Learn Hardcore Turkish: Geminin güvertesinde, müzik dinlerken muhteşem manzaranın keyfini çıkardık. - On the deck of the ship, we enjoyed the magnificent view while listening to music.

The phrase is built using Turkish possession and locative constructions. Geminin comes from gemi (“ship”) with the genitive suffix -nin, which shows that something belongs to the ship (“of the ship”). Then güverte (“deck”) takes a possessive suffix -si (since the ship is third person singular) to become güvertesi (“its deck”), and finally the locative suffix -de (adjusted for vowel harmony as -de or -da) is added, yielding güvertesinde (“on its deck”). This structure indicates that the action takes place on the ship’s deck.

What does the suffix -ken in müzik dinlerken signify and how is it formed?

The suffix -ken is used to form an adverbial clause meaning “while” doing something. In müzik dinlerken, it is attached to the verb stem of dinlemek (“to listen”) to indicate that the action happens simultaneously with another action. Thus, dinlerken translates as “while listening,” situating the act of enjoying the scenery at the same time as listening to music.

How is the object muhteşem manzaranın keyfini constructed grammatically?

This object consists of two parts. First, muhteşem manzara combines the adjective muhteşem (“magnificent”) with the noun manzara (“scenery”). The noun takes the genitive suffix -nın to show possession (“of the magnificent scenery”). Next, keyfini comes from keyif meaning “pleasure” or “enjoyment.” The suffix -ini attached to keyif not only marks it as a definite noun but also aligns with the possessed element introduced earlier. In Turkish, when a noun is possessed by another noun, the possessor is in the genitive form and the possessed noun carries the corresponding possessive suffix.

Why is the subject “we” not explicitly mentioned in the sentence?

Turkish is a pro-drop language, which means that personal pronouns can be omitted when the verb conjugation clearly indicates the subject. In this sentence, the verb çıkardık is conjugated in the first person plural form, so it is understood that “we” are the subject without needing to state it explicitly.

How is the past tense and the first person plural conveyed in the verb çıkardık?

The verb çıkardık comes from çıkarmak (“to get” or “to enjoy”). The ending -dik in çıkardık combines the past tense marker with the first person plural agreement. This conjugation tells us that the action was completed in the past and that the speaker, along with at least one other person, performed the action (i.e., “we enjoyed”).