"Kediler balığı yer."
Translation:The cats eat the fish.
March 28, 2015
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yegirish
121
In Turkish, does 'kediler' exclusively mean 'the cats', as in a specific set of cats? Or can it be interpreted generally, like the English phrase 'cats eat fish'?
The definite accusative ending can only be used if the word (or phrase) is a direct object in the first place. Since "kediler" is the subject of the sentence you cannot use the definite accusative here. Turkish doesn't have articles or equivalent suffixes with the same function (the definite accusative is both definite and a direct object, thus it is not the same), so you need to infer from context whether "kediler" refers to specific cats or cats in general. At least that's how I understand it so far.