Learn Turkish: Sabah yoga yapmadan önce hiçbir şey yemem. - Before doing yoga in the morning, I eat nothing.

Sabah yoga yapmadan önce hiçbir şey yemem.

Before doing yoga in the morning, I eat nothing.

Breakdown of Sabah yoga yapmadan önce hiçbir şey yemem.

before / first / firstly

Questions & Answers about Sabah yoga yapmadan önce hiçbir şey yemem.

Why do we use yapmadan önce instead of the dictionary form yapmak?

To say "before doing [action]" in Turkish, you attach the suffix -madan or -meden directly to the verb root, followed by the word önce. Here, we take the root yap (do), add -madan, and get yapmadan önce (before doing). You don't use the infinitive -mak form for this grammar rule.

hiçbir şey means "nothing," so why is the verb yemem (I don't eat) also negative?

Turkish requires double negatives! When you use negative words like hiçbir şey (nothing) or hiç kimse (nobody), the main verb must also be negative. So literally, the Turkish sentence says "I do not eat nothing."

What tense is the verb yemem?

It is the negative form of the simple present tense (the aorist), which is used for habits and routines. The root is ye- (eat), the negative marker for "I" in this tense is -m-, and the personal ending is -em. Together, yemem means "I do not eat" (as a general habit).

Why is it just Sabah instead of Sabahta to mean "in the morning"?

Certain time words like sabah (morning), akşam (evening), and gece (night) act as adverbs of time all by themselves. You don't need to add the locative suffix -da/-de (in/at/on) to them when saying things like "in the morning" or "at night."