Questions & Answers about Bu otuz kedi çok küçük.
Why is it kedi (cat) instead of kediler (cats) after otuz (thirty)?
In Turkish, whenever you use a specific number greater than one, the noun that follows must remain in its singular form. Because otuz already tells us there is more than one, adding the plural ending -ler to kedi is actually incorrect.
The translation says "These thirty cats," so why do we use bu (this) instead of bunlar (these)?
Just like the noun stays singular after a number, the pointing word (demonstrative adjective) right before it also stays singular. Since otuz kedi acts as a single package, we use bu. You only use bunlar when it stands completely alone as a pronoun, like in the sentence "These are cats" (Bunlar kedi).
Is the word otuz related to the number three (üç)?
Unlike English where "thirty" clearly comes from "three," the Turkish word otuz looks completely different from üç (three). Some Turkish tens do share roots with their base numbers (like dört and kırk for 4 and 40), but otuz is an exception you simply have to memorize.
Where is the word for "are" in this sentence?
There is no actual word or suffix for "are" here! In Turkish, when describing the third person ("he," "she," "it," or "they"), the "to be" verb is usually invisible. The sentence literally reads "This thirty cat very small," and the "are" is automatically understood from context.