Bu araba pahalı ama iyi.

Breakdown of Bu araba pahalı ama iyi.

bu
this
araba
car
iyi
good
pahalı
expensive
ama
but

Questions & Answers about Bu araba pahalı ama iyi.

Where is the verb 'is' in this sentence?
In simple Turkish sentences, the word for 'is' or 'are' is often completely left out. You simply put the subject (Bu araba) and the adjectives describing it (pahalı ama iyi) together, and the 'is' is naturally understood.
Since this lesson is about 'değil', how would we say 'This car is expensive but not good'?
You just place değil immediately after the adjective you want to negate. 'This car is expensive but not good' becomes Bu araba pahalı ama iyi değil.
Could Bu araba mean 'This is a car'?
Yes, on its own it can! However, the adjectives that follow tell us that Bu araba is acting as the subject here ('This car'). If you wanted to say 'This is an expensive car', the structure changes to Bu pahalı bir araba.
Is there a reason pahalı ends in -lı?
Yes! The suffix -lı (and its vowel harmony variations like -li) means 'with' or 'having'. Paha means 'price' or 'value', so pahalı literally means 'with a price', which is how Turkish says 'expensive'.

Learn Bu araba pahalı ama iyi and more in Turkish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • Practice with interactive exercises
  • Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • Learn at your own pace — completely free