Fren çalışmıyor.

to work

Breakdown of Fren çalışmıyor.

• fren: the brake

Questions & Answers about Fren çalışmıyor.

What does fren mean, and why isn’t there an article like “the” or “a” in front of it?

Fren means brake. Turkish does not have articles (no equivalent of “the” or “a”). A bare noun can mean either “a X” or “the X,” depending on context. Here, we understand fren as “the brake.”

How do you form the negative in çalışmıyor?

Negative in Turkish verbs is built by inserting -ma/-me after the verb root, before any tense/aspect endings. For çalış- (“to work”):
1) Root: çalış-
2) Negation: çalış-ma-
3) Progressive present: -yor (with vowel harmony → -ıyor)
4) Person (3rd singular is unmarked)
→ çalışmıyor = “is not working.”

Why is çalışmıyor the progressive tense rather than the simple present?

Turkish often uses the progressive (-yor) to express ongoing states or general ongoing facts, especially for machines or functions. While çalışmaz (“it doesn’t work” as a rule) is possible, çalışmıyor emphasizes “right now it’s not working.”

Where is the subject “it” in Fren çalışmıyor?

Turkish drops personal pronouns when the verb ending already shows the person. Here, the 3rd person singular on çalışmıyor implies “it.” So you don’t say o fren çalışmıyor unless you want to emphasize “that brake.”