Questions & Answers about Çocuk mavi bir kalem alıyor.
Why is the word order mavi bir kalem instead of bir mavi kalem?
Does alıyor mean 'buying' or 'taking'?
The verb root almak means both 'to buy' and 'to take'. You usually tell the difference from context! Here, it is translated as buying, but 'taking a blue pen' would also be grammatically correct.
Why is the word just kalem and not kalemi?
Because the child is buying a pen (an indefinite object), not the pen. In Turkish, you only add the specific object ending (the accusative case, like the -i in kalemi) when you are talking about a specific, known object. Since there is a bir (a/an) here, we use the plain form kalem.
Why is there an ı in the middle of alıyor?
The verb root is al- and the present continuous ending (meaning 'is doing') is -yor. Because al- ends in a consonant, we need a connecting vowel before -yor. Based on vowel harmony rules, the a in al- is followed by an ı, making it alıyor.
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