Bu çiçekler güneşte kalınca soluyor.

to stay

Breakdown of Bu çiçekler güneşte kalınca soluyor.

• çiçek: the flower
• güneş: the sun
• -te: in

Questions & Answers about Bu çiçekler güneşte kalınca soluyor.

Why does bu mean these here, not this?

Bu itself can mean this or these. Turkish does not change the form of bu for singular vs. plural.

You understand it as these here because the noun çiçekler is plural:

• bu çiçek = this flower
• bu çiçekler = these flowers

So the plurality is shown by the noun, not by bu.

Why does çiçek become çiçekler?

The ending -ler / -lar is the regular Turkish plural suffix.

Here:

• çiçek = flower
• çiçekler = flowers

It appears as -ler rather than -lar because of vowel harmony. The last vowel in çiçek is e, so the front-vowel version -ler is used.

Why is güneşte used, and what does the -te ending do?

The ending -de / -da / -te / -ta is the locative suffix, often meaning in, on, or at.

So:

• güneş = sun
• güneşte = in the sun / under the sun / in sunlight

Here it expresses the place or condition where the flowers are left.

The form is -te rather than -de because ş is a voiceless consonant, and Turkish often changes d to t after voiceless consonants.