Breakdown of O hiçbir zaman yalan söylemiyor.
söylemek
to say, to sing
yalan
lie (untruth)
hiçbir zaman
never
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Questions & Answers about O hiçbir zaman yalan söylemiyor.
The word zaman means time. How does hiçbir zaman mean never?
Zaman means time, and hiçbir means none or not any. Put together, hiçbir zaman literally means at no time, which is the Turkish way of saying never.
If hiçbir zaman means never, why is the verb söylemiyor also negative?
Turkish uses double negatives! When you use negative words like hiçbir zaman (never) or hiç (ever/never), the verb must also be negative. You are literally saying 'At no time he is not telling a lie'.
The translation says 'tells', but söylemiyor has the continuous -yor ending. Why not use a different tense?
In Turkish, the present continuous tense (-yor) is very flexible. While it means 'is telling' right now, it is also commonly used to talk about general habits and routines, just like the simple present tense in English.
Where does the -mi- come from in söylemiyor?
The verb root is söyle (say/tell) and the negative suffix is -me. However, when the -yor suffix is added right after a word ending in a or e, that vowel narrows to an ı, i, u, or ü. Here, söyle-me-yor changes to söylemiyor.