Learn Turkish: Köpek çok zayıf. Onu her hafta tartar mısın? - The dog is very skinny. Will you weigh it every week?

In Turkish, asking someone to do something (a polite request) is typically done using the aorist (simple present) tense. By combining the aorist form tartar with the 2nd person question particle mısın, you create a polite 'Will you...' or 'Would you...' request.

How is the word tartar built from the verb root?

It comes from the verb tartmak (to weigh). When you drop the -mak, you get the root tart-. Because it is a single-syllable root, we add the aorist suffix -ar (following vowel harmony) to make tartar.

Why do we use onu instead of just o for 'it'?

O means 'he', 'she', or 'it'. Here, the dog is the specific direct object receiving the action—it is the thing being weighed. To show this, we use the accusative case. We take o, add the buffer letter -n-, and then the accusative suffix -u, resulting in onu.

Doesn't zayıf usually mean 'weak'?

Yes, it can mean 'weak', but when describing a person's or animal's body size, zayıf means 'thin' or 'skinny'. You have to rely on the context of the sentence to know if someone is talking about physical strength or body weight.