Learn Turkish: Kadın bebeği nazikçe tuttu. - The woman held the baby gently.

nazik is an adjective meaning gentle or polite. Adding the adverbial suffix -ce or -ca turns it into an adverb, much like adding -ly in English. Because nazik ends in a hard consonant (k), the suffix hardens to -çe to match it. This gives us nazikçe (gently).

Why is the word for baby spelled bebeği here instead of bebek?

The base word is bebek. Because the woman is holding a specific baby (the baby), we need the accusative (specific object) case suffix -i. When you add a suffix starting with a vowel to a Turkish word ending in k, the k usually softens into a ğ (soft g) to make it easier to pronounce. So, bebek plus -i becomes bebeği.

Why does the past tense of tutmak (to hold) become tuttu and not tutdu?

This happens because of consonant harmony. The past tense suffix is usually -di or -du. However, if the verb root ends in a hard consonant like the t in tut-, the suffix must harden to match it. Therefore, the d in the suffix changes to a t, resulting in tuttu.

Does the adverb nazikçe have to go right before the verb?