Pazarda toplam beş elma var.

Pazarda breaks down into two parts:

• pazar = “market”
• -da = the locative case suffix meaning “in/at/on”

Together, Pazarda means “in the market” or “at the market.”

The locative suffix has two variants: -da/-de and -ta/-te.

1. Vowel harmony (back vs. front vowels):
   
   • “a” or “ı” ⇒ -da or -ta
   • “e” or “i” or “ö” or “ü” ⇒ -de or -te
2. Consonant harmony (voicing):
   
   • After voiced consonants or vowels ⇒ -da/de
   • After voiceless consonants (p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş) ⇒ -ta/te

Since pazar ends in the vowel “r” (voiced) and “a” is a back vowel, we pick -da: hence pazarda.

toplam is an adverb meaning “in total” or “altogether.”

• It emphasizes that you are talking about the sum of whatever follows (here, the apples).
• In the sentence Pazarda toplam beş elma var, toplam highlights “a total of five apples.”

Yes, you can simply say Pazarda beş elma var.

• Without toplam, you still convey that there are five apples, but you lose the extra nuance of “in total.”
• With toplam, it sounds more like you are summing up quantities.

In Turkish, when you use a cardinal number (one, two, three…), the noun stays in the singular form without any plural suffix.

• Correct: beş elma (“five apple­-SG”)
• Incorrect: beş elmalar

var is the existential verb in Turkish, meaning “there is” or “there are.”

• It indicates existence or presence of something at a location.
• It always appears at the end of an existential sentence.

Yes. bulunmak is a more formal verb meaning “to be located” or “to exist.”

• You would say: Pazarda toplam beş elma bulunuyor.
• Note the change to -iyor for the present continuous tense form of bulunmak.

Add mı/mi/mu/mü (the question particle) after var (with a linking vowel if needed):

• Pazarda toplam beş elma var mı?
  This literally means “In the market, is there a total of five apples?”

Approximate phonetic transcription in IPA:
/paˈzaɾ.da topˈlam beʃ ˈel.ma vaɾ/

• Stress in Turkish is usually on the last syllable, but it can vary by dialect. In everyday speech, it often sounds like pa-ZAR-da top-LAM beş EL-ma VAR.