Learn Turkish: Biz akrobatlara bakakalıyoruz. - We stare at the acrobats in awe.

It is built from the verb root bak- (to look). The suffix -(y)Akalmak means to freeze in a state or keep doing an action because of shock, surprise, or awe. Combined with the present continuous and 'we' endings, bakakalıyoruz literally means 'we remain looking' or 'we stare in awe.'

Why is there an -a- between bak- and -kal- instead of a -ya-?

The suffix pattern is -(y)Akalmak. The y is a buffer letter only used if the verb root ends in a vowel (for example, uyu- becomes uyuyakalmak). Because bak- ends in a consonant, we drop the buffer y and just use the -a- connector, following A-type vowel harmony.

Why is the word for acrobats written as akrobatlara?

The verb bakmak (to look) always requires the dative case (-e or -a), acting like 'to' or 'at' in English. Here, we have akrobat + lar (plural) + a (dative). The new compound verb bakakalmak inherits this same rule from its root, so we are looking 'at the acrobats' (akrobatlara).

Why does the Turkish sentence use the continuous tense (-ıyoruz) when the English translation says 'we stare'?