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Questions & Answers about Çocuk göle bakıyor.
What case is indicated by the -e in göle, and why is it used here?
It’s the dative case, which often translates as “to” or “at.” The verb bakmak (“to look”) requires its target to be in the dative case, so göl (“lake”) takes -e to become göle (“(at) the lake”).
Why are there no articles like “the” or “a” before çocuk or göle?
Turkish does not use definite or indefinite articles. Nouns appear without “the” or “a,” and definiteness is usually understood from context or—when needed—marked by the accusative case on direct objects.
What does the suffix -iyor in bakıyor signify?
The continuous/progressive aspect. bak- is the root “look,” and -iyor turns it into “is looking,” indicating an action in progress.
How can we tell that bakıyor refers to “he/she/it” looking?
In the present continuous, the suffix -yor (from -iyor) plus no extra personal ending indicates 3rd person singular. So bakıyor by itself means “he/she/it is looking.”
Why is the verb bakıyor at the end of the sentence?
Turkish typically follows subject–object–verb (SOV) word order, so the verb comes last.
What would this sentence look like in the past tense?
To say “The child looked at the lake,” replace -iyor with the simple past suffix -dı (harmonized to -dı):
Çocuk göle baktı.
How would you negate the sentence (“The child is not looking at the lake”)?
Insert -ma- before the present continuous suffix:
Çocuk göle bakmıyor.
How do you form a question (“Is the child looking at the lake?”)?
Add the question particle mı/mu/mi/mü after the verb and adjust for vowel harmony:
Çocuk göle bakıyor mu?
Why is it bakıyor with ı instead of bakiyor with i?
Due to vowel harmony, the present continuous suffix has four forms: -ıyor/iyor/uyor/üyor. The root bak- has a (a back vowel), so we use -ıyor with ı.
Why is çocuk unmarked at the beginning of the sentence?
As the subject in the nominative case, çocuk takes no suffix. Nominative case is the default, unmarked form.