Learn Hardcore Turkish: Pastırmaları az yağda pişirdik, lezzeti nefisti. - We cooked the bacon in little oil; it was delicious.

In Turkish, when you talk about cooking or preparing multiple items, you usually pluralize the noun and mark it as a definite object. Here:
• pastırma = “pastrama”
• -lar = plural marker → pastırmalar (“pastramas”)
• -ı = definite accusative suffix → pastırmaları (“the pastramas” as direct objects)
So pastırmaları pişirdik literally means “We cooked the pastramas,” with both plurality and the fact that they’re the specific items cooked.

Why is there no subject pronoun like biz (“we”) in pişirdik?

Turkish verbs carry person and number in their endings, so personal pronouns are often dropped when context makes them clear. In pişirdik:
• pişir- = verb root “cook”
• -dik = 1st person plural past tense (“we”)
Hence biz pişirdik and pişirdik are equivalent; the verb ending shows “we cooked.”

What does az yağda mean, and how does it work?

az means “little, not much,” and yağda is “in/with oil” (locative case). Together az yağda means “in a small amount of oil” or “with little oil.” It tells you how the cooking was done—using only a bit of oil.

How is the locative suffix -da added to yağ, and why is it yağda not yağde?

The locative case in Turkish (meaning “in/on/at”) is marked by -da or -de, chosen by vowel harmony (last vowel of yağ is a, a back vowel). So you attach -da to get yağda (“in the oil” or “with oil”).

What’s the difference between az yağda and az yağlı?

• az yağda = “in/with little oil” (how you cook) – here yağda is a locative noun.
• az yağlı = “low-fat” (an adjective) – -lı turns yağ (“oil”) into “oily/with oil,” and az modifies that adjective. Example: az yağlı süt (“low-fat milk”).

What’s the difference between az and biraz?

• az is an adjective meaning “little, not much,” used before nouns (az yağ, “little oil”).
• biraz is an adverb or pronoun meaning “a little, some,” often used on its own (biraz yağ ekle, “add a little oil”).
In cooking contexts, az yağda emphasizes “using little oil,” while biraz yağda could feel like “we cooked in some oil.”

Why is lezzeti used instead of just lezzet?

lezzet means “taste.” By adding -i, you get the 3rd person singular possessive: lezzeti = “its taste.” In the second clause, “its taste was delicious,” so you need lezzeti as the subject.

Why does nefisti have -ti at the end, and what is it?

nefis is an adjective meaning “delicious.” In the past tense you add the copula -ti (old Turkish past-tense “to be”) directly to the adjective, yielding nefisti = “it was delicious.” In modern Turkish the copula is usually just the suffix -di/-ti.

Why is the adjective nefis placed after lezzeti, rather than before it like in English?

In Turkish:
• Attributive adjectives (modifying nouns) come before the noun (e.g. güzel yemek, “beautiful food”).
• Predicative adjectives (part of “to be” statements) follow the subject and combine with the copula:
– Subject (lezzeti) + Adjective (nefis) + Copula-suffix (-ti) → lezzeti nefisti (“its taste was delicious”).