Patikanın kenarındaki küçük çiçekler yürüyüşümüze renk kattı.

Patikanın kenarındaki küçük çiçekler yürüyüşümüze renk kattı.
The tiny flowers along the trail added color to our walk.

Breakdown of Patikanın kenarındaki küçük çiçekler yürüyüşümüze renk kattı.

bizim
our
katmak
to add
yürüyüş
the walk
renk
the color
çiçek
the flower
-e
to
-nın
of
patika
the trail
kenar
the edge
küçük
tiny
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Questions & Answers about Patikanın kenarındaki küçük çiçekler yürüyüşümüze renk kattı.

What does the suffix -ındaki in patikanın kenarındaki indicate, and how is it formed?

The string -ındaki combines the locative -da (“at/on”) with the relative suffix -ki (“which is…”), so kenarındaki means “that is on the edge.” A rough breakdown:

  • patika
    • -nın (genitive) → patikanın (“of the path”)
  • kenar
    • -ı (possessive) → kenarı (“its edge”)
  • -nda (locative) → kenarında (“at its edge”)
  • -ki (relative) → kenarındaki (“that is at its edge”)
Why is the adjective küçük not inflected for case or number before çiçekler?
In Turkish, adjectives do not change form for number or case. They stay the same whether the noun is singular/plural or in any case. So küçük çiçek (“small flower”) and küçük çiçekler (“small flowers”) both keep küçük unchanged.
How is yürüyüşümüze formed, and what case does it represent?

yürüyüşümüze is the dative form (to/for) of yürüyüşümüz (“our walk”). The pieces are:

  1. yürüyüş (walk)
  2. -ümüz (1st person pl. possessive → “our”) → yürüyüşümüz
  3. -e (dative → “to/for”) → yürüyüşümüze (“to our walk”)
What case is renk, and why doesn’t it take the accusative suffix -i?
Here renk (“color”) is an indefinite direct object, so it stays in the bare (nominative) form. If you wanted a specific color—“the color”—you’d use rengi with accusative -i. But in the idiom renk katmak (“to add color/enliven”), renk remains unmarked.
What does the verb phrase renk kattı mean?
Literally renk (“color”) + kat­-tı (3rd person pst of katmak, “to add”) yields “added color.” Idiomatically, “they brightened/enlivened (something).” In this sentence, “the small flowers … added color to our walk.”
Why is the verb kattı in 3rd person singular even though çiçekler is plural?
Turkish verbs in past (and many other) tenses default to a single 3rd person singular ending (-DI), regardless of whether the subject is singular or plural. Adding -ler (kattılar) is possible but often omitted.
What is the typical word order here, and how does it compare to English?

Turkish prefers Subject – Indirect Object – Direct Object – Verb (S IO DO V).

  • Subject: Patikanın kenarındaki küçük çiçekler
  • Indirect Object: yürüyüşümüze
  • Direct Object: renk
  • Verb: kattı
    In English we say S V DO IO (“The small flowers … added color to our walk”), whereas in Turkish the verb comes last and the indirect object usually precedes the direct object.