Learn Hardcore Turkish: Bir konu hakkında ikna edici argüman sunmak, projeyi hızlandırmaya yardımcı olur. - Presenting persuasive arguments on a topic helps speed up the project.

hakkında is a postposition meaning about or regarding. In Turkish, postpositions always come after the noun they modify, and that noun remains unmarked (nominative). So Bir konu hakkında literally means “about a topic.”

Why is bir used before konu, and does Turkish have the articles a and the?

Turkish does not have separate definite and indefinite articles like English. bir serves both as the number “one” and the indefinite article “a.” There is no word for “the”; definiteness is shown by context or by case endings (e.g. the accusative -i).

What does ikna edici mean, and how is this adjective formed?

ikna edici means convincing or persuasive. It comes from the verb ikna etmek (“to persuade”) by dropping -mek and adding the adjectival suffix -ici (from the set -ici/-ıcı/-ucu/-ücü). So you get ikna et + -ici = ikna edici.

Why is sunmak in the infinitive form, and why is there a comma after it?

The infinitive sunmak (“to present”) here functions as a noun phrase. The entire clause Bir konu hakkında ikna edici argüman sunmak acts as the subject of the sentence. When a long infinitive clause serves as the subject, it’s common to place a comma before the main predicate (yardımcı olur) for clarity.

Why is projeyi in the accusative case, and what does that signify?

projeyi is the direct object of hızlandırmak (“to speed up”). In Turkish, a specific or definite object takes the accusative suffix -ı/-i/-u/-ü. Here proje + -yi = projeyi (“the project”).

Why is hızlandırmaya not hızlandırmak, and why is it in the dative case?

To use yardımcı olmak (“to help”), you need a noun in the dative. First, hızlandır- (root “speed up”) takes the nominalizer -ma, giving hızlandırma (“speeding up”). Then you add the dative suffix -ya, yielding hızlandırma + -ya = hızlandırmaya (“to/for speeding up”). You cannot pair the plain infinitive -mak with yardımcı olmak.

How does yardımcı olmak function with projeyi hızlandırmaya to mean “helps speed up the project”?

yardımcı olmak literally means “to become a helper.” The thing you help with goes in the dative. So projeyi hızlandırmaya yardımcı olur means “it is helpful to speeding up the project,” i.e. “it helps speed up the project.”

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, and could you change it?

Turkish is generally Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). Here the subject is the infinitive clause, the object is projeyi, and the verb phrase (hızlandırmaya yardımcı olur) comes last. You can move elements for emphasis (e.g. place projeyi hızlandırmaya earlier), but the main verb cluster remains at the end. The comma helps signal the break between the subject clause and the predicate.