Breakdown of Ovanın ortasında küçük bir köy vardı.
olmak
to be
bir
a
küçük
small
orta
the middle
köy
the village
-ın
of
-sında
in
ova
the plain
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Questions & Answers about Ovanın ortasında küçük bir köy vardı.
What is the suffix -nın in ovanın, and what does it mean?
ovanın = ova (plain) + genitive suffix -nın (3rd person singular). In Turkish the genitive marks possession; here it means of the plain. Vowel harmony turns -ın into -nın after ova (which ends in a).
How is ortasında formed? Can you break down its parts and explain them?
ortasında is built from:
- orta = middle
- possessive suffix -sı (3rd person singular) → ortası = its middle
- locative suffix -nda = in
Altogether, ortasında literally means in its middle.
Why does ova take a genitive suffix and orta a possessive suffix to say “in the middle of the plain”? Could we simply say ova ortasında?
Turkish uses a two-step system for possession: the possessor (ova) takes a genitive (ovanın), and the possessed noun (orta) takes the matching possessive (ortası) before any location suffix. Omitting -nın (as in ova ortasında) would violate this rule and sound ungrammatical.
What role does bir play in küçük bir köy, and why does it follow küçük rather than precede it?
bir is the indefinite article a/an. With an adjective plus an indefinite noun, Turkish word order is adjective + bir + noun. Thus küçük bir köy means a small village, not bir küçük köy.
What does vardı mean, and why is it in the past tense?
vardı = var (existential verb meaning there is/are) + past tense suffix -dı. It means there was, indicating that the village existed in the past.
Why isn’t there a word like “there” or “it” in this sentence? How do existential sentences work in Turkish?
Existential verbs (var/vardı) in Turkish are impersonal and don’t require an explicit subject. vardı itself conveys there was, so you don’t add it or there separately.