Breakdown of Biyologlar iki aydır yaban hayvanlarını uydu ile izliyor.
iki
two
izlemek
to watch
hayvan
animal
ay
month
Questions & Answers about Biyologlar iki aydır yaban hayvanlarını uydu ile izliyor.
The English translation uses 'have been watching', but the Turkish uses the present continuous tense izliyor. Why?
In Turkish, when an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the present continuous tense (-Iyor). The English 'Present Perfect Continuous' doesn't have a direct equivalent. Instead, the time expression iki aydır (for two months) combined with izliyor tells us exactly how long the ongoing action has been happening.
Can you break down the suffixes on the word hayvanlarını?
The phrase starts as a noun compound: yaban hayvanı (wild animal), where -ı is the compound marker. To make it plural, it becomes yaban hayvanları. Because these specific animals are the direct object of the verb izliyor, we must add the accusative case suffix. We add the buffer letter -n- followed by the accusative -ı, giving us yaban hayvanlarını.
What is the function of -dır in the phrase iki aydır?
When attached to a period of time, the suffix -dIr (which changes to -dir, -tır, etc., depending on vowel and consonant harmony) translates to 'for' that duration. Therefore, iki ay (two months) becomes iki aydır (for two months). It is very commonly paired with the present continuous tense to show how long an ongoing action has lasted.
Could uydu ile be written as a single word here?