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Questions & Answers about Ambarın içinde eski çit tahtaları, tarladan toplanan samanlar ve harmandan kalan tahıllar düzenli duruyor.
What does ambar mean, and why is it ambarın instead of just ambar?
ambar is a common noun meaning “barn” or “granary.”
When you want to say “inside the barn,” you need the genitive case on ambar (suffix -ın) because the locative phrase içinde requires its possessor in genitive. Hence ambar + ın = ambarın, and then içinde gives you “inside the barn.”
Why isn’t there an apostrophe between ambar and -ın?
In Turkish, apostrophes are only used to separate suffixes from proper nouns (e.g. Türkiye’nin). Ambar is a common noun, so you attach -ın directly without an apostrophe: ambarın.
What case is tarladan, and what does it mean?
tarladan is tarla (field) + the ablative suffix -dan, so it means “from the field.” The ablative case indicates motion or origin away from something.
What kind of word is toplanan in tarladan toplanan samanlar?
toplanan is a passive participle formed from toplamak (to gather) + -lan (passive). So tarladan toplanan samanlar literally means “the straws that were gathered from the field.”
Why doesn’t samanlar take an accusative case ending like tahtaları does?
Here samanlar is part of the subject phrase and appears indefinite or generic, so it stays in the nominative plural. In Turkish, only definite direct objects take the accusative ending. (Also, subjects normally don’t get an accusative unless you’re emphasizing them as a definite group.)
How do you translate harmandan kalan tahıllar, and what roles do -dan and kalan play?
- harmandan = harman (harvest or threshing floor) + ablative -dan, meaning “from the harvest/threshing.”
- kalan = active participle of kalmak (to remain), meaning “that remain.”
So harmandan kalan tahıllar = “the grains remaining from the harvest.”
Why is the verb duruyor not duruyorlar, given the plural items?
In Turkish, third-person verbs have the same form for singular and plural subjects (no overt -lar/-ler on the verb). You can add -lar (duruyorlar) to explicitly mark plural, but it’s often omitted when the plurality is clear.
What does düzenli do in düzenli duruyor, and why not just düzen duruyor?
düzen on its own is a noun meaning “order” or “arrangement.” Adding -li turns it into an adjective düzenli, meaning “orderly” or “neat.” Thus düzenli duruyor means “it stands neatly/it’s arranged neatly.”
How do you form relative clauses like tarladan toplanan and harmandan kalan without using a word for “which”?
Turkish doesn’t use a separate relative pronoun for “which”—instead it attaches participle suffixes to the verb:
- -lan/-len for passive (e.g. toplanan = “that are gathered”)
- -an/-en for active or intransitive (e.g. kalan = “that remain”).
Is it okay to change the word order and say “Eski çit tahtaları, tarladan toplanan samanlar ve harmandan kalan tahıllar ambarın içinde düzenli duruyor.”?
Yes. Turkish allows flexible word order as long as the verb stays at or near the end. Moving ambarın içinde to the end is perfectly natural and emphasizes the location less.