Breakdown of Thomas Edison laboratuvarda deney yaptı.
yapmak
to do
deney
the experiment
laboratuvar
the laboratory
-da
in
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
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Questions & Answers about Thomas Edison laboratuvarda deney yaptı.
Why is the verb yaptı at the end of the sentence?
Turkish has a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. Adverbials or locative phrases (like laboratuvarda) also precede the verb. So the structure here is:
Subject (Thomas Edison) + Locative adverbial (laboratuvarda) + Object (deney) + Verb (yaptı).
What does laboratuvarda mean and how is it formed?
laboratuvarda means “in the laboratory.” You start with the noun laboratuvar (“laboratory”) and add the locative case suffix -da. Because the last vowel of laboratuvar is a, vowel harmony dictates -da (not -de). Thus you get laboratuvarda.
Why doesn’t deney have an accusative suffix like -i?
In Turkish, definite direct objects take the accusative suffix (-ı/-i/-u/-ü), whereas indefinite objects do not. Here deney (“an experiment”) is indefinite, so it remains without an object suffix.
Why is there no indefinite article like bir before deney?
Turkish uses bir for “a/an,” but it’s often optional. Omitting bir in past‐tense statements is perfectly natural. deney yaptı can mean either “did an experiment” or simply “did experiment.”
What’s the deal with deney yaptı instead of something like deney etti?
Turkish commonly uses the verb yapmak (“to do/make”) to create verbal phrases from nouns (e.g. deney yapmak “to conduct an experiment”). There is no standard verb deney etmek, so deney yaptı is the normal way to say “he/she did an experiment.”
Why doesn’t Thomas Edison have any suffix?
As the subject in the nominative case, Thomas Edison carries no case ending—Turkish marks only non-nominative cases (e.g. locative, accusative). Proper nouns follow the same rule: the nominative is zero-marked.
Can I specify whose laboratory it is? How would laboratuvarda change?
Yes. You add a possessive suffix before the locative. For example:
• laboratuvarımda = “in my laboratory”
• laboratuvarında = “in your/his/her laboratory”
Structure: laboratuvar-(possessor)-da.