Learn Turkish: Çocuk oyun oynuyor ve resim boyuyor. - The child is playing a game and painting a picture.

The verb root for 'to paint' is boya-. In the present continuous tense, when a verb root ends in the wide vowels a or e, the -yor suffix causes that vowel to 'narrow.' Because the preceding vowel in the root is o, the a narrows to u. So, boya- + -yor becomes boyuyor.

Does the same vowel narrowing happen in oynuyor?

Exactly! The verb for 'to play' is oynamak, which gives us the root oyna-. The root ends in a, which narrows to u before the -yor suffix. This changes oynayor into the correct form, oynuyor.

Why does the sentence use oyun oynuyor instead of just oynuyor?

In Turkish, it is very common to pair the noun oyun (game) with the verb oynamak (to play). While you can just say oynuyor (the child is playing), saying oyun oynuyor translates as 'playing a game' and is the standard, natural way to express this activity.

The English translation says 'a game' and 'a picture'. Why isn't the word bir used in the Turkish sentence?