Tablo duvarda asılı.

to be

Breakdown of Tablo duvarda asılı.

• duvar: the wall
• tablo: the painting
• -da: on

Questions & Answers about Tablo duvarda asılı.

Why is there no word for is in this sentence?

In Turkish, the present-tense to be is often left unspoken in the 3rd person singular.

So Tablo duvarda asılı naturally means The painting is hanging on the wall even though there is no separate word for is.

You can add -dır for a more formal, written, or emphatic tone:

Tablo duvarda asılıdır.

But in normal everyday Turkish, leaving it out is more common.

What does duvarda mean, and what does -da do?

duvarda = duvar + -da

• duvar = wall
• -da = the locative ending, meaning something like in / at / on

So duvarda means on the wall here.

This ending changes form according to vowel harmony and consonant voicing:

• evde = in the house
• okulda = at school
• parkta = in the park

In this sentence, English uses on, but Turkish uses the locative ending.

Why is it duvarda, not duvara?