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Questions & Answers about At su içiyor.
Why isn’t there an article like the or a before At?
Turkish has no separate definite or indefinite articles. A bare noun like at can mean a horse or, in the right context, the horse. To be explicit you’d use a demonstrative:
• Bu at su içiyor. = This horse is drinking water.
Why doesn’t su have an accusative suffix like -u or -ı?
Accusative marking (-ı/-i/-u/-ü) appears only on definite direct objects. Here su (water) is indefinite or generic, so it stays unmarked. If you want to say the water, you would use:
• At suyu içiyor. = The horse is drinking the water.
What does içiyor mean and how is it formed?
içiyor is the present continuous (progressive) of içmek (to drink). It breaks down as:
• root iç-
• progressive suffix -(I)yor (vowel harmonizes to i)
• 3rd-person-singular ending ∅
So iç- + iyor + ∅ = içiyor = is drinking.
Why isn’t there a suffix for the third-person subject on içiyor?