Breakdown of Plastik bardak alma, onun yerine metal bardak al.
o
that / he / she / it
bardak
glass / cup
almak
to take, to buy
plastik
plastic
yerine
instead of
metal
metal
Questions & Answers about Plastik bardak alma, onun yerine metal bardak al.
Why do we say "onun yerine" instead of just "yerine" for "instead"?
In English, you can just say "instead" at the end of a sentence. But Turkish usually requires a reference point. Yerine acts like "in place of", so saying onun yerine literally means "in its place" or "in place of it", pointing back to the plastic cup.
How does the word "yerine" break down grammatically?
The root is yer (place). We add the 3rd person possessive suffix -i to make yeri (its place). Then we add the buffer letter -n- followed by the dative case -e (to). So yerine literally means "to its place".
Why doesn't "plastik bardak" have the accusative case ending (plastik bardağı)?
We only use the accusative case for specific, defined objects (like "the plastic cup"). Here, the speaker means "a plastic cup" in general, so it stays in its bare form.
Doesn't "almak" mean "to take"? Why is it translated as "buy"?
The verb almak means both "to take" and "to buy". You will often see it used for shopping. The negative imperative is alma (don't buy), and the positive imperative is al (buy).
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