Questions & Answers about Kartallar dağa uçabilir.
Does uçabilir mean "can fly" or "might fly"?
It can mean both! The combination of a verb root, the possibility suffix -(y)abil, and the aorist tense (like -ir) expresses either ability ("can") or probability ("might"). You have to use the context of the conversation to know which one is intended.
I see a ğ in dağa. Did consonant mutation happen here?
Actually, no. The Turkish word for mountain is dağ. Because the root word already ends in a ğ, you simply add the dative case suffix -a (meaning "to") directly to it, creating dağa.
Why is the connecting vowel a used in uçabilir?
The possibility suffix is -(y)abil, and its first vowel follows 2-way vowel harmony based on the main verb root. Since the root uç contains the back vowel u, it takes the back vowel a.
Why does the end of the word use -ir instead of following vowel harmony for the aorist tense?
The aorist (simple present) suffix is attaching to the helper verb bil, not the main verb uç. For the verb bilmek, the aorist suffix is always the irregular -ir. This means the ending will always be -bilir, no matter what the main verb is.
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