Learn Hardcore Turkish: Kardeş çalışıyor.

Kardeş translates to “sibling” in English. It is a gender-neutral term, so it can refer to either a brother or a sister without specifying gender.

Why is there no article (like “the” or “a”) before kardeş in this sentence?

Turkish does not use articles the way English does. The absence of an article is typical in Turkish; context determines whether you would translate it as “the sibling” or simply “sibling.”

How is the present continuous tense formed in the verb çalışıyor?

The verb çalışmak (to work) forms its present continuous tense by taking the stem çalış- and adding the suffix -ıyor. This ending shows that the action is ongoing and that the subject is third person singular.

Can you explain the vowel harmony seen in çalışıyor?

Certainly! In Turkish, suffix vowels adjust to the vowels in the verb stem. Since çalış- includes the vowel ı, the suffix harmonizes by using -ıyor instead of another variant (like -iyor). This adherence to vowel harmony makes the pronunciation smooth.

How is subject-verb agreement expressed in the sentence?

Turkish is a pro-drop language, meaning that explicit subject pronouns are often omitted when the verb ending conveys the necessary information. In çalışıyor, the ending implies a third person singular subject, which matches the noun kardeş without needing an additional subject marker.

What is the typical word order in Turkish, based on this example?

The standard word order in Turkish is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). In Kardeş çalışıyor, the subject kardeş comes before the verb çalışıyor; if there were an object, it would be placed between the subject and the verb.