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Questions & Answers about Halı masanın altında.
Why do we say masanın instead of just masa?
In Turkish, spatial words like alt (bottom) act like nouns. To say "under the table", you literally say "at the table's bottom". That is why masa (table) gets the possessive ending -nın to become masanın (the table's).
How exactly is the word altında built?
It is made of four parts: alt (bottom) + -ı (possessive suffix meaning "its") + -n- (a buffer letter) + -da (locative suffix meaning "at/in"). Altogether, it literally means "at its bottom". The buffer -n- is required whenever you add a case ending like -da to a word that already has a 3rd-person possessive suffix.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Turkish, the third-person "to be" verb ("is" or "are") is often invisible. Simply saying Halı masanın altında is a complete sentence meaning "The rug is under the table." The "is" is implied!
Why does Halı mean "The rug" here, and how would I say "A rug is under the table"?
When a noun is the subject at the beginning of a sentence like this, it is understood as a specific item ("The rug"). If you wanted to say "A rug", you would use the word bir and the "there is" (var) structure: Masanın altında bir halı var (There is a rug under the table).