Ben merdivenlerden aşağı koşuyorum.

I

Breakdown of Ben merdivenlerden aşağı koşuyorum.

• koşmak: to run
• merdiven: the stairs
• aşağı: downward

Questions & Answers about Ben merdivenlerden aşağı koşuyorum.

Why is ben there? Isn’t koşuyorum already enough to mean I am running?

Yes. In Turkish, koşuyorum already includes I because the ending -um marks first person singular.

So:

• Koşuyorum = I am running
• Ben koşuyorum = I am running

Adding ben is usually for:

• emphasis
• contrast
• clarity

For example, Ben koşuyorum, o yürüyüyor means I’m running, he/she is walking.

In this sentence, ben is grammatical but optional.

What does merdivenlerden mean exactly?

Merdivenlerden breaks down like this:

• merdiven = stairs / staircase / ladder
• -ler = plural
• -den = from

So literally, merdivenlerden means from the stairs or off the stairs.

In this sentence, it works together with aşağı to give the idea down the stairs.

Why is merdiven plural here? In English we usually say the stairs, but sometimes learners think of staircase as singular.