Word
Dersten önce kahve içiyorum.
Meaning
I am drinking coffee before the lesson.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Dersten önce kahve içiyorum.
kahve
coffee
içmek
to drink
ders
lesson, class
önce
before / first / firstly
Questions & Answers about Dersten önce kahve içiyorum.
How would I use ne zaman to ask the question that this sentence answers?
You would ask, Ne zaman kahve içiyorsun? (When are you drinking coffee?). The question word ne zaman (when) simply replaces the time phrase dersten önce (before the lesson) and sits in the same part of the sentence.
Why does ders (lesson) have the ending -ten before önce?
In Turkish, the word önce (before) requires the noun attached to it to have the "from" ending (the ablative case). Think of it as saying "before from the lesson". Because ders ends in a hard consonant (s), the usual -den ending changes to -ten.
Why is it just kahve and not kahveyi?
We do not use the specific object ending here because you are talking about drinking coffee in general, not the specific coffee. When a noun is general and indefinite like this, it stays in its basic dictionary form and sits right next to the verb.
How is the verb içiyorum (I am drinking) built here?