Questions & Answers about Adam yaşlı ama çok başarılı.
Why is ama placed where it is in this sentence?
Just like in English, the conjunction ama (but) connects two contrasting ideas: yaşlı (old) and çok başarılı (very successful). It sits right in the middle of the descriptions it connects.
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
In Turkish, there is no separate word for "is". For the third person (he, she, it), the "to be" meaning is simply understood from the sentence. So, Adam yaşlı naturally means "The man is old" without needing an extra verb.
Both yaşlı and başarılı end in -lı. Is that a coincidence?
Not at all! The suffix -lı (which can also be -li, -lu, or -lü) turns a noun into an adjective meaning "with" or "having". Yaş means "age", so yaşlı is literally "having age" (old). Başarı means "success", so başarılı is "having success" (successful).
Does çok apply to both adjectives, or just the second one?
Because of where çok (very) is placed, it only applies to the word that comes right after it. So he is just yaşlı (old), but he is çok başarılı (very successful).