Breakdown of İki saattir hâlâ bekliyorum.
iki
two
beklemek
to wait
saat
hour / o'clock
hâlâ
still (continuing)
Questions & Answers about İki saattir hâlâ bekliyorum.
Why does iki saat (two hours) take the -tir suffix here?
The suffix -DIr is used to show duration, meaning "for [a period of time]". So, iki saattir literally means "for two hours." The sentence literally says "For two hours I am still waiting," which the translation smooths out to "I am still waiting after two hours."
The last vowel in saat is a. Shouldn't vowel harmony make the suffix -tır instead of -tir?
Normally, yes! However, saat is an Arabic loanword and is one of the most famous exceptions to Turkish vowel harmony. Suffixes attached to saat act as if its final vowel is a front vowel (like e or i). That's why it takes -tir instead of -tır, just like it pluralizes as saatler instead of saatlar.
Why does the suffix start with t (-tir) instead of d (-dir)?
This is due to consonant assimilation (the "Fıstıkçı Şahap" rule). The word saat ends in t, which is a hard (voiceless) consonant. When a suffix starting with d attaches to a hard consonant, the d changes to a t to match it smoothly.
English uses "I have been waiting" here. Why does Turkish just use the present continuous tense bekliyorum ("I am waiting")?
In Turkish, if an action started in the past and is still happening right now, you use the standard present continuous tense (-yor). By combining bekliyorum with the duration iki saattir (for two hours), Turkish perfectly captures what English needs the present perfect continuous tense to say.
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