Peynir tabakta zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte sunuldu.

Cheese was served on a plate with olives and walnuts.

Breakdown of Peynir tabakta zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte sunuldu.

• ve: and
• birlikte: together
• tabak: the plate
• -le: with
• -de: on
• peynir: the cheese
• zeytin: the olive
• ceviz: the walnut
• sunulmak: to be served

Questions & Answers about Peynir tabakta zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte sunuldu.

What is the function of tabakta here?

tabak means “plate,” and the suffix -ta marks the locative case (“in/on”). So tabakta literally means “on the plate.”

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

Turkish has no definite or indefinite articles. You simply use peynir for “cheese,” “the cheese,” or “a cheese” as determined by context.

How is the passive verb sunuldu formed?

Start with the active root sun- (“to present”), add the passive infix -ul- to get sunul-, then add the simple-past suffix -du. The result sunuldu means “(it) was presented.”

What does zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte mean, and how is the instrumental case used?

• zeytin = “olive,” ceviz = “walnut”
• cevizler is the plural form “walnuts,” then you add the instrumental -le (harmonized to -lerle) to get cevizlerle, “with walnuts.”
• By Turkish coord­ination rules, the instrumental suffix attaches only to the final noun, so zeytin ve cevizlerle covers “with olives and walnuts.”
• birlikte means “together,” so zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte = “together with olives and walnuts.”

Why do we attach the case suffix only to the second noun in zeytin ve cevizlerle?

When conjoining nouns with ve (“and”), you can affix the needed case ending just to the final noun. That one suffix then applies to the entire list, avoiding zeytinlerle ve cevizlerle.

Why is peynir not pluralized here?

Here peynir refers to cheese as a substance or a dish, not individual pieces. We only use the plural peynirler when talking about distinct, countable cheeses (e.g. “different cheeses”).

Can the agent who served the cheese be included in this passive construction?

Yes. You can add an agent with tarafından, e.g. Garson tarafından sunuldu (“was presented by the waiter”). Agents are often omitted in Turkish passive sentences if they’re not important.

Is the word order fixed as peynir tabakta zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte sunuldu?

Turkish word order is fairly flexible. The neutral sequence here is subject + location + instrument/adjunct + verb, but you could rearrange elements for emphasis (e.g. Tabakta peynir zeytin ve cevizlerle birlikte sunuldu).