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Questions & Answers about Şu tepecikte piknik yaptık.
How does the diminutive suffix work in tepecikte?
The base word is tepe (hill). We add the diminutive suffix -cik to mean little hill. Because tepe ends in the front vowel e, vowel harmony dictates we use -cik rather than -cık. It simply attaches to the end to form tepecik.
Why does the locative suffix become -te instead of -de in tepecikte?
This is due to consonant assimilation. The word tepecik ends with k, which is a voiceless or hard consonant. When you add the locative suffix -de (on or at), the d must harden into a t to match, making it tepecikte (on the little hill).
Why use şu here instead of o for that?
While both can mean that, şu is used when you are directly pointing something out or drawing attention to something you can currently see in your physical surroundings. The speaker is likely gesturing at the little hill as they say this.
Why does Turkish use yaptık for we had?
The verb yapmak means to do or to make. In Turkish, you do not have a picnic; you do or make a picnic. So, piknik yapmak is the standard phrase for having a picnic, and yaptık is the past tense meaning we did.