Breakdown of Tıpkı babası gibi konuşuyor.
konuşmak
to speak / to talk
baba
father
gibi
like (similar to)
tıpkı
exactly like, just like
Questions & Answers about Tıpkı babası gibi konuşuyor.
Why is there no case ending on babası before gibi?
When using gibi (like) with regular nouns, the noun doesn't take the genitive case. While pronouns need it (like benim gibi for "like me"), nouns just sit right next to the postposition. Here, babası (his father) connects directly to gibi without any extra case endings.
What does tıpkı add to this sentence?
Tıpkı means "exactly" or "just". It is very often paired with a gibi phrase to emphasize the similarity. Together, tıpkı ... gibi translates to "exactly like ...".
How does the word babası break down?
The root word is baba (father). Because Turkish indicates possession with suffixes rather than separate words like "his" or "her", we add the third-person possessive ending. Since baba ends in a vowel, it takes the buffer letter s, followed by the suffix ı, making babası (his/her father).
Why does the translation say "He" when there is no o (he/she/it) in the sentence?
The verb konuşuyor already contains the "he/she/it" meaning because it doesn't have an "I", "you", or "we" personal ending. In Turkish, you can usually drop the subject pronoun. Furthermore, since Turkish has no grammatical gender, this sentence could just as easily mean "She talks exactly like her father." Context tells you which one it is.