Questions & Answers about İki kedim var.
Why is it kedim instead of the plural kedilerim since there are two cats?
In Turkish, when you use a specific number (like iki) or a quantity word before a noun, the noun stays in the singular form. You never use the plural suffix (-lar or -ler) after a number. So, it is always iki kedi, never iki kediler.
There is no verb for "to have" here. How does this sentence work?
Turkish does not use a verb like "to have". Instead, it expresses possession using var, which means "there is" or "exists". To say "I have two cats", a Turkish speaker literally says "My two cats exist" (İki kedim var).
Where does the "my" come from if the sentence just starts with iki?
The "my" is built right into the word for cat. The base word is kedi (cat). By adding the suffix -m, it becomes kedim (my cat). Because kedi ends in a vowel, it just needs the letter -m. If the word ended in a consonant, like ev (house), you would add an extra vowel to connect it, making it evim (my house).
Could I say Benim iki kedim var instead?
Yes, you can! Adding the pronoun benim (my) at the beginning is grammatically correct. However, because the -m on kedim already tells us whose cats they are, the word benim is usually dropped in everyday conversation unless you want to specifically emphasize that they are your cats.
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