Ben hesabı ödüyorum.

I

Breakdown of Ben hesabı ödüyorum.

• hesap: the bill
• ödemek: to pay

Questions & Answers about Ben hesabı ödüyorum.

Why does the sentence begin with Ben? Isn’t the subject pronoun optional in Turkish?

In Turkish the verb ending already shows who the subject is, so you can drop Ben and still understand it’s “I.” For example, Hesabı ödüyorum also means “I’m paying the bill.” You include Ben only when you want to emphasize “I” specifically (e.g. in contrast: Sen içkileri öde, ben hesabı ödüyorum – “You pay for the drinks, I’ll pay the bill”).

What does hesabı mean, and why does it have the -ı ending?

hesap means “bill” or “check.” The ending -ı is the accusative case marker, used because the bill is a definite, specific object here (“the bill”). Vowel harmony dictates -ı after the last vowel a in hesap (a back, unrounded vowel).

How is the verb ödüyorum formed?

Breakdown of ödüyorum:
• öde- (root “to pay”)
• -(i)yor (present-continuous tense)
• -um (1st person singular ending)

Because öde ends in e, the progressive suffix harmonizes as -üyor (front, rounded), and the person suffix harmonizes to -üm (to match ü), yielding ö d ü y o r u m → ödüyorum.

Why is there a y in ödüyorum (why not just ödüüorum)?