Katalog masada duruyor.

The catalog is on the table.

Breakdown of Katalog masada duruyor.

• masa: the table
• -da: on
• durmak: to stand
• katalog: the catalog

Questions & Answers about Katalog masada duruyor.

Why doesn’t Turkish use articles like “the” or “a” before katalog?

Turkish has no separate definite or indefinite article. Whether a noun is “the X” or “a X” comes from context (or by adding bir for “a”):

• katalog alone can mean “the catalogue” if you already know which one it is.
• To introduce it as “a catalogue” you’d say bir katalog.

What does the suffix -da in masada mean, and why is it -da and not -de, -ta, or -te?

The suffix -da marks the locative case (“at/on/in”). You attach it to masa (“table”) to get masada = “on the table.”
Two key points:

• Vowel harmony: masa has the back vowel a, so the locative uses a (not e), giving -da rather than -de.
• The consonant is always d in the locative (no t variant).

How is the verb duruyor formed, and what does it mean here?

duruyor is the 3rd person singular present continuous of durmak (“to stand/stop”):

• dur- = root (“stand, stop”)
• -uyor = progressive suffix -(i)yor, with i → u by vowel harmony
• no extra ending for 3rd person singular
  Putting it together, duruyor literally means “(it) is standing,” but in context it means “(it) is located/lying/standing there.”

Why use duruyor instead of olmak (“to be”) or var (“there is/are”)?

Turkish doesn’t use olmak in the present continuous to express location. Instead you have choices:

• duruyor (“it is standing/located”) – common, colloquial for physical placement.
• bulunuyor (“it is located/found”) – more formal.
• var (“there is/exists”) – emphasizes existence, e.g. answering “Is there a catalogue on the table?” with Masada katalog var.

Why doesn’t katalog receive a case suffix in this sentence?

Subjects in Turkish take the unmarked (nominative) form. Since katalog is the subject of duruyor, it stays as katalog. Only definite objects get the accusative suffix -u/ü (e.g. katalogu).

What’s the typical word order in Turkish, and can we move masada or katalog?

The default order is SOV (Subject + Object/Adverbial + Verb). Here it’s:

1. katalog (Subject)
2. masada (Locative adverbial)
3. duruyor (Verb)

You can swap for emphasis:

• Masada katalog duruyor (focus on location)
  But the verb almost always stays at the end.

Why is the pronoun o (“it/he/she”) omitted before katalog?

Turkish is a pro-drop language: you omit subject pronouns when the subject is clear. Since you explicitly say katalog, adding o would be redundant and unusual.

Can we attach suffixes directly to words without spaces in Turkish?

Yes. Turkish is agglutinative. You write root+suffix in one word:

• masa
  • -da = masada
• dur
  • -uyor = duruyor
    You never separate suffixes with spaces.

What’s the difference between masada and masanın üzerinde for “on the table”?

• masada = simple locative “on/at the table.”
• masanın üzerinde = “on top of the table,” using genitive masanın (“of the table”) + üzer (“above”) + locative -inde. It’s a bit more precise or formal.