Questions & Answers about Saat üçe çeyrek var.
Why is the word var (there is) used to tell the time here?
To say "it is [minutes] to [hour]" in Turkish, the literal structure is "there is [minutes] to [hour]". So, Saat üçe çeyrek var literally translates to "There is a quarter to hour three."
Why does üç (three) become üçe?
The -e is the dative case suffix, which means "to" or "towards". Because the time is moving towards three (a quarter to three), we add -e to üç, making it üçe.
What does çeyrek mean?
Çeyrek means "quarter". When telling time, it refers to 15 minutes, just like in English. When you combine it with var, you get the standard Turkish phrase for "a quarter to".
Why isn't there a word for "It is" at the beginning of the sentence?
Turkish doesn't use a dummy pronoun like "it" for time or weather. The sentence simply describes the situation: Saat (the hour) üçe (to three) çeyrek (a quarter) var (exists).
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