Learn Hardcore Turkish: Katılımcı sunumdan sonra soru soruyor. - The participant is asking a question after the presentation.

Turkish expresses “after X” by putting X in the ablative case (-dan/-den, meaning “from/after”) and then adding sonra (“after”). So sunum (“presentation”) + -dan + sonra literally yields “from the presentation after,” which we naturally translate as “after the presentation.”

Why isn’t there an article like a or the before katılımcı or sunum?

Turkish does not use articles. A bare noun can mean either a or the depending on context. Thus katılımcı can be a participant or the participant, and sunum can be a presentation or the presentation without changing form.

Why is katılımcı singular instead of plural (katılımcılar)?

Here the sentence refers to one (unspecified) participant, so it uses the singular katılımcı (“a participant”). Turkish often uses singular nouns for indefinite or generic references. If you meant multiple participants, you would say katılımcılar (“participants”) and normally pluralize the verb as well (e.g., soruyorlar).

What does soru soruyor mean, and why is it structured as a noun plus a verb?

soru is the noun “question,” and soruyor is the verb “is asking.” Turkish frequently uses noun–verb collocations to describe certain actions (for example, telefon etmek = “to make a phone call,” seyahat etmek = “to travel”). So soru soruyor literally pairs question + is asking to mean “is asking a question.”

Why isn’t soru marked with the accusative suffix (-u) as in soruyu?

Only definite direct objects take the accusative suffix -ı/-i/-u/-ü in Turkish. Here soru is indefinite (“a question”), so it remains unmarked. If you wanted to say “the question,” you would use soruyu soruyor.

Why does the verb appear as soruyor, and what is the role of -yor?

-yor (or -uyor/-iyor/-üyor by vowel harmony) is the present‐progressive suffix meaning “is doing” something. You attach it to the root sor- (“ask”) to get soruyor (“is asking”).

Can -yor express both “is doing something right now” and “does something regularly”?

Yes. The -yor suffix can indicate either an ongoing action in progress or a habitual action, depending on context. For example:

Şu anda soru soruyor. – “He is asking a question right now.”
Her hafta soru soruyor. – “He asks a question every week.”

Is word order flexible? Could I say sunumdan sonra katılımcı soru soruyor instead?

Absolutely. While the default Turkish order is S-O-V (Subject–Object–Verb), time expressions like sunumdan sonra often come first. Both of these are correct, with slight shifts in emphasis:

Katılımcı sunumdan sonra soru soruyor.
Sunumdan sonra katılımcı soru soruyor.

How would you change the sentence to past tense?

Replace the -yor suffix with the simple past suffix -du/-di (harmonized to -du after sor-). The verb becomes sordu: Katılımcı sunumdan sonra soru sordu. This means “The participant asked a question after the presentation.”

Why is the verb root sor- but the noun soru?

The verb sormak (“to ask”) has the root sor-. The noun soru (“question”) is derived from the same root using a nominalizing suffix. They are related but distinct words: sor- (verb root) vs. soru (noun).