Balık fırında pişiyor.

the fish

Breakdown of Balık fırında pişiyor.

• pişmek: to cook
• fırında: in the oven

Questions & Answers about Balık fırında pişiyor.

Why are there no English-style articles like the or a/an before balık or fırın in this sentence?

In Turkish, there is no direct equivalent of English indefinite (a/an) or definite (the) articles. Nouns stand alone in either a general (indefinite) or specific (definite) sense. Context tells you whether you mean “a fish” or “the fish,” and likewise for “oven.”

Why is the verb pişiyor (with -iyor) used here instead of pişiriyor?

Turkish has two related verbs: pişmek (intransitive, “to cook/be cooked”) and pişirmek (transitive, “to cook something”). Here pişiyor is from pişmek, so the fish is “cooking” on its own. If you used pişiriyor, it would mean “(someone) is cooking” the fish, and you would need an object in the accusative case (e.g. Balığı fırında pişiriyor – “He/she is cooking the fish in the oven”).

What does -da in fırında do?

The suffix -da is the locative case marker, indicating location (“in,” “on,” or “at”). You attach it to fırın (“oven”) to form fırında, meaning “in the oven.”

Why is there an extra i before -yor in pişiyor?