Questions & Answers about Salatalık çok taze; yoğurtlu salataya çok yakışıyor.
Does salatalık mean “a cucumber” or “cucumbers”?
Turkish has no articles, so salatalık can mean “a cucumber,” “the cucumber,” or “cucumbers” in a generic sense. To be explicit, say bir salatalık (a cucumber) or salatalıklar (cucumbers).
Is salatalık related to salata?
Yes. It’s historically salata + -lık (a noun-forming suffix meaning “for/related to”), originally “something for salad.” It’s now lexicalized as the word for “cucumber.”
Is there another word for cucumber, and does it sound rude?
The other common word is hıyar. It’s perfectly correct but also a slang insult (“idiot”), so many people prefer salatalık in casual conversation. For small pickling cucumbers you’ll hear kornişon.
What does yoğurtlu mean? How does the -lu suffix work?
-lI/-li/-lu/-lü means “with/that has,” chosen by vowel harmony. yoğurt + -lu → yoğurtlu = “with yogurt / yogurt-based.” Examples: sütlü kahve (coffee with milk), peynirli börek (cheese pastry).
Why is it salataya and not salata?
The verb yakışmak (“to suit; to go well with”) takes the dative case (harmonizing to ). Since ends in a vowel, add the buffer : = “to the salad.”