Questions & Answers about Bebek acıkıyor ve ağlıyor.
Why is it ağlıyor instead of ağlayor?
The dictionary form of the verb is ağlamak (to cry). When a verb stem ends in an -a or -e, that vowel narrows into -ı, -i, -u, or -ü before the -yor ending. Here, the a at the end of ağla- turns into an ı, making it ağlıyor.
How would we make these verbs negative, to match this lesson's topic?
To say 'is not getting hungry', you add the negative suffix to the stem acık-, making it acıkmıyor. For 'is not crying', you add the negative suffix -ma to the stem ağla-. Because of the same vowel-narrowing rule before -yor, the negative suffix -ma changes to -mı, giving us ağlamıyor.
Why does acıkıyor translate to 'is getting hungry' instead of just 'is hungry'?
The verb acıkmak specifically means 'to get hungry' or 'to become hungry'. To describe being hungry as a current state rather than an action, you would use the adjective aç (hungry). For example, Bebek aç means 'The baby is hungry'.
Why isn't there an extra personal suffix at the end of acıkıyor and ağlıyor?
The subject is Bebek (The baby), which acts as a third-person singular subject (like 'he', 'she', or 'it'). In Turkish, the third-person singular does not take any extra personal suffix after the -yor tense ending.
Learn Bebek acıkıyor ve ağlıyor 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