Learn Hardcore Turkish: Yedek jeneratör çalışmazsa, tüm tesis elektriksiz kalır. - If the backup generator doesn’t work, the entire facility will be without power.

-mazsa is actually two suffixes combined: -maz (the negative aorist, meaning “does not/won’t”) + -sa (the conditional, meaning “if”). So çalışmazsa literally means “if it doesn’t work.”

Why is çalışmazsa in the aorist tense and not the future tense (like çalışmayacaksa)?

Turkish commonly uses the negative aorist + conditional (e.g. çalışmazsa) for general or first-condition statements about the future. Although çalışmayacaksa (future negative + conditional) is also possible, çalışmazsa sounds more natural when you mean “if it doesn’t work…”

What exactly does elektriksiz kalır mean, word-for-word, and why use kalır?

Elektriksiz = elektrik + -siz (“electricity” + “-less” = “without electricity”). Kalır = “remains” or “is left.” Put together, elektriksiz kalır literally means “remains without electricity,” i.e. “will be left without power.”

There’s no article before yedek jeneratör—how do you know if it means “a backup generator” or “the backup generator”?

Turkish doesn’t have separate words for a or the. A bare noun can be definite or indefinite from context. You can add bir for “a” (e.g. bir yedek jeneratör = “a backup generator”), but yedek jeneratör alone can mean either “backup generator” or “the backup generator” depending on the situation.

Why is tüm tesis not marked with -i like a direct object?

Here tüm tesis (“the entire facility”) is the subject of the result clause, not a direct object. Subjects in Turkish stay in the nominative case without -i, while definite objects take the -i ending.

Can tüm be replaced with bütün in this sentence?

Yes. Tüm and bütün both mean “whole” or “entire.” You can say tüm tesis or bütün tesis (“the entire facility”) interchangeably.