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Questions & Answers about İlan duvarda asılı duruyor.
What exactly does ilan refer to here—poster, ad, or notice?
İlan can mean advertisement, notice, or announcement. In everyday speech:
- afiş = a poster you stick/hang on a wall (most specific for a physical poster)
- reklam = ad/commercial (marketing, media)
- duyuru = announcement/notice (informational) Using ilan for something hanging on a wall is fine, but if you mean a literal poster, afiş is often the most precise.
Why is it duvarda and not duvar or duvara?
Because -DA/-DE is the locative case meaning “at/on/in.”
- duvar + da → duvarda = on/at the wall (location)
- duvar + a → duvara = to/onto the wall (direction)
- duvar + dan → duvardan = from/off the wall (source)
How is the suffix in duvarda chosen?
Two rules:
- Vowel harmony: last vowel in duvar is a (a back vowel) → choose -da (not -de).
- Consonant voicing: stems ending in a voiceless consonant take -ta/-te. Since duvar ends with voiced r, we use -da, not -ta. Examples: evde (at home), parkta (in the park).
What does asılı duruyor literally mean, and why both words?
- asılı = hanging/suspended (stative adjective/participle)
- duruyor = is standing/stays (present continuous of durmak) Together, asılı duruyor means “it is (and remains) hanging,” emphasizing an ongoing state. Turkish often uses durmak with an adjective/adverb to stress a continuing condition.
Can I drop duruyor and just say İlan duvarda asılı?
Yes. İlan duvarda asılı is perfectly natural and means the same in most contexts. Asılı duruyor adds a slight nuance of “is hanging (right now/still).”
How do I say the action “(it) was hung” or “(it) is being hung”?
Use forms of asmak (to hang something) or its passive:
- “It was hung (onto the wall)”: Duvara asıldı. (passive, past)
- “It is being hung (onto the wall)”: Duvara asılıyor. (passive, present continuous)
- “Someone hung it (onto the wall)”: Birisi onu duvara astı. (active, past)
What exactly is asılı morphologically? How is it different from asılmış?
- asılı is a stative participle/adjective meaning “hanging, suspended,” derived from the intransitive/passive side of asmak/asılmak.
- asılmış is the -mış participle: “(having been) hung.” It highlights a completed action/result. Note: asılmış with a person can mean “hanged,” which is not what you want for a poster. For objects, asılı is the neutral, safe choice.
What does duruyor tell me about tense/aspect?
It’s the present continuous of durmak:
- stem: dur-
- suffix: -yor, harmonized as -uyor because the last vowel is u → duruyor It signals an ongoing state right now.
Can the word order change?
Yes, Turkish word order is flexible for emphasis:
- Neutral/topic-first: İlan duvarda asılı duruyor.
- Emphasizing location: Duvarda ilan asılı duruyor.
- Afterthought (colloquial): İlan asılı duruyor duvarda. (more informal; avoid in careful writing) The focused element typically appears right before the verb phrase.
Is ilan definite (“the poster”) or indefinite (“a poster”) here?
Without an article, Turkish is context-dependent. As a subject, ilan can be read as either. To make it clearly indefinite, add bir: Bir ilan duvarda asılı duruyor. To make it clearly definite, use a demonstrative: Bu ilan duvarda asılı duruyor.
How do I pronounce the dotted İ and the dotless ı in this sentence?
- İ/i (dotted): like English “ee” in “see.” İlan ≈ “EE-lahn.”
- I/ı (dotless): a short central vowel, like the “a” in “sofa” (unstressed “uh”). asılı ≈ “ah-suh-luh.” Full rough guide: İlan duvarda asılı duruyor ≈ “EE-lahn doo-VAHR-dah ah-suh-LUH doo-roo-YOR.”
Could I instead say “There’s a notice on the wall”?
Yes: Duvarda bir ilan var.
- … bir ilan var states existence.
- İlan duvarda asılı (duruyor) describes its state/position (that it’s hanging).
When would I say “on top of the wall” rather than “on the wall”?
Use:
- duvarda = on the wall (attached to/against its surface)
- duvarın üstünde/üzerinde = on top of the wall (sitting on the top edge/surface) Choose based on the physical relationship.
How can I say “the notice on the wall” as a noun phrase?
Use the -ki suffix to form a relative adjective: duvardaki ilan = “the notice on the wall.”
Example: Duvardaki ilan yırtılmış. = “The notice on the wall is torn.”