Sekreter bu sabah müdürden daha erken geldi ve telefonları cevapladı.

(English: “The secretary arrived earlier than the manager this morning and answered the phones.”)

Breakdown of Sekreter bu sabah müdürden daha erken geldi ve telefonları cevapladı.

• bu: this
• gelmek: to come
• ve: and
• sabah: the morning
• telefon: the phone
• müdür: the manager
• sekreter: the secretary
• daha erken: earlier

Questions & Answers about Sekreter bu sabah müdürden daha erken geldi ve telefonları cevapladı.

What does müdürden mean, and why is it in the ablative case in this sentence?

Müdürden comes from müdür (meaning director) combined with the ablative suffix -den. In Turkish, when making comparisons with daha (more), the noun you’re comparing against is put in the ablative case to indicate the standard of comparison. Thus, müdürden means "than the director."

How is the comparative form daha erken constructed here, and how does it differ from English comparatives?

In Turkish, you form comparatives by placing daha (more) before the adjective or adverb without modifying the adjective itself. So erken (early) becomes daha erken to mean "earlier." Unlike English, where adjectives often change form (early → earlier), Turkish simply adds daha while keeping the original form.

Why isn’t the subject repeated in the second clause after ve?

Turkish allows for the omission of a repeated subject in coordinated clauses as long as it remains clear who is performing the actions. In this sentence, the first clause identifies sekreter (secretary) as the subject, and since the same secretary also cevapladı (answered) the phones, it isn’t necessary to mention the subject again in the second clause.

What does telefonları cevapladı mean, and how is the plural form indicated?

Telefonları cevapladı translates to "answered the phones." The word telefonları is formed by taking telefon (telephone), adding the plural suffix -lar, and then a definite marker -ı, which indicates that specific phones are meant. Cevapladı is the simple past tense of cevaplamak (to answer).

What role does the time expression bu sabah play in the sentence?

Bu sabah means "this morning" and functions as a time adverbial, setting the temporal context for the action. In Turkish, time expressions are typically placed early in the sentence—often right after the subject—which helps establish when the event occurred before moving on to describe the actions.