Breakdown of Lokantanın sahibi hasta.
hasta
sick
lokanta
restaurant
sahip
owner / having / possessing (with dative)
Questions & Answers about Lokantanın sahibi hasta.
Why is it lokantanın and not just lokantaın?
The genitive suffix means 'of' or '''s'. Its basic form is -ın, -in, -un, or -ün depending on vowel harmony. Because lokanta ends in a vowel, we need a buffer consonant to stop two vowels from crashing together. For the genitive case, that buffer letter is always n, making it -nın.
Why does sahip have an -i at the end in this sentence?
In Turkish, when you link two nouns to say 'the X of the Y', both words get a suffix. The first word gets the genitive suffix (lokantanın, 'of the restaurant'), and the second word must get a possessive suffix to show it belongs to the first one. Here, the -i on sahibi acts like 'its', completing the grammatical link.
The dictionary says 'owner' is sahip. Why is it spelled with a b (sahibi)?
This happens because of a rule called consonant softening. When a Turkish word ends in a hard letter like p, t, k, or ç, and you add a suffix starting with a vowel (like the possessive -i), that hard letter often changes to a softer one so it is easier to say. Here, the hard p softens into a b.
Where is the word for 'is' in this sentence?
There is no separate word for 'is' here. In Turkish, you usually say 'is', 'am', or 'are' by attaching a personal suffix to the end of the sentence. However, for 'he', 'she', 'it', or a third-party subject like 'the owner', the suffix is actually invisible. Just placing hasta at the end naturally translates to 'is sick'.
Learn Lokantanın sahibi hasta and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free