Word
Adam büyük bir kutu taşıyor mu?
Meaning
Is the man carrying a big box?
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Adam büyük bir kutu taşıyor mu?
Why is the question word mu separate, and how do we choose its vowel?
In the present continuous tense, the question particle is written as a separate word. It takes the form mu here because of 4-way vowel harmony with the preceding word, taşıyor. The last vowel in taşıyor is o, which dictates a u in the suffix. In fact, because the present continuous suffix is always -yor, the question particle for 'he/she/it' in this tense will always be mu!
How is the verb taşıyor formed? Doesn't the present continuous suffix usually start with a vowel?
Yes, the suffix is normally -ıyor, -iyor, -uyor, or -üyor. However, the verb root here is taşı- (to carry), which already ends in the vowel ı. When a verb root already ends in ı, i, u, or ü, we drop the suffix's starting vowel and just attach -yor directly. So, taşı- + -yor simply becomes taşıyor.
Why is it büyük bir kutu instead of bir büyük kutu?
In Turkish, when you use an adjective (like büyük, big) alongside the indefinite article bir (a/an), the adjective comes first. The standard word order is Adjective + bir + Noun. So literally, you are saying 'big a box'.
Why is the object just kutu and not in the accusative case (kutuyu)?