Word
Lütfen termosu getir, çaydanlıktaki çayı içine dökelim.
Meaning
Please bring the thermos, let’s pour the tea from the teapot into it.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Lütfen termosu getir, çaydanlıktaki çayı içine dökelim.
çay
the tea
getirmek
to bring
lütfen
please
-daki
in
Questions & Answers about Lütfen termosu getir, çaydanlıktaki çayı içine dökelim.
Can you break down each part of the sentence morphologically?
- Lütfen: please (politeness marker)
- termosu: termos + -u (accusative “the thermos,” definite object; vowel harmony -> -u after o)
- getir: bring (2nd person singular imperative)
- çaydanlıktaki: çaydanlık + -ta (locative “in the teapot/kettle”) + -ki (relativizer “the one that is in …”)
- çayı: çay + -ı (accusative “the tea,” definite object)
- içine: iç (“inside”) + -i (3rd person possessive “its inside”) + -e (dative “into”) with buffer -n- after a possessive: içi + -e → içine
- dökelim: dök- (pour) + -elim (hortative/optative “let’s …”; vowel harmony with ö → -elim)
Why are termosu and çayı in the accusative?
Turkish marks definite direct objects with the accusative. Here we mean a specific thermos and the specific tea in the teapot, so:
- termosu getir = bring the thermos (that specific one)
- termos getir = bring a thermos (any thermos) Similarly:
- çayı dökelim = let’s pour the tea (specific)
- çay dökelim = let’s pour (some) tea (indefinite)
What does the -ki in çaydanlıktaki do? Why not just çaydanlıkta?
- çaydanlıkta means “in the teapot/kettle,” describing location.
- çaydanlıktaki turns that location phrase into an adjective: “the one that is in the teapot.” So çaydanlıktaki çay = “the tea that is in the teapot.” This is the standard way to say “the X that is in/on Y.”