Taksi ile yolculuğum yarım saatte bitti.

Taksi ile yolculuğum yarım saatte bitti.
(My journey by taxi took half an hour.)
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Questions & Answers about Taksi ile yolculuğum yarım saatte bitti.

Why is there no article before taksi?
Turkish does not have indefinite articles like a or an. A bare noun like taksi can mean either “a taxi” or “the taxi” depending on context. If you want to say “my taxi,” you add a possessive suffix (e.g. taksi + -m → taksim).
What does ile mean here, and can it be attached to the noun?

ile is a postposition meaning “with” or “by (means of).” You can either keep it separate (taksi ile) or attach it as a suffix -le/-la:

  • taksi
    • -yle → taksiyle (after vowel harmony).
      Both forms are equivalent; the suffix form is more colloquial.
Why does yolculuğum end with -um?
The root yolculuk means “journey.” To say “my journey,” you add the first-person singular possessive suffix -um (with vowel harmony). So yolculuk → yolculuğum. Here it serves as the subject of the verb bitti.
How is the locative case formed on saat to get saatte, and why is there a double t?

To express “in/within an hour,” you use the locative suffix -de/-da. Phonological rules:

  1. Since saat ends in the voiceless consonant t, the suffix’s initial d devoices to t → -te.
  2. Vowel harmony (second set) chooses e after the back vowel a in saat.
  3. The final t of the root and the initial t of the suffix both appear, giving saatte.
Why is the locative case used in yarım saatte to express time duration?
In Turkish, durations like “in half an hour” or “within two days” are marked by the locative case on the time expression. So bir saatte = “in one hour,” and yarım saatte = “in half an hour.”
What tense and person is the verb bitti, and why is it used here?
bitti is the simple past tense (aorist/past definite) of bitmek (“to end/finish”) in third-person singular. It agrees with the subject yolculuğum (“my journey”) and indicates that the journey ended/completed.
What is the typical word order in this sentence, and is it flexible?

The unmarked order here is:
Instrument/means → Subject → Time expression → Verb
→ Taksi ile (by taxi) • yolculuğum (my journey) • yarım saatte (in half an hour) • bitti (ended).
Turkish is generally SOV, but you can rearrange adverbials or front elements for emphasis without changing the basic agreement.

Could we drop the possessive suffix on yolculuk and say Taksi ile yolculuk yarım saatte bitti? What changes?
Yes, Taksi ile yolculuk yarım saatte bitti is grammatically fine, but it means “The journey by taxi ended in half an hour” in a general sense. By adding -um (yolculuğum), you specify “my journey.” The suffix marks whose journey it was.