Breakdown of Bu şehirde iki milyon insan yaşıyor.
bu
this
iki
two
şehir
city
insan
person
yaşamak
to live / to experience / to undergo
milyon
million
Questions & Answers about Bu şehirde iki milyon insan yaşıyor.
Why is it insan instead of the plural insanlar?
In Turkish, any noun that comes immediately after a number must stay in the singular form. Because we have the number iki milyon (two million), the word insan (person) stays singular.
If there are two million people, why is the verb yaşıyor (singular) and not yaşıyorlar (plural)?
When a plural subject is quantified by a number (like two, fifty, or two million), the verb must always be in the singular form. You only use the plural suffix -lar on verbs when the plural subject doesn't have a specific number.
Why does this sentence use the continuous suffix -ıyor (is living) instead of the simple present tense?
In English, we use the simple present 'live' for residing in a place. But in Turkish, verbs describing ongoing states like living (yaşamak), sitting (oturmak), or sleeping (uyumak) usually take the present continuous -ıyor tense, even for permanent situations.
The dictionary form of the verb is yaşamak (to live). Where did the 'a' at the end of the root go in yaşıyor?
The root is yaşa-. When a verb root ends in a wide vowel like 'a' or 'e' and gets a suffix starting with 'y' (like the present continuous -ıyor), that final vowel narrows to 'ı', 'i', 'u', or 'ü'. Here, the 'a' in yaşa- narrows to 'ı', giving us yaşıyor.
Learn Bu şehirde iki milyon insan yaşıyor 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