Mağazada büyük bir indirim vardı; doğrudan alışverişe gittim, çünkü fiyatların ne kadar düştüğünü tahmin edemiyordum.

There was a big discount at the store; I went shopping directly because I couldn’t guess how much the prices had dropped.

Breakdown of Mağazada büyük bir indirim vardı; doğrudan alışverişe gittim, çünkü fiyatların ne kadar düştüğünü tahmin edemiyordum.

• olmak: to be
• bir: a
• büyük: big
• gitmek: to go
• alışveriş: the shopping
• çünkü: because
• ne kadar: how much
• mağaza: the store
• fiyat: the price
• indirim: the discount
• doğrudan: directly
• düşmek: to drop
• tahmin etmek: to guess

Questions & Answers about Mağazada büyük bir indirim vardı; doğrudan alışverişe gittim, çünkü fiyatların ne kadar düştüğünü tahmin edemiyordum.

What does mağazada mean and why does it have the suffix -da?

Mağazada means “in the store”. Turkish uses the locative suffix -da (or -de, depending on vowel harmony) to indicate location, similar to the English “in” or “at”. In this case, mağaza (store) becomes mağazada to show that the discount was at the store.

Why is bir included in the phrase büyük bir indirim when translating it as “a big discount”?

In Turkish, countable nouns generally require the numeral bir to express the indefinite article “a” or “an”. Thus, büyük bir indirim translates directly as “a big discount”, where bir fulfills the role of “a.”

What is the grammatical role of alışverişe in the sentence?

Alışverişe is the noun alışveriş (“shopping”) with the dative suffix -e attached. This suffix indicates motion or direction, so alışverişe gitmek means “to go shopping,” i.e., to head toward the activity of shopping.

How is the subordinate clause fiyatların ne kadar düştüğünü structured, and what function does it serve?

This subordinate clause serves as the object of the verb phrase tahmin edemiyordum (“I couldn’t guess”). It is composed of:  • fiyatların – the plural possessive form of fiyat (“price”), meaning “of the prices”;  • ne kadar – meaning “how much”;  • düştüğünü – derived from düşmek (“to drop/fall”) with the complementizer -düğünü that turns the verb into a nominal clause.
Together, the clause expresses “how much the prices had dropped.”

Why is the form tahmin edemiyordum used, and how does it express inability in the past?

Tahmin edemiyordum combines the verb tahmin etmek (“to guess/estimate”) with the negative ability construction edememek. The suffix -emiyordum indicates past continuous inability, meaning that at that moment the speaker was unable to guess/estimate how much the prices had dropped. This form emphasizes ongoing inability during that past event.