Learn Hardcore Turkish: Yelken mavi denizde güzel görünüyor. - The sail looks beautiful on the blue sea.

Turkish does not have definite or indefinite articles like a or the. Nouns appear in the bare form, and context or suffixes (case endings) tell you whether something is definite or indefinite. So yelken can mean “a sail” or “the sail” depending on the situation.

What case is denizde, and how is it formed?

Denizde is the locative case, meaning “in,” “on,” or “at” the sea. You form it by adding the suffix -de (locative) to the noun:

Start with deniz (sea).
Choose -de because of vowel harmony (the last vowel in deniz is i, a front vowel, so you use the front vowel version -de).
Attach it directly: deniz + de → denizde (“in/on the sea”).

Why doesn’t mavi change when deniz takes the locative suffix?

In Turkish, adjectives (like mavi, “blue”) remain uninflected. Only the noun they modify (here deniz) takes case endings. That’s why it’s mavi deniz for “blue sea,” and when you make it locative you get mavi denizde, not mavide.

Why is mavi placed before deniz and not after it?

Attributive adjectives precede the nouns they describe in Turkish. So mavi deniz literally is “blue sea,” just as in English you say “blue sea.” Changing that order would sound unnatural.

What does görünüyor mean, and how is it different from görmek?

Görünüyor comes from the verb görünmek, which means “to appear,” “to seem,” or “to look (a certain way).”

görmek = “to see.”
görünmek = “to be seen as,” “to seem/appear.”
So yelken güzel görünüyor means “the sail appears/seems beautiful,” not “the sail sees beautifully.”

What tense and person is görünüyor, and how do you form it?

Görünüyor is third-person singular present continuous. Formation steps:

Start with the stem of görünmek: görünü-.
Add the continuous suffix -yor (this one never changes for vowel harmony).
Add the personal ending for 3 sg., which in this case is Ø (nothing).
Putting it all together: görünü- + yor + Ø → görünüyor.

Why is güzel placed immediately before görünüyor, rather than before yelken?

Here güzel is not describing yelken directly as an attributive adjective; it is the complement of the verb görünmek. In other words, güneş “the sail” is the subject, and güzel is the quality it “looks.” So güzel görünüyor = “looks beautiful.” If you put it before yelken, you’d be saying “beautiful sail,” which isn’t the intended structure in this sentence.

Why is the locative phrase mavi denizde placed before the verb?

Turkish typically follows a subject–object–adverbial–verb order. Place/time/manner expressions come before the verb. Since mavi denizde tells us where the sail looks beautiful, it precedes görünüyor.

Could I say yelkenli instead of yelken, and what difference would that make?

Yes, but the meaning changes.

yelken = “sail” (the cloth used for sailing).
yelkenli = “sailing vessel,” “sailboat.”
If you say Yelkenli mavi denizde güzel görünüyor, you’re saying “The sailboat looks beautiful in the blue sea.”