Questions & Answers about Ben hem sabah hem de akşam çay içiyorum.
What does hem … hem de mean, and how does this structure work in Turkish?
hem … hem de is a correlative conjunction meaning both … and. You place the first hem before the first item and the second hem (often with de) before the second item to link them equally. In your sentence:
- hem sabah … hem de akşam → “both in the morning and in the evening.”
Why is ben used here? Is it always necessary?
ben means I, but it is optional because Turkish is a “pro-drop” language—the verb ending -yorum already shows first-person singular. You include ben only to add emphasis or clarity. Without it, “Hem sabah hem de akşam çay içiyorum” is perfectly correct.
Why do sabah (“morning”) and akşam (“evening”) appear without any suffix?
When time words act as adverbs in Turkish, they often stay in the bare (nominative) form. Here both sabah and akşam function as adverbials of time—no locative or accusative suffix is needed.
Why is the verb in the present continuous form içiyorum (“I am drinking”) instead of the simple aorist içerim (“I drink”)?