Ben parkta eski arkadaşıma rastladım.

I

Breakdown of Ben parkta eski arkadaşıma rastladım.

• benim: my
• arkadaş: the friend
• park: the park

Questions & Answers about Ben parkta eski arkadaşıma rastladım.

What does each part of the sentence mean, including the endings?

• Ben = I
• park-ta = in/at the park (noun park
  • locative suffix -ta)
• eski arkadaş-ım-a = to my old friend (noun arkadaş
  • 1st-person possessive -ım “my” + dative -a “to”)
• rastla-dı-m = I ran into (verb stem rastla- “run into, come across” + past -dı
  • 1st-person -m)

So, literally: I in-the-park to-my-old-friend ran-into.

Why is it arkadaşıma (dative) and not arkadaşımı (accusative)?

Because the verb rastlamak governs the dative case. In Turkish, certain verbs require particular cases on the noun they interact with. For rastlamak the person/thing you happen to meet takes the dative (-a/-e). Using the accusative (-ı/-i) would be ungrammatical here.

• Correct: Eski arkadaşıma rastladım. = I ran into my old friend.
• Wrong: Eski arkadaşımı rastladım. (accusative with rastlamak)

Do I have to say Ben, or can I drop it?

You can drop it. The ending -m on rastladım already shows the subject is “I.” Use Ben only for emphasis or contrast.

• Parkta eski arkadaşıma rastladım. = I ran into my old friend in the park.
• Ben parkta… adds “I (as opposed to someone else)…”

Why is it parkta and not parka?