Breakdown of Sen bir soru soruyorsun, ben cevap veriyorum.
bir
a / an
ben
I
sen
you
soru
question
cevap
answer
sormak
to ask
vermek
to give
Questions & Answers about Sen bir soru soruyorsun, ben cevap veriyorum.
Why does soruyorsun end in -sun and veriyorum end in -um?
These are the personal subject suffixes that tell us exactly who is doing the action. For the present continuous tense, you attach these right after the -yor part. For sen (you), the suffix is -sun. For ben (I), the suffix is -um.
Why is the continuous suffix spelled -uyor in soruyorsun but -iyor in veriyorum?
This is a great time to refresh your 4-way vowel harmony! The vowel right before -yor changes to match the last vowel of the verb root. The root sor- has an o, so it takes a u (soruyor). The root ver- has an e, so it takes an i (veriyor). Remember that the -yor part itself never changes.
Do I need to include the pronouns Sen and ben if the verb endings already tell us who is acting?
Usually, you can drop pronouns in Turkish because the verb endings do the heavy lifting. However, we keep them in this sentence to create a strong contrast: 'You are asking a question, I am giving an answer.'
Why is 'I am answering' translated as cevap veriyorum?
In Turkish, the action of answering is commonly expressed with the compound verb cevap vermek, which literally translates to 'to give an answer'. Here, cevap is the noun 'answer' and veriyorum means 'I am giving'.
Why do we say soru soruyorsun? Doesn't soruyorsun already mean 'you are asking'?
Yes, soruyorsun means 'you are asking'. However, Turkish frequently pairs a noun with a verb from the exact same root. Soru is the noun for 'question', so bir soru soruyorsun literally means 'you are asking a question'. While it looks repetitive to English speakers, it sounds very natural in Turkish.
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