Dayım mayonez sevmez, ama amcam havuç salatasına her zaman biraz mayonez koyar.

Turkish distinguishes between:

• dayı = maternal uncle (your mother’s brother)
• amca = paternal uncle (your father’s brother)

The endings -ım / -m mean my, so:

• dayım = my maternal uncle
• amcam = my paternal uncle

This is very normal in Turkish family vocabulary. English uses just uncle, but Turkish is more specific.

It is the 1st person singular possessive suffix, meaning my.

So:

• dayı → dayım = my uncle (maternal)
• amca → amcam = my uncle (paternal)

The exact shape of the suffix changes because of vowel harmony and sound patterns in Turkish. After amca, it appears as -m, giving amcam.

Both can be translated as doesn’t like, but they are used a bit differently.

• sevmez is the negative aorist, often used for general habits, preferences, or facts
• sevmiyor is the negative present continuous, often used for what is happening now or a current situation

So in this sentence:

• Dayım mayonez sevmez = My uncle doesn’t like mayonnaise
  This means it is his general preference.

If you said:

• Dayım mayonez sevmiyor

it would sound more like he isn’t liking/eating mayonnaise right now or currently he doesn’t like it.

It comes from the verb sevmek = to like / to love.

Breakdown:

• sev- = verb stem
• -mez = negative aorist for he/she/it

So:

• sever = he/she likes
• sevmez = he/she does not like

This form is very common for general statements:

• Kahve içmez. = He/She doesn’t drink coffee.
• Et yemez. = He/She doesn’t eat meat.

Because mayonez is being used as a general, indefinite object.

In Turkish, a direct object often stays unmarked when it means something general or non-specific.

So:

• Dayım mayonez sevmez. = My uncle doesn’t like mayonnaise.
  (mayonnaise in general)

If you made it definite/specific, you would usually use the accusative:

• Mayonezi sevmez. = He doesn’t like the mayonnaise / mayonnaise as a specific object.

In your sentence, the unmarked form is the natural choice because it refers to mayonnaise in general.

The ending -na here is the dative case, which often means to or into.

The verb koymak means to put/place, and Turkish often marks the destination with the dative:

• masaya koymak = to put on/to the table
• çantaya koymak = to put into the bag
• havuç salatasına koymak = to put into the carrot salad

So:

• havuç salatasına = into the carrot salad

The full idea is:

• amcam havuç salatasına ... mayonez koyar
  = my uncle puts ... mayonnaise into carrot salad

Because havuç salatası is a Turkish noun compound meaning carrot salad.

Structure:

• havuç = carrot
• salata = salad
• havuç salatası = carrot salad

In Turkish noun compounds, the second noun often takes a compound marker that looks like a possessive suffix:

• elma suyu = apple juice
• Türk kahvesi = Turkish coffee
• havuç salatası = carrot salad

Then when you add the dative case, it becomes:

• havuç salatası
  • -na → havuç salatasına

So salatasına is not random; it is:

1. the compound form salatası
2. plus the dative ending -na

koyar is the aorist form, which often expresses:

• habits
• repeated actions
• general tendencies

So:

• Amcam ... mayonez koyar. = My uncle puts mayonnaise ... / My uncle always adds mayonnaise ...

This suggests a habitual action.

By contrast:

• koyuyor = is putting / is adding

That would usually describe something happening right now.

So in this sentence, koyar is used because the sentence talks about what he usually does, especially with her zaman = always.

biraz means a little or some.

Here:

• biraz mayonez = a little mayonnaise / some mayonnaise

It comes before the noun it modifies, just like English:

• biraz su = a little water
• biraz şeker = a little sugar
• biraz mayonez = a little mayonnaise

So the phrase:

• her zaman biraz mayonez koyar
  means:
• always puts a little mayonnaise

her zaman means always.

It is an adverbial phrase of frequency. In Turkish, adverbs like this are fairly flexible, but some positions sound more neutral than others.

In your sentence:

• amcam havuç salatasına her zaman biraz mayonez koyar

This is natural and clear.

You could also hear:

• Amcam her zaman havuç salatasına biraz mayonez koyar.

That is also natural.

Turkish word order is flexible, but the sentence usually keeps the verb at the end in neutral style.

Because Turkish is typically an SOV language:

• Subject + Object/Other elements + Verb

So:

• Dayım = subject
• mayonez = object
• sevmez = verb

and:

• amcam = subject
• havuç salatasına her zaman biraz mayonez = other elements + object
• koyar = verb

That said, Turkish word order is flexible. Speakers can move things around for emphasis, but the verb-at-the-end pattern is the most neutral and common.

Yes, ama means but and is very common in everyday Turkish.

In this sentence, it connects two contrasting ideas:

• Dayım mayonez sevmez
• ama amcam ... mayonez koyar

So the contrast is:

• one uncle does not like mayonnaise
• the other uncle always adds some to carrot salad

Other Turkish words can also express contrast, such as fakat or ancak, but ama is the most common and conversational.

Yes. koymak is a very common verb meaning to put, to place, or in food contexts often to add.

So:

• çorbaya tuz koymak = to add salt to soup
• salataya limon koymak = to add lemon to salad
• havuç salatasına mayonez koymak = to add mayonnaise to carrot salad

In English we often say add, while Turkish very often uses koymak in the same situation.

Very literally, it is something like:

• My maternal-uncle mayonnaise does-not-like, but my paternal-uncle carrot salad-to always a-little mayonnaise puts.

That sounds strange in English, but it helps show the Turkish structure:

• Dayım = my maternal uncle
• mayonez = mayonnaise
• sevmez = does not like
• ama = but
• amcam = my paternal uncle
• havuç salatasına = into/to carrot salad
• her zaman = always
• biraz mayonez = a little mayonnaise
• koyar = puts/adds

This kind of breakdown is useful for seeing how Turkish builds meaning differently from English.