Questions & Answers about Pastanede pasta yiyoruz ve çay içiyoruz.
Since this lesson is about the -den (from) suffix, why does this sentence use pastanede instead of pastaneden?
The verb for 'to eat' is yemek. Why is it spelled yiyoruz here instead of yeyiyoruz?
When a verb root ends in a wide vowel like the e in ye-, adding the continuous -yor suffix causes that vowel to narrow. Here, the e changes into an i, making it yiyoruz (we are eating).
We are eating cake and drinking tea. Why are pasta and çay singular instead of plural?
In Turkish, when you are talking about consuming a general category of food or drink, you leave the noun singular. You do not need to add the plural suffix to say pastalar (cakes) or çaylar (teas) unless you are emphasizing multiple distinct pieces or cups.
Where is the word for 'we' in this sentence?
The subject is often dropped in Turkish because the verb ending already tells us who is doing the action. The -uz at the end of yiyoruz and içiyoruz strictly means 'we' are doing it, so adding biz (we) at the beginning is optional.