Learn Turkish: Yeni robotlar yıldıza kadar ilerleyecek. - The new robots will advance as far as the star.

The verb root is ilerle- (to advance), which ends in the vowel e. The future tense suffix here is -ecek. Because Turkish doesn't put two vowels right next to each other, we must insert the buffer letter y between them. This gives us ilerle + y + ecek = ilerleyecek.

Why does yıldız (star) change to yıldıza here?

The word kadar translates to "until" or "as far as." In Turkish, kadar always requires the noun before it to take the dative case (-a or -e), which shows direction towards a target. So yıldız takes the -a suffix to become yıldıza, creating the phrase yıldıza kadar.

The subject robotlar is plural, so why doesn't the verb have the plural suffix (ilerleyecekler)?

In Turkish grammar, when a plural subject is not a human being (such as objects, animals, or robots), the verb is almost always conjugated in the singular form. That is why we use ilerleyecek instead of ilerleyecekler.

What is the root of the verb ilerle-?