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Questions & Answers about Çocuklar şimdi okulda.
Why does okul take -da instead of -de or -ta for the word "at"?
This is because of vowel and consonant harmony. The last vowel in okul is u, which is a back vowel, so we need a suffix with a. Also, l is a soft consonant, so the suffix starts with d instead of a hard t. That gives us -da.
Where is the verb "are" in this sentence?
In simple everyday sentences, Turkish often drops the verb "to be". The meaning "are" is automatically understood by stating the subject (Çocuklar) and their location (okulda) together.
Why is şimdi placed in the middle of the sentence?
In Turkish, time words like şimdi usually come right after the subject. A standard sentence order is Subject (Çocuklar) + Time (şimdi) + Place (okulda).
Should we make the word okul plural too, since there are multiple children?
No, you only need the plural suffix -lar on the subject (çocuklar) to show there is more than one child. Since they are at the same place, okul stays singular.