Küçük kutu masada duruyor.

Küçük kutu masada duruyor.
The small box is on the table.

Breakdown of Küçük kutu masada duruyor.

küçük
small
masa
the table
-da
on
kutu
the box
durmak
to stand
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Questions & Answers about Küçük kutu masada duruyor.

Why isn’t there an English article like a or the before küçük kutu?

Turkish does not have separate words for a/an or the. To mark indefiniteness you use bir, but it’s optional when context is clear.

  • küçük bir kutu = “a small box.”
  • küçük kutu can mean “the small box” (if both speaker and listener know which box) or simply “small box” in a descriptive sense.
Why does küçük come before kutu, and why doesn’t it change form?

In Turkish, adjectives always precede the noun they modify and remain invariant—they do not take case, number, or gender endings.

  • küçük (small) + kutu (box) = küçük kutu
What case is masada, and what does the suffix -da mean?

masada is in the locative case, formed by adding -da/-de to a noun to express “at,” “in,” or “on.”

  • masa = “table”
  • -da = “on/at/in”
  • masada = “on the table.”
Why is it -da and not -de in masada?
Turkish follows vowel harmony. The last vowel of masa is a, so you use -da (not -de). If the noun ended in e or i, you would pick -de instead.
How is the tense and person shown in duruyor?

duruyor is the present continuous of durmak (“to stand, to be standing”). It’s built as:

  1. Root: dur-
  2. Continuous suffix (harmony): -uyor (because u in root → u in suffix)
  3. Third-person-singular zero ending: no extra suffix
    So duruyor = “(he/she/it) is standing.”
Why is there no pronoun like o (“he/she/it”) in the sentence?
Turkish is a pro-drop language: verb endings carry person information, so pronouns are usually omitted unless you need emphasis or clarity. Here, duruyor already implies third-person.
What’s the basic word order in Küçük kutu masada duruyor? Can I change it?

The unmarked Turkish order is Subject – (Object) – Place/Time – Verb (S-(O)-PTV). Here:

  • Subject: küçük kutu
  • Place: masada
  • Verb: duruyor
    You can re-order for emphasis:
  • Masada küçük kutu duruyor. (Emphasize on the table)
  • Duruyor masada küçük kutu. (Highly marked, poetic)
If I want to say “there is a small box on the table,” would I use duruyor?

No. Turkish uses var for existential statements:

  • Masada küçük bir kutu var. = “There is a small box on the table.”
    Using duruyor emphasizes the box’s upright/static position, not merely its existence.
How would I make it plural—“small boxes are on the table”?
  1. Pluralize the noun: kutu → kutular
  2. Verb agreement (optional in speech): add -lar for third-person plural
    Result:
    • Küçük kutular masada duruyorlar.
      You can also omit -lar on the verb:
    • Küçük kutular masada duruyor.