Questions & Answers about O adama bakma.
Why does adam (man) have an -a at the end?
The -a is the dative case suffix, which usually translates to "to" or "for". In English, you look at someone, but in Turkish, you direct your gaze to someone. The verb bakmak (to look) always requires its target to be in the dative case. So, adam becomes adama.
If the English translation is "at", why don't we use the locative case (-da/-de) here?
The locative case is used for being stationary at a location (like "at home" or "in the car"). The dative case (-a/-e) is used for direction or movement towards a target. Since looking directs your eyes towards the man, Turkish uses the dative case rather than the locative.
How do we get bakma for "do not look"?
The dictionary form of the verb is bakmak (to look). If you remove the -mak, you get the verb root bak, which is also the basic "you" command: "Look!". To make a command negative, you add -ma or -me to the root. Since bak has an "a", vowel harmony rules tell us to use -ma, making it bakma (do not look).
Does o mean "he/she/it" or "that" in this sentence?
The word o can mean "he", "she", "it", or "that" depending on how it is used. Because it is placed directly in front of a noun (adama) to point out which man, it acts as the adjective "that". If the sentence wanted to say "He is not looking at the man," the verb would have to change completely to O, adama bakmıyor.
Learn O adama bakma and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free