Breakdown of Dün gece annen mutfakta bulaşık yıkıyor muydu?
mutfak
kitchen
anne
mother
yıkamak
to wash
gece
night
Questions & Answers about Dün gece annen mutfakta bulaşık yıkıyor muydu?
How do we form "was she washing" (yıkıyor muydu) in this sentence?
We start with the verb yıkamak (to wash). First, we add the continuous ending to get yıkıyor (she is washing). To ask "was she?" (past continuous interrogative), we add the question particle mu, a buffer -y-, and the past tense suffix -du for the third person (she). Altogether, it makes yıkıyor muydu?.
Why is it yıkıyor and not "yıkayor"?
When a verb root ends in -a or -e (like yıka-), that final vowel is dropped or "narrowed" when we add -yor. Because of vowel harmony, the -a changes to -ı, turning yıka- into yıkıyor.
How do we get "your mother" from the word annen?
The base word for mother is anne. To say "your" (for a single person), we add the possessive suffix -n. If the sentence was just about "the mother", it would simply be anne mutfakta bulaşık yıkıyor muydu?.
Why does mutfakta (in the kitchen) end in -ta instead of the usual -da?