Question 1

Why is Ben used at the beginning? Is it mandatory?

Accepted Answer

In Turkish, the personal pronoun is usually optional because the verb ending -yorum already tells you it’s I (first person singular). You include Ben only for emphasis or clarity.  
Examples:  
• Ben internetten çiçek sipariş ediyorum. (with emphasis on “I”)  
• İnternetten çiçek sipariş ediyorum. (more neutral)

Question 2

What does the suffix -ten in internetten mean?

Accepted Answer

The suffix -ten is the ablative case, meaning “from.” So internetten literally means “from the internet,” which in English we render as “online.” Without it, internet çiçek sipariş ediyorum would be ungrammatical.

Question 3

Why is it -ten and not -den in internetten?

Accepted Answer

Turkish uses vowel harmony when attaching suffixes. The word internet has front unrounded vowels (i, e), so it takes -ten (front unrounded variant). If it were a back-vowel word like kitap (a, a), you’d get kitaptan (“from the book”).

Question 4

Why doesn’t çiçek take the accusative suffix -i? Shouldn’t it be çiçeği?

Accepted Answer

Accusative -i marks a definite direct object. Here çiçek is indefinite—“some flowers”—so you leave it bare. If you meant “the flowers,” you’d say çiçekleri sipariş ediyorum (with -leri).

Question 5

What is the role of etmek in sipariş etmek?

Accepted Answer

Sipariş is a noun (loanword meaning “order”), and etmek means “to do.” Turkish often forms verbs by combining a noun + etmek. You conjugate on etmek:  
• sipariş ediyorum = “I am doing an order” = “I am ordering.”

Question 6

What tense or aspect does ediyorum represent?

Accepted Answer

Ediyorum is the present continuous (progressive) tense, used for actions happening right now or ongoing habits. It corresponds to English “I am ordering” or sometimes a habitual “I order.”

Question 7

Is the word order flexible? Could I say Çiçekleri internetten sipariş ediyorum or İnternetten çiçekleri sipariş ediyorum?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Thanks to case endings, Turkish is fairly flexible. The default is S-O-V, but you can swap objects for emphasis:  
• Çiçekleri internetten sipariş ediyorum. (emphasizes “the flowers”)  
• İnternetten çiçek sipariş ediyorum. (neutral “some flowers”)

Question 8

Could I use internette instead of internetten? What’s the difference?

Accepted Answer

- internetten (ablative) = “from the internet” = idiomatic “online.”  
- internette (locative) = “on/in the internet,” focusing on location (e.g. internette geziyorum = “I am browsing on the internet”).  
For ordering, internetten sipariş etmek is more common.

Question 9

Can I say sipariş veriyorum instead of sipariş ediyorum?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Sipariş vermek (“to give an order”) is very common in everyday speech. Both versions mean “I am ordering.”  
• sipariş ediyorum – slightly more formal  
• sipariş veriyorum – colloquial and equally correct

Ben internetten çiçek sipariş ediyorum.

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