Learn Hardcore Turkish: Sade kahve seviyorum.

With Turkish coffee, sade specifically means “no sugar” (the standard sugar-scale is sade = no sugar, orta = medium sugar, şekerli = sweet).
For non-Turkish coffee, people may say sade kahve to mean “black coffee,” but you’ll also hear siyah kahve (black coffee) or şekersiz (without sugar). So the safest readings are “plain/unsweetened,” and often “black,” depending on context.

Why is there no ben? Shouldn’t it say “Ben sade kahve seviyorum”?

Turkish verbs carry the subject in their endings. Seviyorum ends with -um, which already means “I.” Ben is optional and used mainly for emphasis or contrast:

Neutral: Sade kahveyi seviyorum.
Emphatic/contrasting: Ben sade kahveyi seviyorum (başkaları değil).

Shouldn’t it be sade kahveyi seviyorum with the -i (accusative) on kahve?

Often, yes. In Turkish, a direct object that is specific or treated as a whole category typically takes the accusative -i:

General preference (very common): Sade kahveyi seviyorum.
Bare form (sade kahve seviyorum) is also heard and understood as a general preference, but many speakers find the -i version more natural with verbs of liking/disliking. Use the -i as your default for preferences.

What’s the difference between seviyorum and severim?

Both can express liking:

Seviyorum (present continuous) = “I (currently) like/I love.” With stative verbs like sevmek, it often reads like a standing preference.
Severim (aorist/habitual) = “I (generally) like” (neutral, timeless statement of taste). Both are fine. For broad, timeless preferences, severim is slightly more “textbook,” but seviyorum is very common in conversation.

How do I say “I don’t like plain coffee”?

Two natural options, with a nuance difference:

General/nonhabitual: Sade kahveyi sevmiyorum.
Habitual/general taste: Sade kahveyi sevmem. Both are widely used; sevmem often sounds like a general rule.

Can I say “Seviyorum sade kahve” or change the word order?

Default order is Subject–Object–Verb. Natural options:

(Ben) sade kahveyi seviyorum. (most neutral) Marked orders exist for emphasis, but “Seviyorum sade kahve” is odd. You can put ben at the end for emphasis: Sade kahveyi seviyorum ben (I’m the one who likes it).

How do you pronounce the sentence?

Approximate English-friendly guide:

Sade: SAH-deh
kahve: KAH-veh (the h is audible)
seviyorum: seh-vee-YO-room (stress tends to fall on the yor syllable) Vowels are pure: a as in “father,” e as in “bed,” o as in “or,” u like the u in “put.”

When do I need the buffer letter y, as in kahveyi?

If a word ends in a vowel and you add a vowel-initial suffix (like accusative -i or dative -e), insert y:

kahve + -i → kahveyi (the coffee)
kahve + -e → kahveye (to the coffee)

Is a plural like sade kahveleri seviyorum ever correct?

Use the singular for general preferences. Sade kahveleri seviyorum means “I like the (specific) coffees” (plural), e.g., several particular cups/brands being discussed. For “I like plain coffee (as a kind),” stick to singular: Sade kahveyi seviyorum.

How do I ask “Do you like plain coffee?”

Two common ways:

Sade kahveyi seviyor musun? (present continuous)
Sade kahveyi sever misin? (habitual) For polite/plural you: … musunuz? / … misiniz?

What’s the difference between sevmek, hoşlanmak, and beğenmek?

Sevmek: to like/love (broad preference or strong liking). Takes accusative: Kahveyi seviyorum.
Hoşlanmak: to take pleasure in, to like. Takes ablative -dan/-den: Kahveden hoşlanıyorum.
Beğenmek: to find nice/approve of (often a specific instance). Accusative for the thing: Bu kahveyi beğendim.

How can I say “I really love plain coffee”?

Sade kahveyi çok seviyorum. (I like it very much.)
Stronger idiom: Sade kahveye bayılıyorum. (I adore plain coffee.) Note bayılmak takes dative -e/-a.

If I want to emphasize the activity, how do I say “I like drinking plain coffee”?

Use a verbal noun as the object:

Sade kahve içmeyi seviyorum. (literally “I like drinking plain coffee.”) Here içmek → içme (drinking) → içmeyi (accusative as the object of seviyorum).

Is sade kahve only for Turkish coffee sugar levels? What about other coffees?

With Turkish coffee, sade is the standard way to say “no sugar”: Bir sade Türk kahvesi, lütfen.
With other coffees, you can use sade or say siyah kahve (black coffee) or şekersiz (without sugar): Bir sade filtre kahve / Bir siyah kahve, lütfen.

What grammar is happening in seviyorum?

It’s root + present-continuous + person:

sev- (love/like) + -iyor (present continuous) + -um (1st person singular) → seviyorum. Notes:
The -iyor vowel follows harmony (after a front vowel like e, it’s i).
After -yor, personal endings are fixed as -um, -sun, -, -uz, -sunuz, -lar (not four-way harmony).