Learn Hardcore Turkish: Restoranda temassız ödeme yaptım ve makbuzu aldım. - I made a contactless payment at the restaurant and took the receipt.

The suffix -DA is the locative case, meaning “at/in/on.” It attaches to a noun to show location: restoran + -da → restoranda “at the restaurant.”

Form choice:

Vowel harmony: last vowel in restoran is back (a) → choose -da (not -de).
Voicing: the final consonant of restoran is voiced (n), so the suffix keeps d (not t). Hence not restoranta.

Possible forms of the locative: -da/-de/-ta/-te (picked by vowel harmony + voicing).

Why is there no subject pronoun ben?

Turkish verb endings show the subject. -m on yaptım/aldım already marks first person singular (“I”). You add Ben only for emphasis or contrast:

Ben restoranda temassız ödeme yaptım (I, as opposed to someone else).

Why use ödeme yaptım instead of ödedim?

Both are correct but slightly different:

ödemek = “to pay” (transitive): Hesabı ödedim (I paid the bill).
ödeme yapmak = “to make a payment” (a light-verb construction). It’s common with modifiers: temassız ödeme yaptım (I made a contactless payment). Saying Temassız ödedim is also idiomatic and a bit shorter.

Why does ödeme have no accusative ending, but makbuzu does?

Accusative -(y)I marks a definite direct object.

temassız ödeme yaptım: “I made a contactless payment” (indefinite, generic) → no accusative.
makbuzu aldım: “I took the receipt” (a specific, known receipt) → accusative on makbuz = makbuzu.

If you mean a specific payment, you could say: Ödemeyi yaptım (“I made the payment”).

What does temassız mean and why the double s?

temassız = “without contact, contactless.” It’s temas (contact) + -sız/siz/suz/süz (“without”), chosen by vowel harmony. Because temas ends in s and the suffix begins with s, they meet and appear doubled: temas + sız → temassız.

More examples of -sız:

şekersiz (sugarless), tuzsuz (unsalted), problemsiz (problem-free).

Can I use fiş or fatura instead of makbuz? What’s the difference?

fiş: till/receipt slip you normally get at a restaurant or store.
makbuz: an official receipt/acknowledgment, common for payments like donations, rent, or certain services.
fatura: invoice (with tax details, issued to a person/company).

In everyday restaurant contexts, fiş is more typical than makbuz, unless you specifically received an official receipt.

Can I say Restoranda temassız ödedim instead?

Yes. It’s concise and natural. Variants:

Restoranda temassız ödedim.
Kartla temassız ödedim.
Kredi kartıyla temassız ödedim.
Temassız ödeme yaptım. They’re all acceptable; pick based on what you want to emphasize.

Is the word order fixed? Where else can I put things for emphasis?

Turkish is flexible, but the default is SOV with adverbials early. Your sentence is natural: place Restoranda (place) first, then the action, then the second action. Other orders:

Ben restoranda temassız ödeme yaptım ve makbuzu aldım. (emphasizes “I”)
Restoranda makbuzu aldım. (different focus)
Makbuzu restoranda aldım. (emphasizes the place of getting the receipt) Putting temassız or restoranda at the end adds emphasis to them.

What’s the nuance of -dım past here? How would -miş change it?

yaptım/aldım (simple past -DI) = completed actions the speaker witnessed/knows directly.
yapmışım/almışım (evidential past -miş) = action learned later, reported, or with surprise/inference. It wouldn’t fit well here unless you’re saying “Looks like I (had) paid contactless and (had) taken the receipt” after discovering it.

How do I negate this or turn it into a question?

Negation:

Restoranda temassız ödeme yapmadım ve makbuzu almadım.

Questions (usually asked separately):

Restoranda temassız ödeme yaptın mı?
Makbuzu aldın mı? You could also ask: Temassız mı ödedin?

Does ve express sequence (“then”), or just “and”?

ve = “and,” neutral about order. If you want sequence, use words like sonra (then/afterwards):

Restoranda temassız ödeme yaptım, sonra makbuzu aldım.

What exactly happens morphologically in makbuzu?

It’s makbuz + accusative -I. Vowel harmony picks -u because the last vowel in makbuz is back and rounded (u): makbuz-u → makbuzu. No buffer letter is needed because the noun ends in a consonant. Compare:

fiş → fişi
fatura → faturayı (buffer y because the noun ends in a vowel)

Could Restoranda mean “also at the restaurant”?

Not by itself. That meaning uses the clitic da/de written separately:

Restoranda da temassız ödeme yaptım. = I also made a contactless payment at the restaurant. Your restoranda is the locative suffix, written attached.

Do I need bir (a/an) before restoranda?

Not necessarily. Turkish often omits an article-like word. Restoranda can mean “at a/the restaurant,” with the context deciding specificity. If you want to stress “at a (certain one) restaurant,” you can say bir restoranda, but it’s rarely needed here.

How do I pronounce the Turkish ı in temassız and aldım?

Turkish ı is a close, back, unrounded vowel (no direct English equivalent). Keep your lips unrounded and your tongue back, something like the vowel in the unstressed final sound of “roses” for many speakers:

temassız: te-mas-sız
aldım: al-dım