Questions & Answers about Bahçede oturup çay içiyorum.
Where is the word “I” in this sentence? I only see çay içiyorum, not a separate pronoun.
Turkish usually doesn’t need a separate subject pronoun like I.
The ending -um in içiyorum already tells us the subject is “I”:
- iç-iyor-um
- iç- = drink
- -iyor = present continuous (…ing)
- -um = 1st person singular (I)
So çay içiyorum literally means something like “(I) am drinking tea”.
You can add Ben for emphasis: Ben bahçede oturup çay içiyorum, but it’s not required.
What does the -de in bahçede mean? Is it like “in” or “at”?
Yes. -de is the locative suffix, which usually corresponds to English “in / at / on” depending on context.
- bahçe = garden
- bahçe + de → bahçede = in the garden / at the garden
This is not a separate word – Turkish doesn’t use a separate preposition like in; instead, it attaches a suffix to the noun.
Why is it bahçede and not bahçede / bahçete / bahçada or something else? How is the suffix chosen?