Bu fikir dün aklıma geldi.

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Breakdown of Bu fikir dün aklıma geldi.

• fikir: the idea
• dün: yesterday
• aklına gelmek: to come to mind

Questions & Answers about Bu fikir dün aklıma geldi.

What does aklıma geldi mean literally, and why is it used here?

Literally, aklıma geldi means came to my mind.

So the whole sentence is literally:

This idea came to my mind yesterday.

In natural English, that often becomes This idea occurred to me yesterday or I thought of this idea yesterday.

The important thing is that Turkish often uses aklına gelmek / aklına düşmek for the idea of something suddenly coming into your mind.

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Why is it aklıma, not just akıl or aklım?

Because aklıma is built from several parts:

• akıl = mind, reason
• aklım = my mind
• aklıma = to my mind

So:

• akıl → base noun
• -ım / -im / -um / -üm = my
• -a / -e = dative case, often meaning to

Here it is:

• akıl
• aklım = my mind
• aklıma = to my mind

That is why the expression means came to my mind.

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Why does akıl become aklım instead of akılım?