Learn Turkish: Eski yapılar yıkılalı ev kiraları arttı. - House rents have increased since the old structures were demolished.

The root verb is yıkmak (to demolish or destroy). First, we add the passive suffix -ıl to make yıkılmak (to be demolished). Then, we drop the -mak and add the temporal suffix -alı from this lesson. So yıkılalı means 'since they were demolished'.

Why does kiraları have an -ı at the end? Isn't the plural of rent just kiralar?

You are right that kiralar means 'rents'. However, 'house rents' is a noun compound linking ev (house) and kira (rent). In Turkish, when two nouns are put together like this, the second noun must take a possessive suffix. So, ev kiralar-ı literally translates to 'house its-rents'.

Is yapılar related to the verb yapmak?

Yes! Yapmak means 'to make' or 'to do'. By adding the suffix -ı, it turns into the noun yapı, which means 'structure' or 'building' (something that is made). Adding the plural -lar gives us yapılar (structures).

The English translation says 'have increased', but arttı is just the simple past tense. Why?