Tarihi köprüden geçiyorum.

the bridge

Breakdown of Tarihi köprüden geçiyorum.

• geçmek: to cross
• -den: from
• tarihi: historic

Questions & Answers about Tarihi köprüden geçiyorum.

Why is tarihi used instead of just tarih?

In Turkish, to turn a noun into an adjective you often add -i. So tarih (history) + -i → tarihi (historical). This -i here is not a case ending but an adjective-forming suffix.

Why doesn’t tarihi take a case ending in this sentence?

Adjectives in Turkish never take case or number endings—that’s the job of the head noun. Here köprü gets the ablative -den, but tarihi (the adjective) stays unchanged.

What does the suffix -den in köprüden indicate?

-den is the ablative case ending meaning “from,” “out of,” or “through.” With motion verbs like geçmek (“to pass/cross”), it often carries the sense “across” or “through.”

Why can’t I say köprüyü geçiyorum to mean “I am crossing the bridge”?

Geçmek (“to cross/pass”) in Turkish takes its object in the ablative (-den), not the accusative (-yü). So the correct form is köprüden geçiyorum, not köprüyü.

How is geçiyorum formed?