Questions & Answers about Ben kahve seviyorum.
How does the ending of seviyorum show who is talking?
In this lesson, we are learning personal subject suffixes. For the pronoun ben (I), the suffix after the -yor tense marker is always -um. The verb breaks down into sev (like/love) + -iyor (continuous tense) + -um (I).
Do I have to say ben if the verb already ends in -um?
No, you can simply say Kahve seviyorum. Turkish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending tells you exactly who is doing the action. Adding ben here just puts a little extra emphasis on the fact that you are the one who likes it.
Why does Turkish use the -yor (present continuous) tense here? We do not say 'I am liking coffee' in English.
Turkish uses the -Iyor tense for many feelings, states, and habits where English uses the simple present tense. Verbs about emotions, like sevmek (to like/love), almost always take the -yor ending even when talking about a permanent feeling.
Why is there no ending on the word kahve?
Because you are talking about coffee in general. In Turkish, when you make a general statement about liking or disliking a whole category of things, you leave the noun in its plain, dictionary form without any extra endings.
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