"Men and women read."

[mayce4]

is okur also correct here???

[AlexinNotTurkey]

Yes, -lAr is optional

[TechnicalUK]

Is there a difference between adam and erkek? I also thought I remember seeing another word for man or boy at the beginning of the course.

[onurgur1]

'Erkek' is used for gender purposes so it means 'male' for the most part. 'Adam' used to mean 'human', so in old proverbs you should interpret it as human; however, in modern Turkish it is used as 'man'.

[TechnicalUK]

So erkek kardeş means male sibiling. Thanks.

[issa.sayeh]

When did we use -ler or -lar

[ynotsnikwah]

The English expression given here would be regarded as a fact. That being the case, why isn't the translation "Erkekler ve kadınlar okurDUR"?

[justinatkins]

Why do we use "ler" on male and "lar" on female?

[mizinamo]

Coincidence. It goes by vowel harmony, not by gender (which doesn't exist in Turkish grammar).

If the last vowel of the noun is one of a o ı u, then the plural ending is -lar; if it's one of e ö i ü, then the plural ending is -ler.

So if you use the word erkek "male", the plural is erkekler, while if you use the word adam "man", the plural is adamlar. All to do with the vowels in the word and nothing to do with gender.

kadın has a back vowel, dotless ı, so it takes a back-vowel suffix -lar.