Learn Turkish: Öğretmen "Bu cümlenin anlamı ne?" diye sordu. - The teacher asked, "What is the meaning of this sentence?"

In Turkish, you usually don't put a direct quote right next to a reporting verb like sordu (asked) or dedi (said) without a connector. The word diye translates to "saying," and it acts as a bridge linking the quoted words to the main verb. Think of the structure literally as: The teacher asked, saying, "What is the meaning of this sentence?"

Why is it cümlenin instead of just cümle?

The suffix -nin is the genitive case ending, which shows possession, similar to the English word "of" or an apostrophe-s ('s). Together with the possessive suffix -ı on anlamı, it forms a compound: cümlenin anlamı translates directly to "the sentence's meaning" or "the meaning of the sentence".

The English translation says "is", but I don't see a verb for "is" in the quote. Why?

In simple present tense questions and statements, Turkish often leaves out the "to be" verb (am/is/are). The phrase anlamı ne? translates literally to "its meaning [is] what?". The "is" is naturally implied by the context without needing an extra word.

Why does the subject Öğretmen come before the quote instead of next to the verb?