Kayalık uçurumun kenarında durmak ürkütücü olsa da manzara muhteşemdi.

to be

Breakdown of Kayalık uçurumun kenarında durmak ürkütücü olsa da manzara muhteşemdi.

• muhteşem: magnificent
• manzara: the view
• durmak: to stand

Questions & Answers about Kayalık uçurumun kenarında durmak ürkütücü olsa da manzara muhteşemdi.

What does kayalık mean, and how is it formed?

kayalık comes from kaya (rock) + the suffix -lık, which can turn a noun into an adjective meaning “characterized by” or “full of.” Here it means “rocky” (literally “rocky place” or “rock-like”).

In kayalık uçurumun kenarında, why do we see -un on uçurum and -ı and -nda on kenar?

Turkish marks possession with a genitive–possessive structure:

• uçurum-un is uçurum (cliff) + genitive -un (“of the cliff”).
• kenar-ı is kenar (edge) + possessive -ı (“its edge”).
  Then you add the locative -nda (“at/on”) to kenar-ı, giving kenarında (“at the edge of it”).
  So kayalık uçurumun kenarında = “at the edge of the rocky cliff.”

Why is durmak in its infinitive form here?

In Turkish, the infinitive (dictionary) form -mak/-mek can act like a noun (a verbal noun) and become the sentence’s subject. Here durmak (“to stand”) functions as “standing.” So the clause literally reads “Standing at the cliff’s edge was terrifying…”

What does the suffix -sa da do in ürkütücü olsa da?