Kütüphanede birkaç kitap var.

to be

Breakdown of Kütüphanede birkaç kitap var.

• kitap: the book
• kütüphane: the library
• -de: in

Questions & Answers about Kütüphanede birkaç kitap var.

What does the suffix -de in kütüphanede indicate, and why is it -de instead of -da, -te, or -ta?

-de is the locative case suffix meaning at/in. It attaches directly to kütüphane (library) to form kütüphanede (at the library). Turkish has two harmony rules for this suffix:
1) Vowel harmony: since kütüphane ends in a front vowel e, the suffix vowel must be e (not a).
2) Consonant assimilation: if the noun ended in a voiceless consonant, d would become t (giving -te), but kütüphane ends in a vowel, so it stays d.

Why is there no space or apostrophe between kütüphane and -de?

In Turkish, case suffixes attach directly to common nouns without an apostrophe or space. Apostrophes are reserved for proper names (e.g. Ankara’da), but ordinary words like kütüphane take -de seamlessly: kütüphanede.

What role does var play in this sentence, and why is it at the end?

var is an existential predicate meaning there is/are. It states the existence of something and typically comes at the end of the clause, after the location (kütüphanede) and the thing that exists (birkaç kitap).

Why isn’t kitap pluralized here (why not kitaplar) after birkaç?