Questions & Answers about Öğrenci dinliyor ve anlıyor.
The dictionary says the verb to listen is dinlemek, making the root dinle-. Why is it dinliyor instead of dinleyor?
This happens because of a rule called vowel narrowing. The -yor suffix is very strong. When you attach it to a verb root that ends in the wide vowels a or e (like dinle-), it squeezes or "narrows" that final vowel. Here, the e in dinle- narrows into an i, giving us dinliyor.
Is the same thing happening with anlıyor?
Exactly! The dictionary verb for "to understand" is anlamak, so the root is anla-. Because it ends in a wide a, the -yor suffix narrows it. The a turns into an undotted ı, making it anlıyor.
How do I know if the final vowel narrows into an i, ı, u, or ü?
You look at the vowel that comes right before the one being changed, using standard vowel harmony rules. In dinle-, the preceding vowel is i, so the final e becomes i. In anla-, the preceding vowel is a, so the final a becomes ı.
Why is there no word for is in this sentence?
Turkish doesn't use a separate "to be" verb like "is" or "are" in these sentences. The -yor suffix already carries the meaning of an action currently happening (is listening, is understanding). Since the subject is öğrenci (the student, which is "he" or "she"), we don't need to add any extra personal suffixes to the ends of the verbs.
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