Questions & Answers about Üçüncü bronz madalya aldı.
Why does the ordinal suffix for üç take the form -üncü instead of something like -ıncı?
The ordinal suffix -(I)ncI follows 4-way vowel harmony. Because the word üç (three) contains the vowel ü, the vowels in the suffix must change to match it, resulting in -üncü.
How does üçüncü mean "the third one" when there is no word for "one" or "person"?
In Turkish, ordinal numbers (and adjectives in general) can act as nouns when the noun they describe is obvious from context. Instead of saying üçüncü kişi (the third person) or üçüncü yarışmacı (the third competitor), you can simply drop the noun and use üçüncü to mean "the third one".
The English translation says "the bronze medal". Shouldn't madalya take the accusative case as madalyayı?
Not necessarily. In Turkish, winning a medal in a competition is usually treated as a general concept rather than pointing to a specific physical object. So, while English naturally says "got the bronze medal", Turkish prefers the bare, general form bronz madalya aldı (literally "took bronze medal").
I learned that almak means "to take" or "to buy". Why is it translated as "got" here?