Learn Hardcore Turkish: Tesis büyük fakat güvenli.

In Turkish, the copula “is” is often omitted in the simple present tense. When you want to say “The facility is large,” you simply say tesis büyük. It’s understood that you’re stating a fact about the subject without needing a separate verb.

Why don’t the adjectives büyük and güvenli take any suffix or ending?

Here they’re used predicatively (i.e., stating a property of the subject). Predicative adjectives in Turkish remain bare with the zero copula and do not take case endings. If you wanted to make it explicitly formal or emphatic, you could add -dir:
• Tesis büyüktür fakat güvenlidir.

What role does fakat play, and can I use ama instead?

fakat is a coordinating conjunction meaning but. It links two contrasting statements (large vs. safe). ama is a less formal synonym, so you can say:
• Tesis büyük ama güvenli.
Both are correct; fakat just sounds slightly more formal or written.

Why is the word order “tesis büyük” instead of “büyük tesis”?

In tesis büyük, you’re making a statement (subject + predicate): “The facility is large.” If you say büyük tesis, you form a noun phrase meaning “a large facility” (with the adjective modifying the noun). The difference is:
• tesis büyük = “the facility is large”
• büyük tesis = “large facility” (as part of a larger sentence)

Why is there no article like a or the before tesis?

Turkish has no definite or indefinite articles. Nouns appear without a, an, or the. Context and case markings (for objects) carry the meaning of definiteness or indefiniteness.

Should tesis take any case ending if it’s the subject?

No. The subject is in the unmarked (nominative) case and stays as tesis. Only direct objects that are definite get the accusative ending -i (e.g., tesisi).

Is it necessary to put a comma before fakat?

In formal writing, a comma before conjunctions like fakat is common: Tesis büyük, fakat güvenli. In casual writing or speech, you can skip the comma: Tesis büyük fakat güvenli. Both are acceptable.

Can I reverse the order and say güvenli fakat büyük?

Yes, grammatically it’s fine. Doing that shifts the focus: you’d be saying “It’s safe but large” instead of “It’s large but safe.” Choose the order based on which property you want to mention—or contrast—first.