Breakdown of Salatanın yanında tuzluk olmadan servis eksik kalıyor.
servis
the service
kalmak
to remain
-nın
of
salata
the salad
-madan
without
yanında
alongside
tuzluk
the salt shaker
eksik
incomplete
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Questions & Answers about Salatanın yanında tuzluk olmadan servis eksik kalıyor.
Why is salata in salatanın form here? What does the -nın suffix indicate?
The suffix -nın is the genitive case marker on salata (“salad”). In Turkish, when you use the locative postposition yanında (“beside/at the side of”), the noun before it must be in the genitive. So salatanın yanında literally means “at the side of the salad,” i.e. “beside the salad.”
What role does the locative suffix -da/-de in yanında play?
The -da (voiced to -nda after a vowel) is the locative case ending, expressing place (“in/at/on”). Attached to yanı (“side”), it gives yanında = “at its side” or “beside.”
Why is it tuzluk olmadan to say “without a salt shaker”? Could we use another form like tuzluksuz?
olmadan comes from olmak (“to be”) plus the negative conjunction -madan, producing “without being/having.” So tuzluk olmadan = “without a salt shaker.” Alternatively, you can form the adjective tuzluksuz (using -sız, “without”) and say tuzluksuz servis. Both mean roughly the same, though tuzluk olmadan emphasizes the action “serving without the shaker,” whereas tuzluksuz simply describes the service as “shaker-less.”
What does eksik kalıyor mean? Why do we use kalmak here instead of olmak?
eksik means “missing/incomplete,” and kalmak means “to remain/stay.” So eksik kalıyor literally means “remains incomplete” or “is left lacking.” You could say eksik oluyor (“becomes incomplete”), but eksik kalmak stresses that the service stays in an incomplete state.
Why is servis not suffixed here? What grammatical role does it play?
servis (“service” or “the act of serving”) is the subject of the intransitive verb kalmak, so it remains in the nominative with no suffix or article—Turkish doesn’t use articles like “a” or “the.”
What is the difference between yanında and using ile in this context? Could we say salata ile servis eksik kalıyor?
salatanın yanında specifies location: “beside the salad.” salata ile means “with the salad” in a more general sense of accompaniment. If you said salata ile servis eksik kalıyor, it would read as “service is incomplete together with the salad,” which sounds odd. To highlight the missing salt shaker next to the salad, yanında is the clear choice.
Can we change the word order, e.g. Tuzluk olmadan salatanın yanında servis eksik kalıyor?
Yes. Turkish word order is flexible because grammatical roles are shown by suffixes. Moving tuzluk olmadan to the front still yields the same meaning: “Without a salt shaker, the service beside the salad remains incomplete.”