Word
Çocuk yeni oyuncağına çok sevindi.
Meaning
The child was very glad about his new toy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Çocuk yeni oyuncağına çok sevindi.
Why is there an -a at the end of oyuncağına? Doesn't the English translation say "about" instead of "to"?
This is a great example of a verb governing the dative case! In Turkish, the verb sevinmek (to be glad, to rejoice) requires the object to take the dative case (-e or -a). So, instead of being glad "about" something, Turkish speakers are glad "to" it. That is why we use oyuncağına here.
The word for toy is oyuncak. Why did the k change to ğ in this sentence?
This is consonant mutation. When a Turkish word ends in a hard consonant like k, p, t, or ç and you add a suffix starting with a vowel, that hard consonant usually softens. Here, oyuncak plus the possessive suffix -ı causes the k to soften into a ğ, making it oyuncağı.
How do the suffixes in oyuncağına work together, and why is there an -n- in there?
Let's break it down: oyuncağ (toy) + -ı (his, 3rd person possessive) + -n- (buffer letter) + -a (dative case, required by the verb). Whenever you attach a case marker (like the dative -a) to a 3rd person possessive suffix (like -ı, -i, -su, or -si), you must use the buffer letter -n- in between them.