Sessizlik saatlerinden önce çöp torbalarını topladık.

We collected the rubbish bags before the quiet hours.

Breakdown of Sessizlik saatlerinden önce çöp torbalarını topladık.

• önce: before
• toplamak: to collect
• sessizlik saatleri: quiet hours
• çöp torbası: a rubbish bag

Questions & Answers about Sessizlik saatlerinden önce çöp torbalarını topladık.

How do I break this sentence into parts?

A natural breakdown is:

• Sessizlik saatlerinden önce = before quiet hours
• çöp torbalarını = the trash bags
• topladık = we collected

So the Turkish word order is literally closer to:

• Before quiet hours the trash bags we-collected

That sounds unusual in English, but it is normal in Turkish.

Why is there no separate word for we?

Because Turkish often leaves the subject pronoun out when the verb already shows who is doing the action.

Here, topladık already means we collected:

• topla- = collect / gather
• -dı- = past tense
• -k = we

So biz is not necessary, though you could add it for emphasis:

• Biz çöp torbalarını topladık. = We collected the trash bags.

What exactly does topladık mean?