Breakdown of Manavdan domates alıyor mu?
almak
to take, to buy
manav
greengrocer
domates
tomato
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
Questions & Answers about Manavdan domates alıyor mu?
Why does manav take the suffix -dan instead of -den or -tan?
The ablative suffix for 'from' is -dan or -den. Because the last vowel in manav is an 'a', we use -dan to follow A-type vowel harmony rules. We use a 'd' instead of a 't' because the word ends in 'v', which is a voiced consonant. If it ended in a harsh, voiceless consonant like 'k' or 'p', it would change to -tan.
Why is domates singular if the English translation says 'tomatoes'?
In Turkish, when you are talking about a general category of things you are buying or using, you do not use the plural suffix. Because we are talking about buying tomatoes in general and not specific ones, domates stays singular.
How is the verb alıyor formed from almak (to buy/take)?
The root of the verb is al. To say someone is doing it right now, we add the present continuous suffix -yor. Because al ends in a consonant, we need a buffer vowel to connect them. Following four-way vowel harmony for the letter 'a', we insert the vowel ı, giving us alıyor.
Why is the question particle mu used here instead of mı?
The question particle always changes its vowel to match the word right before it. Since the last vowel in alıyor is 'o', the particle becomes mu to follow four-way vowel harmony.
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