duvara

Duvara is the Turkish dative form of the noun duvar, meaning wall. It marks the indirect object or the target of an action, indicating motion toward a wall or the action directed at a wall. In Turkish this form is commonly used with verbs of placement or movement, such as asmak (to hang), yazmak (to write), vurmak (to strike), and çarpmak (to crash into).

Usage examples illustrate its meaning. O duvara yazı yazdı means “He wrote on the wall,” where the wall is the surface being written on. Resim duvara asıldı means “The painting was hung on the wall.” Araba duvara çarptı or Araba duvara çarptı translates as “The car hit the wall.” In these cases the action is directed toward the wall. By contrast, to express location on the wall, Turkish uses duvarda, not duvara, as in resim duvarda asılıdır (“the painting is hanging on the wall”).

Etymology and form: duvara derives from duvar (wall) with the dative suffix -a, following Turkish vowel harmony. The root duvar itself is a loanword in Turkish, widely traced to Persian divār or related sources, reflecting historical contact and borrowing.

See also: Turkish grammar, Dative case (Turkish), Turkish prepositional phrases.