Breakdown of Rafta bardak yok, tabak var.
var
there is / existent
yok
there is not / non-existent
bardak
glass / cup
tabak
plate
raf
shelf
Questions & Answers about Rafta bardak yok, tabak var.
Why does the English translation say "glasses" and "plates" when bardak and tabak are singular?
In Turkish, when we talk about the general existence of things using var (there is/are) or yok (there isn't/aren't), we usually keep the noun singular. So, bardak yok literally means "glass doesn't exist," but it translates naturally to English as "there are no glasses."
Why is the suffix on rafta spelled with a "t" instead of a "d"?
The word for shelf is raf. To say "on the shelf," we add the location suffix -da or -de. Because raf ends in a hard, voiceless consonant (f), the "d" in the suffix hardens into a "t" to make it easier to say. This makes it rafta.
Since this lesson is about kaç (how many), how would I ask how many plates are on the shelf?
You would ask: Rafta kaç tabak var? Notice that in Turkish, the noun following kaç always remains singular, which matches perfectly with how tabak is already singular in our example sentence!
Could I use değil instead of yok to say there are no glasses?
No, because değil just means "not" and is used to describe things (like "the glass is not clean"). To say that something doesn't exist at all in a location, or "there is no [item]," you must use yok.
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