Learn Hardcore Turkish: Belgeler sisteme entegre edilmek yerine e-posta ile gönderildi. - The documents were sent by email instead of being integrated into the system.

Entegre etmek is the active infinitive “to integrate (something).” Entegre edilmek is the passive infinitive “to be integrated,” which we need here because Belgeler (the documents) are the ones being integrated, not doing the integrating.

What does entegre edilmek yerine mean?

The pattern ... etmek yerine means “instead of doing ….” So entegre edilmek yerine literally means “instead of being integrated.” In context, it means the documents weren’t integrated into the system but were sent by e-mail.

Why is sisteme in the dative case?

Turkish marks the target of an action with the dative suffix -e/-a. Here sistem + -e = sisteme, meaning “to the system,” indicating where the (non-)integration would have happened.

Why is e-posta ile used to mean “by e-mail”? Could we say e-postayla?

Yes. İle is a postposition meaning “with/by,” so e-posta ile = “by e-mail.” You can also attach the suffix -yla/-yle directly: e-postayla is equally correct and means the same thing.

What is the tense and voice of gönderildi?

Gönderildi is the simple past passive of göndermek. It means “was sent.” The passive voice is formed by adding -il- (or -in-) before the tense/person suffix.

Why is the subordinate clause placed at the beginning of the sentence?

Turkish is an SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language and often front-loads subordinate or topical information. Placing Belgeler sisteme entegre edilmek yerine at the start sets the context (“documents, instead of being integrated into the system”) before the main verb gönderildi.

Why isn’t there any article before Belgeler?

Turkish has no direct equivalents of “a” or “the.” Nouns stand without articles. Definiteness can be implied by context or marked by the accusative case; here Belgeler is just the plural subject “documents.”