Breakdown of Eczaneden ilaç almam lazım.
almak
to take, to buy
ilaç
medicine
lazım
necessary
eczane
pharmacy
Questions & Answers about Eczaneden ilaç almam lazım.
How does almam lazım translate to "I need to buy"?
This is the standard way to express personal necessity in Turkish. You take the verb stem (al), add the short verbal noun ending (-ma), and then attach a possessive suffix to show who needs to do it. Here, the -m stands for "my". Literally, almam lazım means "my buying is necessary".
Why is the word for medicine just ilaç rather than the plural ilaçlar or the specific object ilacı?
When you are talking about buying a general, non-specific category of a thing, Turkish uses the plain, singular dictionary form. Adding the accusative case (ilacı) would mean "the specific medicine," and making it plural isn't needed when just stating the type of thing you are buying.
Doesn't the verb almak usually mean "to take"?
Almak is a very versatile verb! It means both "to take" and "to buy" depending on the context. Since you are getting something from a shop (eczane), "buy" or "get" is the most natural translation here.
Could I say eczanede instead of eczaneden?
Not with the verb almak (to buy/take/get). Because you are getting the medicine from the pharmacy, you need the ablative case ending -den (from). Eczanede means in or at the pharmacy, which you would use with verbs like waiting or working.
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