Breakdown of Nergis sabah bahçede güzel kokuyor.
güzel
nice
sabah
in the morning
kokmak
to smell
bahçede
in the garden
nergis
the daffodil
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Questions & Answers about Nergis sabah bahçede güzel kokuyor.
Why is there no article before Nergis?
Turkish doesn’t have indefinite or definite articles like a, an, or the. Proper names are used without articles.
What does sabah represent and why is it unmarked for case?
sabah means “morning” and here it functions as a simple time adverb (“in the morning”). Time expressions of this type usually don’t take case endings when used adverbially.
Why does bahçe have the suffix -de?
The suffix -de marks the locative case (“in/at”), so bahçede means “in the garden.” It answers the question “where?”.
What does güzel modify in this sentence?
Although güzel is normally an adjective (“beautiful/nice”), here it modifies the verb kokuyor, describing the manner of smelling (“smells nice”). In Turkish, adjectives can act like adverbs when placed before verbs.
How is kokuyor formed and what does it mean?
kokuyor comes from the verb root kok- (“to smell”) plus the present continuous marker -uyor and the third person singular ending (which is zero here). So it literally means “(it) is smelling,” used idiomatically as “(it) smells (nice).”
Can you explain why it’s kokmak and not koklamak?
kokmak is the intransitive verb “to emit a smell” (i.e. “to smell of something”). koklamak is a transitive verb meaning “to sniff” or “to smell something.” Since the flower itself is producing the scent, we use kokmak.
Why is the verb at the end of the sentence?
Turkish follows a subject–object–verb (SOV) word order, so the conjugated verb typically comes last.
Can I change the word order to emphasize a different part?
Yes. Word order in Turkish is relatively flexible because case endings and verb endings show each part’s role. For example:
Sabah bahçede Nergis güzel kokuyor.
still means “In the morning in the garden, the daffodil smells nice,” but shifts the focus slightly to time and place.