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Questions & Answers about Birkaç gün bekledik.
Why does this sentence use birkaç instead of birkaçı, which we are learning in this lesson?
Birkaç is an adjective meaning 'a few' and is used directly before a noun, like in birkaç gün (a few days). The word birkaçı from this lesson is a pronoun meaning 'a few of them'. You would use birkaçı if the noun was left out, like in Birkaçını bekledik (We waited for a few of them).
Since 'a few' means more than one, why is the word for day singular (gün) instead of plural (günler)?
In Turkish, when a noun directly follows a number or a quantity word like birkaç (a few), hiç (none), or çok (many), the noun must remain in its singular form. So it is always birkaç gün, never birkaç günler.
Why isn't there a word for 'for' in the Turkish sentence, like in 'for a few days'?
When stating the duration of an action (how long something happened), Turkish doesn't require an extra preposition like 'for'. You simply put the time phrase directly into the sentence. Birkaç gün bekledik literally means 'We waited a few days'.
How is the verb bekledik formed?