Questions & Answers about Öğrenciler sınıfta değil.
Why is the suffix on sınıf spelled as -ta instead of -da?
This is because of consonant assimilation. The word sınıf ends in the consonant f, which is a hard (voiceless) consonant. In Turkish, when a suffix starting with d attaches to a word ending in a hard consonant, the d changes to t to make it easier to pronounce. So, -da (in) becomes -ta.
How do we know to use -ta instead of -te for the word sınıf?
This is due to vowel harmony. You look at the last vowel in sınıf, which is ı. Because ı is a back vowel, the suffix must also use a back vowel, which makes it -ta rather than the front vowel version -te.
Where is the verb 'are' in this sentence?
In Turkish, basic 'to be' sentences like this don't use a separate verb word. The meaning of 'are' is simply implied by the structure. For 'they are', you can optionally add a suffix to the end of the sentence, but it is usually left off when the subject (öğrenciler) already has a plural suffix.
Why do we use değil here instead of a negative verb suffix like -me or -ma?
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