Breakdown of Çocuk her şeyi merak ediyor.
çocuk
child
her
every
şey
thing
merak etmek
to wonder, to be curious
Questions & Answers about Çocuk her şeyi merak ediyor.
Why is it şeyi instead of just şey?
Şeyi has the accusative case ending -i. In this lesson, we are learning about the question word neyi (what specific thing). If you ask the question "Neyi merak ediyor?" (What is the child curious about?), the answer needs to match that specific object form. Even though "everything" feels broad, her şey acts as a defined, specific object here, so it takes the ending to become her şeyi.
The English translation says "curious about", but I don't see a word for "about" in the Turkish sentence. Why?
In English, "curious" is an adjective and needs the preposition "about". In Turkish, merak etmek is a verb that means "to wonder" or "to be curious". It directly takes an object in the accusative case (the thing you are wondering about). Because the verb itself absorbs the idea of "wondering about", you don't need a separate word for "about".
Why does the verb end in ediyor with a "d"? Isn't the verb etmek?
Yes, the dictionary form is etmek (to do/make), which combines with merak to form the verb. However, Turkish has a rule where the letter t often softens to a d when a suffix starting with a vowel is added. When we add the present continuous suffix -iyor, et- becomes ediyor.
Since her şeyi means "everything", shouldn't "thing" be plural?