Maşallah, civcivler ne kadar hareketli; biri durmadan çimenlerin üstünde koşuyor.

Maşallah is a very common Turkish expression used when reacting to something pleasing, cute, beautiful, impressive, or admirable. In this sentence, it expresses warm admiration, something like:

• Aww, how lovely
• Look how lively they are
• Bless them

It does not translate neatly word-for-word into natural English, so it is best understood as a cultural exclamation of affection or admiration.

No. Here ne kadar does not mean a real information question like how much? Instead, it is exclamatory:

• Ne kadar hareketli! = How lively they are! / They’re so lively!

So in this sentence, civcivler ne kadar hareketli is an exclamation, not a request for information.

In Turkish, the verb to be is often omitted in the present tense when linking a subject to an adjective or noun.

So:

• Civcivler hareketli. = The chicks are lively.

There is no separate word corresponding to English are here. This is normal Turkish sentence structure.

Because Turkish adjectives do not agree with nouns in number.

So:

• hareketli civciv = a lively chick
• hareketli civcivler = lively chicks

The adjective stays the same whether the noun is singular or plural. You do not make hareketli plural.

Biri literally means one or one of them, and depending on context it can also mean someone.

Here, because the previous subject is civcivler (the chicks), biri naturally means:

• one of them
• one chick

So biri durmadan... koşuyor means one of them is running... nonstop.

Durmadan comes from the verb durmak (to stop) plus -madan/-meden, which means without doing.

So:

• durmak = to stop
• durmadan = without stopping

In natural English, this often becomes:

• nonstop
• continuously
• without stopping

So biri durmadan ... koşuyor means one of them is running nonstop.

This is a very common Turkish structure:

• X-in üstünde = on top of X / on X

Here:

• çimenler = grass / the grasses
• çimenlerin = of the grass
• üstünde = on its/their top

So çimenlerin üstünde means on the grass.

Grammatically, üst behaves like a noun meaning top/surface, and it usually appears in a possessed structure:

• masanın üstünde = on the table
• yatağın üstünde = on the bed
• çimenlerin üstünde = on the grass

Turkish sometimes uses the plural where English would simply say grass as an uncountable noun. In this sentence, çimenler refers to the grass area/blades of grass in a natural way.

So:

• çimenlerin üstünde is completely normal Turkish for on the grass

A learner should not expect Turkish to match English countability exactly.

Koşuyor is in the present continuous tense.

• koşmak = to run
• koşuyor = is running

This tense is very common for actions happening right now.

So:

• biri ... koşuyor = one of them is running

Turkish normally places the conjugated verb at the end of the clause.

So:

• biri durmadan çimenlerin üstünde koşuyor

follows a very typical Turkish order:

• subject: biri
• adverb: durmadan
• location: çimenlerin üstünde
• verb: koşuyor

English usually puts the verb earlier, but Turkish strongly prefers clause-final verbs in neutral sentences.

You could translate it literally that way for analysis, but it would sound unnatural in English. A more natural translation would be:

• One of them is running around on the grass nonstop.
• One chick is running on the grass without stopping.

When learning Turkish, it is useful to know both:

• the literal structure
• the natural English meaning

The semicolon separates two closely related parts:

1. Maşallah, civcivler ne kadar hareketli
2. biri durmadan çimenlerin üstünde koşuyor

It shows that the second clause supports or illustrates the first one. In other words:

• The chicks are so lively; one of them is running nonstop on the grass.

In everyday writing, a comma or even a full stop could also appear, depending on style.