Learn Turkish: Dördü yirmi beş geçe noktaya ulaşmamız lazım. - We need to reach the checkpoint at twenty-five past four.

Dördü yirmi beş geçe noktaya ulaşmamız lazım.

We need to reach the checkpoint at twenty-five past four.

Breakdown of Dördü yirmi beş geçe noktaya ulaşmamız lazım.

to arrive / to reach (a level/speed)

Questions & Answers about Dördü yirmi beş geçe noktaya ulaşmamız lazım.

Why is the word for 'four' written as dördü instead of just dört?

When we say an event happens at a certain number of minutes past the hour, Turkish adds the accusative case suffix to the hour. Here, dört takes the accusative suffix -ü. Because the suffix starts with a vowel, the final consonant t softens to a d, resulting in dördü.

How does geçe work here to mean 'past' the hour?

Geçe is an adverb created from the verb geçmek (to pass). By combining the accusative hour (dördü), the minutes (yirmi beş), and geçe, you literally say 'passing four by twenty-five'. This specific structure is only used to state the time an action happens, answering the question 'Saat kaçta?' (At what time?).

I learned that nokta means 'dot' or 'full stop'. Why is it translated as 'checkpoint' here?

While nokta literally means 'dot' or 'point', it is very commonly used in everyday Turkish to refer to a physical location, a meeting point, or a checkpoint on a route. The -ya ending is the dative case, showing movement 'to' that point.

Why use ulaşmamız lazım instead of just ulaşmalıyız to say 'we need to reach'?