Learn Hardcore Turkish: Etraftaki uçurum manzarası görkemliydi. - The surrounding cliff landscape was magnificent.

etraf (“surroundings/around”) + locative -ta + adjectival/relative -ki = etraftaki, meaning “that which is around” or simply “surrounding.”

Why doesn’t uçurum take a genitive suffix in uçurum manzarası?

In Turkish noun‐noun compounds expressing possession, the possessor noun often remains unmarked.
• uçurum manzarası literally = “cliff view.”
You could also say uçurumun manzarası (“the cliff’s view”), but dropping -un is common in such compounds.

Why does manzara take the suffix -sı here?

The suffix -sı is the 3rd person singular possessive marker.
• manzara (“view”) + -sı = manzarası (“its view”), showing that the view belongs to the cliff.

What part of speech is görkemliydi, and how is it formed?

It’s an adjective plus the past‐tense copula (“to be”).
• görkemli = “magnificent” (adjective)
• Copula idi (“was”) becomes -ydi after a vowel, with buffer -y-
→ görkemli + -y- + -di = görkemliydi (“was magnificent”).

Why is there no space between görkemli and -ydi?

In Turkish, copular and tense suffixes (like -dir, -di, -miş, etc.) attach directly to the word they modify, forming a single written word.

What is the subject of the sentence, and what is the Turkish word order here?

Subject = Etraftaki uçurum manzarası (“the surrounding cliff view”).
Turkish normally follows Subject–Object–Verb order. With no direct object, it’s simply Subject + Verb (copula).

Why is there a buffer -y- before -di in görkemliydi?

Turkish avoids vowel‐to‐vowel hiatus when attaching certain suffixes. Since görkemli ends in a vowel, a buffer consonant -y- is inserted before the copula -di.

Where does the stress fall in görkemliydi?

Turkish generally stresses the final syllable of a word. With the copula as a clitic, the stress lands on the final suffix: görkemli‐YDI.