Questions & Answers about Kardeşim çay seviyor.
The suffix -(I)yor is the present continuous (progressive) marker. The capital I stands for a vowel that harmonizes with the root’s last vowel. For sev- (root of sevmek, “to like”), the last vowel is e (front unrounded), so we use -iyor.
Breakdown:
• sev (root)
• + i (vowel for harmony)
• + yor (progressive)
→ sev-i-yor = seviyor (“is liking/liking”)
Turkish uses the accusative suffix (-ı/-i/-u/-ü) to mark definite or specific direct objects.
• Çayı seviyor → “He/she loves that tea” (specific tea)
• Çay seviyor → “He/she likes tea” (tea in general)
Here it’s a generic statement, so çay remains unmarked.
• seviyor (present continuous): describes an action right now or around now (“is drinking/liking tea”).
• sever (aorist/simple present): expresses a habit or general preference (“likes tea” as a fact).
So
• Kardeşim çay seviyor. often feels like “My sibling is drinking tea.”
• Kardeşim çayı sever. means “My sibling likes tea (in general).”
Note: In casual speech, some Turks use seviyor for habits too, but sever is the more precise way to talk about permanent likes.
The typical Turkish sentence structure is Subject–Object–Verb (SOV).
• Kardeşim (Subject)
• çay (Object)
• seviyor (Verb)
You can rearrange elements for emphasis or style, but the verb almost always comes at the end in neutral statements.