Breakdown of Pas biriktirdikçe metal yüzeyler çatlamaya başlar.
başlamak
to start
-dikçe
as
pas
rust
biriktirmek
to accumulate
metal
metal
yüzey
surface
çatlamak
to crack
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Questions & Answers about Pas biriktirdikçe metal yüzeyler çatlamaya başlar.
What does pas biriktirdikçe mean and how is it constructed?
It’s made up of pas (rust) + the verb stem biriktir- (to accumulate) + the adverbial suffix -dikçe, which together mean “as rust accumulates” or “the more rust accumulates.”
What is the role of the suffix -dikçe in Turkish?
The suffix -dikçe forms an adverbial clause expressing a progressive condition: “as X happens” or “the more X, the more Y.” It attaches directly to a verb stem.
Why isn’t pas pluralized as paslar here?
pas is a mass (uncountable) noun when referring to rust in general, so it remains singular. To talk about individual rust spots you’d say pas lekeleri (rust spots).
Why is there no article before metal yüzeyler, and how would you say “a metal surface” in Turkish?
Turkish has no indefinite article like “a/an.” To say “a metal surface,” you simply add bir before the noun: bir metal yüzey.
Why is the verb form çatlamaya başlar used instead of simply çatlar?
Turkish uses the construction -ma/-me + ‑ya/-ye + başlamak to mean “to begin to do something.” Here çatlamaya başlar = “it starts to crack,” whereas çatlar alone would just mean “it cracks.”
What is the grammatical role of pas biriktirdikçe in this sentence?
It functions as an adverbial clause (zarf tümleci), providing a temporal/conditional context: “as rust accumulates…” and setting up the main clause.
Could one say pas biriktikçe instead of pas biriktirdikçe, and what’s the difference?
There are two verbs: birikmek (intransitive, “to accumulate”) and biriktirmek (transitive, “to cause to accumulate”).
- pas birik(dik)çe (from birikmek) emphasizes rust accumulating by itself.
- pas biriktir(dik)çe (from biriktirmek) uses the causative stem.
Both forms are grammatical, but they derive from different verb roots.
What case is metal yüzeyler, and why is there no case ending on it?
metal yüzeyler is in the nominative case (the subject). In Turkish, subjects in the nominative have no extra ending; only definite direct objects take the accusative -(y)i suffix.