Kedi patisini yalıyor.

the cat

Breakdown of Kedi patisini yalıyor.

• onun: its
• pati: the paw
• yalamak: to lick

Questions & Answers about Kedi patisini yalıyor.

What does each part of Kedi patisini yalıyor mean grammatically?

A useful breakdown is:

• kedi = cat
• pati-si-ni = paw-its-(definite) object
  • pati = paw
  • -si = its / his / her
  • -ni = accusative marking on a possessed noun
• yalıyor = is licking
  • from the dictionary form yalamak = to lick
  • -yor is the present continuous marker

So the sentence is literally something like:

cat its-paw-OBJ is-licking

Why is it patisini instead of just pati?

Because Turkish is showing two things on that word:

1. whose paw it is

   • pati = paw
   • patisi = its paw / his paw / her paw

2. that it is the direct object of the verb

   • patisini = its paw as the thing being licked

In English, we use a separate word like its. In Turkish, that meaning is built into the noun with a suffix.

Why is there an extra n in patisini?