Log inSign up

Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.

Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.
At the shopping mall I want to stop by both the bookstore and the cinema.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Turkish grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Turkish now

Questions & Answers about Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.

What does “hem … hem de” mean, and how is it different from just “ve” (and)?

“Hem … hem (de)” is a correlative pair that means “both … and …”.

  • hem X hem (de) Y ≈ both X and Y
    • hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya = to both the bookstore and the cinema.

Compared to ve:

  • X ve Y = X and Y (neutral).
  • hem X hem (de) Y = emphasizes that both items are included, not just one.

The “de” after the second hem is optional but very common.

  • hem kitapçıya hem sinemaya – acceptable
  • hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya – more natural/emphatic in everyday speech.
Why do “kitapçı” and “sinema” take -ya in “kitapçıya” and “sinemaya”?

“-ya” here is the dative case ending “-a / -e” plus a buffer letter “y” after a vowel.

The dative means “to / towards”:

  • kitapçı (bookstore) → kitapçıya = to the bookstore
  • sinema (cinema) → sinemaya = to the cinema

Rules:

  1. Dative endings are -a or -e (vowel harmony):

    • After back vowels (a, ı, o, u) → -a
    • After front vowels (e, i, ö, ü) → -e

  2. If the noun ends in a vowel, you add a buffer “y”:

    • vowel + -a / -e → -ya / -ye

So:

  • kitapçı (ends in vowel ı) + -a → kitapçıya
  • sinema (ends in vowel a) + -a → sinemaya
Why is it “alışveriş merkezinde” and not “alışveriş merkezine”?

Because the sentence expresses location (“in/at the shopping mall”), not direction (“to the shopping mall”).

  • -de / -da / -te / -ta = locative case → in / on / at
  • -e / -a = dative case → to / toward

So:

  • alışveriş merkezinde = in/at the shopping mall
  • alışveriş merkezine = to the shopping mall

In the sentence, the speaker is describing where they want to drop by the bookstore and the cinema (at the mall), not where they are going. That’s why -de (locative) is used: merkezinde.

Why is it “merkezinde” and not just “merkezde”?

This is because “alışveriş merkezi” is a noun–noun compound in Turkish.

  • alışveriş = shopping
  • merkez = center
  • alışveriş merkezi = shopping center / mall

In Turkish, such compounds usually mark the second noun with a 3rd person possessive ending:

  • merkez + -i → merkezi (literally “its center”)

Then we add the locative suffix:

  • merkezi + -de → merkezinde

So alışveriş merkezinde is:

  • alışveriş merkez-i-nde
    • shopping
      • center-its
        • in/at
          → “in/at the shopping center”

“merkezde” alone would be just “in the center” (in the city center, town center, etc.), without the “shopping” part.

What exactly does “uğramak” mean, and why does it take dative (…-e/-a)?

“uğramak” means:

  • to drop by,
  • to stop by,
  • to call in at somewhere (briefly visit).

It is usually used with the dative case to indicate where you are dropping by:

  • bir yere uğramak = to drop by a place
    • kitapçıya uğramak = to drop by the bookstore
    • sinemaya uğramak = to drop by the cinema

So in the sentence:

  • hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak
    = to drop by both the bookstore and the cinema.
How does “uğramak istiyorum” work grammatically? Why not just a single verb?

This is a common Turkish structure: [verb in -mek/-mak] + istemek.

  • uğramak = to drop by (dictionary/infinitive form)
  • istemek = to want

When you combine them:

  • uğramak istiyorum
    = “I want to drop by”

Breakdown of istiyorum:

  • iste- = want
  • -iyor- = present continuous stem
  • -um = 1st person singular “I”

So:

  • uğramak istiyorum = I want to drop by
  • kitapçıya uğramak istiyorum = I want to drop by the bookstore
  • hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum = I want to drop by both the bookstore and the cinema.
Why is there no separate word for “I” in the sentence?

In Turkish, the person is usually shown by the verb ending, so subject pronouns are often dropped.

  • istiyorum ends with -um → 1st person singular (“I”)
  • So even without ben, it already means “I want”.

Both are grammatically correct:

  • Ben alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.
  • Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.

The second one just sounds more natural unless you need to emphasize “I” (e.g., I want to, not someone else), in which case you say ben.

Can the word order be changed? For example, could I move “alışveriş merkezinde” somewhere else?

Yes. Turkish word order is flexible, especially with adverbials like time and place. The final verb position is the most fixed part; other elements can move for emphasis or style.

All of these are possible and grammatical:

  1. Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.
  2. Hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya alışveriş merkezinde uğramak istiyorum.
  3. Hem alışveriş merkezinde kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum. (different nuance)

The most natural and clear version for a learner is the original:

  • Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.

Because:

  • Location (alışveriş merkezinde) comes near the beginning,
  • then the list (hem … hem de …),
  • then the verb complex (uğramak istiyorum) at the end.
What is the difference between “de” in “hem de” and the suffix “-de/-da” as in “merkezinde”?

They look similar but are different things:

  1. “-de / -da / -te / -ta” (attached)

    • A case suffix meaning “in / at / on” (locative).
    • It is attached to a noun and obeys vowel and consonant harmony:
      • merkez
        • -de → merkezde (in the center)
      • okul
        • -da → okulda (at school)

  2. “de / da” (separate word)

    • A clitic/particle meaning “also, too”, or used in structures like “hem … hem de …”.
    • It is written separately from the preceding word.
    • It does not change the case of the noun.

In “hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya”, the “de” is the separate particle (also), not the locative suffix.

In “alışveriş merkezinde”, “-nde” is part of “merkezinde”:

  • merkez-i-nde → in the shopping center compound (as explained earlier).
How is “uğramak” pronounced? What does the letter “ğ” do?

In modern standard Turkish, “ğ” (yumuşak g) is not pronounced as a hard “g”. Instead, it lengthens or glides the surrounding vowels.

uğramak is roughly:

  • uğ → like “uu” (a long u), something like [uː]
  • -ra- → “rah” (with Turkish a)
  • -mak → “mak” (as in English “muck” but with a clearer a)

So uğramak ≈ oo-rah-mak (with the oo slightly lengthened).

Similarly:

  • dağ (mountain) ≈ daa (long a)
  • ağaç (tree) ≈ aa-atch

The “ğ” never appears at the beginning of a word and always affects the vowels around it rather than being a full consonant itself.

How would I say the sentence in the negative, like “I don’t want to drop by both the bookstore and the cinema”?

You negate the verb “istemek”, not the infinitive:

  • uğramak istemiyorum = I don’t want to drop by

So the full negative sentence is:

  • Alışveriş merkezinde hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istemiyorum.
    = At the shopping mall, I don’t want to drop by either/both the bookstore and the cinema.

(Depending on context, English might phrase it as “I don’t want to drop by the bookstore or the cinema” even though Turkish keeps hem … hem de.)

Is there a shorter or more colloquial way to say “alışveriş merkezinde”?

Yes. In everyday speech, Turkish people often say “AVM’de”:

  • AVM = abbreviation for “Alışveriş Merkezi” (shopping mall)
  • AVM’de = at the mall (AVM + -de locative)

So a very natural colloquial version is:

  • AVM’de hem kitapçıya hem de sinemaya uğramak istiyorum.
    = At the mall, I want to drop by both the bookstore and the cinema.