Mutfakta kısık ateşte çorba kaynıyor.

Soup is boiling on low heat in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Mutfakta kısık ateşte çorba kaynıyor.

• çorba: the soup
• mutfakta: in the kitchen
• kısık ateşte: on low heat
• kaynamak: to boil

Questions & Answers about Mutfakta kısık ateşte çorba kaynıyor.

What do the endings in the words mutfakta and ateşte do?

They are the locative case suffix, meaning “in/at/on.” Turkish doesn’t use separate prepositions like “in” or “on”; it adds a suffix to the noun.

• Forms: -da / -de / -ta / -te
• Choose a/e by vowel harmony (back vowels → a, front vowels → e).
• Choose d/t by the final consonant’s voicing (after a voiceless consonant, use t).

So:

• mutfak + -ta → mutfakta = in/at the kitchen
• ateş + -te → ateşte = on low heat (literally “at the fire/heat”)

Why is it ateşte (with -te) and not ateşde?

Because ş is a voiceless consonant, so the locative uses -te (not -de). This is part of the d/t alternation rule in the locative.

Why is it mutfakta and not something like mutfakda or mutfağta?

• The final consonant k is voiceless, so you need -ta (not -da): mutfakta.
• The k→ğ softening happens when you add a vowel-initial suffix (e.g., mutfağa “to the kitchen”), but the locative starts with a consonant (t), so no softening: not “mutfağta.”

Which word is the subject here?

Çorba is the subject (“soup”). Turkish has no articles, so çorba can be “the soup” or “(some) soup,” depending on context. You could add bir to force “a soup,” but here it would sound odd; the natural reading is “the soup.”