Breakdown of Bir kırmızı, bir mavi piyon var, hangisi küçük?
küçük
small
var
there is / existent
kırmızı
red
mavi
blue
hangi
which
bir
one
piyon
pawn / game piece
Questions & Answers about Bir kırmızı, bir mavi piyon var, hangisi küçük?
How does hangisi mean 'which one'?
Hangisi is made of the question word hangi (which) plus the third-person possessive suffix -(s)i. Literally, it means 'which of it' or 'which of them'. We use it when choosing from a specific group of things, in this case, the two pawns.
Why is piyon only written once at the end of bir kırmızı, bir mavi piyon?
In Turkish, when you list several adjectives that describe the same kind of noun, you can group them and just put the noun at the very end. Instead of saying bir kırmızı piyon, bir mavi piyon, you just say bir kırmızı, bir mavi piyon to sound more natural and avoid repetition.
Why isn't there an 'and' (ve) between the red and blue pawns?
Using a comma and repeating the word bir works perfectly to list items here. Saying bir kırmızı, bir mavi piyon var is a very common and natural way to list things in spoken Turkish without needing the word ve (and).
Why doesn't the word küçük have a verb ending like küçüktür to mean 'is small'?
In Turkish, you often don't need a verb suffix to say 'is' for simple descriptions in the present tense. The word küçük on its own at the end of the sentence naturally implies 'is small'. Adding -tür is grammatically correct but usually sounds too formal or encyclopedic for everyday speech.
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