Akşam yemek yaparak günün stresini atıyorum.

(I relieve the day’s stress by cooking dinner in the evening.)

Breakdown of Akşam yemek yaparak günün stresini atıyorum.

• gün: the day
• yapmak: to make
• akşam: evening
• stres: the stress
• yemek: the dinner
• atmak: to throw away

Questions & Answers about Akşam yemek yaparak günün stresini atıyorum.

What is the function of the suffix -arak in yaparak?

-arak (or -erek after e-vowels) is the Turkish verbal adverb (zarf-fiil) suffix. It turns a verb into an adverbial form that indicates “by doing” or “while doing.” So yaparak means “by doing/making” (here, “by cooking”).

Why is yaparak used instead of yapıyorum?

Yapıyorum is the simple present continuous (“I am cooking”). Yaparak expresses the means or method: “I relieve stress by cooking.” You need -arak to show that cooking is the way you let go of stress, not just a stand-alone action.

Why isn’t there an accusative suffix (-i) on yemek?

In Turkish, only definite, specific direct objects take the accusative (-ı/-i/-u/-ü). Here “akşam yemek yapıyorum” means “I cook dinner” in a general sense (indefinite). It’s “dinner” as a concept, not a particular meal you’ve mentioned before, so no accusative suffix appears.

What role does akşam play at the beginning of the sentence?

Akşam is a time adverbial (“in the evening”). Turkish often places time expressions at the start. So “Akşam yemek yaparak…” means “In the evening, by cooking…”

Why is günün in the genitive case?

This is a possessive/genitive construction: “günün stresini” literally means “the stress of the day.”

• gün (day) + -ün (genitive suffix, 3rd person) → günün
  Whenever one noun possesses another in Turkish, the possessor takes the genitive.

Why does stresini have both a possessive and an accusative suffix?

• stres is the noun “stress.”
• -i (third-person possessive) marks “its stress” – agreeing with the genitive günün (“the day’s stress”).
• The second -i is the accusative suffix, because atmak (“to throw off”) takes a definite object.
  So stres + -i (POSS) + -i (ACC) → stresini.

What does the idiom stresini atmak mean?

Literally it’s “to throw off one’s stress,” but idiomatically it means “to relieve stress” or “to unwind.”

Can I rearrange the word order, for example put günün stresini at the front?

Yes. Turkish word order is relatively flexible. You could say:
“Günün stresini akşam yemek yaparak atıyorum.”
This still means “I relieve the day’s stress by cooking dinner in the evening,” with a slight emphasis on “the day’s stress.”