Breakdown of Siz yemeği bitirmeden önce, biz verandada çay içiyor olacağız.
biz
we
siz
you (plural/formal)
çay
tea
içmek
to drink
Questions & Answers about Siz yemeği bitirmeden önce, biz verandada çay içiyor olacağız.
How is the future continuous tense constructed in the phrase "içiyor olacağız"?
It combines the present continuous suffix -iyor attached to the main verb (iç-) with the future form of the auxiliary verb olmak (olacak). The personal suffix for "we" (-ız) goes at the very end: iç-iyor ol-acağ-ız. Notice that the k in olacak softens to ğ because it comes right before the vowel of the personal suffix.
Why doesn't the verb "bitirmek" (to finish) have a tense or person suffix in "bitirmeden önce"?
In Turkish, the grammar pattern for "before doing an action" is just the verb stem plus -meden önce (or -madan önce). It acts as a fixed phrase and never takes tense or person endings. We know it means "before YOU finish" because of the subject pronoun Siz at the start of the sentence.
Why does "yemek" take a suffix to become "yemeği", while "çay" stays in its bare dictionary form?
yemeği takes the accusative suffix (-i) because it is a specific direct object; they are finishing "the" meal, which also causes the final k to soften to ğ. On the other hand, çay is being used as a general, non-specific object ("drinking tea," not "drinking the tea"), so it doesn't take a suffix and is placed directly next to the verb.