İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli gelebilir.

Two portions of dessert may be enough.

Breakdown of İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli gelebilir.

• tatlı: the dessert
• iki: two
• gelebilmek: to be able to come
• yeterli: enough
• porsiyon: the portion

Questions & Answers about İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli gelebilir.

What does each word in İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli gelebilir mean, literally?

• İki = two
• porsiyon = portion/serving (a borrowed classifier noun)
• tatlı = dessert (here as the thing being measured)
• yeterli = sufficient/enough (adjective)
• gelebilir = may come/arrive – with the potential suffix -bilir, it means “might turn out to be.”
  Put together it literally reads “Two servings dessert sufficient might-be,” i.e. “Two servings of dessert might be sufficient.”

Why is tatlı singular and without any case ending in iki porsiyon tatlı?

When you use a measure word like porsiyon, the thing you’re measuring stays in the singular and bare form. It’s the same pattern as üç dilim ekmek (“three slices of bread”) or bir bardak su (“a glass of water”). You don’t pluralize or add a genitive: the classifier (porsiyon) already marks the quantity.

How does the multi-word verb yeterli gelmek work? Why “gelmek” (to come)?

In Turkish yeterli gelmek is an idiomatic light-verb construction:

• yeterli = sufficient
• gelmek = literally “to come,” but here “to turn out, to feel.”
  Together they mean “to suffice, to be enough.” You often see it with food, time, money, etc.:
  • Üç saat çalışmak bana yeterli geldi. (“Working three hours was enough for me.”)

What does the suffix -bilir do in gelebilir?

-bilir is the potential/possibility suffix.

• gelir = “it comes/is enough” (simple present)
• gelebilir = “it may come/is possibly enough” (“might suffice”)
  So yeterli gelebilir expresses uncertainty or a guess: “It might be enough.”

Could you replace yeterli gelmek with yeterli olmak or yetmek?

Yes, but with slight nuance:

• yeterli olmak = “to be sufficient” (more neutral, abstract)
• yeterli gelmek = “to seem/be experienced as sufficient” (more subjective)
• yetmek = “to suffice/be enough” (single-word verb, more direct)
  So you could say İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli olabilir or …yetebilir, or even İki porsiyon tatlı yeter in casual speech.

Can I drop the potential and just say İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli?

You can say İki porsiyon tatlı yeterli (literally “Two servings of dessert are sufficient”), but it sounds a bit clipped. Adding gelebilir/olabilir (“might be”) softens it and shows you’re making a suggestion rather than stating a fact.

What’s the difference between İki porsiyon tatlı and Tatlıdan iki porsiyon?

• İki porsiyon tatlı = a generic measure phrase “two servings of dessert.”
• Tatlıdan iki porsiyon = partitive construction “two servings from the (specific) dessert.”
  Use the second when you’re talking about a particular dessert that’s already known in context.