Breakdown of Bu şehirde birçok okul var.
bu
this
var
there is / existent
okul
school
şehir
city
birçok
many, a great many
Questions & Answers about Bu şehirde birçok okul var.
Why is okul singular when the English translation says "schools"?
In Turkish, when you use a word that already indicates a quantity like birçok (many) or a number, you do not add the plural suffix (-lar or -ler) to the noun. So it is always birçok okul, never birçok okullar.
Why does şehir become şehirde here?
The -de ending is the locative suffix, meaning "in", "on", or "at". Because the last vowel in şehir is "i", vowel harmony dictates we use the front-vowel -de version rather than -da. Together, bu şehirde means "in this city".
Is var a verb here?
Var acts like a verb here, but it is actually a word meaning "existent". It is the standard way to say "there is" or "there are". In sentences stating that something exists, var almost always goes at the very end.
Why does the location (bu şehirde) come first in the sentence?
In Turkish "there is/are" sentences, the normal word order is to put the place first, then the thing that exists, and finally the word var. So the literal order of this sentence is "In this city, many school existent."
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