Mandarin can introduce what a sentence is about before saying anything about it: 这张地图，我们今天正在研究。 means “We are examining this map today.” Turkish can also start with the map: Bu haritayı bugün inceliyoruz. The topic is what we are talking about; the comment is what we say about it. Neither term identifies the grammatical subject.
The idea
Transfer the topic–comment relationship, but rebuild the Turkish syntax. In our connected sentences, the fronted noun keeps the case its role requires: bu haritayı is the specific object, while bu köprüden names the route. Use the verb-final examples as a starting point. The alternative orders move the time expression to the front; they can fit a different context. For “Who chose this book?”, Bu kitabı ben seçtim highlights ben; with a “When?” question, Bu kitabı dün seçtim supplies dün. Context and stress also matter; see the related focus lesson for the general rule.
Examples
- Bu haritayı bugün inceliyoruz.We are examining this map today.
- Bu konuyu yarın konuşacağız.We will discuss this topic tomorrow.
- Bu köprüden her gün geçiyoruz.We cross this bridge every day.
- Bu kitabı ben seçtim.I am the one who chose this book.
- Bu kitabı dün seçtim.I chose this book yesterday.
- Bu odanın penceresi dar.The window of this room is narrow.
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Watch out
Do not treat every initial topic as an unmarked Turkish subject. Chinese 这个房间，窗户很窄。 can introduce the room and then its window. For a single Turkish possessive phrase, say Bu odanın penceresi dar: the window belongs to the room. Simply placing bu oda before pencere does not build that relationship. This does not mean every Chinese topic needs a Turkish genitive.
Try it yourself
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu ___ bugün inceliyoruz. (harita / haritayı)
Show answer or example answer
haritayı
haritayı: we examine this particular map, so it is the definite object even at the front. The vowel-final harita takes -yı.
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu ___ her gün geçiyoruz. (köprü / köprüden)
Show answer or example answer
köprüden
köprüden: the bridge is the route we cross, not the object we examine. Here geçmek uses the ablative; the last vowel ü gives -den.
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu kitabı kim seçti? — Bu kitabı ___ seçtim. (ben / dün)
Show answer or example answer
ben
ben: kim asks for the person who chose the book. Dün would give a time and leave that question unanswered; seçtim already identifies the speaker.
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu odanın ___ dar. (pencere / penceresi)
Show answer or example answer
penceresi
penceresi: odanın identifies the possessor, so the window takes the third-person possessive ending. The narrow thing is the window, not the room.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu ___ bugün inceliyoruz. (harita / haritayı)
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu ___ her gün geçiyoruz. (köprü / köprüden)
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu kitabı kim seçti? — Bu kitabı ___ seçtim. (ben / dün)
Fill the gap with one of the two forms: Bu odanın ___ dar. (pencere / penceresi)
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
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Translate two Chinese topic–comment sentences about a particular object and a route. Identify each Turkish noun’s role before adding its ending. Then ask “Who?” and “When?” about a chosen book and compare the answers.