Boyacı bugün erken geldi.

The painter arrived early today.

Breakdown of Boyacı bugün erken geldi.

• bugün: today
• gelmek: to come
• erken: early
• boyacı: the painter

Questions & Answers about Boyacı bugün erken geldi.

What exactly does the word boyacı mean? Is it an artist?

Boyacı is a tradesperson who paints buildings, walls, etc. (a house painter/ decorator). If you mean an artist who paints pictures, use ressam. Morphology: boya (paint) + -cı (doer-of) = “painter.” You can also say duvar boyacısı or bina boyacısı for clarity. Using Ressam bugün erken geldi would mean “The (artist) painter came early today.”

Why is there no “the” or “a” before boyacı?

Turkish has no definite article (“the”). Bare nouns can be definite or generic from context. If you want to stress indefiniteness (“a”), use bir: Bir boyacı bugün erken geldi = “A painter came early today.” For “this/that,” use bu/şu/o (e.g., o boyacı = “that painter”).

What tense/aspect is geldi? Why not geliyor or gelmiş?

Geldi is the simple past (-DI), usually with direct knowledge (“he/she came”).

• Geliyor = present continuous (“is coming”).
• Gelmiş = inferential/ reportative past (“apparently/it seems he came”; you didn’t witness it or you’re reporting).

How does gel- conjugate in the simple past?

gel-dim (I came), gel-din (you came), gel-di (he/she/it came), gel-dik (we), gel-diniz (you pl./formal), gel-diler (they). In our sentence, geldi is 3rd singular.

Is the verb always at the end? Can I change the word order?

Neutral Turkish puts the finite verb last. The given order (Boyacı bugün erken geldi) is natural. You can topicalize/focus by moving elements:

• Bugün boyacı erken geldi (very natural: topic “today”).
• Boyacı erken geldi bugün (colloquial/emphatic).
• Bugün erken boyacı geldi (marked: focuses that it was the painter who came early). Verb-final is still the default.

Why is bugün placed before erken? What’s the usual adverb order?

Typical adverb order is time > place > manner > verb. So bugün (time) before erken (manner) is expected: Bugün eve erken geldi = “Today he came home early.”

What’s the difference between erken, erkenden, and erkenci?

• erken: “early” (adverb/adjective). Erken geldi = “He came early.”
• erkenden: “on the early side/earlier than usual.” Erkenden geldi suggests earlier than expected.
• erkenci: “an early bird/ someone who tends to be early.” Not used to modify the verb directly in this sentence.

How do I pronounce boyacı, bugün, geldi?

• c = English “j” in “jam”: boyacı = bo-ya-ji (final vowel is Turkish ı, a back unrounded vowel like a relaxed “uh”).
• ü is like French “u” in “tu” or German “ü”: bugün = bu-gün.
• geldi = gel-di (final i is the dotted i, like English “ee” but short).

How do I make a yes/no question or negate this sentence?

• Yes/no: add the question particle (separate word) after the focused part:
  • Boyacı bugün erken geldi mi? (Did the painter come early today?)
  • Bugün erken mi geldi? (Was it early that he came today?) The particle harmonizes: mi/mı/mu/mü.
• Negation: Boyacı bugün erken gelmedi (didn’t come early today).

How do I add where he came to or from?

Use case suffixes:

• Goal (-e/-a): eve (to home) → Boyacı bugün eve erken geldi.
• Location (-de/-da): evde (at home).
• Source (-den/-dan): evden (from home). Turkish uses suffixes instead of separate prepositions.

Why is it geldi and not gelti?

The past suffix is -DI/-Dı/-Dü/-Du, but it surfaces as -TI/-Tı/-Tü/-Tu after voiceless consonants. Since gel- ends in the voiced consonant l, you get gel-di. Compare: git- → gitti (voiceless t → -ti).

Can I drop the subject boyacı?

Yes. Turkish is pro-drop. If context makes the subject clear, Bugün erken geldi is fine. The pronoun o (“he/she/it”) is typically omitted unless you need emphasis or clarity.

Is boyacı definitely the subject? How would an object look?

Here it’s the subject (no case ending; nominative is zero-marked). A definite direct object takes accusative: boyacıyı. For example, Bugün boyacıyı erken gördüm = “I saw the painter early today.”

How do I make it plural or more polite?

• Plural: Boyacılar bugün erken geldiler (“The painters came early today”).
• Respect/honorific plural (for one person) is possible in formal/polite contexts: Boyacı Bey bugün erken geldiler. In everyday modern Turkish, many speakers just use singular: geldi.

Could I say çok erken or “too early”?

Yes. Intensifiers:

• çok erken, epey erken, pek erken = “very/quite early.”
• “Too early”: fazla erken or gereğinden erken.
  Example: Boyacı bugün çok erken geldi.

What’s the difference between Boyacı bugün erken geldi and Bugün boyacı erken geldi?

Both are grammatical. The first tends to topic the painter; the second topics “today.” In both, erken (right before the verb) is the focused element, so the main new information is that the arrival was early.