Breakdown of Arkadaşım bana tatlı ısmarlıyor.
ben
I
arkadaş
friend
tatlı
dessert
ısmarlamak
to treat (someone) to, order for
Questions & Answers about Arkadaşım bana tatlı ısmarlıyor.
Why is "to me" written as bana instead of bene?
The word for "I" is ben. When we add the "to/direction" ending (the dative case), it breaks the normal vowel harmony rules and changes to bana. This is one of the very few irregular words in Turkish! The same thing happens with sen (you), which becomes sana.
Why doesn't tatlı have a specific object ending (like tatlıyı)?
Because the dessert is general here. The friend isn't treating them to the specific dessert (tatlıyı), but just "dessert" in general. In Turkish, general or indefinite objects usually sit right before the verb and don't take the specific object ending.
The dictionary says the verb "to treat" is ısmarlamak. Why does it become ısmarlıyor?
When a verb root ends in the vowel a or e and we add the present continuous ending -yor, that final vowel narrows to fit vowel harmony (ı, i, u, or ü). Here, the a at the end of the root ısmarla- changes to ı, giving us ısmarlıyor.
Wait, doesn't tatlı mean "sweet"?
Yes! Tat means "taste" and the suffix -lı means "with", so tatlı literally means "with taste" or "sweet". It is very commonly used as an adjective, but as a noun, it simply means "dessert".
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