# keman çalmak



## Orreaga

Merhaba!

I am just starting to study Turkish so sorry if this is an extremely basic question, but I came across "keman çalmak" for "to play the violin" and wondered why it was not "kemanı çalmak" in accusative, but it must be that we are not talking about a specific violin, but the violin in general. Is this how we refer to playing any musical instrument?

Thank you.


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## princess_of_ist

Hello Orreaga,

I think it is mostly because of the verb "çalmak". It is usually used in nominative form if it means "play".

For example:

*Piyano çalmak
Gitar çalmak
Keman çalmak
Flüt çalmak* etc.

There is one other meaning of "çalmak" which means "to steal". For this situation you have to use "accusative form."

For example:
Çantay*ı *çaldı. (*He stole the bag*)
Cüzdan*ı*mı çaldı. (*He stole my purse*)

And I think there is no rule as "if you are talking about a specific object, you have to use "accusative form." It basically depends on verbs.


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## macrotis

If one plays the violin, it's not this or that violin but violins in general, so we use it in the nominative. If one plays this violin but not that violin then we use it in the accusative:

_Bu keman*ı* çalıyor ama şu keman*ı* çalamıyor._

You could also use it in the accusative without referring to a particular violin:

_Çok iyi keman çalar.
Keman*ı* çok iyi çalar._

Both are perfectly correct.


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## Rallino

macrotis said:


> You could also use it in the accusative without referring to a particular violin:
> 
> _Çok iyi keman çalar.
> Keman*ı* çok iyi çalar._
> 
> Both are perfectly correct.



I must mention, nonetheless, that in the second sentence, you just _*have to*_ use accusative. Every time you put another word between the object and the verb, the object goes in accusative form.

i.e. _Keman çok iyi çalar_ is impossible.


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## Orreaga

Günaydın,

Thank you for the replies, this is very interesting.

So, "_Çok iyi keman çalar"_ means "S/he plays a very nice violin."

And "_Kemanı_ _çok iyi çalar"_ means "S/he plays the violin very well." Değil mi?  Even though the first phrase seems to be about a specific instrument, and the second phrase seems to be about the violin in general. So perhaps proximity to the verb has more to do with choice of noun case than the "definite" nature of the noun.


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## Rallino

Orreaga said:


> Günaydın,
> 
> Thank you for the replies, this is very interesting.
> 
> So, "_Çok iyi keman çalar"_ means "S/he plays a very nice violin."
> 
> And "_Kemanı_ _çok iyi çalar"_ means "S/he plays the violin very well." Değil mi?  Even though the first phrase seems to be about a specific instrument, and the second phrase seems to be about the violin in general. So perhaps proximity to the verb has more to do with choice of noun case than the "definite" nature of the noun.



No no, Both of them mean exactly the same thing: "S/he plays the violin (in general) very well."

One of them is in accusative, but that's solely for grammatical reasons; not because we're talking about an afore-mentioned violin, or anything.


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## er targyn

Then how would you translate "S/he plays a very nice violin."?


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## Rallino

er targyn said:


> Then how would you translate "S/he plays a very nice violin."?



Çok güzel bir keman çalıyor.


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## Orreaga

I was going to ask the same question. Thanks for the clarification.

Now which statement is more usual/neutral sounding? Or are they the same?

_Çok iyi keman çalar.
Kemanı__ çok iyi çalar.


_


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## Rallino

Orreaga said:


> I was going to ask the same question. Thanks for the clarification.
> 
> Now which statement is more usual/neutral sounding? Or are they the same?
> 
> _Çok iyi keman çalar.
> Kemanı__ çok iyi çalar.
> 
> 
> _



"Çok iyi keman çalar." is the most usual when talking about people's skills.


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