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Questions & Answers about Genelge okula gönderildi.
What case is okula in and why is it used here instead of the accusative?
okula is in the dative case, marked by the suffix -a (in harmony with the last vowel u in okul). In Turkish, you use the dative case to express direction or goal (“to school”), not the accusative, which marks a direct object.
Why doesn’t genelge take an accusative ending (like -yi) here?
In a passive sentence, the thing affected by the action (the patient/theme) becomes the grammatical subject and stays in the nominative (no ending). So genelge (“the circular”) is the subject of the passive verb, not a direct object, and thus remains unmarked.
What tense and voice is gönderildi?
gönderildi is the simple past tense (-di) in the passive voice. Formed by:
- root: gönder- (“to send”)
- passive suffix: -il- (yields gönderil-)
- past tense suffix: -di
So gönderildi = “it was sent.”
How do you form the passive voice in Turkish?
Generally:
- Start with the verb root (e.g. gönder-)
- Add the passive suffix -il- or -n- (depending on vowel harmony and the root)
- Attach tense/aspect/mood endings as usual (e.g. -di, -iyor, -ecek)
Example: gönder-- -il-
- -di → gönderildi.
- -il-
Why is there no explicit subject (“who sent it”) in this sentence?
Turkish often omits pronouns or agents when they’re obvious, irrelevant, or indefinite. In passives, the agent can be left out entirely. Here, the implied sender might be a school authority (e.g., the district office), but it’s not specified.
Could you say this sentence in the active voice? How would it change?
Yes. An active version would name the sender and mark genelge as a direct object:
Valilik genelgeyi okula gönderdi.
– Valilik (the district governorship) is the subject in nominative
– genelgeyi takes -yi (accusative)
– okula remains dative
– gönderdi is active past tense
Is the word order fixed here? Could you say Okula genelge gönderildi?
Word order in Turkish is relatively flexible. The unmarked order is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV), but you can front any element for emphasis or topic. Okula genelge gönderildi simply emphasizes the location first; the meaning remains “The circular was sent to the school.”
How is the stress (accent) placed in gönderildi?
Most Turkish words have the main stress on the last syllable. So gönderildi is stressed on -di, roughly [ɟøn.deɾ.ilˈdi].
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