Breakdown of Saat onu on dokuz geçiyor, dinleyiciler radyoyu arıyor.
on
ten
on dokuz
nineteen
radyo
radio
aramak
to look for, to call
Questions & Answers about Saat onu on dokuz geçiyor, dinleyiciler radyoyu arıyor.
Why is the hour ten written as onu instead of just on?
When telling time using past, Turkish literally says the minutes are passing the hour. The hour is the direct object of geçiyor (is passing), so it needs the accusative case. That is why on (ten) gets the -u suffix and becomes onu.
Do we ever put a suffix on the minutes part (on dokuz)?
No. In this time construction, the minutes represent the subject that is doing the passing, so they stay in their plain dictionary form. Only the hour gets the accusative case.
Why does radyo take the -yu suffix here?
The verb aramak (to call) takes a direct object, meaning the thing being called requires the accusative case. Because radyo ends in a vowel, we add the buffer letter y before the accusative suffix -u, making it radyoyu.
I thought aramak meant to search. Why is it translated as calling here?
The verb aramak is versatile. While it does originally mean to look for or to search, it is also the standard everyday verb used for making a phone call in Turkish.
Since dinleyiciler is plural, why doesn't the verb have a plural ending ()?