Learn Hardcore Turkish: Üniversite sınavlarına hazırlanmak için dershanede uzun saatler geçirmelisin. - You should spend long hours in the cram school to prepare for university entrance exams.

Üniversite = university
sınav = exam
-lar = plural suffix → sınavlar (exams)
-ın = 2nd person singular possessive → sınavların (your exams)
-a = dative case suffix (“to/for”) → sınavlarına (to/for your exams)
Combined, Üniversite sınavlarına literally means “to/for your university exams,” i.e. “for your university entrance exams.”

Why is hazırlanmak için used instead of just hazırlanmak?

hazırlanmak = “to prepare” (infinitive)
için = “for/in order to”
When you want to say “in order to prepare,” you attach için to the infinitive.
So hazırlanmak için = “in order to prepare.”

What role does dershanede play, and why is it -de and not -e?

dershane = private tutoring center (cram school)
-de = locative case suffix (“in/at”)
Thus dershanede = “at the cram school.”
If you wanted “to the cram school,” you’d use the dative -e: dershaneye.

Why doesn’t uzun saatler take an accusative -i suffix?

uzun saatler = “long hours” (an indefinite quantity)
In Turkish, a direct object only takes the accusative -i when it’s definite or specific. Here it’s general/unspecified, so it remains without -i.

How is geçirmelisin formed, and what nuance does it convey?

geçir- = root “to spend/pass (time)”
-meli = necessity suffix (“must/should”)
-sin = 2nd person singular
So geçir-meli-sin = “you must/should spend.”
It expresses a strong recommendation or obligation rather than a simple statement.

Why does the finite verb geçirmelisin appear at the very end of the sentence?

Turkish follows a Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. All verbs—especially the main/finite verb—come at the end of a clause. Other elements (purpose phrase, location, object) precede it in flexible order.