Learn Turkish: Şehrin dışında büyük bir park var. - There is a big park outside the city.

This is due to a rule called vowel drop. In some two-syllable Turkish words, when you add a suffix starting with a vowel (like the -in ending here), the vowel in the second syllable drops out. So, şehir + in becomes şehrin to make it easier to pronounce.

Why is there an -in ending on şehrin?

In Turkish, spatial words like 'outside' (dış) work like possessions. To say 'outside the city', you are literally saying 'at the city's outside'. The -in ending is the genitive (possessive) suffix, showing that the 'outside' belongs to the city.

Can you break down the parts of dışında?

Of course! It starts with dış (outside/exterior). Then we add -ı (the possessive ending meaning 'its'), the buffer letter -n- to smoothly connect suffixes, and finally -da (the locative ending meaning 'in' or 'at'). Put together, it literally means 'at its outside'.

Why is the word order büyük bir park instead of bir büyük park?