Filikaya binmek üzereyken palamar koptu.

Because the verb binmek takes the dative case: you board/get on something -e / -a.

So:

• otobüse binmek = to get on the bus
• trene binmek = to board the train
• filikaya binmek = to board the lifeboat

Here, filika ends in a vowel, so the dative suffix appears as -ya: filika + ya.

It is not filikayı because that would be the accusative, and binmek does not use the accusative.

Turkish does not use articles the way English does. There is no direct equivalent of the, and a/an is only expressed when needed, often with bir.

So filikaya can mean to the lifeboat or to a lifeboat, depending on context.
Likewise, palamar can mean the mooring rope or a mooring rope.

In a real context, the listener usually already knows which lifeboat or rope is meant.

Because the pattern here is verb + -mek/-mak üzere.

This construction uses the infinitive:

• gitmek üzere = about to go
• çıkmak üzere = about to leave
• binmek üzere = about to board

So binmek üzereyken literally works like while being about to board or more naturally when just about to board.

In this sentence, üzereyken means when just about to or at the moment of being about to.

Breakdown:

• üzere after an infinitive often means about to
• -yken means when / while

So:

filikaya binmek üzereyken
= when he/she/they was/were just about to board the lifeboat

It suggests the boarding had not happened yet. The rope snapped right before or at that critical moment.

Because -yken is the attached form of iken.

After a word ending in a vowel, Turkish commonly inserts y to link the two parts smoothly:

• üzere + iken → üzereyken

That y is just a linking consonant. It makes pronunciation easier.

Not quite.

• binerken = while boarding / when boarding
• binmek üzereyken = when just about to board

The difference is important:

• binerken suggests the action is already happening, or at least the person is in the act of boarding.
• binmek üzereyken suggests the action is still just about to happen.

So this sentence emphasizes that the rope snapped before the boarding actually took place.

Palamar is a nautical word. It refers to a mooring rope, hawser, or thick rope used to tie a boat or ship to a dock or another vessel.

It is not a very everyday word outside maritime contexts, but it is the natural word in this kind of sentence.

Koptu is the simple past form of kopmak.

• kopmak = to snap, break off, come loose, be severed
• koptu = snapped / broke / came loose

In this sentence, palamar koptu means the mooring rope snapped or broke loose.

This is an intransitive verb here: the rope itself undergoes the breaking. No object is needed.

Because Turkish often leaves subjects unstated when they are clear from context.

So filikaya binmek üzereyken does not say explicitly who was about to board. English usually wants a subject, so in translation you may need to supply one:

• when he was about to board the lifeboat
• when they were about to board the lifeboat
• when we were about to board the lifeboat

The exact person depends on the wider context.

No. In this sentence, the main clause subject is clearly palamar: the rope is what koptu.

But the understood subject of binmek üzereyken is some person or group supplied by context. So the sentence means something like:

As someone was about to board the lifeboat, the mooring rope snapped.

This is normal in Turkish, especially when the people involved are already known from the surrounding context.

Turkish often puts the background situation first and the main event last.

So:

• Filikaya binmek üzereyken = background / setting
• palamar koptu = main event

This makes the sentence feel natural and a bit dramatic: first the scene is set, then the important thing happens. English often does something similar:

• Just as they were about to board the lifeboat, the mooring rope snapped.