Learn Hardcore Turkish: Ofiste çalışırken bana gönderdiğin e-posta, önemli bir ipucu içeriyordu. - While working in the office, the email you sent me contained an important hint.

Ofiste is made up of ofis (a borrowing from English, meaning "office") combined with the locative suffix -te, which indicates location. Together, ofiste means "in the office."

What does the suffix -ken in çalışırken indicate?

The suffix -ken functions as a temporal marker meaning "while" or "during." When added to the verb stem çalış- (from çalışmak, meaning "to work"), it forms çalışırken, which translates as "while working." This construction shows that one action occurred concurrently with another.

How is the relative clause bana gönderdiğin e-posta structured, and what does it mean?

In this phrase, gönderdiğin is a relative clause derived from the verb göndermek ("to send"). It uses the past tense marker -di along with the relative suffix -ğin, which refers to the second person ("you"). The word bana means "to me," and e-posta means "email." Thus, the entire phrase translates to "the email that you sent me." Note that in Turkish, relative clauses like gönderdiğin are placed before the noun they modify.

Why is the verb içeriyordu in the past continuous form, and how does it differ from the simple past?

İçeriyordu is the past continuous form of içermek ("to contain"). In Turkish, the past continuous is not only used to describe actions that were ongoing but also to set a narrative background or express a state in the past. While the simple past (içerdi) could have been used, içeriyordu emphasizes that, at that time, the email was in the state of containing an important clue.

What does the phrase önemli bir ipucu mean, and what role does it play in the sentence?

Önemli means "important," bir translates as "a," and ipucu means "clue" or "hint." The phrase önemli bir ipucu functions as the complement in the predicate, explaining what the email contained—namely, "an important clue."

Why is there a comma after e-posta in the sentence?

The comma is used to separate a lengthy, modified subject from the predicate for clarity. In this sentence, Ofiste çalışırken bana gönderdiğin e-posta forms a complex subject that is set off by a comma before the predicate önemli bir ipucu içeriyordu, helping the reader to easily distinguish the subject from the main statement.