Questions & Answers about Çocuk topa vuruyor.
Because the verb vurmak often takes the dative case for the thing that is being struck, kicked, or aimed at in this kind of meaning.
- top = ball
- topa = to the ball / at the ball
So in Çocuk topa vuruyor, the ball is marked as the target of the action.
This is one of those places where you should learn the verb together with the case pattern it uses:
- birine/bir şeye vurmak = to hit someone/something, strike at, kick
By contrast, some other uses of vurmak can take a direct object, so case choice can affect meaning. For learners, the safest approach is: memorize topa vurmak as a set expression.
Here -a is the dative case ending. In many sentences it can mean something like to or toward, but you should not translate it mechanically every time.
In this sentence, it marks the target of vurmak. So it is less about a literal English word and more about the grammatical pattern Turkish uses with this verb.
The dative ending has two basic shapes:
- -a
- -e
Which one appears depends on vowel harmony. Since top has the vowel o, the form is topa.