Breakdown of Sen toprağa tohum ektiğinden beri bahçe her gün daha yeşil görünüyor.
Questions & Answers about Sen toprağa tohum ektiğinden beri bahçe her gün daha yeşil görünüyor.
What is the function of -den beri in ektiğinden beri, and how is this “since”-clause formed in Turkish?
-den beri literally means “since” and marks the starting point of a period of time. To build ektiğinden beri (“since you sowed”), you go through these steps:
- Start with the verb root + past tense: ekti- (“you sowed”).
- Add the participle/nominalizer suffix -ği (a variant of -DIK) to get ektiği (“the act of sowing”).
- Attach the ablative case -nden (“from”), yielding ektiğinden (“from your sowing”).
- Finally add beri: ektiğinden beri = “since you sowed”.
Why is Sen used at the beginning of the sentence? Can it be omitted?
In Turkish the personal pronoun is usually optional because the verb ending already shows the person. Sen (“you”) is included here for emphasis or clarity. You can drop it without changing the meaning:
“Toprağa tohum ektiğinden beri…” is perfectly natural.
Why does toprağa have the -a ending?
Why doesn’t tohum take an accusative ending (-u)? Shouldn’t it be tohumu?
Why is the action of sowing in the past tense (ekti) but the garden’s greenness in the present continuous (görünüyor)?
What does görünmek mean here, and why not use olmak?
Görünmek means “to appear” or “to look,” focusing on how something seems to the observer. Bahçe her gün daha yeşil görünüyor = “the garden looks greener every day.”
If you used olmak, e.g. “bahçe…daha yeşil oluyor,” you’d be saying “the garden is becoming greener,” which emphasizes the change itself rather than its appearance.
What is the role of daha in daha yeşil?
What does her gün add to the sentence, and is its position flexible?
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