Duvarlara

Duvarlara is the Turkish dative plural form of the noun duvar (wall). It expresses direction toward or placement on walls, and translates roughly as to the walls or onto the walls. It combines the plural suffix -lar with the dative suffix -a, and is subject to Turkish vowel harmony, resulting in the form duvarlara.

Formation and harmony: Turkish is an agglutinative language. The stem duvar takes -lar to form duvarlar (walls). To indicate direction toward or onto the walls, the suffix -a is added, yielding duvarlara. Because of vowel harmony, the choice between -a and -e depends on the stem’s last vowel; with duvar, the last vowel is a, so the suffix remains -a, and the two suffixes merge to form duvarlara.

Usage: The form marks the target or location connected to a verb of movement or placement. It answers questions such as “to where?” or “onto which surface?” Common constructions include duvarlara yazı yazmak (to write on the walls) and sentences like Çocuklar duvarlara resim çizdiler (The children drew pictures on the walls) or Duvarlara afişler asıldı (Posters were hung on the walls). It can also appear in passive or impersonal contexts, for example Duvarlara yazılar asıldı (Writings were posted on the walls).

Etymology and context: The Turkish word duvar is borrowed from Persian divār via Ottoman Turkish. The plural duvarlar is regular, and duvarlara represents a standard inflection for the dative plural. The phrase is common in everyday Turkish, including discussions of architecture, interior design, and street art.