To be in Turkish:
To be is the easiest grammar structure in Turkish, which only needs two words to put them together: noun and adjective. For example:
Kalem yeşil Pen is green
Kalemler yeşil Pencils are green
You don’t see any suffix or change related to “to be” in the previous examples. BUT, this structure is only correct for the third-person-singular and the third-person-plural.
Generalizations in Turkish:
Anyways, there is also one more function of –dIr. In modern Turkish, it implies generalization.
Türkler tembeldir Turks are lazy
Kuşlar ufaktır Birds are little
Non-verbal Predicates (to be) Example:
Kampüste-y-im. * I am at the campus
Kampüste-sin You are at the campus
Kampüste-(dir) she at the campus
Plural Examples:
Kampüste-yiz We are at the campus
Kampüste-siniz You -formal- are at the campus
Kampüste-(dir)-ler They are at the campus
To be Examples:
Sürücü driver
Sürücü-yüm I am driver
Sürücü-sün You are driver
Sürücü-(dür) She is driver
Plural:
Sürücü-yüz
Sürücü-sünüz
Sürücü-(dür)-ler
Example Sentence:
Bunu ona söyleyen sensing. You are the one who told him this
Başarının nedeni biziz. We are the reason for this success
Evin sahibi Benin. I am the one who owns this house. or “I” own this house
The past tense of “to be” in Turkish
When talking about past, we use past tense of to be. Simple. But here, it’s a bit different. Because we are not talking about an action.
I was handsome
Yakışıklıydım
Let’s investigate this word, yakışıklıydım. this ‘m’ must be of ‘I’. y’ is the buffer letter. Yakışıklı, then, is the adjective: handsome. Past refer is given by the suffix –di. The same suffix, past tense suffix is also used when describing actions.
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