Learn Turkish: Çocuk mavi bir kalem alıyor. - The child is buying a blue pen.

Çocuk mavi bir kalem alıyor.

The child is buying a blue pen.

Breakdown of Çocuk mavi bir kalem alıyor.

Questions & Answers about Çocuk mavi bir kalem alıyor.

Why is the word order mavi bir kalem instead of bir mavi kalem?

In Turkish, when a noun has both an adjective and the word bir (a/an), the adjective comes first! You say mavi bir kalem (literally 'blue a pen'). If you say bir mavi kalem, it sounds like you are emphasizing the number instead of just saying 'a', as in 'exactly one blue pen'.

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?