Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta duruyor.

My sister’s novel is on the shelf.

Breakdown of Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta duruyor.

• roman: the novel
• durmak: to stand
• rafta: on the shelf
• kız kardeşimin: my sister’s

Questions & Answers about Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta duruyor.

How do we form kız kardeşimin? What do the suffixes -im and -in indicate?

-im is the 1st-person singular possessive suffix (“my”), so kız kardeş + im = kız kardeşim (“my sister”). Then -in is the 3rd-person singular genitive suffix (“of …”), so kız kardeş + im + in = kız kardeşimin (“of my sister” / “my sister’s”).

Why does romanı end with -ı? Is that the accusative case?

Here -ı is the 3rd-person singular possessive suffix -(s)ı, marking “her/his/its novel.” It looks identical to the accusative marker, but because durmak is intransitive (it doesn’t take a direct object) and we already have a genitive possessor (kız kardeşimin), this -ı must be possessive, not accusative.

What does rafta mean and how is it formed?

rafta is the locative form of raf (“shelf”), meaning “on the shelf.” You add the locative suffix -da/-de after the last vowel. Since the last vowel in raf is a, you choose -da, and because f is voiceless, the d becomes t, giving raf + ta = rafta.

What does duruyor convey in this sentence?

duruyor is the present continuous form of durmak (“to stand/remain”). In Turkish you often use durmak plus a locative to describe where something is located. So rafta duruyor literally means “is standing on the shelf,” i.e. “is on the shelf.”

Can we drop duruyor and simply say Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta?

Yes. In casual speech you can omit the verb and say Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta, still meaning “My sister’s novel is on the shelf.” Including duruyor just makes the described location more explicit and is very common.

Is the word order flexible? Could we say Rafta kız kardeşimin romanı duruyor?

Absolutely. Turkish allows some flexibility for emphasis. Rafta kız kardeşimin romanı duruyor places the location first (emphasizing “on the shelf”), but conveys the same overall meaning. The one fixed point is that the verb typically stays at the end.

Could we use var or bulunuyor instead of duruyor here?

Yes. Kız kardeşimin romanı rafta bulunuyor or even …rafta var are grammatically correct. var simply expresses existence (“there is”), while bulunuyor and duruyor both describe an object’s location, with duruyor often implying a stable, upright placement.