Breakdown of Sebzelerin tazeliğini korumak için buzdolabına koymalıyız.
sebze
the vegetable
için
for
koymak
to put
-ya
to
korumak
to preserve
buzdolabı
the refrigerator
tazelik
the freshness
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Questions & Answers about Sebzelerin tazeliğini korumak için buzdolabına koymalıyız.
What is the breakdown of sebzelerin?
sebzelerin = sebze (vegetable) + -ler (plural) + -in (genitive). It literally means “of the vegetables.”
How is tazeliğini formed from taze, and why does it have -lik, -i, and -ni?
Start with taze (fresh).
• -lik turns an adjective into a noun: tazelik (freshness).
• -i is the 3rd person singular possessive (“its freshness”): tazeliği.
• -ni is the definite accusative marker (“the freshness” as a direct object): tazeliğini.
Why does tazeliğini take the accusative suffix -ni?
In Turkish, a definite direct object must be marked with the accusative. Here “the freshness” is a specific thing we want to preserve, so we add -ni.
What does korumak için mean, and why is the infinitive plus için used here?
korumak is the infinitive of koru- (“to preserve”). Adding için after the infinitive (-mak için) expresses purpose: korumak için = “in order to preserve.”
Why is buzdolabına in the dative case, and how is the suffix formed?
We need “to the refrigerator” (the direction or target). The dative suffix is -na/-ne (with vowel harmony).
buzdolabı + -na = buzdolabına (“to the refrigerator”).
What does koymalıyız mean, and how do you break it down?
koy- (“to put”) + -malı (necessity: “must/should”) + -yız (1st person plural “we”) = koymalıyız (“we must put”).
Why is the verb koymalıyız placed at the end of the sentence?
Turkish is a Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) language, so the finite verb typically comes last in a main clause.
Where is the subject “we” in this sentence?
There is no separate pronoun. The suffix -yız on koymalıyız encodes “we,” so biz is understood and usually omitted.
Is there an alternative, simpler way to say “in order to keep the vegetables fresh”?
Yes. For example:
Sebzeleri taze tutmak için buzdolabına koymalıyız.
Here sebzeleri (accusative) + taze tutmak (“to keep fresh”) replaces the genitive–possessive construction with a more direct adjective + verb.