Hastanede muayene ücretsiz.

Examination at the hospital is free.

Breakdown of Hastanede muayene ücretsiz.

• olmak: to be
• ücretsiz: free
• -de: in
• hastane: the hospital
• muayene: the examination

Questions & Answers about Hastanede muayene ücretsiz.

What is the function of the suffix -de in hastanede, and why is it -de instead of -da?

-de here is the locative case ending, meaning “at” or “in.” Turkish locative is formed with:

• the consonant d, and
• a vowel that agrees with the last vowel of the stem (vowel harmony).

Since hastane ends in the front, unrounded vowel e, the locative vowel is e (not a). Hence hastane + de → hastanede (“at the hospital”).

Why does muayene have no suffix or article in this sentence?

1. muayene is the subject of the sentence, and subjects in Turkish are in the nominative case (no extra ending).
2. Turkish has no definite or indefinite articles like “the” or “a.” A noun on its own can be definite (context-driven) or indefinite. Here it means “(the/general) examination.”

Why is there no word for “is” in Hastanede muayene ücretsiz? How could I add it?

• In Turkish simple present statements, the copula “to be” is usually omitted (zero copula).
• If you want a more formal or explicit form, you can add the copula suffix -dir to the adjective:
  Hastanede muayene ücretsiztir.
• You could also use the verb olmak with the adjective:
  Hastanede muayene ücretsiz oluyor, but this is rarely used for permanent qualities.

What part of speech is ücretsiz, and why does it follow muayene rather than precede it as in English?

• ücretsiz is an adjective (“free of charge”).
• In Hastanede muayene ücretsiz, it is a predicate adjective describing the subject. Turkish word order is quite flexible: the predicate normally follows its subject.
• If you wanted to use ücretsiz attributively (like “free examination”), you would place it before the noun: ücretsiz muayene.

Can I change the word order? For example, Muayene hastanede ücretsiz—would that be wrong?

• Turkish allows flexible word order for emphasis or style.
• Muayene hastanede ücretsiz is grammatically correct and still means “Examination at the hospital is free,” but it shifts the focus slightly onto muayene (the examination).
• The neutral/default order in everyday announcements is Hastanede muayene ücretsiz, putting the location first.

How do I turn this into a question: “Is the examination free at the hospital?”

Add the question particle mi (with vowel harmony, here mi) after the adjective, and punctuate with a question mark:
Hastanede muayene ücretsiz mi?

How would I say “Free examinations” (plural) at the hospital?

You need to pluralize muayene with -ler and keep hastanede in locative:
Hastanede muayeneler ücretsiz.
This means “(The) examinations at the hospital are free.”

What’s the difference between Hastanede muayene ücretsiz and Hastanedeki muayene ücretsiz?

• Hastanede muayene ücretsiz: “At the hospital, examination is free.” (locative phrase + subject + predicate)
• Hastanedeki muayene ücretsiz: uses the suffix -deki to turn hastane into a relative clause “the examination that is in the hospital is free.”
  
  • hastane-deki = “the one/person/thing in the hospital”
  • Hastanedeki muayene ücretsiz literally “The examination in the hospital is free.” Both are correct but slightly different stylistic constructions.