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Questions & Answers about On arkadaş geliyor.
What does the numeral On mean in this sentence?
In Turkish, On is the numeral for ten. It indicates a quantity of 10, so when combined with arkadaş, it means “ten friends.”
Why isn’t the noun arkadaş pluralized (i.e., arkadaşlar) even though we are talking about ten friends?
In Turkish, when a numeral specifies a quantity, the noun remains in its singular form. The numeral on already indicates plurality, so adding a plural suffix isn’t necessary.
Why is the verb geliyor in the singular form even though it refers to ten friends?
Turkish verb conjugation does not mark plurality in the present continuous tense. Even though the subject is plural (ten friends), the verb geliyor remains in the third person singular form.
How is the present continuous tense formed in geliyor?
The verb geliyor comes from the root gel- (to come) with the suffix -iyor added to indicate the ongoing or continuous nature of an action. The result is the present continuous form meaning “is coming.”
What is the overall structure or word order of the sentence On arkadaş geliyor?
The sentence follows a typical Turkish structure where the subject comes first followed by the predicate. Here, on arkadaş (ten friends) is the subject and geliyor (is coming) is the verb. Even though Turkish is generally SOV (Subject-Object-Verb), in intransitive sentences like this the noun phrase directly precedes the verb.