Sekiz kişi toplantıya katıldı.

the meeting

Breakdown of Sekiz kişi toplantıya katıldı.

• kişi: the person
• katılmak: to attend
• sekiz: eight

Questions & Answers about Sekiz kişi toplantıya katıldı.

Why is kişi singular after sekiz? Why not sekiz kişiler?

In Turkish, nouns normally stay singular after numbers.

So:

• sekiz kişi = eight people
• not sekiz kişiler

This is a very common rule:

• iki kitap = two books
• on öğrenci = ten students
• üç gün = three days

Even though the meaning is plural, Turkish usually does not add the plural ending -ler / -lar after a number.

What does toplantıya mean, and why does it end in -ya?

Toplantı means meeting.
Toplantıya is toplantı + -ya, which is the dative case ending here.

The dative case often means:

• to
• into
• sometimes for depending on context

With the verb katılmak (to join / participate in / attend), Turkish uses the dative:

• toplantıya katılmak = to attend the meeting
• literally something like to join to the meeting

Why -ya and not just -a? Because toplantı ends in a vowel, Turkish adds a buffer consonant y before the case ending:

• toplantı + a → toplantıya

Why is the verb katıldı and not katıldılar if the subject is plural?