Zürafanın boynu uzun.

The giraffe's neck is long.

Breakdown of Zürafanın boynu uzun.

• uzun: long
• boyun: the neck
• zürafa: the giraffe

Questions & Answers about Zürafanın boynu uzun.

Why does zürafa become zürafanın?

Because Turkish is showing possession.

The pattern here is:

• zürafa = giraffe
• zürafanın = of the giraffe / the giraffe’s

The ending -ın is the genitive ending. After a vowel, it usually appears as -nın / -nin / -nun / -nün, depending on vowel harmony.

So:

• zürafa
  • -nın → zürafanın

This tells you that the next noun belongs to the giraffe.

In this sentence, Turkish is literally structured like:

• zürafanın boynu = the giraffe’s neck

Why is it boynu and not just boyun?