Learn Hardcore Turkish: Antalya plajında drone kamerası kullandım ve etkileyici görüntüler kaydettim. - I used a drone camera at the Antalya beach and recorded impressive footage.

plajında breaks down into plaj + -ı (3rd person possessive) + -nda (locative). It literally means “at its beach”, tying the beach to Antalya (“Antalya’s beach”). plajda, by contrast, is just “at a/the beach” in a general sense.

Why is Antalya not in the genitive form Antalya’nın?

Proper nouns in Turkish can directly modify other nouns to form place names (just like English “Antalya Beach”). That compound structure means you don’t need the genitive suffix on Antalya. If you did say Antalya’nın plajı, it would read more literally as “the beach of Antalya” in a descriptive way rather than a proper name.

How is drone kamerası structured, and what does the ending -sı indicate?

It’s composed of the loanword drone, the native noun kamera (“camera”), plus the suffix -sı, which marks 3rd person singular possessive (“its camera”). So drone kamerası literally means “the drone’s camera,” though in context it simply refers to a drone camera.

Why isn’t drone kamerası marked with the accusative suffix (i.e. drone kamerasını)?

When a direct object is indefinite or non-specific, Turkish often omits the definite accusative suffix. Here, drone kamerası is not being singled out as “that one particular drone camera,” so no extra -ı is added. Also note the -sı you see is possessive, not accusative.

What tense and person do kullandım and kaydettim express, and how are they formed?

Both verbs are 1st person singular in the simple past (definite past) tense.

kullan- (to use) + -dı (past) + -m (1st person) ⇒ kullandım (“I used”)
kaydet- (to record) + -ti (past) + -m (1st person) ⇒ kaydettim (“I recorded”)

Why are there two t’s in kaydettim?

The root kaydet ends with t and the past suffix -ti also begins with t. When you attach them you get kaydet-ti, which is written as kaydetti. Then you add -m for “I,” yielding kaydettim.

What does etkileyici mean, and how is it formed?

etkileyici is an adjective meaning “impressive.” It derives from the verb etkilemek (“to affect or impress”) plus the suffix -yici, which forms adjectives meaning “causing or capable of.”

Why is görüntüler plural, and how is the plural suffix chosen here?

The noun görüntü ends in the front vowel ü, so it takes the front-vowel plural suffix -ler (rather than -lar). Thus görüntü + -ler = görüntüler (“images/footage”).

Why is the subject pronoun ben omitted in this sentence?

Turkish verb endings encode person and number, so including ben (“I”) is unnecessary. The -m in kullandım and kaydettim already tells you that the subject is “I.”

What is the function of ve in this sentence?

ve is the conjunction “and,” linking the two actions kullandım (“I used”) and kaydettim (“I recorded”).