Kitapları kategoriye göre raflara sıralamalıyız.

We should sort the books on the shelves by category.

Breakdown of Kitapları kategoriye göre raflara sıralamalıyız.

• kitap: the book
• -lara: to
• raf: the shelf
• kategori: the category
• göre: by
• sıralamak: to sort

Questions & Answers about Kitapları kategoriye göre raflara sıralamalıyız.

Why is Kitapları ended with -ları?

Kitapları actually carries two suffixes:

• -lar marks plural (“books”)
• -ı marks a definite direct object (accusative)
  So kitap
  • -lar
    • -ı = Kitapları, literally “the books” as objects we’re talking about.

Why isn’t it just kategori? Why kategoriye?

The -ye in kategoriye is the dative case ending, meaning “to the category.” When you use the postposition göre (“according to”), its noun must be in the dative. Hence:
kategori + -ye + göre = kategoriye göre (“according to category”).

What does göre do in this sentence?

göre is a postposition meaning “according to.” It turns the preceding dative noun into an adverbial phrase. You can think of kategoriye göre as one unit: “according to category.”

Why is raflara in the dative (-a) rather than the locative (-da)?

-a marks movement toward (“to the shelves”). We’re placing books onto the shelves, so we use the dative. If we wanted to say “on the shelves” in a static sense, we’d use locative raflarda.

Can you break down sıralamalıyız for me?

Sure. Starting from the root:

1. sırala- “to arrange/line up”
2. -malı/-meli obligation suffix meaning “must/should”
3. -yız 1st-person plural present ending (“we”)
   Putting it together: sıralamalıyız = “we should arrange” or “we must arrange.”

Why don’t we explicitly say biz (“we”) at the start?

Turkish is a pro-drop language: subject pronouns are often omitted because they’re encoded in the verb ending. Here -yız on sıralamalıyız already tells you the subject is “we.”

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Raflara kitapları kategoriye göre sıralamalıyız?

Yes. Turkish word order is relatively flexible. The verb usually stays at the end in a neutral sentence, but you can shuffle objects and adverbials for emphasis or style. Both versions are acceptable.