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Questions & Answers about Çarşıda alışveriş yapıyorum.
The current lesson is about the '-dan' (from) suffix, but this sentence uses '-da' on 'çarşı'. What is the difference?
Why is the verb 'yapıyorum' (I am doing) used here? Doesn't Turkish have a specific verb for 'shopping'?
No, Turkish doesn't have a single verb for "to shop". Instead, it uses a noun-verb pair: alışveriş yapmak, which literally means "to do shopping". Because you are doing it right now, yapmak becomes yapıyorum (I am doing).
Is there an easy way to remember the long word 'alışveriş'?
Yes! It is actually a combination of two words: alış (taking/buying) and veriş (giving/selling). So "shopping" in Turkish is literally just "taking-giving".
Why is there an 'ı' in the middle of 'yapıyorum'?
The verb root is yap- (do) and the present continuous suffix is -yor. Since yap- ends in a consonant, they need a vowel to connect them. According to Turkish 4-way vowel harmony rules, the 'a' in yap- means the connecting vowel must be 'ı', resulting in yap-ı-yor-um.