Learn Turkish: Lütfen masaya para bırak. - Please leave money on the table.

In English, we think of the final resting place ("on the table"). However, in Turkish, verbs that involve moving or directing an object to a destination, like bırakmak (to leave/put down), take the dative case (to/towards). You are directing the money to the table, so it requires the dative.

How is the word masaya formed?

The base word is masa (table). Because we need the dative case, we add the suffix -a. However, Turkish avoids putting two vowels right next to each other. To prevent this, we insert the buffer letter y, creating masa + y + a = masaya (to the table).

Why is it just para and not parayı (the money)?

Because the speaker is saying "leave money" (some money, in general) rather than "leave the money". If they wanted you to leave a specific amount of money you were already talking about, they would use the accusative case and say parayı bırak.

Is bırak a complete verb here?

Yes, it's an informal command! The dictionary form of the verb is bırakmak (to leave/put). To tell one person to do something in a casual or direct way (the imperative form), you just drop the -mak ending and use the bare root, which is bırak.