Questions & Answers about Bu kız spor yapıyor.
Since our lesson is about the negative suffix, how would we change this sentence to say the girl is NOT doing sport?
You would change yapıyor to yapmıyor. The verb root is yap- (to do). To make it negative in the present continuous tense, you add a negative particle before -yor. Because of the 4-way vowel harmony with the 'a' in yap-, that particle is -mı.
Why doesn't the word spor have any endings attached to it?
When you talk about doing a general activity rather than acting on a specific object, Turkish leaves the noun bare. Spor yapmak (to do sport) acts like a set phrase. If you added a specific object ending like sporu, it would mean she is doing a very specific, previously mentioned sport.
Where does the ı in yapıyor come from if the verb root is just yap-?
The present continuous suffix is -yor. When a verb root ends in a consonant like yap-, it needs a helping vowel to connect to -yor. Because the vowel in yap- is an 'a', the 4-way vowel harmony rule dictates that we use ı, making it yapıyor.
If I wanted to say 'These girls are doing sport', would I change Bu to Bunlar?
No, you would just say Bu kızlar spor yapıyor. In Turkish, when a pointing word like Bu (this/these) is used as an adjective directly in front of a noun, it never takes a plural ending. You only make the noun itself plural.
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