Learn Hardcore Turkish: Laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyorum. - I am preparing a small chemistry experiment in the laboratory.

In Turkish, meanings like in, at, on are usually expressed with case endings (-da / -de / -ta / -te) attached to the noun, not with separate prepositions as in English.

The form changes according to vowel harmony and consonant harmony:

evde – in the house
okulda – at school
masada – on the table
şehirde – in the city

Why is there no word like the in this sentence (for example “in the laboratory”, “the small chemistry experiment”)?

Turkish does not have a separate word for the definite article the.

Definiteness is expressed in other ways, mainly:

By context: people know which laboratory or experiment you mean.
By word order and emphasis.
By case endings on objects (especially the accusative -ı / -i / -u / -ü).

So laboratuvarda can mean in a laboratory or in the laboratory, depending on context. Similarly, küçük bir kimya deneyi is naturally understood as a small chemistry experiment (indefinite); to make it clearly the experiment, you would change the structure (see a later question on that).

What is the role of bir in küçük bir kimya deneyi?

Bir literally means one, but very often it functions as the English indefinite article a / an.

In küçük bir kimya deneyi:

küçük – small
bir – a / one
kimya deneyi – chemistry experiment

So the phrase means a small chemistry experiment (not a specific, already-known one).

If you remove bir here (küçük kimya deneyi), it starts to sound like a specific or previously known experiment, and then you would normally also mark it as definite with an accusative ending when it is an object (e.g. küçük kimya deneyini).

Why does bir come after küçük? In English we say “a small…”, not “small a…”.

In Turkish, with most descriptive adjectives, the usual order is:

adjective + bir + noun

So you get:

küçük bir ev – a small house
güzel bir fikir – a nice idea
zor bir soru – a difficult question

So küçük bir kimya deneyi is the standard, neutral order.

You can sometimes say bir küçük …, but that usually gives special emphasis or a more emotional/colloquial tone (something like one small… with extra focus), not the neutral description you have here.

What kind of structure is kimya deneyi? Why is kimya in front of deney?

Kimya deneyi is a noun–noun compound, often called an indefinite noun compound in Turkish.

Structure:

kimya – chemistry
deney – experiment
deney-i – experiment + 3rd person possessive ending -i

So kimya deneyi is literally something like experiment of chemistry → chemistry experiment.

In such compounds:

The first noun (kimya) modifies the second.
The second noun (deney) takes a possessive ending (-i, with a buffer consonant y → deney-i).
The first noun stays bare (no suffix).

Other examples:

kitap kapağı – book cover (kitap + kapak-ı)
araba anahtarı – car key (araba + anahtar-ı)

The word deneyi ends with -i. Is that the same -i as the accusative ending for direct objects?

In this sentence, no – the -i on deneyi is not the accusative; it is the 3rd person possessive ending that appears in noun–noun compounds.

deney – experiment
deney-i – its experiment / experiment-of-X → used in compounds like kimya deneyi (chemistry experiment)

So here the pattern is kimya deneyi (chemistry experiment), and that -i is “built into” the compound. It is part of the dictionary-like phrase, not specifically marking it as the object.

If you wanted to make kimya deneyi a definite object (the chemistry experiment), you would then add the accusative -nı / -ni / -nu / -nü on top of that:

kimya deneyini – the chemistry experiment (as a specific object)
- deney-i-ni = experiment + 3sg poss + accusative

In your sentence, küçük bir kimya deneyi is indefinite, so you do not add that extra accusative ending.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “I am preparing the small chemistry experiment” (a specific, known experiment)?

Then you would mark the object as definite with the accusative ending and usually drop bir:

Laboratuvarda küçük kimya deneyini hazırlıyorum.

Changes:

bir disappears (we are not talking about “a(ny)” one; it is specific).
deneyi → deneyini (adds the accusative -ni, making it “the chemistry experiment” as the direct object).

So:

küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyorum – I’m preparing a small chemistry experiment (non-specific).
küçük kimya deneyini hazırlıyorum – I’m preparing the small chemistry experiment (a particular one you and the listener know about).

How does hazırlıyorum show that the subject is “I” when there is no pronoun ben in the sentence?

In Turkish, the verb ending itself shows the person and number of the subject. So you normally omit subject pronouns unless you want emphasis.

Hazırlıyorum is built as:

hazırla- – verb stem (to prepare)
-yor- – present continuous marker
-um – 1st person singular ending (“I”)

Because -um already encodes I, you do not need ben:

(Ben) laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyorum.

Using ben is possible, but it adds emphasis, something like I (as opposed to someone else) am preparing….

What tense/aspect is hazırlıyorum, and how is it different from a simple present like “I prepare”?

Hazırlıyorum is in the present continuous tense (şimdiki zaman).

It describes an action happening right now or in the near future.
It corresponds to English “I am preparing…”.

Form:

hazırla- (prepare) + -yor (continuous) + -um (1st person singular) → hazırlıyorum

If you wanted the habitual / general present (“I prepare experiments (in general)”), you would use the aorist:

hazırlarım – I (generally) prepare

So:

Laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyorum. – I’m preparing a small chemistry experiment (now / around this time).
Laboratuvarda sık sık kimya deneyleri hazırlarım. – I often prepare chemistry experiments in the laboratory (habitually).

Why is the verb hazırlıyorum at the end of the sentence instead of after the subject, like in English?

Typical Turkish word order is:

Subject – (time/place) – object – verb

The verb normally comes at the end of the clause. In your sentence:

(implicit subject) ben – I
laboratuvarda – in the laboratory (place)
küçük bir kimya deneyi – a small chemistry experiment (object)
hazırlıyorum – am preparing (verb)

So the order is perfectly standard for Turkish. Putting the verb at the end is one of the most characteristic features of Turkish sentence structure.

Can I change the word order, for example Küçük bir kimya deneyi laboratuvarda hazırlıyorum? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the order somewhat, and Turkish uses word order mainly to indicate emphasis and information structure, not basic grammar roles.

Some possible variants:

Laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyorum.
– Neutral; slight emphasis on the place as the setting.
Küçük bir kimya deneyi laboratuvarda hazırlıyorum.
– Emphasizes where you are preparing the experiment (as opposed to somewhere else).
Küçük bir kimya deneyi ben laboratuvarda hazırlıyorum.
– Strong emphasis on I as the person doing it.

The core meaning (you are preparing a small chemistry experiment in the laboratory) stays the same, but the focus of the sentence shifts depending on what you put earlier in the sentence.

How would I say this sentence in the negative, or turn it into a yes/no question?

Negative

You negate the verb by inserting -ma / -me before -yor:

Laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlamıyorum.
– I am not preparing a small chemistry experiment in the laboratory.

Form: hazırla- + -ma- (negation) + -yor (continuous) + -um → hazırlamıyorum.

Yes/No question

You use the separate question particle mi / mı / mu / mü, which follows the verb (and takes vowel harmony):

Laboratuvarda küçük bir kimya deneyi hazırlıyor muyum?
– Am I preparing a small chemistry experiment in the laboratory?

Structure: hazırlıyor + mu (question) + yum (1st person ending written as part of muyum).