Questions & Answers about Şınav ve mekik çekelim.
Why is the verb çekmek used here instead of yapmak?
In Turkish, specific exercises pair with specific verbs. While you use yapmak for general exercise (spor yapmak), bodyweight exercises that involve a repetitive back-and-forth or pulling motion, like push-ups (şınav) and sit-ups (mekik), collocate specifically with the verb çekmek.
Why aren't şınav and mekik in the plural form here?
When referring to doing an activity in general, Turkish uses the singular, bare form of the noun. Adding the plural suffix would sound like you are referring to specific, distinct individual push-ups rather than the general category of the exercise.
Does the word mekik literally mean sit-up?
Not originally. Mekik literally means a shuttle (like a weaver's loom shuttle or a space shuttle, uzay mekiği). It is used for sit-ups because the continuous back-and-forth motion of the upper body resembles a shuttle moving on a loom.
What is the grammatical breakdown of çekelim?
It uses the optative mood. The verb root çek gets the first-person plural optative suffix -elim (or -alım depending on vowel harmony). This is the standard way to express let's do something in Turkish.