Learn Hardcore Turkish: Seher vakti mavi hilâl gökyüzünde asılı duruyordu. - At dawn, the blue crescent hung in the sky.

Seher vakti literally means the time of dawn, i.e. the moment just before and around sunrise when the sky first brightens. Sabah means morning in general (from sunrise onward). So seher vakti is an earlier, more specific period than sabah.

Why does vakti end with -i in seher vakti?

The -i on vakti is the genitive (possessive) suffix attached to the head noun in a genitive construction. Here seher (‘dawn’) is the possessor and vakti means time of. In Turkish, the possessed noun takes -i to signal “the X of Y,” so seher vakti = time of dawn.

Why is hilâl written with an â (circumflex), and how should I pronounce it?

The circumflex (^) over â marks a lengthened vowel or subtle palatalization inherited from the original Arabic loanword. In hilâl, it signals a slightly long “a” sound: hi-laal. In everyday speech many Turks simply say hilal without a noticeable lengthening, but the standard spelling preserves the circumflex to show its origin.

What does mavi hilâl mean? Is it a literal or poetic description?

Mavi means blue, and hilâl means crescent moon, so mavi hilâl = blue crescent. It’s a poetic image—dawn’s early light can cast a bluish hue on the thin crescent, but you wouldn’t call the moon literally blue in ordinary conversation.

Can you break down gökyüzünde into its parts and explain their roles?

Sure:

gök = “sky”
yüz = “face”
→ Combined as gökyüzü = “sky” (literally “face of the sky”)
-nde (with vowel harmony -ünde) = locative case suffix meaning “in/at/on.”
Altogether gökyüzünde = in (or above) the sky.

What does asılı duruyordu mean, and why are there two verbs?

Asılı duruyordu combines:

asılı (the participle of asıl-mak, “to hang”)
duruyordu (the past-continuous of durmak, “to stand/stay”).
Together they form a set-phrase meaning “was hanging” or “hung there suspended.” Using durmak after a participle often emphasizes a stationary or ongoing state.

Could I say asılıydı instead of asılı duruyordu? How would the meaning change?

Yes.

asılıydı = simple past “it was hanging” (a one-off statement of fact)
asılı duruyordu = past continuous “it was hanging (continuously)” (more vivid, emphasizing the ongoing scene)
For a poetic description, asılı duruyordu feels more atmospheric.

What’s the difference between durdu, duruyordu, and dururdu?

Those are three past-tense forms of durmak:

durdu = simple past (“it hung/it stopped”) – a single completed action
duruyordu = past continuous (“it was hanging/it was staying”) – an action or state in progress
dururdu = past habitual (“it used to hang/it would hang”) – repeated or customary in the past

Who or what is the subject of the sentence, and why isn’t there a pronoun like o?

The subject is mavi hilâl (“the blue crescent”). In Turkish you name the subject directly (here mavi hilâl) and do not need a pronoun. You only use o (“it/he/she”) if you’re referring back to something already mentioned or to avoid repetition.

Why is vakit used instead of zaman in seher vakti? Are they interchangeable?

Both vakit and zaman mean “time,” but vakit often refers to a specific moment or time slot (like dawn, evening), whereas zaman is more general or abstract (time in general, an era). Thus seher vakti (“time of dawn”) sounds more natural than seher zamanı in poetic or descriptive contexts.