Cats are famous for their sudden mood swings. To describe behavior that changes rapidly from one extreme to another, Turkish uses the correlative conjunction bir ... bir ... (one moment... the next).
Alternating States
To express that someone or something is one way one moment and a different way the next, place bir directly before opposing adjectives.
| Today, the cat is docile one moment, and cranky the next. | Kedi bugün bir uysal, bir hırçın. |
Alternating Actions
You will most often use bir ... bir ... directly before verbs to show quick, erratic changes in action. Conjugate both verbs in the same tense and for the same subject.
| The cat crouches at its own toy one moment, and pounces the next. | Kedi kendi oyuncağına bir pusuyor, bir atılıyor. |
| The cat acts spoiled one moment, and licks its paw the next. | Kedi bir şımarıyor, bir patisini yalıyor. |
| Right now, he stretches one moment, and crouches on the carpet the next. | Şimdi bir geriniyor, bir halıya pusuyor. |
Questions and Emphasis
This pattern works smoothly in questions or alongside words of emphasis like bile (even). Just keep bir directly in front of the alternating words.
| Does he purr one moment, and hiss the next? | O bir mırlıyor, bir tıslıyor mu? |
| Even he runs away one moment, and hisses the next. | O bile bir kaçıyor, bir tıslıyor. |
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