Learn Hardcore Turkish: Kilisede vitray pencereler var. - There are stained-glass windows in the church.

The suffix -de is the locative case in Turkish, meaning in, on, or at. It attaches to the noun stem and follows vowel harmony. Since kilise ends in e, you add -de, yielding kilisede: in the church.

Why are there no articles like a or the in the sentence?

Turkish does not use separate indefinite or definite articles. Nouns stand alone. Context or other markers (like the demonstratives bu or o) clarify definiteness. So kilisede can mean in a church or in the church depending on context.

How is the word order in Kilisede vitray pencereler var different from English?

Turkish typically follows Subject-Object-Verb order, but existential sentences put the locative first, then the noun phrase, then the existential verb var. Literal structure: In the church stained glass windows there are. In English we say There are stained glass windows in the church.

What is the role of var in this sentence?

var is the existential verb meaning there is/are. It follows the noun phrase to indicate existence or presence. Its negative counterpart is yok (there isn’t/aren’t).

Why is pencereler plural, and what if I want to say a window?

pencereler = pencere (window) + plural suffix -ler, so windows. To say a window, drop the plural and add bir:
Kilisede bir vitray pencere var
(There is a stained glass window in the church).

Why isn’t vitray pluralized like vitraylar?

Here vitray functions as an adjective modifying pencereler, so it stays in its base form. Only the head noun (pencere) takes the plural suffix. If you wanted to refer to stained glass items generally, you could say vitraylar.

How does vowel harmony apply to pencereler?

The plural suffix follows two-way vowel harmony: after a front vowel (e in pencere), use -ler. So pencere + -ler = pencereler (windows).