Questions & Answers about Üç yolcu durağa yürüyor.
Why is it durağa instead of duraka?
The base word for "stop" is durak. To say "to the stop", we add the direction suffix -a. Because of consonant mutation, when a word ends in k and gets a suffix starting with a vowel, the k softens into a soft g (ğ) to make pronunciation smoother. That is why durak + -a becomes durağa.
How do I pronounce the ğ in durağa?
The soft g (ğ) does not make a hard consonant sound. Instead, it connects the vowels on either side of it and slightly lengthens the vowel before it. When saying durağa, just glide smoothly between the two a sounds, roughly like "doo-raa-ah".
Why is yolcu singular when there are three (üç) passengers?
In Turkish, whenever you use a number before a noun to state a quantity, the noun must stay in its singular form. You never use the plural suffixes -lar or -ler right after a specific number. It is always üç yolcu, never üç yolcular.
If the subject is multiple people, why doesn't the verb have a plural ending like yürüyorlar?