Learn Turkish: Biz otuz beş öğrenciyiz. - We are thirty-five students.

In Turkish, you build numbers simply by placing the words next to each other. You don't need a word for 'and'. So, 30 (otuz) and 5 (beş) just sit side-by-side to make otuz beş.

Since there are thirty-five students, why isn't it plural (öğrenciler)?

This is a very important rule in Turkish! Whenever you put a number before a noun, the noun stays strictly singular. So it is always otuz beş öğrenci (thirty-five student), never otuz beş öğrenciler.

Where does the 'are' come from in this sentence?

It is built right into the word öğrenciyiz. In Turkish, 'to be' (am, is, are) is expressed as a personal suffix attached directly to the end of the noun. The suffix for 'we' is -iz.

Why is there a y in öğrenciyiz?

The word öğrenci ends in a vowel, and the suffix -iz starts with a vowel. Turkish does not like having two vowels right next to each other, so we use the buffer letter y as a bridge: öğrenci + y + iz = öğrenciyiz.