Dede, bana eski hikâyelerden birini anlatır mısın?

Dede is a form of address here, like Grandpa! in English. It tells us who the speaker is talking to.

The comma is used because the speaker is directly addressing that person:

• Dede, bana... = Grandpa, to me...

This is similar to English punctuation in sentences like:

• Mom, can you help me?
• Grandpa, tell me a story.

So Dede is not the subject of the sentence in a grammatical sense; it is a vocative, a direct address.

Bana means to me.

It comes from the pronoun ben = I, but Turkish changes pronouns when they take case endings.

Here, the speaker is the indirect object, so Turkish uses the dative form:

• ben = I
• bana = to me

This fits the verb anlatmak, which often works like tell in English:

• Bana anlat. = Tell me.
• Literally: Explain/tell to me.

So ben would be wrong here because the sentence needs to me, not I.

Here -den means from / out of and is used to express one of...

So:

• eski hikâyeler = old stories
• eski hikâyelerden = from the old stories / among the old stories

In Turkish, when you say one of the stories, you often build it like this:

• hikâyelerden biri = one of the stories

So in the sentence:

• eski hikâyelerden birini = one of the old stories

This structure is very common:

• kitaplardan biri = one of the books
• arkadaşlardan biri = one of the friends
• sorulardan biri = one of the questions

Because the idea is one from a group of stories.

The group must be plural:

• hikâye = story
• hikâyeler = stories
• hikâyelerden biri = one of the stories

So even though the speaker wants only one story, Turkish still refers to the larger set in the plural.

Because birini is the accusative form, and it is the direct object of anlatmak.

Compare:

• biri = one
• birini = one of them / one (as a specific object)

The sentence is asking for a specific action to be done to a specific object:

• Tell one of the old stories

That makes birini the object being told, so it takes the accusative ending -i.

The structure is:

• hikâyelerden biri = one of the stories
• hikâyelerden birini = one of the stories, as the object

This is very common in Turkish:

• Kitaplardan birini aldım. = I took one of the books.
• Filmlerden birini izledik. = We watched one of the films.

It breaks down like this:

• bir = one
• biri = one of them / one
• birini = one of them, in the accusative

A useful way to think about it is:

• biri is the basic form
• -ni is added when that one becomes the definite direct object

So:

• eski hikâyelerden biri = one of the old stories
• eski hikâyelerden birini anlatır mısın? = Would you tell me one of the old stories?

You do not need to translate each little piece too mechanically every time, but it helps to recognize that birini is the object form.

Anlatır mısın? is literally something like Do you tell? / Would you tell?, but in natural English it is usually a polite request:

• Will you tell...?
• Would you tell...?
• Can you tell...?

It is formed with the aorist of the verb plus the yes/no question particle:

• anlat- = tell, narrate
• anlatır = tells / would tell / will tell, depending on context
• mısın = question marker + you

Together:

• anlatır mısın? = Would you tell? / Will you tell?

In Turkish, the aorist plus mı/mi/mu/mü is a very common way to make polite requests.

This is because of vowel harmony.

The yes/no question particle changes form:

• mı
• mi
• mu
• mü

And the personal ending for you is:

• -sın / -sin / -sun / -sün

The verb form before it is anlatır, whose last vowel is ı, so the matching form is:

• mı + sın → mısın

So:

• gelir misin?
• okur musun?
• görür müsün?
• anlatır mısın?

Also remember: the question particle is written separately in Turkish:

• correct: anlatır mısın
• not: anlatırmısın

It is the aorist form.

The Turkish aorist is very flexible. Depending on context, it can express things like:

• general/habitual action
• willingness
• a polite request
• something like English would or will in certain questions

In this sentence, it is not really about habitual action. It is being used in a request:

• anlatır mısın? = would you tell?

So although the form is grammatically aorist, the best translation in context is a polite request, not a plain present tense.

It is polite but warm and natural.

Why?

• Dede is intimate and family-based, so it is not formal.
• anlatır mısın? is a polite request form.
• bana and the whole sentence sound gentle rather than demanding.

So it feels like something a child or grandchild might naturally say to a grandfather:

• respectful
• affectionate
• not stiff or overly formal

If it were more direct, it might be:

• Dede, bana eski hikâyelerden birini anlat. = Grandpa, tell me one of the old stories.

That version is more like a direct command.

Yes, bana can move. Turkish word order is flexible.

The given sentence:

• Dede, bana eski hikâyelerden birini anlatır mısın?

is natural and clear.

But these are also possible:

• Dede, eski hikâyelerden birini bana anlatır mısın?
• Dede, eski hikâyelerden bana birini anlatır mısın?
  though this one is a bit less neutral in feel

Turkish often moves words around for emphasis, topic, or style. The case endings help show each word’s role, so the meaning usually remains clear.

A simple learner rule is:

• Turkish often puts the verb near the end.
• Other parts can move more freely than in English.
• The most neutral order is often the one you were given.

Because Turkish adjectives do not agree with nouns the way adjectives do in some other languages.

So:

• eski hikâye = old story
• eski hikâyeler = old stories
• eski hikâyelerden = from the old stories

Notice that eski stays eski the whole time.

It does not change for:

• singular/plural
• case
• gender

This is normal in Turkish. The noun carries the plural and case endings, not the adjective.

Here bir still means one, but in this sentence it is part of the expression biri / birini, meaning one of them.

So it is not just a simple counting word. It helps create the meaning:

• hikâyelerden biri = one of the stories
• hikâyelerden birini = one of the stories, as object

Turkish often uses bir in ways that overlap with English one and sometimes a/an, but here the meaning is clearly one of the group.

Yes. Anlatabilir misin? is also very natural.

The difference is roughly:

• anlatır mısın? = would/will you tell?
• anlatabilir misin? = can/could you tell?

Both can be polite requests. Sometimes anlatabilir misin sounds slightly more like asking about ability or willingness in a gentle way, while anlatır mısın is a very standard request form.

So both are good Turkish, but the given sentence is completely natural and common.