Kahve altı lira.

The coffee costs six lira.

Breakdown of Kahve altı lira.

• kahve: the coffee
• altı: six
• lira: the lira (Turkish currency unit)

Questions & Answers about Kahve altı lira.

Why is there no word for is in Kahve altı lira?

Because Turkish often leaves out the verb to be in simple present-tense noun sentences.

So where English says:

• The coffee is six lira

Turkish can simply say:

• Kahve altı lira

This is a very common pattern. In the present tense, when one noun phrase is being equated with another noun phrase, adjective, or price, Turkish usually uses a zero copula—in other words, no separate word for is appears.

Compare:

• Hava güzel. = The weather is nice.
• Ben öğretmenim. = I am a teacher.
  (Here the personal ending appears because the subject is I.)
• Kahve altı lira. = The coffee is six lira.

So the sentence is completely normal and complete even without a visible verb.

Is Kahve altı lira a full sentence, or is it just a shortened expression?

It is a full, normal Turkish sentence.

It may feel shortened to an English speaker because English usually requires is or costs, but Turkish does not need that here.

This kind of sentence is called a nominal sentence: the predicate is a noun phrase rather than a regular verb phrase.

Here:

• Kahve = the coffee / coffee
• altı lira = six lira

So structurally it is something like:

• Coffee — six lira.

But in Turkish, that is a complete sentence in the present tense.

Why doesn’t kahve have an article like the or a?