Word
Uzak bir istasyonda iniyoruz.
Meaning
We are getting off at a far station.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Uzak bir istasyonda iniyoruz.
bir
a / an
istasyon
station
inmek
to get off / to descend
uzak
far
Questions & Answers about Uzak bir istasyonda iniyoruz.
Why does the sentence use istasyonda (at the station) instead of a "where from" ending, since we are getting off?
In Turkish, when you mention the location where an action happens, you use the locative case (-da or -de, meaning "at" or "in"). You are answering the question Nerede? (Where at?). If you wanted to say what vehicle you are exiting, you would use the "where from" ending to answer Nereden?. For example, Trenden iniyoruz means "We are getting off the train".
Why is bir placed after uzak instead of at the beginning?
When you use a descriptive adjective (like uzak, meaning "far") along with the word bir ("a" or "an"), the standard Turkish word order is Adjective + bir + Noun. That is why it is uzak bir istasyonda rather than matching the English word order of "a far station".
How do we get the -i- in the middle of iniyoruz?
The root verb is inmek (to get off / to go down). To add the present continuous tense ending (-yor), we need a vowel to connect it to the consonant "n". Based on 4-way vowel harmony, the "i" in the root in dictates that we use i as our connecting vowel, creating in-i-yor. Finally, we add -uz for "we".