Learn Hardcore Turkish: Dün gece mutfakta yemek yaptım. - Last night, I cooked food in the kitchen.

“Dün” means yesterday and “gece” means night. When combined as “Dün gece,” they form the common expression “last night.” In Turkish, it’s typical to specify time details at the beginning of the sentence.

How is the location expressed in the sentence?

The word “mutfak” means kitchen and the suffix “-ta” (which can also appear as “-te” depending on vowel harmony) is added to form “mutfakta.” This locative suffix indicates “in the kitchen.”

Why does “yemek yaptım” translate as “I cooked” instead of “I did food”?

Although “yemek” literally means food or meal, the phrase “yemek yapmak” is an idiomatic expression in Turkish that means “to cook.” Thus, “yemek yaptım” is naturally understood as “I cooked.”

Why is the subject “I” not explicitly mentioned in the sentence?

Turkish is a pro-drop language, which means that subject pronouns are commonly omitted when the verb conjugation makes the subject clear. Here, the ending “-dım” in “yaptım” indicates the first-person singular, so the subject “I” is understood without being stated.

What is the word order of this sentence and does it follow a typical Turkish structure?