Annem pazardan taze pırasa aldı.

Annem means my mother.

It is made of:

• anne = mother
• -m = my

So:

• anne = mother
• annem = my mother

In Turkish, the possessive ending often makes benim unnecessary.
So annem already includes the idea of my.

You could say benim annem, but that usually adds emphasis, like:

• My mother (not someone else’s)

In a normal sentence, annem by itself is completely natural.

The ending -dan means from.

So:

• pazar = market
• pazardan = from the market

This ending is called the ablative case. It often shows movement away from a place:

• evden = from the house
• okuldan = from school
• marketten = from the supermarket

So Annem pazardan... aldı tells us where she got the leeks: from the market.

It can mean either market or Sunday, depending on context.

Here it means market.

Why? Because pazardan ... aldı means bought/got ... from the market, which makes sense.
From Sunday would not fit the sentence.

So this is a good example of how Turkish often relies on context to choose between meanings.

Because Turkish normally prefers verb-final word order.

A very common Turkish pattern is:

• Subject + other information + object + verb

So:

• Annem = my mother
• pazardan = from the market
• taze pırasa = fresh leek / fresh leeks
• aldı = bought

A very literal English-style order would be: My mother from the market fresh leeks bought.

That sounds strange in English, but it is normal in Turkish.

In Turkish, adjectives usually come before the noun, just like in English.

So:

• taze pırasa = fresh leek / fresh leeks
• büyük ev = big house
• güzel kitap = beautiful book

Also, Turkish adjectives do not change form for singular/plural or gender.

So:

• taze pırasa
• taze pırasalar

The adjective taze stays the same.

This is a very common question.

In Turkish, a bare singular noun can often refer to an unspecified amount or type, especially with things like food or shopping items.

So pırasa aldı can mean:

• bought leek
• bought some leek
• bought leeks

English often prefers the plural here (fresh leeks), but Turkish does not have to use the plural in the same way.

If you want to make the quantity clearer, Turkish can do that in other ways:

• bir pırasa aldı = she bought one leek
• iki pırasa aldı = she bought two leeks
• bir kilo pırasa aldı = she bought a kilo of leeks

So the singular pırasa here is normal.

Because pırasa here is an indefinite, non-specific direct object.

In Turkish:

• a specific/definite direct object usually takes the accusative
• a non-specific/indefinite direct object usually does not

Compare:

• Pırasa aldı.
  = She bought leek / some leeks.
  (not a specific leek already known to both speakers)

• Pırasayı aldı.
  = She bought the leek / the specific leek.
  (a particular leek, already identifiable in context)

This is one of the most important differences between Turkish and English.

Aldı comes from the verb almak.

The basic meaning of almak is broad:

• to take
• to get
• to buy
• to receive

In this sentence, because the context is from the market and the object is a food item, aldı naturally means bought.

So although almak does not always mean buy, it often does in shopping contexts.

Aldı is the simple past tense of almak.

Breakdown:

• al- = verb stem
• -dı = past tense ending

So:

• almak = to buy / take / get
• aldı = bought / took / got

The ending can appear in different forms because of vowel harmony and consonant harmony:

• -dı
• -di
• -du
• -dü
• -tı
• -ti
• -tu
• -tü

In this verb, the correct form is -dı, giving aldı.

Turkish does not have articles exactly like English the and a/an.

So nouns often appear without any article word:

• anne = mother / the mother / a mother, depending on context
• pazar = market / the market
• pırasa = leek / leeks / some leek

If Turkish wants to make something clearly one / a, it can use bir:

• bir pırasa aldı = she bought a leek / one leek

Definiteness is often shown by context and, for direct objects, by the accusative:

• pırasa aldı = bought leek / some leeks
• pırasayı aldı = bought the leek

Yes, Turkish word order is flexible, but the choice changes focus or emphasis.

The neutral order here is:

• Annem pazardan taze pırasa aldı.

You might also hear:

• Taze pırasa annem pazardan aldı.
• Pazardan annem taze pırasa aldı.

These are possible, but they sound more marked and may emphasize a particular part.

For learners, the safest pattern is: subject + place/source + object + verb

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

AHN-nem pah-zar-DAN TAH-zeh puh-RAH-sah uhl-DUH

A few useful notes:

• a is usually like the a in father
• e is usually like e in bed, but clearer
• ı is a special Turkish vowel: a relaxed sound somewhat like the vowel in the second syllable of sofa, but without rounding
• stress in Turkish is often fairly even, though some endings and words affect it

The most unfamiliar sound for many English speakers here is ı in:

• pırasa
• aldı

Yes, depending on context, got can work too.

Because almak is broader than English buy, translations can vary:

• bought
• got
• picked up

But in a normal everyday shopping context, bought is usually the most natural English translation.

So:

• Annem pazardan taze pırasa aldı. most naturally means:
• My mother bought fresh leeks from the market.