Word
Elli kişi geldi.
Meaning
Fifty people came.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
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Questions & Answers about Elli kişi geldi.
Why is kişi singular here? Why not kişiler?
After numbers in Turkish, the noun usually stays in the singular.
- elli kişi = fifty people
- üç kitap = three books
- on öğrenci = ten students
So kişiler would normally not be used after elli.
This is different from English, where we say fifty people with a plural noun.
Why is the verb geldi singular? Why not geldiler?
In Turkish, when the subject is a number expression like elli kişi, the verb is very often kept in 3rd person singular.
- Elli kişi geldi. = natural, standard
- Elli kişi geldiler. = generally not preferred in standard Turkish
So even though the meaning is plural, Turkish commonly uses a singular verb with counted groups.
What exactly is kişi? Is it the same as insan?