in Turkish, but definiteness of the object is implied when the accusative ending is used (see below). Turkish nouns decline by taking case endings. There are six noun cases in Turkish, with all the endings following vowel harmony (shown in the table using the shorthand superscript notation). Since the postposition "ile" often gets suffixed onto the noun, some analyze it as an instrumental case, although it takes the genitive with personal pronouns, singular demonstratives, and interrogative "kim". The plural marker "-ler" ² immediately follows the noun before any case or other affixes (e.g. "köylerin" "of the villages").