Learn Hardcore Turkish: Tuzluk masada duruyor. - The salt shaker is on the table.

tuzluk means salt shaker. It’s formed from the noun tuz (salt) plus the noun-forming suffix -luk, which turns “salt” into “the thing for salt.”

Why is there no article like “the” or “a” before tuzluk?

Turkish does not use definite or indefinite articles. Nouns stand alone, and whether you mean “a” or “the” is usually clear from context.

What does the suffix -da do in masada?

The suffix -da marks the locative case, indicating location. masada literally means “on the table.”

How does vowel harmony affect the form of -da in masada?

Turkish vowel harmony requires the suffix vowel to match the last vowel of the word. Since masa ends in “a” (a back vowel), the locative appears as -da rather than -de.

What does duruyor mean here?

duruyor is the third-person singular present continuous of durmak, literally “to stand.” In this sentence it means “is standing” or “is located.”

Why isn’t the subject pronoun (he/she/it) used in duruyor?

Turkish is a pro-drop language. The verb ending -yor plus the zero-suffix for 3rd person singular already tells you it’s “he/she/it,” so you omit the pronoun o.

Is the word order of tuzluk masada duruyor fixed?

Turkish generally follows Subject-Object-Verb order. Here we have Subject (tuzluk) + Adverbial of place (masada) + Verb (duruyor), which is the normal pattern for indicating location.

How would you say “the salt shaker is standing on top of the table” more explicitly?

You could say tuzluk masanın üstünde duruyor, where masanın is the genitive form of masa (with -nın) and üstünde means “on top of.”