Questions & Answers about Onun yaşı yirmi.
Why does the word yaş have an -ı at the end?
The -ı is the 3rd person singular possessive suffix, meaning "his", "her", or "its". In Turkish, to say "his age", you add this suffix directly to the noun yaş (age). It follows 4-way vowel harmony, which is why it becomes -ı after the 'a' in yaş.
The lesson mentions a buffer 's' for this suffix. Why isn't it yaşsı?
The buffer letter s is only used to prevent two vowels from crashing together. You only need it if the noun ends in a vowel (for example, araba becomes arabası for "his car"). Since yaş ends in the consonant ş, there's no vowel clash, so we just add the -ı directly.
Could I just say "Yaşı yirmi" without using the word onun?
Yes, absolutely! The suffix -ı on yaşı already tells us we are talking about "his" (or "her"/"its") age. Including onun is actually optional and is mostly used here for extra emphasis, like saying "His age is twenty (not someone else's)."
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
There isn't one! In Turkish, the "to be" verb (am/is/are) is often left out for the third person (he/she/it). Simply putting the subject onun yaşı (his age) and the number yirmi (twenty) next to each other creates the full meaning: "His age is twenty."
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