Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Turkish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Yarın ilaca başlıyoruz.
Why is it ilaca and not ilaça?
The root word is ilaç (medicine), which ends in the hard consonant ç. When we add a suffix starting with a vowel, like the dative case suffix -a (to), the hard ç softens to a c. This is the consonant mutation rule you are learning right now!
Why does the word for medicine have the dative suffix -a here?
In English, we just 'start the medicine', but in Turkish, the verb başlamak (to start) always requires the dative case for the thing you are starting. You can think of it as starting 'to' the medicine. That is why ilaç gets the -a suffix.
The verb root for to start is başla-. Why does it change to başlı- in başlıyoruz?
When a verb root ends in a wide vowel like a or e (as in başla-), and we add the present continuous suffix -ıyor, that ending vowel narrows down to fit the suffix. Here, the a drops and changes to ı, making it başlıyoruz instead of başlayoruz.
Why do we use the present continuous tense (-ıyor) if the action happens tomorrow (yarın)?
Just like in English when we say 'We are starting tomorrow', Turkish frequently uses the present continuous tense to talk about planned events and fixed arrangements in the near future.